Month: August 2025

Lando Norris takes victory in the Hungarian Grand Prix beating his McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri thanks to a single pitstop strategy.

The McLaren driver absorbed the big pressure and attacks from Piastri late in the race at Turn 1, one featuring a lock-up for the championship leader, but held on to convert a somewhat risky strategy – one arguably made possible by a difficult opening stint.

Piastri had run to a two-stop strategy in an effort to beat polesitter Charles Leclerc, who preserved the lead off the starting line and maintained it through the opening stint of the race. The Ferrari driver also been running to a two-stopper, with the rear-limited nature of the circuit expected to impose a heavy load on the tyres.

By comparison, Norris got a poor start to the race. Although the first stage of his getaway allowed him to gain on teammate Piastri, he was boxed in at the opening braking zone – thus, both George Russell and Fernando Alonso used the open outside line to gather more momentum and clear Norris into Turn 1.

Norris passed Alonso two laps later, but struggled to break down Russell. Having been on for third at best on the same two-stop strategy, Norris extended his stint and took the one-stop offered to him, pitting at the end of lap 31 – with the expectation that those ahead would need to pit again.

This proved to be the case, as Leclerc made a second visit to the pitlane on lap 40 for another set of hards, prompting McLaren to attempt to extend for more offset with Piastri’s tyres. Thus, Piastri stopped five laps later, giving the championship leader the opportunity to push the Ferrari driver.

But Leclerc was struggling at this stage. A race-long argument with his team over pre-race procedures eventually boiled down to Charles been angry and blaming his team for “losing competitiveness” through the stint. Piastri passed him for second on lap 51, and began his own chase towards Norris.

Over the next ten laps, Piastri reduced away at his teammate’s lead. The two were separated by almost nine seconds when Piastri cleared Leclerc, but this quickly fell to set up a late battle between the pair.

And, with five laps to go, Piastri was within DRS range, having caught up during the late-race traffic, and filled his teammate’s mirrors. He got close at the start on lap 68, and then went for a dive on the next lap – but locked up and had to go slightly wide into the opening corner.

Without enough momentum in the final lap, Piastri had to settle for second as Norris went across the finishing line with a margin of 0.698 seconds gap.

Behind the McLarens was George Russell, who managed to get by an aggressive Charles Leclerc. The Mercerces driver finished over 21 seconds behind the Papaya, underlining the competitive order between the McLarens and the other race cars.

Charles Leclerc received a five-second time penalty for moving under braking in his attempt to stop Russell getting by. To finish fourth is a disappointment after starting on pole.

Taking fifth is Fernando Alonso, finishing ahead of his protege Gabriel Bortoleto. The remaining points scorers are Lance Stroll, Liam Lawson, Max Verstappen and Andrea Kimi Antonelli.

So a tense finish to the race between the Papayas and yet Lando Norris did a solid job in managing his tyres after going with a single stop. More points in the constructors’ championship with McLaren scoring a 1-2 result.

The 2025 Formula 1 season now takes a summer break so the next racing action will be the Dutch Grand Prix in three weeks time.

Hungarian Grand Prix, race results:
1 Lando Norris McLaren 1:35:21.231
2 Oscar Piastri McLaren +0.698s
3 George Russell Mercedes +21.916s
4 Charles Leclerc Ferrari +42.560s
5 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin +59.040s
6 Gabriel Bortoleto Sauber +66.169s
7 Lance Stroll Aston Martin +68.174s
8 Liam Lawson Racing Bulls +69.451s
9 Max Verstappen Red Bull +72.645s
10 Andrea Kimi Antonelli Mercedes +1 lap
11 Isack Hadjar Racing Bulls +1 lap
12 Lewis Hamilton Ferrari +1 lap
13 Nico Hulkenberg Sauber +1 lap
14 Carlos Sainz Williams +1 lap
15 Alexander Albon Williams +1 lap
16 Esteban Ocon Haas +1 lap
17 Yuki Tsunoda Red Bull +1 lap
18 Franco Colapinto Alpine +1 lap
19 Pierre Gasly Alpine +1 lap
Oliver Bearman Haas DNF

Charles Leclerc will start the Hungarian Grand Prix in pole position after taking a surprising P1 for Scuderia Ferrari, beating the favourites McLaren in qualifying.

