Ferrari were much-fancied heading into the Hungarian Grand Prix weekend and second on the grid would have set him up well. But a grid penalty demoted him to fifth while Ferrari blundered again by pitting him for soft tyres and dropping him behind Antonelli late in the race. It also led to another punishment for pit lane speeding and Hamilton felt it turned a certain podium into fifth place.
“I definitely don’t think we should have taken the stop,” the seven-time champion said. “The call came just before the pit lane entry and I didn’t have time to debate it. You’ve got to trust the decision that has been taken but, in hindsight, my tyres were totally fine. I was probably going to lose out to Max [Verstappen], but I think I would have kept third at least. And it just opened up the door to the penalty.”
That said, Hamilton also concedes his own performances have been scruffy since his breakthrough Barcelona win in June. He added: “These last three races, for me, have not been great. Lots of mistakes and a lot of penalties in the last three races. I’ve got to work hard to not give them any opportunities to give me any more penalties moving forwards.”
McLaren were strong in their upgraded cars and Hamilton might not have been able to stop Lando Norris anyway. It looked for a while like Oscar Piastri would, after he got a jump on his team-mate at the start to lead the first half of the race. But it all unravelled after his second stop when Carlos Sainz collided with the Aussie while he was lapping the Williams and lost time that let Norris overcut him in the pit lane. And then Piastri’s gearbox failed, rendering it all moot anyway.
In any case, Norris felt better behind the wheel than at any point this year and never worried the victory might slip away. He said: “It was probably one of my best races in terms of personal performance, and that always makes me feel good. My lap one to two was not my finest, I was just a bit overly aggressive. Apart from that, the pace was pretty incredible from me and the car.”
Hamilton’s penalties and a nightmare start from George Russell that saw him recover from the back to seventh meant Antonelli still increased the gap to his closest title rivals. He was the big winner overall, really, making sure Mercedes‘ worst weekend of the year did not cost him.
Third place here won’t live long in the memory but these results on bad days are the ones that win championships. Antonelli has much more work to do after the summer break, but has set himself up beautifully. And pre-season favourite Russell must reset to stop his junior partner from eclipsing him entirely. He said: “I pray that things calm down in the second half. I’m going to stay positive and keep on pushing.”