Untelevised Oscar Piastri gesture emerges after Hamilton incident
Oscar Piastri looking at Lewis Hamilton in his Ferrari
Oscar Piastri described the impeding incident involving himself and Lewis Hamilton as “pretty bad” following Hungarian Grand Prix qualifying.
Footage has since emerged which showed Piastri sending a sarcastic gesture the way of Hamilton from the cockpit. The incident in question occurred on the final Q3 runs, and resulted in a Hamilton penalty. Piastri will start the Hungarian Grand Prix from third, with McLaren teammate Lando Norris on pole.
Oscar Piastri gives Lewis Hamilton sarcastic thumb
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Piastri came across Hamilton’s slow-moving Ferrari at Turn 1, as the Melbourne native began his final Q3 flying lap.
With that, Piastri had to abort, and his qualifying was over. He was ultimately classified fifth.
The stewards launched an investigation and duly hit Hamilton with a three-place grid penalty. Kimi Antonelli suffered the same grid drop for failing to slow sufficiently under yellow flags. That will promote Piastri onto the second row for a P3 start.
Footage, which was not shown on the main feed during qualifying, captured Piastri’s instant reaction to Hamilton’s impede.
Piastri could be seen pulling alongside the Ferrari, and raising a sarcastic thumb up from the cockpit, directed towards Hamilton, thus making his feelings clear.
Piastri added further comment when speaking with PlanetF1.com and others after qualifying.
“It was pretty bad,” he said of the Hamilton incident.
“I saw him from the start line and kind of watched him, expecting him to get out of the way, and I’ve watched him basically all the way up until I nearly hit him.”
Hamilton stressed that he was completely unaware of the approaching McLaren, and that the impede was in no way intentional.
“I was told literally when he was at the apex behind me, so I had no idea he was coming,” said Hamilton.
“Everyone came out behind me, I was the first out, so I thought everyone had finished their lap.
“I think Charles [Leclerc] was the car that was behind me when I left the pit lane as far as I was aware.
“Crazy because it’d been [a] clean [session] and obviously it wasn’t intentional.”
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The double promotion to third for Piastri brings him back into contention for the Hungarian GP win.
It is a race which Piastri won back in 2024. That was his first grand prix win.
Additional reporting by Thomas Maher
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