03/08/2025 16:51
Lando Norris defied Oscar Piastri to win the Hungarian Grand Prix
in a thrilling finish between the McLaren drivers. At the start,
Norris had dropped down to P5 behind Charles Leclerc, Piastri,
George Russell and Fernando Alonso, but was quickly able to pass
the Aston Martin but not the Mercedes of Russell. It meant he was
switched onto a one-stop strategy to try and create an off-set to
Piastri, who was engaged in a fight for the lead with Leclerc.
Piastri stopped on lap 19 in an unsuccessful undercut on Leclerc,
with Norris finally stopping on Lap 31, with Piastri staying on the
two-stop, pitting again on Lap 46. It meant Piastri would have to
pass Leclerc and Norris to win the race, with Leclerc easily
dispatched as his race fell apart. Piastri carved great chunks out
of Norris, lunging on Lap 68 at Turn 1 but ultimately fell 0.698s
short of his team-mate at the flag. It means Norris cuts Piastri's
championship lead to just nine points heading into the summer break
after scoring the 200th victory for McLaren in F1 having completed
41 laps on the same set of hard tyres. Russell finished third
after overtaking Leclerc with eight laps to go, with the Ferrari
picking up a time penalty for an excessive move whilst defending.
At the start, Leclerc held the lead from Piastri, with the fast
starting Russell and Alonso muscling past Norris, who slipped to
fifth. The Briton quickly passed Alonso with DRS on Lap 3, but
more forward progress was not possible, with Leclerc holding about
a three-second lead over Piastri as strategy questions arose.
Piastri pitted to try the undercut on Leclerc on Lap 19, but the
Ferrari comfortably held position after replying next time around
as Norris began to consider the one-stop. After taking the lead
through the stops, Norris stayed out until Lap 31 to build an
offset, switching to the hards and rejoining in fourth. Leclerc
pitted again on Lap 40 in a McLaren dummy after calling Piastri in,
with Piastri stopping on Lap 46, leaving him the Ferrari and sister
McLaren to pass to win. He quickly dispatched Leclerc who branded
his car "undriveable", leaving him 19 laps to make up 8.9s.
Piastri carved away, but ultimately fell 0.6s short as Norris took
his ninth career win and McLaren's 200th win in F1 as Russell
completed the podium. Leclerc was fourth, ahead of Fernando
Alonso, Gabriel Bortoleto, in a career-best sixth, Lance Stroll in
seventh, Liam Lawson in eighth, Max Verstappen ninth and Kimi
Antonelli in 10th. Verstappen investigation Verstappen's ninth
place is under investigation following an incident with Lewis
Hamilton midway through at Turn 4. Verstappen barged past the
Ferrari, who was on the contra-strategy of a hard-medium. Hamilton
finished 12th, behind Isack Hadjar, with Nico Hulkenberg, Carlos
Sainz, Alex Albon, Esteban Ocon, Yuki Tsunoda, Franco Colapinto and
Pierre Gasly rounding out the finishers. Only Ollie Bearman
retired, on lap 48 having sustained major rear floor damage.
