Lewis Hamilton is seeking explanations from his Ferrari team following a late strategy call that he believes cost him a significant opportunity in the Hungarian Grand Prix. The British driver finished fifth, falling 50 points behind championship leader Kimi Antonelli.
Hamilton expressed his disappointment, stating it was a "missed opportunity" after a weekend that had shown considerable promise. His qualifying session was already compromised when he was penalized for impeding McLaren's Oscar Piastri, forcing him to start fifth on the grid. He had worked his way up to second place when Piastri's car retired.
However, a decision to pit for new tires saw Hamilton lose track position to Max Verstappen and Antonelli, who finished second and third respectively. To compound matters, Hamilton received a five-second penalty for exceeding the pit lane speed limit by a small margin, which dropped him behind his teammate Charles Leclerc.
"I definitely don't think we should have taken a stop," Hamilton stated, suggesting the pit stop blunder cost him valuable championship points. "I got the call right at the pit-lane entry and I did not have time to debate it. I would never have stopped if it meant I would give up track position."
He believes he could have at least secured a podium finish had he stayed out. "We probably would have lost out to Max because he was on fresher tyres. But I may have been able to hold on to second, but it most likely would have been third. We have lost a whole bunch of points. We should have stayed out. I need to see why the team pulled me in. I had the pace to compete at least for the top two, top three."
This incident adds to a recent string of penalties and perceived misfortunes for Hamilton. His performance in Hungary followed penalties in successive weekends, including a false start at Silverstone and an incident with George Russell at Spa. Hamilton took responsibility for impeding Piastri in qualifying, attributing it to a communication error.
Despite the setbacks, Hamilton indicated his determination to refocus and improve. "I will work hard to come back, to reset. There are still lots of positives to take."