Lando Norris won the Hungarian Grand Prix after taking advantage in an absolutely gripping, tense strategic battle to pull off a one-stop coup for McLaren and beat his teammate Oscar Piastri into second by just seven-tenths of a second after an extraordinary, dramatic finale that went to the wire.
George Russell was third for Mercedes and Charles Leclerc fourth for Ferrari, with Fernando Alonso fifth for Aston Martin. Lewis Hamilton could manage only 12th for Ferrari after he endured a poor qualifying.
Norris won after a bad start saw him drop places and he was forced to take a counter one-stop strategy, where his rivals all opted for two stops. It meant he was chased down hard at the end by Piastri on fresher tyres but as the pair vied furiously in the final five laps, Norris emerged on top and has closed the gap to his title rival Piastri to just nine points.
After the huge disappointment and frustration with himself when he misjudged a move against Piastri that resulted in hitting his teammate and was forced to retire in Canada, he followed it up with a consummate win in Austria and then Silverstone and is on something of a roll. Not only is it his first win in Hungary but now his third in four races and absolutely vital in his closely-fought title fight with Piastri.
Heading into the F1 summer break firmly on the front foot is the perfect preparation for the holidays but the British driver might feel he would rather race on while he is on form, with his fifth win this year.
Leclerc had held his lead from pole into turn one but Norris fell backwards, after looking to go up the inside but he had to back off and dropped to fifth, behind Russell and Alonso. It was a crucial moment.
Passing in dirty air through the relentless sequence of corners, Leclerc was able to take advantage, swiftly opening a two-second lead on Piastri. Norris did make a place back, passing Alonso on lap three, however he clearly had little chance against the other three cars in front.
Piastri pitted on lap 19 looking for an undercut on Leclerc. He charged on his out lap and Leclerc covered it off a lap later. Ferrari pulled off a superb two-second stop – the joint fastest of the season – and he emerged still just in front of Piastri, while Norris stayed out, with McLaren considering the chance of him pulling off a one-stop strategy.
Max Verstappen meanwhile, vying for 11th place, went at Hamilton at the inside of turn four, in what was an impossibly optimistic move, forcing the British driver off the road to avoid an accident. The incident is to be investigated after the race.
Norris pitted on lap 31 leaving him 39 to make it to the end on his new hard tyres and with a very quick stop he emerged in fourth, 19 seconds behind Leclerc, Piastri and Russell who all had to stop…
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