Antonelli struggles to understand his grid penalty for the yellow-flag incident

Andrea Kimi Antonelli believes Mercedes had the pace to challenge for pole position in qualifying for the Hungarian Grand Prix, but a yellow-flag incident and subsequent three-place grid penalty turned what had been a promising afternoon into a frustrating result.

The Italian enjoyed his strongest performance of the weekend in Saturday's final practice session, emerging as a genuine contender for pole after showing impressive pace around the Hungaroring. Although he had to recover from a deleted lap for exceeding track limits to reach Q3, Antonelli remained firmly in the fight for the front of the grid.

His decisive final lap, however, was compromised when Max Verstappen spun ahead of him in the closing stages of qualifying. Antonelli lifted for the yellow flags through the final corner, costing valuable time and leaving him fourth fastest with a lap of 1:17.479.

The drama did not end there. After reviewing the incident, the stewards concluded that Antonelli had not slowed sufficiently under the yellow flags and handed the Mercedes driver a three-place grid penalty, dropping him further down the order for Sunday's race.

Reflecting on the session, Antonelli felt Mercedes had exceeded its own expectations despite anticipating a difficult weekend at a circuit that was expected to favour several of its rivals.

"We knew this weekend would be challenging as this track suits other teams and we've seen others bring more upgrades," Antonelli said. "We were in the ballpark to fight for pole position though, but we didn't have our cleanest qualifying session of the year."

The 20-year-old believes his final attempt was his strongest lap of the weekend before it was compromised by the yellow flags.

"My final lap was strong, probably my best of the weekend so far. I lifted on the final corner because of the yellow flag for Max (Verstappen) and I lost just under two tenths of a second. Unfortunately, that wasn't deemed sufficient by the stewards."

The penalty significantly complicates Antonelli's prospects at a circuit where overtaking is notoriously difficult, although he remains optimistic that Mercedes' encouraging long-run pace can still put him in contention on Sunday.

"Tomorrow is not going to be easy," he admitted. "Overtaking is going to be difficult, and we are now starting much further back that we could have been. Our long run pace on Friday was good too so we will be doing everything we can to fight for the win."