F1 insiders warn Ferrari team orders decision could make Lewis Hamilton suffer

Ferrari have been questioned by F1 insiders over their decision not to implement team orders between Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc at last weekend's Hungarian Grand Prix.

Hamilton is Kimi Antonelli's nearest challenger in the standings, and has the opportunity to become Ferrari's first drivers' champion since Kimi Raikkonen in 2007.

But at the final round before the summer shutdown, Hamilton lost five points to his championship rival despite clearly having a faster machine throughout the weekend.

Antonelli did brilliantly in Hungary, claiming a podium and extending his lead at the top of the championship.

Hamilton lost a position to Antonelli following a late pit stop, which Ferrari gambled with amid a virtual safety car period, and Antonelli was inches ahead when Hamilton crossed the white line after his late trip into the pits.

If that wasn't frustrating enough for Hamilton, that final, arguably unnecessary pit stop led to him being slammed with a five-second time penalty, having been caught speeding in the pit lane.

This demoted the seven-time champion down to fifth behind his team-mate Leclerc to cap off a damaging day for the Brit's championship chances.

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Should Ferrari have prioritised Hamilton's championship chances?

Now, three F1 insiders have suggested the Scuderia should have implemented team orders by asking Leclerc to stay five seconds behind Hamilton so that the 41-year-old would claim fourth spot, and only lose three points to Antonelli.

Ferrari team boss Fred Vasseur said after the race that he felt it would not have been fair to Leclerc, who drove a clean race while Hamilton was hit with a penalty.

The 41-year-old has now picked up four penalties in the last three grand prix weekends, including during qualifying in Hungary, where a potential front row start was demoted to P5 on the grid after he had blatantly impeded Oscar Piastri.

Hamilton himself admitted after the race that recent silly mistakes are making his championship challenge harder, but three F1 insiders have suggested Ferrari should have helped the seven-time champion out in Hungary.

Ex-Alpine team principal Otmar Szafnauer suggested that, had Ferrari issued a team order for Leclerc to slow down after Hamilton was handed a five-second penalty on Sunday, the result wouldn't have been so damaging for the Brit.

"He could be two points closer had they just asked Charles to slow down a bit with a five-second penalty," Szafnauer said on the High Performance podcast.

Former Ferrari race engineer Rob Smedley then gave his insight, adding: "So, Lewis got the five-second penalty at the end, right? And he was about half a second behind or something.

"So he was like four and a half seconds in front. If Charles had just slowed down by half a second Lewis would have kept his position and been two positions closer."

Their co-host Jake Humphreys pointed out: "That two points at the end of the season, that could be the difference between winning the title for Lewis."

F1 2026 championship standings after Hungarian GP

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Sam Cook - Digital Journalist

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