It’s another race weekend, and F1 returns to the valley of Mogyoród (close to Budapest) and the Hungaroring for the Hungarian Grand Prix. The 4.4km circuit features 14 highly technical corners, and due to its single short main straight, many drivers have compared it to an oversized go-kart track. There are two challenges: run enough downforce to produce sufficient grip, and find the perfect rhythm to get the most out of the car.
With many different types of corners, from angle to elevation, the Hungaroring is a challenge for any driver in any series, especially the tricky last corner of Turn 14, which can cause a brutal snap of oversteer and lead the driver to spin at any moment. So, let’s get into the excitement.
Qualifying
The name of the game is high downforce, and McLaren has been known to have a fantastic aerodynamic package. The end of Q1 would prove that with Lando Norris topping the charts ahead of the Mercedes of Kimi Antonelli in P2. Another team known for their high amounts of aerodynamic grip is Red Bull, and Max Verstappen ended the session with a hard-driven P3. On the slower medium tire, Lewis Hamilton pulled his Ferrari to P4, with the Red Bull of Isack Hadjar in his wake for P5. The Audi of Nico Hülkenberg seemed to be on rails, delivering an impressive lap time early into qualifying to place himself in P6, ahead of the Mercedes of George Russell in P7. Oscar Piastri had quite an opposite start to qualifying compared to his McLaren teammate, Lando Norris, crossing the line in P8, followed by the Ferrari of Charles Leclerc in P9 and the Audi of Gabriel Bortoleto in P10. The rest to exit Q1: Liam Lawson P11 (Racing Bulls), Arvid Lindblad P12 (Racing Bulls), Pierre Gasly P13 (Alpine), Franco Colapinto P14 (Alpine), Esteban Ocon P15 (Haas), and for the first time this season, Aston Martin made it through to Q2 with Fernando Alonso in P16.
Things started to heat up in Q2, but the top spot remained the same, with Lando Norris continuing his phenomenal pace from the previous session, beating the Ferrari of Charles Leclerc, who would settle for P2. Isack Hadjar found more pace in his Red Bull, climbing to P3, with Oscar Piastri finding a bit of life in his McLaren for P4. Lewis Hamilton dropped off the pace slightly, dropping to P5, with Max Verstappen dropping three positions to P6. Seven seems to be a favourite or lucky number for Arvid Lindblad and his Racing Bull with a P7 lap time, followed by the Mercedes of Kimi Antonelli in P8 and George Russell in P9. Nico Hülkenberg would cross the line to take the final spot to advance to Q3 in P10. Those times wouldn’t hold up, though. Post-session, the stewards hit both Hamilton and Antonelli with three-place grid penalties — Hamilton for impeding Piastri, Antonelli for failing to slow under yellow flags — dropping them to P5 and P7 on the final grid. That promoted Leclerc onto the front row alongside Norris, while Piastri and Verstappen moved up to P3 and P4 on row two, with Russell now ahead of Antonelli in P6.
It was a Lando Norris kind of day — fastest in all qualifying sessions to clinch P1, but just barely, with Lewis Hamilton missing out on the top spot by a measly one-hundredth of a second. The gap between Charles Leclerc in P3 and Kimi Antonelli in P4 was also small, with Antonelli missing it by four-hundredths of a second. Oscar Piastri dropped off a bit to bring his McLaren to P5, closely pursued by the Red Bull of Max Verstappen in P6. It was a tough weekend for George Russell, and the Hungaroring seemed to be getting the best of him in some instances, with Russell pulling P7, followed by Isack Hadjar in P8, Arvid Lindblad in P9, and Nico Hülkenberg clinching the last spot in Q3 for P10.
Race
Five red lights in Budapest, and they’re out! The McLarens of Norris and Piastri had a phenomenal start, and the fight between them was on early. A similar scenario played out behind them with the Ferraris of Leclerc and Hamilton battling it out; we were witnessing McLaren vs. McLaren, Ferrari vs. Ferrari heading into Turn 1. Norris defended beautifully against his teammate Piastri. While the Ferraris were battling for position, Max Verstappen found a gap for his Red Bull and squeezed his way through the middle of Turn 1, moving up from P4 to P3. Piastri was on the attack on Norris, and the pressure caused Norris to make a slight mistake heading into Turn 2, running wide, which let Piastri take the lead with Norris having to defend against Verstappen. Slight contact between Verstappen and Hamilton would give the McLarens some breathing room, but the pack was backing up; Antonelli was within striking distance of both Ferraris, and the fight between Hamilton and Leclerc wasn’t helping.
