Hungarian Grand Prix: Piastri – Norris – Hamilton

Sunny. Dry. Air +29C, highway +43C

The Hungarian race is often called boring and sometimes it is. The first half of the season is over, the favorite is known, you just have to go to the finish and go on summer vacation. This time it was different. And the stage was the 13th, and there was a fight in the group of leaders, and the vacation didn’t start for another week.

Fans filled the stands on Friday and on Sunday the apple didn’t fall anywhere. The sky was even covered with clouds so that the spectators and racers wouldn’t be so hot, but the temperature still hovered around +30.

In the first practice Sainz was in the lead, in the second and third practice Norris also won pole. Moreover, Piastri lost only two hundredths to his teammate and McLaren occupied the entire front row of the starting field for the first time since Brazil ’12.

Verstappen and Sainz started from second place, Hamilton and Leclerc from third place.

For the sixth time this season, Pirelli brought a ‘soft’ trio of compounds to the podium: C3, C4 and C5, named Hard, Medium and Soft. In the race, Perez, Russell and Gasly started on Hard, Alonso, Stroll, Albon and Magnussen – on Soft, the rest on Medium.

Before the start, McLaren mechanics were busy resolving problems with the throttle valve on Lando Norris’ car, but they arrived in time.

In the beginning Piastri took the lead. Verstappen left the track and rejoined in second place. Sainz lost three places.

On lap 3 Sainz passed Alonso for sixth place.

On lap 4, Verstappen gave the position back to Norris.

Top Ten in Round 2: Piastri – Norris – Verstappen – Hamilton – Leclerc – Sainz – Alonso – Stroll – Albon – Magnussen.

In the 7th lap Albon, Magnussen and Ocon changed tires, in the 8th – Alonso, Ricciardo and Zhou, in the 9th – Sargent, in the 15th – Stroll – there was a problem with fixing the left front wheel.

On the 17th lap Hamilton and Bottas pitted, on the 18th – Norris.

Returning to the track, Hamilton passed Tsunoda to move up to sixth place.

On the 19th lap Piastri changed tires, on the 21st – Verstappen and Sainz, on the 24th – Leclerc.

At the request of the engineer, Russell let Sainz pass to save his tyres – Carlos was on fresh tyres.

On lap 27, Alonso passed Hulkenberg for 11th place.

On the 29th lap Perez, Gasly and Ricciardo made a pit stop, on the 30th – Tsunoda, Albon and Hulkenberg, on the 31st – Ocon, on the 34th – Russell, Sargent and Gasly.

Top Ten in Round 35: Piastri – Norris – Hamilton – Verstappen – Leclerc – Sainz – Alonso – Stroll – Perez – Tsunoda.

Verstappen attacked Hamilton in the battle for third position, but went off track and remained fourth.

On lap 36, Magnussen changed tires. Gasly pitted with a hydraulic leak and retired from the race.

On lap 38, Zhou and Alonso pitted.

On lap 40, Alonso passed Ricciardo for 12th place.

Leclerc closed in on Hamilton and Verstappen, who were still fighting, but there was no continuation – on lap 41 Lewis and Charles swapped tyres.

On lap 41 Piastri left the track, but maintained his position.

On lap 43, Alonso passed Bottas for 11th place.

On lap 45, Ricciardo passed Bottas for 12th place.

On lap 46, Norris and Stroll pitted, on lap 47 – Bottas, on lap 48 – Piastri, Sainz and Perez, on lap 50 – Verstappen.

The engineer asked Norris to let Piastri pass when it suited him – before that Oscar had helped his partner in a potential battle with Hamilton, but Lando had a three-second lead and did not slow down.

Top Ten in Round 53: Norris – Piastri – Hamilton – Leclerc – Verstappen – Sainz – Russell – Perez – Tsunoda – Alonso.

On lap 54 Russell changed tires.

On lap 56, Stroll passed Ricciardo for 11th place.

On lap 57, Verstappen overtook Leclerc for fourth position.

Verstappen attacked Hamilton, Lewis fought back in the first attempt and on lap 63 Max locked his wheels, contact occurred, after which Verstappen flew off the track, losing two positions, but kept fighting.

Norris was persuaded to let Piastri pass until the end, extending the lead to six seconds, but on lap 68 he slowed down and handed victory to his partner.

Oscar Piastri won the Hungarian Grand Prix, scoring the first victory of his career. Lando Norris finished second – McLaren’s 283rd double victory – and first since the 2021 Italian Grand Prix.

Lewis Hamilton finished the race third and reached the podium for the 200th time in his career.

Next week the battle continues on the track in Spa.

Race results

Best round: George Russell (Mercedes) – 1:20.395 (lap 56)

Reasons for the meetings

Championship Position: Individual Competition

Championship Position: Constructors Championship

Team		Engine	Glasses
=	1. Oracle Red Bull Racing	Honda RBPT	389
	2. McLaren F1 Team	Mercedes	338
	3. Scuderia Ferrari	Ferrari	322
=	4. Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS F1 Team	Mercedes	241
=	5. Aston Martin Aramco F1 Team	Mercedes	69
=	6. Visa Cash App RB F1 Team	Honda RBPT	33
=	7. MoneyGram Haas F1 Team	Ferrari	27
=	8. BWT Alpine F1 Team	Renault	9
=	9.Williams Racing	Mercedes	4