Lando Norris secured his first Grand Prix victory as the defending Formula 1 world champion with an eventful drive from pole at the Hungaroring. It secured three wins in as many years for McLaren at this circuit, though their bid for another one-two finish fell apart when Oscar Piastri pulled over in the latter stages with a broken gearbox.
Lewis Hamilton was expected to be a major threat but it never quite happened for the Ferrari man whose podium dream was killed off in the latter stages by a pit lane speeding penalty. That left Kimi Antonelli free to complete his recovery to third while Max Verstappen was second despite hating every second of driving his Red Bull.
Opening lap chaos
Qualifying positions went largely out of the window on the opening lap: Pole-sitter Norris was overtaken by Piastri, Charles Leclerc slipped from second to fifth behind his team-mate Hamilton, and both those Ferraris ended up falling behind Verstappen. But the biggest loser was George Russell, whose Mercedes went into anti-stall and bogged down on the grid, dropping him more than a dozen places from his starting position of sixth.
He was back up to 12th by lap 10 but already 17 seconds behind team-mate Antonelli, having lost time while fighting through slower cars. Neither Mercedes looked sparkling at the Hungaroring, and the championship leader was stuck in sixth, having been dropped by the Ferraris ahead who were making a meal out of getting past Verstappen.
Ferrari undercut and Verstappen's move
Ferrari pulled the trigger on lap 14, bringing Hamilton into the pit lane in a bid to undercut Verstappen. It worked a treat despite Hamilton spending a few corners stuck behind a slower Racing Bulls, clearing it in time and putting his foot down to ensure Verstappen emerged behind him when the Dutchman stopped a lap later.
But Hamilton looked caught napping the following lap when Verstappen launched an audacious move up the inside from miles back into turn one and got it done spectacularly. "Well, that was quite special," race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase told the Red Bull racer over the radio.
Mercedes strategy and Piastri's drama
Mercedes extended Antonelli's first stint, perhaps looking to switch to a one-stop strategy, and pulled him in seven laps after Piastri had stopped to give the teenager a decent tyre offset. He quickly set about closing the gap, setting the fastest lap on the new hard tyres.
At the front, Piastri was being helped by Norris having a messy race. On three separate occasions within the first half of the Grand Prix, Norris ran quite wide to take the pressure off his team-mate, despite seeming to have more pace than Piastri.
The key moment came after Piastri pitted when he clashed with the Williams of Carlos Sainz, who got in his way when he should have moved out to be lapped. They collided, and while it didn't seem to do significant damage to the McLaren, it cost Piastri a couple of seconds, opening the door for Norris to walk through when he pitted and emerged ahead in the net lead of the race.
Piastri's retirement and Hamilton's penalty
It all unravelled completely for Piastri a couple of laps later when his gearbox gave up. The virtual safety car came just after Antonelli had pitted, so he stayed out on hards while the Ferraris pitted for softs, moving the Italian up to third but putting him in the crosshairs of Hamilton.
But that threat was neutralised by a five-second time penalty given to Hamilton for speeding in the pit lane – his second punishment from the stewards this weekend after a three-place grid drop for impeding Piastri in qualifying. From there, the podium places were set, with Norris comfortably winning from Verstappen and Antonelli third.
