Lando Norris claimed his and McLaren’s first Grand Prix victory of 2026 in Sunday’s Hungarian Grand Prix, taking the chequered flag ahead of Red Bull’s Max Verstappen and Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli – after mid-race drama and a late retirement for team mate Oscar Piastri.
Polestitter Norris spent the first half of the race in Piastri’s mirrors, having been jumped at Turn 2 on the opening lap – the latter doing just enough to hold onto the lead thereafter, and McLaren resisting Norris’ calls to be ushered through.
However, the intra-team battle was flipped on its head just after the midway point when Piastri – fresh from his second pit stop – encountered traffic in the form of Carlos Sainz in the first sector, and dramatically made contact with the Williams.
That moment, added to Norris’ sublime place in clear air ahead of his own second stop, swung the race in the reigning World Champion’s favour, before Piastri’s day ended in despair thanks to an apparent gearbox problem.
A Virtual Safety Car triggered by Piastri’s stoppage led to more pit lane action, with Verstappen and Antonelli staying out to take second and third respectively, ahead of three-stopping Ferrari pair.
Hamilton had initially emerged from that final stop ahead of Antonelli, only to cede the position after replays showed he had reached the relevant VSC white line at the end of the start/finish straight just behind the Mercedes.
A five second penalty for speeding in the pits ended any hopes Hamilton had of finishing on the podium even if he pressed on and harried Antonelli to the flag, with Leclerc also edging ahead for P4 once the sanction was applied.
The full top 10 are- P1: Norris, P2: Verstappen, P3: Antonelli, P4: Leclerc, P5: Hamilton, P6: Hadjar, P7: Russell, P8: Lawson, P9: Hulkenberg and P10: Lindblad.
What a result for the reigning World Champion! If they said at the beginning of the season that McLaren would’ve got a win before the summer break I think everyone would’ve laughed, but they did it! What an effort from Norris, he got the job done when it mattered the most, now they can go into summer break somewhat happy!
As for his teammate, a BIG shame for Piastri, it looked like it was going to be a podium for him, but it will be interesting to see how he comes back from this after the summer break.
A great result for Verstappen! Made up a couple of spots, in the race and finished the first half of the season. Two podiums in two races, he will be looking forward to the summer break and re-group with the team. As for Hadjar, another P6 for him! His been consistent so far this year, it’s been good to see.
3rd for Antonelli, a decent result for him considering he didn’t have the best of weekend’s like his had previously. He also benefited from the Ferrari’s pitting when the VSC was out – in the end damage limitation.
As for his teammate, Russell, not the best of races for him. A terrible start which saw him drop all the way down to back of the grid, he then had the battle of coming through the field – in the end he finished 7th, good result considering what happened, but it could’ve all been avoided and had a much better result.
4th and 5th for Leclerc and Hamilton, obviously pitting under the VSC wasn’t worth it in the end, as they threw away a podium spot and then Hamilton ended up with a penalty again – so if they didn’t pit it all would’ve been avoided but you live and you learn.
P8 for Lawson, another good race for him in the books, he will be happy with his performance so far this season. And the same goes for Lindblad, who finished in the final points position.
P9 for Hulkenbergggg, points for Audi again and Hulkenberg’s first points again with no penalty added! The team have now jumped ahead of Williams in the standings with just 1 point between them.
Another disappointing weekend for Cadillac – a double DNF for the team – they will be wanting this summer break now to gather all their information from the first half of the season and look at where to go from here.
As for the next race, it is now the summer break, so we have a couple of weeks off due to the shut down – but we will be returning to the Netherlands for the Dutch Grand Prix on the 21st – 23rd August for Round 12!
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