Over the last few races, Ferrari has been showing impressive pace coming from both the drivers. Having won one race each, the Ferrari drivers were looking to get some more valuable points for the Championship in Hungary. While things were looking good for Lewis Hamilton, it all went downhill after a last-minute strategy call.
The 2026 Hungarian GP was a difficult race for Lewis Hamilton. He ended up crossing the line in 4th, and fell even further down to 5th after a 5-second time penalty was handed to him for speeding in the pit lane.
Ferrari's strategy call that cost Lewis Hamilton a podium
After all the drivers completed their 2nd and potentially final stop of the race, Lewis Hamilton found himself in 3rd position, right behind both the McLarens. On lap 56/70, Oscar Piastri, who was running 2nd, suffered a gearbox failure that launched a VSC.
At this point, Hamilton could have stayed out of the pits to retain 2nd place. However, Ferrari decided to pit him for fresh soft tyres which saw him drop down to 4th position.
Given that Hamilton was already at the final sector of the track, he didn't have time to evaluate whether pitting was the right decision or not, so he just followed the team's orders. To add to his problems, Hamilton also had a 5-second time penalty for speeding in the pit lane during his pit stop under the VSC.
If he had stayed out, he could have avoided the chance of a penalty, retained 2nd position, or worst case, 3rd. To Ferrari's defence, the team did not have enough time to evaluate all the scenarios. The team thought Lewis would be able to get 0ut ahead of Antonelli, but that wasn't the case.
Is Lewis Hamilton still a contender for the Championship?
Yes, Lewis Hamilton is still a contender for the Championship. He currently sits in 2nd place, 50 points behind Kimi Antonelli. With another half of the season to go, Hamilton should have enough time to catch up to the leader. However, this highly depends on Ferrari's development arc of the SF-26.
If the team are able to develop the car to beat the Mercedes, there is a high chance that we will see Lewis Hamilton take his record-breaking 8th Championship this year.
2026 Drivers’ Standings
Full table →| # | Driver | Team | Wins | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Kimi AntonelliANT | Mercedes | 9 | 390 |
| 2 |  Max VerstappenVER | Red Bull Racing | 3 | 279 |
| 3 |  George RussellRUS | Mercedes | 3 | 262 |
| 4 |  Lewis HamiltonHAM | Ferrari | 1 | 261 |
| 5 |  Charles LeclercLEC | Ferrari | 1 | 249 |
| 6 |  Lando NorrisNOR | McLaren | 3 | 246 |
| 7 |  Oscar PiastriPIA | McLaren | 0 | 152 |
| 8 |  Isack HadjarHAD | Red Bull Racing | 0 | 122 |
| 9 |  Liam LawsonLAW | Racing Bulls | 0 | 89 |
| 10 |  Pierre GaslyGAS | Alpine | 0 | 42 |
But judging by the Hungarian GP, the Mercedes drivers may not be the only ones in contention for the title along with Hamilton. This weekend, we saw McLaren bring a decent number of updates that placed their car at the top of the grid in Budapest. we are yet to discover if this performance boost is specific to high-downforce circuits such as the Hungaroring or in general.
As F1 heads into the summer break, all eyes will be on the next race in Netherlands on the 23rd of August. Circuit Zandvoort is also a high-downforce track, so we could see McLaren shine again. But this summer break gives the team some time to analyse their performance and bring a few updates if possible for the Dutch GP.
Do you think Hamilton can catch up to Kimi Antonelli for the Drivers' Championship? Post your thoughts in the comments below.
