The Formula 1 edit

Hello everyone and welcome to the last race before the summer break! It is sure to be a good one with a very entertaining qualifying already out of the way!

the grid

1. Charles Leclerc (Ferrari)
2. Oscar Piastri (McLaren)
3. Lando Norris (McLaren)
4. George Russell (Mercedes)
5. Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin)
6. Lance Stroll (Aston Martin)
7. Gabriel Bortoleto (Sauber)
8. Max Verstappen (Red Bull)
9. Liam Lawson (Racing Bulls)
10. Isack Hadjar (Racing Bulls)
11. Oliver Bearman (Haas)
12. Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari)
13. Carlos Sainz (Williams)
14. Franco Colapinto (Alpine)
15. Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes)
16. Yuki Tsunoda (Red Bull)
17. Pierre Gasly (Alpine)
18. Esteban Ocon (Haas)
19. Nico Hulkenberg (Sauber)
20. Alexander Albon (Williams)

the race

With 40 years of racing history within the tarmac, we come racing once again in the beautiful Budapest! Charles Leclerc leads the grid with both McLaren drivers, Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris in 2nd and 3rd.

It’s lights out and away we go! Lando Norris has a good jump off the line and gains speed! He tries to go around the outside of his championship rival to claim 2nd but fails! George Russell swoops in and takes 3rd right from underneath Lando’s nose! But Lando’s unfortunate streak may still continue! Fernando Alonso fights his way to take fourth from the Briton. There goes Fernando! The legendary rookie makes 4th position, but he isn’t done yet! Next challenge for the green Aston Martin, overtake George Russell! He is unsuccessful for the time being, but this is only lap 1! Anything could happen. Charles holds onto the lead.

1 lap later, Max Verstappen passes his former teammate of two races, Liam Lawson, for 8th place! Isn’t it wild to see the reigning world champion so far down on the grid?

In lap 3, Lando Norris receives DRS to pass Fernando Alonso for 4th. He overtakes Fernando nice and easy! Lando to 4th.

In a Chicane that doesn’t get a lot of overtake action, Max goes late on the brakes and passes Lance Stroll for 7th! What a move for the Dutch driver!

16 laps later, Oscar Piastri gets the call to come in for a pit stop. The pit crew has everything handled very quickly, but not before Piastri lost 2 places on the grid, sending George Russell to 2nd and Lando Norris to 3rd.

1 lap later our race lead enters the pit lane. This is a crucial moment for the rest of the race. The best outcome is that the Ferrari pit crew will be able to change Charles’s tires so fast that he doesn’t lose the race lead or quick enough so that he only loses 1 grid spot. The pit crew went for the latter! Leclerc only loses 1 position, sending him into 2nd. Lando Norris is our new race leader! George Russell pits in the same lap but does not have the same luxury. He loses 4 grid spots.

5 laps later, George has gained one place back. He now looks to overtake the Aston Martin of Fernando Alonso for 4th place. He tries to go around the outside, but they almost make contact, forcing the Mercedes to back off a little bit! Over the next couple of laps, George eventually overtakes Fernando, who is yet to pit while George has a fresh set of tires.

In lap 28, Lando’s race engineer lets him know what strategy they’re thinking of taking, which will be a one stop race, meaning he will make a pit stop in the next couple of laps and finish the race on those tires. He asks Lando if he likes this strategy and Lando replies “Yeah! Why not.” What a chill race leader!

Quite a devastating picture is unfolding at the back of the grid. Both world champions, one with 7 titles and the other with 4, are fighting for 11th place. Max Verstappen looks to pass Lewis Hamilton. Max goes around the inside of a particularly fast corner, instead of overtaking Lewis, he forces him off the track because of such close proximity! Hamilton regains his place on the track, but behind Max Verstappen! Max to 11th!

In lap 32, Lando makes his way into the pit lane to initiate the first stage of McLaren’s strategy, a one-stop race! Lando loses three grid spots and Charles takes first!

In lap 41, Oscar’s race engineer tells him to box so he can overtake Charles, but instead of Oscar boxing, it’s Charles who enters the pit lane! He gets pulled down to third. Both Papaya colored cars take up our 1-2 spots! Farther back on the grid, Kimi Antonelli goes late on the breaks and passes Carlos Sainz for 10th! Now Oscar makes his way into the pit lane. Lando and Charles take first and second away from the Man from Melbourne. The gap from Oscar to Lando is 12 seconds.

10 laps later, Oscar Piastri works overtime on straightaways to take 2nd from Charles Leclerc. He dives past the Monegasque and takes 2nd around turn 1!

Starting at the lead of the grid to looking at the back of two McLaren cars, Charles is rightfully upset. He tells his engineers how he feels about it. “This is so incredibly frustrating,” says Charles over the intercom, “We’ve lost all competitiveness. You just have to listen to me, I would have found a different way to handle those issues.” “Now it’s just undriveable. Undriveable. It’s a miracle if we finish on the podium.” With many failed attempts to tell Ferrari that he’s capable and knows what’s best for the car, it’s only a matter of time before he’s had enough and decides to leave the team! Maybe it’s time Ferrari listened to their drivers because clearly their strategies aren’t working out for them!

In lap 61, George Russell goes late on the brakes to try and pass Charles for third but is unsuccessful. He tells his engineers that the way Charles blocked his overtake was “clearly not allowed”, but no investigation takes place.

One lap later, George goes in for round two! He goes around the inside and almost hits Charles! He tells his engineer that Charles needs a penalty because he turned into George during breaking, an investigation is ordered by the FIA. He is able to successfully overtake and claim 3rd, but Charles is all over the back of his Mercedes! Charles attempts to take back his place a few times, but George has DRS, so any move to take 3rd on Charles’s part is an unnecessary effort!

With a total of two laps away from the end of this Grand Prix, a total of 6-tenths of a second separate the lead and second place, but that isn’t the case for long. While on a straight, Oscar gains significant speed to close the gap and have a chance at taking first away from his teammate! Piastri closes the gap and tries to take first, but he locks up and nearly hits the back of Lando’s car, costing Oscar the race lead. Lando gets away!

Lando Norris sees the checkered flag first! Closing the gap in the Driver’s Championship to 9 points, Lando Norris wins the Hungarian Grand Prix! The first time he has ever done so in his Formula 1 career! Oscar Piastri takes home second, securing McLaren a 1-2 before the summer break! George Russell completes our podium, and a sad (and rightfully so!) Charles Leclerc takes 4th. What an entertaining race! Definitely the kind of action we needed before such a long break!

results

Here are the top ten for the 2025 Hungarian Grand Prix.

1. Lando Norris (McLaren)
2. Oscar Piastri (McLaren)
3. George Russell (Mercedes)
4. Charles Leclerc (Ferrari)
5. Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin)
6. Gabriel Bortleto (Sauber)
7. Lance Stroll (Aston Martin)
8. Liam Lawson (Racing Bulls)
9. Max Verstappen (Red Bull)
10. Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes)

Even though it’s very hard to imagine 4 weeks without F1, try to enjoy it! Next on the calendar, The Dutch Grand Prix, Max’s home race. Hopefully he can pull himself together and secure a win for the fans!

*no penalty ended up coming from the George-Charles incident!