Antonelli drops to seventh as stewards penalise Mercedes rookie for Hungarian GP yellow flag breach

Kimi Antonelli will start the Hungarian Grand Prix from seventh on the grid after stewards handed the Mercedes rookie a three-place penalty for failing to respect yellow flags during qualifying at the Hungaroring on Saturday.

Antonelli had originally qualified fourth, with McLaren’s Lando Norris taking pole and the two Ferraris locking out second and third. On his final flying lap, however, Antonelli encountered yellow flags at the final corner, where Red Bull’s Max Verstappen had spun into the runoff area. Despite the caution, Antonelli still improved his sector time to claim fourth — prompting a stewards’ investigation into whether he had slowed sufficiently.

The stewards concluded he had not. Telemetry showed that while Antonelli lifted off the throttle 16 metres earlier than on his previous push lap and was 14 km/h slower entering the yellow flag sector, he was actually 3 km/h faster when passing the incident site due to reduced braking. His mini-sector time was only 0.03 seconds slower than his personal best for that segment, representing a speed reduction of less than 1%.

“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 was slightly higher than that on the previous push lap,” the stewards wrote in their verdict.

Antonelli could have received a five-place drop under standard FIA penalty guidelines, but stewards opted for a reduced sanction given that the 19-year-old did make some attempt to slow. He also receives a penalty point on his superlicence.

“In mitigation of penalty, we considered that the driver did make a reduction in speed, albeit, in our determination, an insufficient and unsustained one,” the stewards added.

Antonelli was not the only driver penalised following qualifying. Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton was also handed a three-place grid drop for impeding Oscar Piastri in Turn 1. As a result of both penalties, Piastri moves up to third on the grid and Verstappen joins him on the second row, while Hamilton drops further down the order.

The penalties reshape the front of the grid significantly ahead of Sunday’s race, with championship leader Verstappen now better positioned than his qualifying result suggested, and Antonelli — who has impressed in his debut F1 season with Mercedes — facing a recovery drive from seventh.