Pit stops commenced, Hamilton into the pits for new hard compound tires, hoping this strategy would give him the upper hand in passing Verstappen, improving his chances for victory. A beautiful 2.3-second stop, and Hamilton was away. Later in the lap, rapidly catching a slower Racing Bull of Arvid Lindblad, Hamilton made a beautiful pass on the outside of Turn 5, giving him the upper hand in spoiling the pit strategy of Red Bull. Verstappen into the pits, Hamilton working his way through Turn 13, Turn 14, and he was on the main straight. Verstappen had just exited the pit lane as the bright red Ferrari of Hamilton completed the pass, confirming that the strategy of Ferrari was a success.
One lap later, Verstappen wasn’t having it. Travelling down the main straight with a textbook pass on the inside of Liam Lawson for P7, Verstappen decided to go for the gap, and lunged at Hamilton from far back — pulling off a beautiful late braking decision — and overtook Hamilton for P6. Verstappen did have a moment to voice a concern, “I don’t want to complain, but that was, again, [Hamilton] moving under braking.”
Lap 38. Oscar Piastri, still leading the race after jumping Norris at the start, was clearing traffic with his eyes on a maiden win — that was until he ran into lap traffic and the Williams of Carlos Sainz. Blue flags were shown to Sainz that a faster car was coming, but the Williams, unaware of the fast-travelling Piastri on the outside, took the regular racing line and made contact, pushing him into the gravel and nearly ruining his race completely. This contact would cause damage to the front wing of Piastri and compromise his race; later, he would suffer a transmission failure. After pitting from the lead, Piastri had had the pace to secure the victory if the race went his way — which it unfortunately didn’t. While Piastri is usually a level-headed driver, rarely getting upset, his words in the cockpit told a different story. Over the radio, Piastri said, “You can’t be serious. Get out of the way, you fucking idiot. Oh my God.” After the race, Piastri gave his thoughts: “That’s got to be one of the dumbest things I’ve ever seen on a race track, so I don’t really care what excuse he gave.”
A couple of laps later, Lando Norris was in the pits, with Max Verstappen pitting for fresh hard compound tires as well. Four laps later, the McLaren would catch the Mercedes and pull off a Verstappen-esque late lunge into Turn 1. Norris ran slightly wide, giving Antonelli the ability to defend, but Norris would get the job done heading into Turn 2. The call was made on lap 54 to bring in Antonelli to change tires, as Mercedes felt they wouldn’t last on that set, but a vocal Antonelli thought otherwise.
The aforementioned transmission issue for Oscar Piastri would occur on lap 56, bringing out the Virtual Safety Car (VSC), allowing Norris, Hamilton, and Leclerc to pit for fresh soft compound tires, and drive as hard as they can with the most grip possible. Upon pit exit, Kimi Antonelli was ahead of Hamilton on the straight before the white line at the exit of the pit lane, meaning P3 belonged to Antonelli. After some communication between the FIA and Mercedes, Hamilton had to give the position back. After the safety car, Hamilton was on the attack but would fall short to the Mercedes and miss his opportunity at a podium.
It’s victory for the reigning and defending World Champion as Lando Norris crosses the line to claim a well-deserved P1. Max Verstappen, somehow, managed to pull his Red Bull together and add another podium to his resume with P2, and after a battle with the Ferrari of Hamilton, Kimi Antonelli added another podium to the tally for 2026 to come home P3. Lewis Hamilton was running P4, but a five-second penalty for speeding in the pit lane dropped him to P5, promoting Leclerc into P4. Isack Hadjar would finish P6 with George Russell in P7. Liam Lawson, with an impressive comeback, finishes in P8, followed by Nico Hülkenberg in P9, and the last points position going to Arvid Lindblad in P10.
The 2026 Hungarian Grand Prix was a race that combined the excitement of on-track action with the skills and chess match of pit and tire strategy to create a fantastic race from start to finish. I couldn’t think of a better way to head into the summer break. That’s right, F1 isn’t around for the next four weeks as drivers head for vacation, so I’ll be seeing you in the next recap for the Dutch Grand Prix on August 23rd, 2026.
FEATURE PHOTO COURTESY OF FERRARI.
