Lando Norris wins in Hungary after McLaren strategy twist, Hamilton penalised

Lando Norris claimed his first victory as F1’s reigning world champion at the Hungarian Grand Prix after adapting his McLaren strategy to take the fight to a fuming Oscar Piastri.

In a slow-burn race, McLaren provided the controversy, Red Bull and Ferrari the battles, with championship leader Kimi Antonelli a late entry into the fight. Max Verstappen and Antonelli joined Norris on the podium.

Lando Norris wins Hungarian Grand Prix

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21 of the 22 drivers lined up on the Hungaroring grid, with the track temperature up to sweltering 55°C.

Lando Norris and Charles Leclerc lined up on the front row, ahead of Oscar Piastri and Max Verstappen. Lewis Hamilton and Kimi Antonelli, who were both penalised three places on the grid for quali infringements, were fifth and seventh with George Russell sandwiched in between. Cadillac’s Sergio Perez started from the pit lane.

Norris made a great start off the line, with Piastri up to second. Make that first as he used a switchback through Hamilton corner to overtake his teammate, who ran wide. Verstappen jumped to third at Turn 3, bouncing a tyre against Hamilton’s tyre, who was ahead of Leclerc. The two Ferraris were the only drivers inside the top ten to start on the soft Pirelli tyres.

Russell dropped from sixth to 21st as he got bogged down off the line: “What happened there?” He was told the car went into anti-stall.

Piastri and Norris inched away from Verstappen, who was under attack from Hamilton, with Leclerc on his teammate’s rear wing. Isack Hadjar was sixth ahead of Liam Lawson and Arvid Lindblad. Fernando Alonso, running 15th, was noted for forcing another driver – Oliver Bearman – off the track. No further action was the verdict.

Russell entered that battle and made short work of both drivers. He went on to overtake Franco Colapinto, Gabriel Bortoleto, Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly to knock on the door of the top ten on Lap 12.

Verstappen, holding onto third ahead of Hamilton and Leclerc, complained to Red Bull: “The damping failure for sure. The car is completely ****ed.” Verstappen added: “Please do something about these shifts. And don’t tell me it’s me shifting later.” Hamilton joined the chat: “Max is really slow.”

Alex Albon, running in 19th place behind his teammate Carlos Sainz, had a big moment into Turn 4, a huge snap before his Williams mounted a kerb and he screamed into the run-off area.

On Lap 13, Hamilton was the first of the frontrunners to the pits and Red Bull responded by bringing Verstappen in a lap later. They were sixth and seventh after their stops with Hamilton ahead. But Verstappen wasn’t having that and went late on the brakes into Turn 1, passing Lawson and Hamilton in one move.

Bottas pulled into the pits on Lap 15 to retire his car, his left front brake on fire. He used the pit lane wall to help him slow down. That put paid to McLaren’s call to pit Piastri. Piastri pitted on the next lap, followed in by Leclerc and then Norris a lap later.

Kimi Antonelli led the race ahead of Hadjar, both still needing to stop, but Piastri, Norris, Verstappen and Hamilton were all right on the Red Bull’s rear wing, with all five drivers separated by two seconds.

Piastri passed Hadjar into Turn 1, and Norris was through at Turn 2. Hadjar then opened the door for Verstappen, and shut it for Hamilton. But he was ahead of the Red Bull driver at Turn 5. Hadjar, having done his job, pitted as too did Antonelli, elevating the McLarens back into the lead.

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Hamilton was again the first frontrunner to pit and came out behind his earlier bollard, Hadjar. He needed a lap to pass the Red Bull driver. Norris wanted to bag in response to Hamilton’s stop, but McLaren kept him out and instead pitted Piastri.

Piastri clashed Carlos Sainz as he went to lap the Williams driver, who was battling an Aston Martin, at Turn 2. Sainz was given a five-second penalty. A lap later Hamilton and Alonso banged wheels at Turn 2 as the Ferrari driver lapped his fellow world champion.

Norris, meanwhile, was on a charge as he led the race ahead of Verstappen and Antonelli. He pitted seven laps after his teammate’s stop, and came out in second place but eight-tenths ahead of his teammate. That quickly increased to two seconds, four, and then six. Piastri was fuming. Norris regained the lead off Antonelli on Lap 46 to lead the Grand Prix.

A slow-moving Perez limped back to the pits to join his teammate Bottas in retirement.

Norris was eight seconds ahead of Antonelli who Mercedes brought the championship leader in for a second stop. A fresh set of soft tyres and he came out P6, five seconds behind Leclerc. It was the latest play in an intriguing late-race tussle with Hamilton catching Piastri, Verstappen catching Hamilton, Leclerc running sixth, and Antonelli catching them all.

VSC! Piastri has slowed on the track. He lost his gearbox out of Turn 1 and it completely died into Turn 2. Norris, Hamilton and Leclerc all pitted. The running order at the restart, Norris, Verstappen, Hamilton, Antonelli, Leclerc and Hadjar. Antonelli complained to Mercedes that he was ahead of Hamilton at the line, Ferrari agreed and Hamilton gave P3 to the Mercedes driver.

Hamilton was given a five-second penalty having been found guilty of speeding in the pit lane. The Ferrari driver continued to chase Antonelli as the two battled their way through backmarkers, Hamilton all over Antonelli’s rear wing.

Norris stormed to the victory, his first Grand Prix win as F1’s reigning world champion, by 15 seconds ahead of Verstappen, with the two enjoying a lonely final stint on their way to the podium. They were joined by Antonelli.

Hamilton’s penalty dropped him behind Leclerc in the classification, while Hadjar was ahead of Russell.

Behind them, the fight for the final points-paying positions saw Lawson and Nico Hulkenberg use their late pit stops to charge their way to eighth and ninth respectively. Lindblad finished tenth.

Hungarian Grand Prix result

1 Lando Norris McLaren
2 Max Verstappen Red Bull +15.0s
3 Kimi Antonelli Mercedes +18.7s
4 Charles Leclerc Ferrari +23.8s
5 Lewis Hamilton Ferrari +24.5s
6 Isack Hadjar Mercedes +55.4s
7 George Russell Mercedes +57.5s
8 Liam Lawson Racing Bulls +1 lap
9 Nico Hulkenberg Audi + 1 lap
10 Arvid Lindblad Racing Bulls +1 lap
11 Gabriel Bortoleto Audi +1 lap
12 Pierre Gasly Alpine +1 lap
13 Lance Stroll Aston Martin +1 lap
14 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin +2 lap
15 Franco Colapinto Alpine +2 lap
16 Esteban Ocon Haas +2 lap
17 Alex Albon Williams +2 lap
18 Carlos Sainz Williams +2 lap
19 Oliver Bearman Haas +2 lap

Oscar Piastri McLaren – DNF
Sergio Perez Cadillac – DNF
Valtteri Bottas Cadillac – DNF

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