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F1 fans are heartbroken for Oscar Piastri after an incident with Lewis Hamilton during Q3 in qualifying for the 2026 Hungarian Grand Prix derailed the McLaren star’s hopes.
Saturday at the Hungaroring ended with very different emotions across the two sides of the McLaren garage, as Lando Norris celebrated scoring his first pole position of the season and Piastri had to settle for fifth place. Norris even beat Hamilton to top the Q3 order by 0.012s.
Norris scored pole for the Hungarian GP with a 1:17.207 lap in the final seconds of Q3. The reigning F1 champion made full use of being the last car to take the chequered flag, and he produced a new overall session best split time in the middle sector to snatch pole position.
Lando Norris denies Lewis Hamilton pole for the Hungarian GP ⏱️ Who was your star of qualifying?
F1 fans are gutted for Oscar Piastri after Lewis Hamilton impeded him during qualifying
Hamilton was on provisional pole entering the final runs with a 1:17.219, but he would not improve at the end of the session like Norris managed to. Piastri, likewise, had to settle for his provisional time setting his grid position for the Hungarian GP, with a time of 1:17.684.
READ MORE: How to watch the 2026 F1 Hungarian Grand Prix, plus the weather forecast
Piastri might yet gain one grid place at Hamilton’s expense, as the FIA’s race stewards have summoned the Ferrari star for allegedly impeding the McLaren driver in Q3. Hamilton was dawdling on the racing line at Turn 1 when Piastri neared, which made the latter run wide.
F1 fans reacting to Piastri and Hamilton’s incident during qualifying for the Hungarian GP on Reddit are heartbroken for the McLaren driver being denied a chance to improve his Q3 lap time through no fault of his own. Hamilton made the mistake by initially running deep into Turn 1, and knew that Piastri was behind having passed him at the end of the previous lap.
One F1 fan claimed on Reddit in response to Hamilton and Piastri’s incident: “What did my guy Oscar even do to Ferrari bro?” Another F1 fan also claimed, “Oscar can’t catch a break bro,” and one suggested, “Oscar needs to go see a witch,” owing to his streak of bad luck.
“Piastri can’t have a clean weekend,” noted another F1 fan, while one stated, “Poor Oscar.” An F1 fan also shared: “Yikes! Oscar can’t catch a break from these Ferraris.” One fan even claimed upon seeing the incident: “Oscar is under some kind of Ferrari curse this season.”
Hamilton spent the entire pit straight checking his mirrors for Piastri, as well, but was only warned that Piastri was near after exiting Turn 1. The 41-year-old knew he did wrong, too, and immediately raised his hand to apologise to Piastri as the 25-year-old then drove past.
The incident meant Piastri could not improve his provisional lap time and ended qualifying in fifth place, 0.477s down on teammate Norris’ pole position time. Piastri might not have had the speed to rival Norris, but he may have fought Charles Leclerc of Ferrari for fourth place.
Hamilton and Piastri are both due to see the FIA’s race stewards at 16:59 local time at the Hungarian GP to discuss the impeding incident from during qualifying. Should Hamilton’s actions merit a penalty, he is likely to receive a three-place grid penalty for Sunday’s race.
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