Martin Brundle on the Hungarian Grand Prix results

Former Formula 1 driver and Sky Sports F1 commentator Martin Brundle summarised the results of the Hungarian Grand Prix.

A typically hot weekend in Budapest took its toll on tyres and nerves. Ironically, rain determined the results of qualifying, which took place on slicks – the hot track proved impervious to water and dried out almost immediately.

McLaren’s two drivers – Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri – took up the entire front row, a fraction of a second ahead of Max Verstappen in third, who hit the steering wheel in frustration.

The fast-drying track caught the Alpine team by surprise and a late red flag after Yuki Tsunoda’s crash saw drivers like Fernando Alonso drive into Parc Ferme, unaware that the final two and a quarter minutes before the final qualifying lap were still to come.

Mercedes didn’t refuel George Russell enough laps, Sergio Perez crashed into the barriers again – and both drivers ended up at the back of the grid. Mercedes and Ferrari lacked pace, Aston Martin did well, but not enough to trouble the top four teams. Sunday we had to do 70 laps under the blazing sun.

It is just a stone’s throw from the starting grid to the braking zone at Turn 1 in Hungary. Norris, Piastri and Verstappen were close by. While he was inside, Oscar was able to maintain his position, avoiding contact with his pressing partner, and took the lead.

Verstappen was on the outside and had no space left, he stepped on the gas and shot through the relegation zone to take second place from Norris, which inevitably had to be regained. This was the beginning of a tirade of angry messages from Max that affected his race.

Piastri was calm and fast and created a three-second lead. The leading three were held by Lewis Hamilton in Mercedes and his future teammate in Ferrari Charles Leclerc. After a bad start, Carlos Sainz in the second Ferrari became a virtual bystander.

Hamilton came in on lap 16, Norris on lap 17 and Piastri in the lead on lap 18. Verstappen didn’t change tyres until lap 21 and while Lewis felt he had gone too early, Max felt the team had called him in too late as he had lost track position to Hamilton. Verstappen became very angry and berated his long-suffering engineer and friend Gianpiero Lambiase, as well as the team that had given him all the race wins and three, and perhaps soon four, championship titles.

I always say that with world-class athletes you can’t choose just one thing to like: all qualities come together and are part of success. I like Max as a driver and as a person, I admire his talent, but I would like him to treat the team differently. His legacy should be more athletic, but now we know which two words, consisting of only seven letters, he would answer to this wish.

McLaren could have put Norris in the lead to protect themselves from Hamilton’s early pit stop, as Piastri had a decent lead and would not have been cut off on new tyres. However, in the second stint, as Piastri was building up his lead again, an unpleasant incident occurred on lap 33: the rear of the car skidded in a relatively fast right-hand bend and he drove onto the dirty tarmac.

This, combined with the need to clean the tyres and do a few laps of overtaking, left his team-mate Norris just over a second behind, a key factor in determining the course of events.

Piastri regained his composure, but the moment arrived for the second scheduled pit stop. As per usual procedure, the leading driver should pit first, but McLaren wanted to cover the increasing momentum of Hamilton, who on lap 40 put on a second set of fresh hard tyres and increased his pace.

On lap 45 McLaren first changed tyres on Norris, who was running second, and on lap 47 on Piastri. It was inevitable that Norris would gain enough time over those two laps on fresh tyres to take the lead.

The team was confident they could swap drivers with ease as there was no threat behind them, especially with Hamilton and Verstappen set to battle for position soon.

Norris was comfortably in the lead and refused to change. He ignored calls to slow down to save his tyres and let Piastri pass. Instead, he started arguing that he was fighting for the championship with Verstappen and therefore needed extra points, as he was already 47 points ahead of Piastri on the morning of the race.

Then he said that if Oscar could catch up with him, he would let him pass. The radio conversations became increasingly louder and more insistent until team leader Andrea Stella gave a direct order.

One of the key points of the Formula 1 contract is the obligation to always follow the team’s instructions, and this is a long-standing problem, as in Formula 1 you work as a team, but you race, score points and are judged as an individual.

I have seen many champions hold out and win a race, only to have a scandal hit them – and secretly admire them for having that ‘killer instinct’. But McLaren became a team with a strong work ethic, a calm, professional and methodical approach under the increasingly impressive leadership of Stella. They have changed drivers regularly over the last few seasons and as they told Lando on the radio: you need all of us if you want to be champions.

I wonder what Oscar would do if he had to give up the lead. His manager Mark Webber was part of the infamous Red Bull Multi-21 team order in Malaysia in 2013, when Sebastian Vettel ignored pre-race agreements and instructions during the race.

Lando should have let Oscar pass as soon as he was asked, and then taken maximum opportunities to overtake and take the win.

Hamilton drove a great race to finish third and claim his 200th Formula 1 podium. When he is in a close battle with Max, he has a different program of action, which, as we all know, he has learned with great difficulty. Finally, on lap 63, as they both passed Alex Albon’s Williams, a frustrated Max saw his chance and attacked Lewis, who was already entering the corner.

The contact sent Max airborne, but surprisingly both cars kept going. Max locked his tyres under late braking and lost control, but the stewards said Lewis could have given him more space, so the incident was ruled a racing incident.

Perez moved up to seventh and Russell to eighth, the best they could do from low positions on a circuit where overtaking is difficult.

Interestingly, McLaren now trail Red Bull by just 51 points in the Constructors’ Championship, while Ferrari are 67 points behind, which isn’t all that much when you consider they earn points with two cars every weekend.

Piastri has been in contention for a while now, scoring points in all thirteen races of the season. I’m sure he would have liked to win if it weren’t for a few mistakes and a history of driver changes, but at 23 he is the first Formula 1 race winner born in the 21st century and with such a calm head he has a very clear future indeed.