Kimi Antonelli handed Hungary three-place penalty for not slowing enough under single yellow flags

The Mercedes driver had initially inherited third place following Lewis Hamilton’s separate three-place penalty. Antonelli’s own sanction now promotes Oscar Piastri to third, Max Verstappen to fourth and Hamilton back to fifth on the provisional grid.

The incident occurred at the final corner after Verstappen spun late in Q3, bringing out a single yellow flag as Antonelli approached on his final lap.

Telemetry confirmed Antonelli lifted earlier than on his previous push lap. However, the stewards decided the reduction was too brief and did not create a meaningful speed difference through the affected mini sector.

The FIA stewards explained: “The driver of Car 12 (Antonelli) stated that on seeing the yellow flag and light panel, he lifted off the throttle earlier than his previous push lap. This was verified by the telemetry.

“However the reduction in speed occurred for a very short period, and in fact the car’s speed when passing the scene of the incident involving Car 3 (Verstappen), was slightly higher than that on the previous push lap.

“The mini sector time was only 0.03 second slower than his best time for that mini sector, and whilst, because he had lifted 16 metres earlier, he was 14 km/h slower entering the yellow flag sector, but was 3 km/h faster when passing the incident site due to less application of the brakes entering the corner.”

The stewards added: “The Stewards considered this incident to be different to other incidents that have resulted in no further action, because unlike those cases, there was no significant speed delta through the mini sector compared to the driver’s previous fastest time under similar circumstances.”

Under the FIA penalty guidelines, failing to slow sufficiently for a yellow flag normally carries a five-place grid drop. Antonelli avoided the full punishment because the stewards accepted that he had made some attempt to reduce speed and had little time to react to Verstappen’s spin.

They concluded: “The recommended penalty according to the penalty guidelines, for this offence, is a drop of 5 grid positions, however in mitigation of penalty, we considered that the driver did make a reduction in speed, albeit, in our determination, an insufficient and unsustained one. Further, the driver had limited time and distance to react. Hence a lower penalty is applied.”

The decision compounds a chaotic Saturday evening at the Hungaroring, with Hamilton and Antonelli both losing grid positions after Qualifying.

In the team report, Antonelli reflected: "We knew this weekend would be challenging as this track suits other teams and we've seen others bring more upgrades. We were in the ballpark to fight for pole position though, but we didn't have our cleanest qualifying session of the year.

"My final lap was strong, probably my best of the weekend so far. I lifted on the final corner because of the yellow flag for Max and I lost just under two tenths of a second. Unfortunately, that wasn't deemed sufficient by the stewards.

"[The race] is not going to be easy. Overtaking is going to be difficult, and we are now starting much further back that we could have been. Our long run pace on Friday was good too so we will be doing everything we can to fight for the win," added the Italian.

Antonelli’s penalty is particularly costly at a circuit where overtaking is difficult and track position carries greater importance. The championship leader must now recover from the third row while Piastri gains a valuable place behind pole-sitter Lando Norris and Charles Leclerc.