Mercedes staff principal Toto Wolff has referred to as out the marshalling system in the course of the Hungarian Grand Prix after backmarkers have been defending their positions regardless of Kimi Antonelli and Lewis Hamilton approaching them in the course of the remaining levels of the race.
A number of automobiles had already been lapped halfway by means of the 70-lap race, and the previous few laps noticed a good battle between Antonelli and Hamilton for the third-place end.
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The hole between the pair was over 2 seconds. Nonetheless, each drivers needed to go backmarkers, which proved troublesome on a slim monitor just like the Hungaroring. The backmarkers are supposed to provide approach when quicker automobiles which have lapped them are approaching, significantly after blue flags are proven.
Antonelli’s Mercedes approached a number of automobiles that didn’t give approach simply, corresponding to Audi’s Gabriel Bortoleto. That led the 19-year-old driver to shout on the radio, complaining concerning the scenario. This allowed Hamilton to achieve on Antonelli, and the hole dropped to simply 0.5 seconds between them.
Nov 21, 2024; Las Vegas, Nevada, USA; Mercedes AMG Petronas staff principal Toto Wolff arrives for apply for the Las Vegas Grand Prix at Las Vegas Circuit. Necessary Credit score: Gary A. Vasquez-Imagn Photos
Wolff referred to as out the way in which the scenario was dealt with, as Antonelli was on the verge of being overtaken by Hamilton. Addressing the difficulty that threatened his driver’s podium end and put him beneath vital stress till the chequered flag, Wolff mentioned:
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“The marshalling system not functioning, and automobiles within the again defending on a Lewis and Kimi struggle is simply, you understand, disgraceful from a few of the telemetry engineers that sit on the pit partitions of those groups not telling the drivers what’s taking place behind. And so general, I’m simply not completely happy about the entire scenario.”
Antonelli began the race from P7 and secured P3. His teammate, George Russell, began from P6 however dropped to P21 firstly due to an anti-stall problem earlier than recovering to complete seventh.
As F1 enters the month-long summer season break, Wolff mentioned:
“After I’m gonna settle down, we’re taking a stable hole within the Drivers’ Championship over the summer season, an excellent hole within the Constructors’ Championship, and that could be a credit score to a quick automotive, to a terrific staff, at instances unfortunate like with the VSC as we speak once more, but additionally not adequate in reliability.”
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2026 Hungarian Grand Prix Race Outcomes
1. Lando Norris 2. Max Verstappen3. Kimi Antonelli4. Charles Leclerc5. Lewis Hamilton6. Isack Hadjar7. George Russell8. Liam Lawson9. Nico Hulkenberg10. Arvid Lindblad11. Gabriel Bortoleto12. Pierre Gasly13. Lance Stroll14. Fernando Alonso15. Franco Colapinto16. Esteban Ocon17. Alex Albon18. Carlos Sainz19. Ollie Bearman20. Oscar Piastri (DNF)21. Sergio Perez (DNF)22. Valtteri Bottas (DNF)
