Lewis Hamilton opens up about staying positive through a brutal stretch of penalties at Ferrari
Lewis Hamilton sits second in the Formula 1 drivers’ standings heading toward the Belgian Grand Prix, trailing Mercedes rookie Kimi Antonelli by 32 points and just seven ahead of Antonelli’s teammate George Russell.
The gap has been narrowing all season as Ferrari’s pace has improved. What has not stopped narrowing along with it is a run of penalties that Hamilton says is testing how much longer he can keep framing the season with optimism.
“I always do my best to keep positive,” Hamilton said. “Sport is always about the highs and lows, but it’s also in the margins. Every point counts, and you have to seize every opportunity,” Hamilton said, per La Gazzetta Ferrari. “After three penalties in three weekends, it’s becoming difficult to hang on to that.”
Hamilton was hit with a three-place grid penalty in Hungary
The most recent of the three came at the Hungarian Grand Prix, where Hamilton qualified second behind Lando Norris before being summoned to the stewards for impeding Oscar Piastri’s final Q3 run. The stewards ruled that Hamilton had unnecessarily blocked the McLaren driver after Ferrari failed to warn him in time that Piastri was approaching on a push lap.
🚨 | Lewis Hamilton: “I always do my best to keep positive. Sport is always about the highs and lows, but it’s also in the margins. Every point counts, and you have to seize every opportunity.”
“After three penalties in three weekends, it’s becoming difficult to hang on to that… pic.twitter.com/Zcz1kmKg94
— La Gazzetta Ferrari (@GazzettaFerrari) July 25, 2026
The three-place demotion dropped him from second to fifth on the grid, promoting Charles Leclerc to the front row alongside Norris. Ferrari accepted responsibility for the miscommunication that caused it.
Hamilton had crossed the line believing he had claimed pole position, only to discover after parking in parc ferme that Norris had beaten him and that a penalty investigation was already underway.
At the British Grand Prix two weeks earlier, Hamilton avoided a penalty for a yellow flag infringement at Silverstone after already serving a time penalty during his pit stop for jumping the start, keeping his third-place finish intact by a narrow margin. He had described himself as resigned to losing the position before the stewards’ decision came through.
The season has marked a genuine turnaround from Hamilton’s difficult debut year at Ferrari in 2025, when he went the entire campaign without a podium finish in a grand prix. This year has brought him back into direct championship contention, with Ferrari closing the gap on Mercedes in part due to reliability issues that have cost both Antonelli and Russell finishes in multiple races.
Hamilton has flagged that Mercedes’ engine component allocation could force grid penalties on his rivals later in the season, a factor that could realistically decide where the championship lands.
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