Lando Norris claimed his first victory of the season at the Hungaroring after a stellar performance, finishing fifteen seconds ahead of Max Verstappen, who secured a brilliant second place finish. This marked the first win as the reigning world champion for Lando Norris, who also became the first non-Mercedes driver to claim pole position for a Grand Prix race this season—having previously claimed Sprint pole in Miami, the only other occasion where the Mercedes cars were beaten in qualifying of any form. Kimi Antonelli finished third, maintaining the podium streak for Mercedes. With Lewis Hamilton finishing fifth after being on the receiving end of yet another penalty, and George Russell finishing seventh following a disastrous start, Antonelli will go into the summer break with a 50-point lead in the Championship standings. However, there will be a few concerns as to whether Mercedes will be able to dominate the second half of the season, as the recent upgrades from McLaren and Red Bull are clearly paying dividends.
Practice: Ferrari and McLaren Show Early Promise
Ferrari set the pace on Friday, topping both practice sessions with comfortable margins. Charles Leclerc topped FP1, with his teammate Hamilton finishing third-fastest. Hamilton then topped the timing charts in FP2 with Leclerc trailing in second. Max Verstappen finished second and fourth-fastest respectively across the two sessions, showing consistency in his Red Bull. Mercedes struggled slightly, with George Russell managing to finish only fifth-fastest in both sessions, while Kimi Antonelli failed to execute a fighting lap in FP2 after sitting out FP1 to fulfill the mandatory rookie requirement with Frederik Vesti.
Many teams brought significant upgrades to the track, with Aston Martin standing out. Their new package seemed to work well, as Fernando Alonso managed to finish P13 in FP1. The team is expected to introduce further engine upgrades after the summer break in the hope of resurrecting what has been an abysmal season so far.
On Saturday, Lando Norris topped FP3 with Lewis Hamilton trailing close behind. Kimi Antonelli got in a few good laps to finish third-fastest ahead of Charles Leclerc. George Russell continued to struggle, only managing the sixth-fastest time, while the two Red Bulls couldn’t find their ideal pace, finishing seventh and eighth. It was clear that McLaren was getting into the fight, especially with Lando Norris performing consistently well.
Qualifying: Yellow Flags, Penalties, and a McLaren Pole
Cadillac continued to struggle, with both cars getting knocked out in Q1, joined by the two Williams cars, which are enduring a bad run of form themselves. Fernando Alonso made it out of Q1 for the first time this season, beating Oliver Bearman by one-tenth of a second. Q2 concluded with Liam Lawson, Pierre Gasly, Franco Colapinto, Gabriel Bortoleto, Esteban Ocon, and Alonso all being eliminated, while Nico Hülkenberg made it through to Q3 for only the third time this season.
In Q3, Max Verstappen was the first to set a time, which was then beaten by Oscar Piastri. That time was immediately bettered by his teammate Lando Norris, who looked exceptionally sharp throughout the day. Leclerc managed to split the two McLarens before Hamilton surged to the top, claiming provisional pole after the first run of flying laps.
During the second run, the two Ferraris were the first out to put in laps but were unable to improve on their initial times. Verstappen ran wide in the final corner, bringing out a yellow flag that hindered Kimi Antonelli’s final flying lap, which had been an improvement up until that sector. McLaren had strategically delayed sending their drivers out, protecting them from being caught in the yellow flag frenzy. This allowed Lando Norris to find an improved lap and snatch Pole Position at the very last moment by just 12 milliseconds, denying what would have been a landmark tenth career pole for Lewis Hamilton in Hungary, where he already holds a record eight victories.
It was later revealed that Hamilton had impeded Piastri’s final flying lap, which earned him a three-place grid penalty. Kimi Antonelli also received a three-place grid drop for a yellow flag infringement. These penalties meant that Leclerc, who qualified third, started second, with Oscar Piastri promoted to third. Max Verstappen benefited from a double grid bump to start P4. Hamilton was demoted to P5, with George Russell and Kimi Antonelli lining up in P6 and P7. Isack Hadjar qualified P8, Arvid Lindblad continued his impressive run to qualify P9, and Nico Hülkenberg rounded out the top ten.
