<\/p>\n
Ferrari\u2019s British driver Lewis Hamilton arrives prior to the Formula One Hungarian Grand Prix on the Hungaroring racetrack in Mogyorod near Budapest, Hungary, on July 26, 2026. (Photo by Andrej ISAKOVIC \/ AFP)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Lewis Hamilton said he remained optimistic about his hopes of winning a record eighth drivers world championship this 12 months despite collecting one other penalty in Sunday\u2019s Hungarian Grand Prix.<\/p>\n
The seven-time champion Ferrari driver, who finished classified fifth having finished fourth on the road before taking a five-second penalty, said he needed to \u201cwork hard not to offer the stewards any more opportunities to offer me penalties\u201d.<\/p>\n
He was adjudged to have exceeded the pit lane speed limit by 0.1 kph during a stop that he said, after the race, was unnecessary and a mistake by the team.<\/p>\n
\u201cI definitely don\u2019t think we must always have taken the last stop,\u201d he said, referring to Ferrari\u2019s decision to call him in during a late Virtual Safety Automobile intervention to swap from hard tyres to softs for the ultimate laps.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe decision got here just before the pit entry and I didn\u2019t have time to debate it. You\u2019ve got to trust the choice that\u2019s been taken, but in hindsight my tyres were totally wonderful.<\/p>\n
\u201cI probably would have lost out to Max (Verstappen, who finished second), but I believe I could have kept third at the very least. It just opened the door to getting that penalty at the tip.\u201d<\/p>\n
Asked if he was upbeat for the second half of the season, as he seeks to shut a 50-point deficit behind championship leader Kimi Antonelli of Mercedes, Hamilton was positive.<\/p>\n
\u201cI definitely am,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019m massively grateful to the team because they\u2019ve done a very great job in the primary half.<\/p>\n
\u201cI believe the last three races from me haven’t been great, with a number of mistakes. I\u2019ve had quite a lot of penalties\u2026 I\u2019ve set to work hard hard not to offer them any more opportunities for penalties.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
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Ferrari\u2019s British driver Lewis Hamilton arrives prior to the Formula One Hungarian Grand Prix on the Hungaroring racetrack in Mogyorod near Budapest, Hungary, on July 26, 2026. (Photo by Andrej ISAKOVIC \/ AFP) Lewis Hamilton said he remained optimistic about his hopes of winning a record eighth drivers world championship this 12 months despite collecting […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":372862,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[338],"tags":[2443,5398,5397,6240,1148,20407],"class_list":["post-372861","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports","tag-bid","tag-hamilton","tag-lewis","tag-penalty","tag-title","tag-upbeat"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t