Kimi Antonelli initially qualified fourth on the road but was subsequently dropped to seventh after an incident in the closing minutes in the chase for pole at the Hungarian Grand Prix.
The Italian was noted for not slowing significantly under yellow flags at Turn 14. After Max Verstappen spun in Q3, the yellow flag was brought out. Therefore, in breach of Article 2.5.5.
In the Stewards’ office, it was acknowledged that Antonelli did lift off the throttle, which was shown on the telemetry.
However, the lift-off was momentary, and the data showed that the speed when passing Verstappen’s Red Bull was higher than the previous lap.
The stewards said regarding the speed: “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.”
Luckily for Antonelli, the damage was limited. The Stewards noted that the normal penalty for such an incident would be a five-place drop. However, because the Italian driver had only a short time to react, the Stewards lessened the penalty to three places.
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