Martin Brundle calls Lewis Hamilton penalty 'harsh' at Hungarian Grand Prix

An edited image of Lewis Hamilton furious and Martin Brundle concerned with a Sky microphone — Photo: © IMAGO

Hungarian Grand Prix

Martin Brundle calls Lewis Hamilton penalty 'harsh' at Hungarian Grand Prix

Lewis Hamilton ended up finishing the race in fifth

Sam Cook Digital Journalist

Sports Journalist who has been covering motorsport since 2023

Monday 27 July 2026 19:45

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Sky Sports F1 legend Martin Brundle has described Lewis Hamilton's late penalty at the Hungarian Grand Prix as 'harsh'.

Hamilton was given a five-second time penalty towards the end of the race for speeding in the pit lane, all but ending his hopes of a podium finish.

Ferrari had called Hamilton into the pits amid a late virtual safety car, allowing him to get rid of his old hard tyres, and instead strap on a set of soft tyres.

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However, the gamble did not pay off, and Hamilton picked up the penalty during the pit stop, ending up down in fifth in the final classification, behind championship rival Kimi Antonelli and his team-mate Charles Leclerc.

It was revealed from an official FIA document that Hamilton was just 0.1km/h above the pit lane speed limit, a gutting fact for Hamilton as he lost yet more ground in the championship battle.

Following the race, Brundle suggested that Hamilton's penalty was 'harsh', despite admitting that the rules had been applied correctly.

Brundle: 'The rules are the rules'

"It's like being a quarter of a kilo underweight," Brundle told Sky Sports F1 after the Hungarian Grand Prix. "Like you're going to be aggrieved, but the rules are the rules in that respect.

"It's perceived as a competitive advantage, and when you see how close those lines are, with Antonelli, for example.

"If somebody just goes, 'so if 0.1 is all right, then 0.3 is all right because there's not much more than 0.1', and suddenly you get ahead.

"So there has to be a cutoff point, whether it's the width of the car, the weight of the car, the speed of the car in the pit lane. But yeah, it's painful and it's harsh, but it's the rules."

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