Antonelli telemetry raises fresh questions over Hungary grid penalty decision

Kimi Antonelli’s three-place grid penalty for failing to slow sufficiently under yellow flags has reignited questions over how the FIA judges these incidents, with telemetry suggesting his Hungary case was remarkably similar to George Russell’s escape in Austria.

Exactly how much Kimi slowed down, how much time it cost him, and how this situation compares to Austria where Russell avoided a penalty, we analyse with the help of telemetry data.

Kimi Antonelli telemetry analysis explains Hungarian GP yellow flag penalty

During his final flying lap in Q3, Kimi Antonelli encountered yellow flags in the last corner of the track due to Max Verstappen going off.

As the rules state, under a single yellow flag situation, drivers must slow down sufficiently to make their passage through that section of the track safe. But exactly how much isn’t clearly defined, leaving it to the stewards to make a decision.

In the end, Kimi improved his time, putting him in fourth position behind Norris and both Ferrari drivers.

We had an almost identical situation in Austria, when Max Verstappen going off track brought out yellow flags. Back then, Antonelli aborted his lap completely, whereas Russell, in the stewards’ opinion, slowed down enough to secure pole position and, later, the victory.

It was a good lesson for the young Italian who, judging by the stewards’ ruling, still hasn’t learned it.

By analysing the two flying laps Kimi set during Q3 in Hungary (with the white line representing Kimi’s second attempt), we can see exactly how much he slowed down.

The biggest difference can be seen in throttle application – upon seeing the yellow flags, Kimi lifted off the throttle pedal about 30 metres earlier. This affected his maximum speed before braking, which was 6km/h lower than on his previous lap.

Once he passed Verstappen, the track was green, allowing him to get back to a full push. But despite that, Antonelli applied the throttle about 35 metres later.

Naturally, this impacted his exit speed as well as his lap time all the way to the line. Only in the final few metres of the lap did Antonelli return to his typical speed for that part of the circuit.

We can also see a fairly clear difference on the graph in brake pedal application.

But how much time did this cost Antonelli?

Before encountering the yellow flags, Kimi had a negative delta time of 0.156 seconds compared to his first Q3 attempt – in other words, up to that point he was 0.156 seconds faster. In the end, this delta time was 0.100 seconds, meaning he lost approximately 0.05 to 0.06 seconds due to Verstappen’s incident.

According to the stewards, this wasn’t enough, so Kimi was handed a 3-place grid penalty, dropping him to P7.

In comparison with the situation in Austria, Russell’s numbers looked like this:

Russell lifted off the throttle pedal about 100 metres earlier than on the previous lap; however, his re-application of the throttle after passing Verstappen showed no difference. He lost about 0.08 seconds compared to his previous lap, and the stewards deemed his lap entirely legal.

Can we say that between a deceleration worth 0.08 seconds and one worth 0.05 seconds lies the threshold for deciding whether a driver slowed down safely enough? In my opinion, no – both cases are far too similar for the outcome to differ like this.

This penalty will heavily impact Antonelli’s race, with the Mercedes driver likely out of podium contention before the lights have even gone out.

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