India, July 25 -- In a big blow to Scuderia Ferrari's front-row ambitions, Lewis Hamilton has been handed a three-place grid penalty following an impeding incident during Q3 at the F1 Hungarian Grand Prix 2026. Having originally qualified on the front row in P2, the seven-time World Champion will now start Sunday's race from P5 on the grid after the FIA race stewards determined he unnecessarily impeded McLaren's Oscar Piastri.

According to Official Document 36 released by the FIA Stewards, Hamilton was summoned alongside team representatives for an incident occurring at 16:59 local time during Qualifying. The official report confirmed a "Breach of Article B4.1.1 of the FIA F1 Regulations" after determining that Car 44 had unnecessarily i...