A big cheer and then Lewis Hamilton was left shaking his head. From a likely pole one moment to demotion down the grid a couple of hours later, his world championship hopes rocked in Hungary.

However, not as badly so as first appeared as the stewards intervened and shuffled the pack again long after qualifying had ended.

The first jab to Hamilton was Lando Norris snatching the front spot from him with a late and skilled ambush. The second punch was administered in the stewards’ room, where Hamilton was inevitably penalised for inadvertently impeding McLaren’s Oscar Piastri.

Hamilton was relegated from second on the grid to fifth. Championship leader Kimi Antonelli, who qualified fourth, was elevated to third. For an hour or so. That is how the pendulum appeared to have swung against Hamilton, who is 45 points off the Italian after 10 rounds.

But it rocked back his way, when Antonelli was himself reversed three places for failing to slow under yellow flags brought about by Max Verstappen spinning his Red Bull. So the Italian will start seventh, once again sitting two places behind Hamilton when the music stopped.

Still, it was a case of unlucky Lewis. He was let down by his Ferrari team not warning him that Piastri was coming up fast behind him, and now he has it all to do to register the big points that looked to be his for the taking from his original second spot.

Before his setbacks, Hamilton seemed to think he had qualified first, judging by how he pulled into parc ferme next to the marker with No 1 on it.

Norris was still out on track and piecing together his smooth assault on the top, a chance he was gifted by Hamilton being unable to improve on his first run that had temporarily put him in command.

Barely any driver was conjuring extra speed in the closing stages, bar Norris, who pipped Hamilton by 0.012sec. The No 1 marker was moved in front of the world champion’s McLaren. No 2 was placed by the red car.

Then came Hamilton’ summons to the stewards at 6pm local time, a precursor to all that ensued.

‘We have been doing a great job all weekend,’ he said, slow to raise much cheer in the immediate aftermath, distracted by the prospect of his incoming penalty. ‘I felt solid throughout qualifying and, for some reason, we went out first, which I don’t think was the right call. For some reason, the grip wasn’t there then.’

One extra positive for Hamilton was that the Silver Arrows were a shadow of their formerly dominant selves. Instead, Hamilton’s team-mate Charles Leclerc was third fastest, later promoted to second, ultimately one place ahead of Piastri.

George Russell, in the second Mercedes, was only seventh quickest. Fifty points off the summit, he had to abandon his car on his way into the pits, a water leak having sprung his latest dose of bad luck. He will be fitted with a new engine for the race, saying good riddance to his dodgy last one.

After all the snakes and ladders, Russell starts sixth. A welcome mercy.