NASCAR on TV this week
Lando Norris Wins a Closely Fought Hungarian Grand Prix
(Photo by Rudy Carezzevoli/Getty Images)

Lando Norris Wins a Closely Fought Hungarian Grand Prix

by

Lando Norris won the Hungarian Grand Prix on Sunday (August 3), holding off a late-race challenge from his McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri. George Russell took third place, followed by Charles Leclerc, who suffered from some set-up problems in the second half of the race.

“It was tough. We weren’t really planning on a one-stop in the beginning, but after the start, it was kind of our only option,” Norris said after the race. “I didn’t think it would get us the win, I just thought we would get second. I think we’re so tightly fought, momentum is on anyone’s side.”

Fernando Alonso came in fifth, followed by Gabriel Bortoletto in sixth in the Kick Sauber. Lance Stroll ended a strong weekend for Aston Martin to take seventh, with Liam Lawson, Max Verstappen, and Kimi Antonelli rounding out the top 10.

A lower downforce setup allowed Leclerc to take advantage of changeable wind conditions during the final phase of Saturday’s qualifying, putting him on pole for the race. Piastri joined Leclerc on the front row, having narrowly bested teammate and championship rival Norris, who started from third.

A long run into the tight turn one has been the scene of many first-lap overtakes in Hungary, something that both McLaren drivers were aware of as they took to the grid.

Leclerc, Piastri, and Norris all had a good start, but Norris positioned his car poorly into the first corner, losing two places to Russell and Alonso.

Leclerc took advantage of clear air to build a gap of around three seconds by the sixth lap, while Norris had already regained one position from Alonso. Further back, Bortoletto was running in sixth position, surviving a stewards’ investigation for jumping the start.

Despite closing to within one second of Russell’s Mercedes, Norris was struggling to get close enough for the pass, which was potentially compromising his first pit stop.

As the race entered its 15th lap, Haas and Williams were the first teams to stop, calling in Esteban Ocon and Carlos Sainz, respectively. Two laps later, Verstappen also stopped from seventh, hoping to take advantage of the undercut.

As Leclerc began lap 19, Piastri stopped for new hard tires, giving him an opportunity to undercut. Leclerc pitted one lap later and re-entered the track just 1.4 seconds ahead of Piastri.

Yet to stop, Norris was now leading the race, but much older tires were losing him as much as one second per lap to Leclerc and Piastri.

On lap 29, Leclerc began complaining about some “things” that had been discussed before the race, claiming, “we are going to lose this race.”

Much further back in the pack, Verstappen was challenging Lewis Hamilton for 11th place, something that would have been unthinkable one or two years ago.

Norris finally pitted on lap 31, the McLaren team suggesting that he would run to the end of the race with just one stop. Almost 18 seconds, or a full pit stop behind the leaders, this strategy set up an interesting end to the race.

On lap 41, the McLaren pit crew came out, suggesting they would call in Piastri for his second stop. Ferrari was forced to counter by calling in Leclerc, while Piastri remained on track to take the lead of the race.

Five laps later, Piastri also stopped for a new set of hard tires. Now around five seconds behind Leclerc, and 12 seconds behind Norris, Piastri had some work to do to win the race. Both Leclerc and Piastri were on much fresher tires than Norris.

On lap 51, with 19 laps remaining, Piastri made a clean pass on Leclerc into the first corner, giving him the space to chase down his teammate.

The better grip on newer tires allowed Piastri to begin closing the gap to Norris by as much as eight tenths per lap, meaning he would be within striking distance with approximately five laps to go.

Despite having four laps to try and pass, Piastri was unable to do so, giving the win to Norris and the 200th grand prix victory for McLaren.

Donate to Frontstretch

Peter Molloy began following Formula 1 during the 1985 Australian Grand Prix. He cheered for a certain Ayrton Senna, who was driving the same black and gold colors as a toy F1 car that Pete had been given. Pete continued to be a fan of Senna throughout his childhood. Fast forward many moons, and Peter now combines significant journalistic experience with decades of watching F1 to cover the latest on-track and off-track action.

Get email about new comments on this article
Email me about
guest

2 Comments
Newest
Oldest Most Voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
2
0
Add to the conversation with a commentx
()
x