Reigning World Champion Lando Norris becomes the fifth driver to win a race in the 2026 season, as the McLaren driver secures an incredible victory in a Hungarian Grand Prix where his teammate Oscar Piastri failed to finish. It was Max Verstappen who was behind in second after a phenomenal drive from the four-time World Champion, while Kimi Antonelli managed to get on the podium from seventh on the grid. Below are the biggest highlights and talking points from the race in Budapest.
- Norris vs. Piastri
- This race was just like old times, as we saw McLaren teammates Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris battle for the lead of the Grand Prix. It was Norris who started on pole, but Piastri managed to overtake his teammate from P3 on the grid after Norris ran wide. From there we had a flurry of radio messages from Norris insisting that he was the faster McLaren, which proved to be the case after the second round of pitstops saw him jump to the lead and build a large gap in front. It was set to be a McLaren 1-2, however Oscar Piastri’s race abruptly ended after he was forced to slow to a halt on the side of the track due to a gearbox issue, bringing out the VSC. So, in the end Norris didn’t have any challengers towards the final laps of a race that was arguably one of the Britain’s best. When racing returns after the summer break, it will be interesting to see if McLaren can continue this impressive run of form and continue to fight for pole positions and race wins.
- Amazing Race for Verstappen
- Max Verstappen started from fourth on the grid thanks to Hamilton and Antonelli serving grid penalties. He was able to jump into P3 at the start, and from there it was a battle with Lewis Hamilton for that last podium position. In the faster car, it seemed like Hamilton should’ve been able to make it past, however it proved increasingly difficult for the eight-time World Champion to find a way past the Red Bull. However, during the first round of the pitstops, it was Hamilton who came out in the lead, before Verstappen went for a brave lunge to overtake the Ferrari driver. From there Verstappen eventually went in to put on soft tires, with the intent to make it to the end. And he did just that, and when a Virtual Safety Car was called due to Piastri, all of his close competitors pitted while he remained on track. Though Norris was able to stay in the lead, Red Bull’s strategy, and Verstappen’s drive, were good enough for the four-time World Champion to secure P2 by the end of the Grand Prix.
- Lapped Cars Bringing Incidents
- We saw lots of cars being lapped this Hungarian Grand Prix, and some of these passes caused lots of drama. The most notable one was the incident between Carlos Sainz and Oscar Piastri, who was in the process of making his way to a race win before contact with Sainz dampened his spirits. Piastri was making his way around the significantly slower Williams car when Sainz seemingly just turned into the McLaren, nearly causing Piastri to lost control of the car and spin off the track. Luckily, he was able to regain control and the damage he sustained was nothing too serious or race-ruining, while Carlos Sainz earned a five-second penalty for the incident. Gabriel Bortoleto was also getting in the way of some front runners, with it taking Lando Norris a while to get past, while Hamilton and Antonelli also ran into the Audi driver on track, though the stewards did not deem it a big enough accident for Bortoleto to get a penalty.
- Russell Losing More Ground in the Championship
- Mercedes wasn’t looking as strong as normal this race weekend, and things didn’t get any better for George Russell on Sunday, when he suffered from an anti-stall from sixth on the grid and tumbled down the order as a result. It took a massive recovery drive from the Mercedes driver to finish in P7 to take home just 6 points, and he remains third in the Championship, now 9 points away from Hamilton in second. He’s also 59 points behind his teammate and Championship leader Kimi Antonelli. The summer break can’t come at a better time for Russell, and he’ll take the time to reflect on what’s going wrong and what’s gone right so that he can come back stronger and bring a real fight to his teammate, and Hamilton as well.
- Highlights from the Midfield
- One standout moment in the midfield from this Grand Prix was Nico Hulkenberg’s drive to P9, and his first points of the season. He’s been outperformed by his younger teammate Gabriel Bortoleto in several races and had yet to put himself on the board in the Championship Standings. However, the first step was getting some points to his name, and now that he’s done so, he’ll go into the break with more confidence and get back to the racing afterwards in a better mindset. Meanwhile, Aston Martin had a race that will bring them the hope that the upgrades are working, and that they’ll see some points finishes in the future. After Fernando Alonso made it to Q2 in qualifying yesterday, both him and Lance Stroll could get some overtaking done and finish in 14th and 13th respectively. If they carry this form through to the Dutch Grand Prix in a month, they’ll be fighting for points before they know it.
hamilton five sec penalty speeding in pit lane
