Hamilton questions costly Ferrari pitstop decision

Seven-time Formula One champion Lewis Hamilton questioned Ferrari's Hungarian Grand Prix strategy on Sunday after a ​late pitstop cost him a likely podium finish.

The Briton, second in the championship, finished fourth on track ‌but ended up fifth behind teammate Charles Leclerc after a five-second penalty was added to his time for speeding in the pitlane.

He had been running in second place before the pitstop, taken during a virtual safety period moments after McLaren's Oscar Piastri had pulled over ​and retired with a gearbox problem.

"I definitely don't think we should have taken a stop. The call ​came literally just before the pit lane entry and I didn't have time to debate ⁠it," Hamilton, now 50 points behind Mercedes' championship leader Kimi Antonelli, told reporters at the Hungaroring.

"You've got to trust ​the decision that has been taken but, in hindsight, my tyres were totally fine. I was probably going to lose ​out to Max (Verstappen), but I think I could have kept third at least. And it just opened up the door to the penalty that I got at the end."

Red Bull's Verstappen finished second behind McLaren's winner Lando Norris with Antonelli a close third. Both stayed ​out during the virtual safety car.

'JUST CAN'T CATCH A BREAK'

Ferrari boss Fred Vasseur defended the strategy and said that it ​would have been unfair to ask Leclerc to increase the gap to preserve Hamilton's position at the end.

Hamilton, a record eight-time winner ‌in Hungary, ⁠had arrived hoping to secure his first pole position since 2023 at a circuit that looked likely to favour him and Ferrari.

Instead, he missed out on pole by 0.012 of a second to Norris and was then demoted three places -- the latest of a string of penalties that has come his way in recent races -- for impeding Piastri, a big ​blow to his hopes at ​a track where overtaking ⁠is tricky.

"Sometimes you just can't catch a break," he had lamented on Instagram on Saturday.

"Another weekend when I've been feeling great throughout all the sessions, but then it just falls ​apart."

That proved prophetic, with fifth so much less than the 41-year-old had hoped for.