Hamilton penalties hit title bid as criticism grows

Lewis Hamilton has collected five penalties in 11 races this season, including two at the Hungarian Grand Prix weekend, leaving his 2026 title challenge under growing pressure as he heads into the summer break 50 points behind Kimi Antonelli.

For a driver of Hamilton’s experience, the run is striking. Four of those sanctions have come in the last three weekends alone: a five-second penalty for a false start at Silverstone, a five-second penalty for contact with George Russell at Spa, then in Hungary a three-place grid drop for impeding Oscar Piastri in qualifying and a five-second penalty in the race for pit-lane speeding. Earlier in the year, he had already been penalized five seconds in Monaco for excessive speed in the pit lane.

Budapest brought the problem into sharp focus. Hamilton had qualified second, only to be pushed back three places for the Piastri impeding incident. He then finished fourth on the road before the race penalty, issued after he exceeded the pit-lane speed limit by 0.1 km/h, dropped him behind team-mate Charles Leclerc to fifth.

The fallout has gone beyond the lost result. Former Jordan, Stewart and Jaguar designer Gary Anderson, writing in The Telegraph, argued Hamilton was "predominantly to blame" for the two Hungary penalties. "I have to say that I am surprised that, with all his experience, Hamilton is making these mistakes," Anderson wrote. He went further by saying: "The biggest thing at the moment is that I do not get the impression that he is taking responsibility for it. He is trying to find someone else to blame. That is disappointing."

Sky Sports Formula 1 lead commentator David Croft delivered a similar verdict on the Sky Sports F1 Show. "Lewis is making careless mistakes," Croft said, rejecting the idea that Ferrari alone was responsible for the Hungary qualifying penalty. "He still should have been watching in his mirrors," he said, before adding that "these are not mistakes that a driver of his ability and experience should be making."

Hamilton has accepted that the pattern is hurting him. After Hungary, he said the last three races had "not been good" and admitted he must "work harder" and "make sure I give them no reason to impose any penalties."

That is now the central issue in his championship fight. Hamilton reaches the break second in the standings on 169 points, with Antonelli on 219, and the points lost through repeated penalties have become a major part of why his push for an eighth world title is slipping.