Race Start: Piastri Jumps the Field & Strategic Undercuts
Lando Norris got a good start off the line but was overtaken into Turn 2 by his teammate Oscar Piastri, who executed a brilliant launch to jump from P3 into the race lead. Charles Leclerc, who started P2, suffered a horrible start after Ferrari opted to equip both drivers with the Soft compound tyres. Leclerc was immediately swamped and overtaken by Piastri, Verstappen, and Hamilton, tumbling down to P5. George Russell endured an even worse scenario; his car went into anti-stall mode during the launch, plummeting him from P6 all the way down to P21.
Lewis Hamilton was the first of the frontrunners to pit on Lap 14, eager to get rid of his Soft tyres in the hopes of undercutting Max Verstappen after struggling to execute an overtake on track. The Hungaroring is famously difficult to overtake on, which was evident in the racing as Lando Norris also struggled to get past his teammate. Max Verstappen pitted a lap later than Hamilton and emerged just behind him, proving that Ferrari’s undercut gamble had worked. However, that advantage was swiftly undone by a superb double-overtake by Verstappen on Lawson and Hamilton into Turn 1. Verstappen cleverly used the moment right after Hamilton overtook Lawson to commit to a late dive, catching the veteran off guard. It was a crucial move to regain net third place on a circuit where track position is everything.
Late-Race Drama: VSC Gambles and a Dominant Norris Victory
Up front, Oscar Piastri maintained his lead following the first cycle of pit stops, as Norris could not force an overtake in equal machinery. The dynamic shifted entirely after Piastri—the first McLaren to pit for a second time—emerged into backmarker traffic. Piastri clipped the left rear of Carlos Sainz, who had failed to clear the racing line. This incident caused Piastri to lose crucial time, playing right into the hands of Norris, who went into the pits for his second stop and emerged crucially in front of his teammate, reclaiming the lead he had lost on the opening lap.
With Hamilton pitting early for his second stop and Verstappen running an extended stint before eventually pitting for Softs, a thrilling scenario unfolded: Verstappen, armed with Soft tyres that were 10 laps fresher, was chasing Hamilton for third place, sitting eight seconds behind with 28 laps to go.
Meanwhile, Norris started to build a healthy gap to Piastri, who was struggling slightly after his earlier incident with Sainz. Things went from bad to worse for Piastri when a sudden gearbox issue forced him to stop his car on Lap 56, triggering a Virtual Safety Car (VSC). At this stage, Hamilton was running in second, with Verstappen hot on his heels having slashed the gap down to just three seconds.
Under the VSC, Ferrari made the strategic decision to pit both drivers, swapping their Hard tyres for Softs. However, this gamble cost them crucial track position. Hamilton dropped from second to fourth—falling behind championship leader Antonelli, who was promoted to P3—while Leclerc dropped from fourth to fifth.
From then on, Kimi Antonelli managed to hang on to third place, while Lando Norris cruised to a commanding victory, followed by Max Verstappen in second. Adding to Ferrari’s late-race woes, Hamilton was handed a five-second penalty for speeding in the pit lane. This relegated him to fifth place in the final classification, slotting him behind his teammate Leclerc, who finished P4. Isack Hadjar finished P6, while George Russell executed a stellar recovery drive to finish P7. Liam Lawson finished P8, Nico Hülkenberg secured his first points of the season in P9, and Arvid Lindblad rounded out the points-paying positions to deliver a double-points finish for the Racing Bulls.
Entering the Summer Break
In the end, the Hungarian Grand Prix was all about taking chances. McLaren did a great job to help Norris get the win. On the other hand, Ferrari threw away their strong Friday pace with some poor strategy calls. Mercedes also struggled with overall speed; George Russell dropped to the back at the start, and Kimi Antonelli only managed to finish third. Even McLaren had bad luck, as Oscar Piastri’s car broke down due to a gearbox issue. Another interesting issue that came up was about backmarkers not clearing the way to the leaders. In addition to the Piastri-Sainz collision, Antonelli was also impeded by a backmarker during his defence against Hamilton in the last few laps.
Now, Formula 1 takes its summer break before returning to action at Zandvoort for the Dutch Grand Prix. As we look to the second half of the season, the battle between the top four teams is very close. Antonelli has a healthy 50-point lead, but McLaren and Red Bull currently look like they have the fastest cars thanks to their recent upgrades. Ferrari is also very fast whenever they get their strategy right. To make things even more exciting, Malaysia is set to replace Bahrain on the calendar. This adds an extra race to the schedule, meaning the fight for the 2026 championship is still wide open.
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