The Papaya had led both Q1 and Q2 by some margin, and Lando Norris had set a time of one minute, 14.8 seconds in the intermediate stage – but neither of them got anywhere close to that pace in their final runs in Q3.

Leclerc, meanwhile, produced a time of one minute, 15.372 seconds on his final attempt to take provisional pole, but both McLaren drivers went slower in the opening sector; Norris improved slightly to ensure he got closer to Oscar Piastri, but the championship leader could not improve, due to the change in wind direction.

Despite missing out on pole, Piastri will join Leclerc – who was evidently surprised by the result over the team radio – on the front row, while Norris has George Russell alongside him on the second row as the cooling conditions ensured Mercedes was in the mix.

Aston Martin impressed and secured fifth and sixth on the grid. Fernando Alonso was briefly ahead of Norris before the McLaren driver did his final lap, and was just 0.109 seconds off Leclerc’s pole pace. Lance Stroll lines up behind him, ahead of Sauber’s Gabriel Bortoleto, who made Q3 for the third time in four races.

Max Verstappen could only find a time good enough for eighth on the grid, marginally ahead of Liam Lawson and Isack Hadjar, who completed the top ten.

Lewis Hamilton was the biggest elimination in Q2 – the Ferrari driver ended the first runs of the session in P11, but had seemingly got himself into the top ten with his second effort.

But his time of one minute, 15.702 seconds was beaten by a series of drivers behind him, and was pushed further down the grid order when Verstappen and Bortoleto improved late on in the session.

Their laps also pushed Andrea Kimi Antonelli and Oliver Bearman out of the reckoning for Q3, as the Mercedes driver complained of no rear end. He qualified P11 for the race, with Bearman P12 and Hamilton P13.

Carlos Sainz and Franco Colapinto swapped places late on, but never posed a real threat to break out of Q2.

Lawson dropped Yuki Tsunoda out of Q1 at the final moment, even though the Red Bull driver was less than 0.2 seconds off teammate Verstappen.

Tsunoda was joined by Pierre Gasly in the drop zone, who was out-qualified by Colapinto for the second time this season. Esteban Ocon had been troubled by a loose screw embedded in the surface of his right-front tyre and only qualified P18 for Haas.

Nico Hulkenberg and Alexander Albon will provisionally occupy the final row on the grid. The latter looked to have a distinctly loose Williams underneath him, and was beaten handily by teammate Sainz in the session.

So a surprising pole position for Charles Leclerc. The Ferrari driver admitted he will not be that competitive compared to the McLarens at the Hungaroring, and yet Charles managed to qualify on pole. It will be interesting if he can stay in front of the Papayas as the McLaren is faster.

Hungarian Grand Prix, qualifying results:
1 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1:15.372
2 Oscar Piastri McLaren 1:15.398
3 Lando Norris McLaren 1:15.413
4 George Russell Mercedes 1:15.425
5 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin 1:15.481
6 Lance Stroll Aston Martin 1:15.498
7 Gabriel Bortoleto Sauber 1:15.725
8 Max Verstappen Red Bull 1:15.728
9 Liam Lawson Racing Bulls 1:15.821
10 Isack Hadjar Racing Bulls 1:15.915
11 Oliver Bearman Haas 1:15.694
12 Lewis Hamilton Ferrari 1:15.702
13 Carlos Sainz Williams 1:15.781
14 Franco Colapinto Alpine 1:16.159
15 Andrea Kimi Antonelli Mercedes 1:16.386
16 Yuki Tsunoda Red Bull 1:15.899
17 Pierre Gasly Alpine 1:15.966
18 Esteban Ocon Haas 1:16.023
19 Nico Hulkenberg Sauber 1:16.081
20 Alexander Albon Williams 1:16.223