What Ferrari told Lewis Hamilton before costly Oscar Piastri block in Hungary F1 qualifying

Lewis Hamilton picked up a costly three-place grid penalty at the Hungarian Grand Prix after impeding Oscar Piastri in Formula 1 qualifying. 

Seven-time world champion Hamilton was slapped with the three-place demotion from second place after the stewards deemed him guilty of blocking the McLaren driver at the end of Q3. 

It marked Hamilton’s third penalty in the last three race weekends. The Ferrari driver was handed a five-second time penalty for a false start at Silverstone and hit with the same punishment for a first-lap collision with George Russell at Spa. 

This is how the incident unfolded over team radio between Hamilton and the Ferrari pit wall in the dying moments of qualifying at the Hungaroring. 

After Hamilton crossed the line at the end of his lap, race engineer Carlo Santi came over the radio to tell him: “Piastri pushing… yellow flag, yellow flag.” 

Hamilton asked: “Where’s Piastri?” 

“Behind - yellow flag,” was Santi’s response. 

“Where’s [the] yellow flag?” Hamilton follows up, to which Santi replies: “Track is clear. Max went off in [Turn] 14. Mode slow, please.” 

After Piastri overtook Hamilton coming out of Turn 1, Hamilton queried: “Was Piastri on a lap or…?” 

There was a lengthy pause before Santi responded: “I was caught by the yellow.” 

In onboard footage from his Ferrari, Hamilton was seen looking in his mirrors when approaching Turn 1. 

Team radio is also featured, however, F1 delays team radio broadcasts from anywhere between five and 15 seconds in case bad language needs to be censored. 

Hamilton insisted he could not see Piastri and was unsure whether he was on an in-lap or a fast lap, while the Australian accused his rival of "not looking in his mirrors". 

"I was told literally when he was at the apex behind me, so I had no idea he was coming," Hamilton explained in the post-qualifying press conference. 

"I thought everyone came out behind me – I was the first out, so I thought everyone had finished their lap, and I think Charles was the car that was behind me when I left the pitlane, so as far as I was aware. 

"So yeah, crazy, because it had been clean and obviously it wasn't intentional." 

Ferrari took the blame for Hamilton’s penalty, with team principal Fred Vasseur admitting the Italian outfit informed its driver too late. 

"We told him [Piastri was coming], but far too late," the Frenchman conceded. "If there is a mistake, it's our mistake."

The grid drop means Hamilton will now start Sunday’s Hungarian Grand Prix from fifth, ahead of the Mercedes pair of championship leader Andrea Kimi Antonelli and Russell.