Hungary for Victory

The Hungarian Grand Prix

Article by Finley Ever

The last race before the summer break, Hungary has seen victors speed across its track every year since its debut in 1986. Last year, soon to be World Champion Lando Norris took the top step, followed by Oscar Piastri and George Russell.

The Grid

Lando Norris
Charles Leclerc
Oscar Piastri
Max Verstappen
Lewis Hamilton
George Russell
Kimi Antonelli
Isack Hadjar
Arvid Lindblad
Nico Hulkenberg
Liam Lawson
Pierre Gasly
Franco Colapinto
Gabriel Bortoleto
Esteban Ocon
Fernando Alonso
Oliver Bearman
Carlos Sainz
Alex Albon
Lance Stroll
Valtteri Bottas
Sergio Perez

The Start

Once the five red lights went out, the Aussie in third wasted no time to gain positions! Oscar Piastri quickly passed Charles Leclerc, and then Lando in the first lap! For the man who had such prospects of winning the WDC last year to next to nothing in 2026, this is the type of enthusiasm we like to see!

Charles Leclerc didn’t have the best launch off the line, resulting in him getting passed by Oscar, Max, and Lewis in the first lap. And while his fans may be disappointed at this, Charles was most likely relieved, not because he lost three places, but because he wasn’t involved in the on-track drama between Max and his teammate, Lewis Hamilton, in the first lap. Competing for third, Lewis and Max, both seasoned world champions, slightly bumped into each other! Max prevailed in the moment, though, taking third.

George Russell, who started 6th after a power down during qualifying yesterday, followed up his Saturday misfortune with more on Sunday. When the five red lights went out, so did his anti-stall, resulting in his immediate dropping to the back of the grid. Thankfully, he was able to make up quite a number of places.

The sneak attack

In lap 15, Max Verstappen pitted from 3rd on the grid. When Max reentered the race, he came out just behind Lewis Hamilton. In the next lap, Lewis passed Liam Lawson ahead for 6th position, and then out of nowhere, Max sneaked up and quickly cleared both Liam and Lewis!

A series of stops

Lap 31, Lewis Hamilton pitted for a second time with a stop time of 2.4 seconds.

Lap 34, the lead of the race, Oscar Piastri, pitted. Sending Lando Norris back into first, moments after he told his race engineer that he was miles quicker than Oscar, and if he got out front, he would clear the nearest car by 10 seconds. Once Oscar got called to the pits, Lando did exactly that, quickly building a large gap to Verstappen in second.

Carlando bias?

In lap 38 of 70, Oscar Piastri went to work clearing lapped cars. While it should be no work with the rule of the blue flag, which means that lapped cars need to get out of the way, Oscar had quite some trouble with his teammate’s ex-teammate and off-grid bestie, Carlos Sainz. Carlos, miles behind the lead car, was battling with an Aston Martin and either didn’t see the blue flag and Oscar in his rearview mirror, or he purposefully ignored it to favor Lando for the win. Regardless of the true reason, Oscar bumped into the side of the Williams, which made him lose out on a couple seconds.

Pitstops for the lead

In lap 40, Lando Norris pitted from the lead, sending Max and Kimi into first and second. Crucially, Lando’s pit stop was extremely fast, so when he exited the pit lane, he came out right ahead of his teammate who already stopped, changing the leading McLaren from Oscar back to the British Champion.

Lap 42, Max Verstappen pitted from the lead, and through to first went Kimi Antonelli, the leader of the WDC this year. 4 laps later, Lando Norris got tired of looking at the back of the Mercedes. He made a late lunge on Kimi to take back the lead of the race.

In lap 54, Kimi Antonelli, second, was called into the pits for a new set of tires. He objected over his intercom, believing he could go until the end of the race with his current tires, but the Mercedes team disagreed. He reentered the race in 6th.

The breaking point

After a race so strongly fought for 56 laps, Oscar Piastri’s gearbox gave out, forcing him to pull over on the side of the track from 2nd position, sending out the virtual safety car. What a devastating race this was for Oscar. From taking the lead from his teammate to interference from back grid drivers, this is certainly a race Oscar will want to forget.

Both Lando and Lewis, in first and second, took advantage of the VSC to get fresh tires, pretty much securing the win for Lando. Lewis came out of the pit lane at the same time Kimi came around the corner. Lewis took third, but upon review, Kimi made it to the apex first, so Lewis gave the final podium position back to the Italian.

Lewis then received a five second time penalty later on for speeding in the pit lane.

Victory for the Champion

His first race win as reigning world champion in 2026, Lando Norris wins the Hungarian Grand Prix with a 15 second gap to Max Verstappen in second! What a victory for Lando. He confirmed early on to his race engineer that if he was out front and away from the dirty air, he would prosper, and that’s exactly what he did! Luckily, he didn’t break the trophy this time around! He guarded it from the champagne before popping his own bottle to spray in celebration.

Results

Lando Norris
Max Verstappen
Kimi Antonelli
Charles Leclerc
Lewis Hamilton
Isack Hadjar
George Russell
Liam Lawson
Nico Hulkenberg
Arvid Lindblad
Gabriel Bortoleto
Pierre Gasly
Lance Stroll
Fernando Alonso
Franco Colapinto
Esteban Ocon
Alexander Albon
Carlos Sainz Jr.
Oliver Bearman
Oscar Piastri (DNF)
Sergio Perez (DNF)
Valtteri Bottas (DNF)

Today’s race really proved that Lando deserved his 2025 championship as well as showed the importance of correct pit stop timing! Now, unfortunately, we have a two-week lockdown, where teams can’t make improvements to the cars. Lando commented after the race that he intends to use his two weeks off to sleep! Hopefully he gets plenty of rest before we go racing in Zandvoort!