David Coulthard says Ferrari made a mistake that’s ‘unacceptable’ in F1 at the Hungarian Grand Prix

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Ferrari’s poor execution arguably cost them a victory at the Hungarian Grand Prix over the weekend.

Ferrari were fastest in Friday practice and Hamilton was on course for pole position after the first runs in Q3. But the weekend unravelled from there.

Hamilton questioned Ferrari’s decision to send him out early for his final lap, and Norris would pip him to pole position. Moments after he crossed the line, he held up Oscar Piastri, which earned him a three-place penalty.

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Lewis Hamilton trusted Ferrari and they let him down, David Coulthard says

Hamilton’s penalty completely changed the complexion of his race. Team principal Fred Vasseur suggested, via BBC Sport, that a lack of ‘clean air’ prevented Ferrari showing their true pace.

Hamilton gained a position at the start but became stuck behind a struggling Max Verstappen, who thwarted his hopes of chasing down the McLarens. Had he lined up in P2, he would have a clean run at Lando Norris, albeit from the less rubbered-in side of the grid.

Ferrari took responsibility for Hamilton’s qualifying penalty because they told him about the approaching Piastri too late.

Engineer Carlo Santi was focused on the yellow flag caused by Verstappen’s spin as Hamilton asked about the gap to Piastri.

“Look, it’s unacceptable at any of the teams in Formula 1, but for Ferrari not to be able to identify that there’s a car on a hot lap, to give that information to the driver,” David Coulthard told Channel 4 before Sunday’s race.

“Yes, they’ve got mirrors, but there’s a trust there and your team are there to look at all the track maps that are available to them, so very, very disappointing for Lewis and a bit of an own goal for Ferrari.”

Lewis Hamilton is filling in a ‘bingo card’ of penalties

As for the penalty in the race for speeding in the pit lane, Coulthard said Hamilton had to take the blame.

It completed a run of four penalties in three weekends, all for different offences. He was punished for a false start at Silverstone and for causing a collision with George Russell at Spa.

As he acknowledged after the race, Hamilton could lose the championship because of mistakes on the pit wall and in the cockpit.

“It’s like he’s doing a bingo card of all the penalties you can get in Formula 1!” Coulthard joked. “This one, I guess he has to own, speeding at the end of the pit lane as he was battling to try and get to that safety car line in front of Kimi Antonelli.

“These are points that are just given away. With Lewis’ experience and Ferrari, more crucially, we expect a consistent world-class performance.”