Max Verstappen says Lewis Hamilton ‘wasn’t paying attention’ after overtaking him at Hungarian GP

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Max Verstappen produced arguably the overtake of the 2026 F1 season as he divebombed Lewis Hamilton at the Hungarian Grand Prix.

The Red Bull driver lined up P4 on the grid for the Hungarian Grand Prix. He was originally P6, but Kimi Antonelli and Hamilton were hit with grid penalties, promoting Verstappen up the order.

The four-time champion moved to third at the start behind the two McLarens and came out behind Hamilton after his first pit stop. Despite being on the harder compound tyre, Verstappen made an outrageous lunge into turn one to overtake the Ferrari star.

Max Verstappen says Lewis Hamilton ‘wasn’t paying attention’ as he passed him at Hungarian GP

Hamilton did not see Verstappen coming as he dived into turn one on the seven-time champion. He had no response to his former title rival.

Speaking after the race, Verstappen assessed his pass on Hamilton, and he felt that the Brit was not completely focused as he entered turn one.

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He said via Viaplay: ‘I noticed he wasn’t paying attention, so you just go for the move.

“It was kind of like in 2024, because I was moving in and he moved in under braking. That’s always very risky, but luckily nothing went wrong.”

Verstappen came home to finish P2, fending off Antonelli and the Ferraris on worn softs after Oscar Piastri’s late retirement brought out the virtual safety car.

Meanwhile, Hamilton was penalised for speeding in the pit lane during the VSC, which dropped him to P5 behind teammate Charles Leclerc. He went 0.1km/h over the limit as he crossed the white line on pit exit to beat Antonelli to P3.

Ferrari instructed Hamilton to give up the position, but it did not stop the seven-time champion from being hit with another five-second time penalty. He is now 50 points behind Antonelli in P2 in the championship.