FIA confirms triple Kimi Antonelli punishment after Hungarian GP investigation
The FIA has made a decision on Kimi Antonelli
Mercedes driver Kimi Antonelli has been hit with a three-place grid penalty, one penalty point and a warning after two separate FIA investigations after Hungarian Grand Prix qualifying.
It drops the F1 2026 world championship leader to seventh on Sunday’s grid in Budapest.
FIA takes action after Kimi Antonelli investigation
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Antonelli originally qualified fourth for Sunday’s race in Budapest, moving up a spot to third after Lewis Hamilton was penalised for impeding Oscar Piastri.
However, the Italian found himself under two investigations after the session for separate incidents during qualifying.
Antonelli was first summoned for failing to slow for yellow flags in the closing minutes of Q3 after Max Verstappen suffered a spin at the final corner.
A second investigation was launched over a failure to follow the race director’s instructions by driving unnecessarily slowly during qualifying.
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Antonelli was given a drop of three grid positions and one penalty point – putting him on four for the current 12-month window – for the yellow flag infringement.
The stewards’ report read: “The Stewards heard from the driver of Car 12 (Kimi Antonelli), team representative, the FIA F1 Race Director and the Sporting Director of the FIA Single Seater Department, and reviewed positioning/marshalling system data, video, timing, telemetry and in-car video evidence.
“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 mini sector time was only 0.03 second slower than his best time for that mini sector, and whilst, because he had lifted 16 metres earlier, he was 14 km/h slower entering the yellow flag sector, but was 3 km/h faster when passing the incident site due to less application of the brakes entering the corner.
“The FIA representatives noted that the speed reduction in the mini sector was less than 1%.
“The Stewards considered this incident to be different to other incidents that have resulted in no further action, because unlike those cases, there was no significant speed delta through the mini sector compared to the driver’s previous fastest time under similar circumstances.
“The recommended penalty according to the penalty guidelines, for this offence, is a drop of 5 grid positions, however in mitigation of
penalty, we considered that the driver did make a reduction in speed, albeit, in our determination, an insufficient and unsustained one.
“Further, the driver had limited time and distance to react.
“Hence a lower penalty is applied.”
Antonelli was then given a warning for failing to follow the race director’s instructions.
The stewards said: “The Stewards heard from the driver of Car 12 (Kimi Antonelli), team representative and timing and in-car video evidence.
“The driver was on an in-lap and his time between SC2 and SC1 exceeded the prescribed maximum for this event. Car 12 was not overtaken by any other car.
“The driver acknowledged that he had exceeded the delta. He said he was preoccupied by his push lap having being affected by a yellow flag and wasn’t focusing sufficiently on adhering to the delta.
“The team explained that they were dealing with an issue with Car 63 and ought to have reminded the driver to speed up.
“The Stewards determined that the driver drove unnecessarily slowly by not adhering to the delta but noted that no other car was affected.
“Consistent with previous infringements of this type where no other car is affected, the Stewards imposed a warning.”
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