Championship leader Kimi Antonelli has been given a three-place grid penalty for slowing “less than 1%” for yellow flags in Q3 for Formula 1's Hungarian Grand Prix.

Max Verstappen spun his Red Bull at the final corner in Q3 and, while Antonelli lifted off the throttle, the stewards found that he did not slow enough.

Antonelli did however escape a five-place grid penalty. 

The stewards said a drop of five grid positions was the “recommended” penalty but they “considered that the driver did make a reduction in speed, albeit, in our determination, an insufficient and unsustained one. 

“Further, the driver had limited time and distance to react. Hence a lower penalty is applied.”

Antonelli qualified fourth at the Hungaroring and would have been promoted to third due to Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton receiving a penalty for impeding McLaren’s Oscar Piastri.

However, the Mercedes driver will instead be demoted to seventh on the grid.

After qualifying, Antonelli told media including The Race that he had to “coast all the way into the apex” on a lap that he called “terrible” before he reached the last corner. 

‘Less than 1%’ slower

According to the stewards’ document, Antonelli reasoned that he “lifted off the throttle earlier than his previous push lap. This was verified by the telemetry.”

The stewards found that his mini sector time was only 0.030s slower than his best time for that mini sector, however. 

Its telemetry showed that Antonelli had lifted 16 metres earlier than usual and was 14km/h slower entering the yellow flag sector - but he was 3km/h faster passing the site of Verstappen’s spin “due to less application of brakes” entering the final turn.

The FIA found that his speed reduction was “less than 1%” in the mini sector. 

The stewards added that, unlike cases in which the driver escaped penalty, “there was no significant speed delta through the mini sector compared to the driver’s previous fastest time under similar circumstances”.

Antonelli also received one penalty point on his superlicence, taking his total to four for the 12-month period.