Kimi Antonelli was handed two punishments by the FIA stewards after qualifying for the Hungarian Grand Prix. The Mercedes driver was fourth fastest in qualifying but received a three-place grid penalty for Sunday's race, dropping him to seventh place.
Antonelli was penalised for failing to slow sufficiently under yellow flags at the end of qualifying, after Max Verstappen spun off the track. The stewards also awarded Antonelli a penalty point, his fourth in a 12-month period.
Stewards' explanation
In their verdict, the stewards stated: "The driver of Car 12 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, was slightly higher than that on the previous push lap."
The stewards noted that the mini sector time was only 0.03 seconds slower than his best, and while he was 14 km/h slower entering the yellow flag sector, he was 3 km/h faster when passing the incident site. They added that the speed reduction in the mini sector was less than 1%.
The recommended penalty for the offence was a five-place grid drop, but mitigation was applied because Antonelli did make some reduction in speed and had limited time to react. Hence a lower penalty was imposed.
Other penalties
Lewis Hamilton also received a three-place grid penalty for impeding Oscar Piastri, moving him from second to fifth on the grid.
