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F1 Review: Lando Norris Starts Slow, Finishes Strong, Tops Oscar Piastri In Riveting Hungarian GP as Charles Leclerc Faded
(Photo by Rudy Carezzevoli/Getty Images)

F1 Review: Lando Norris Starts Slow, Finishes Strong, Tops Oscar Piastri In Riveting Hungarian GP as Charles Leclerc Faded

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Lando Norris overcame a shaky start and gambled on a one-stop strategy, then closed the deal by rejecting Oscar Piastri’s late charge to capture a huge win in the Lenovo Hungarian Grand Prix at the Hungaroring on Sunday (August 3rd). Norris’ win leaves him just nine points behind Piastri in the drivers standings, and served as a massive momentum shift as Formula 1 heads into the summer break. The win was McLaren’s 200th F1 triumph.

“I’m dead, I’m dead,” Norris responded when asked what it was like holding off his teammate. “It was tough, it was tough. We weren’t really planning on the one-stop at the beginning, but after the first lap, it was kind of our only option to get back into things. It was tough. The final stint with Oscar catching, I was pushing flat-out. My voice has gone a little bit. But good, rewarding, even more because of that – the perfect result today.”

Mercedes’ George Russell was a distant third, with Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, who started on the pole and looked dominant for two-thirds of the race, finishing a highly disappointing fourth. Leclerc was hit with a five-second time penalty for erratic driving as he battled Russell, an infraction borne mostly out of frustration, as the Ferrari driver saw a possible win evaporate into thin air, which is often where Ferrari strategy ends up.

Fernando Alonso led a resurgent Aston Martin effort, as the Spaniard took fifth while Lance Stroll complemented that finish with a seventh of his own. Sauber’s Gabriel Bortoleto was sixth, with Racing Bulls’ Liam Lawson in eighth, one spot ahead of Red Bull’s Max Verstappen. Kimi Antonelli closed out the points-paying positions with a 10th. 

In the driver standings, Piastri leads Norris 284 to 275, with Verstappen third with 187 points.

An “embarrassment of riches” is how one would describe McLaren’s lead in the constructors standings, with the “riches” being McLaren’s 299-point lead, and the “embarrassment” being the other nine teams in the standings. McLaren has 559 points, with Ferrari a very distant and barely visible second with 260, 24 points ahead of Mercedes in third.

The Race

Leclerc held serve on the start as Norris took a bad line and lost two spots, with Russell and Alonso outgunning the McLaren on the start. It was an ideal start for Leclerc, and a very less-than-ideal one for Norris, who was now in line to lose more ground in the championship fight to Piastri.

Leclerc’s lead was over two seconds over Piastri by lap four, with Norris regaining a spot to fourth by passing Alonso. 

Piastri, now three seconds behind Leclerc on lap nine, was asked by his team if a one-stop strategy was possible. Piastri was non-committal, an understandable answer considering 61 laps remained. Meanwhile, Norris was charging and now eyeing Russell in third, and seemed to have the pace to attack his teammate when and if he cleared Russell.

With the decision to employ a one or two-stop strategy approaching, the pressure was on Ferrari to not only make the right decision, but also to ace the pit stop for Leclerc once that decision was made. Ferrari’s history of botched strategy calls likely weighed heavily in Leclerc’s mind. 

In related Ferrari news, Hamilton was stuck in 14th behind Antonelli, fittingly the driver who replaced him at Mercedes. Hamilton was, however, the highest-running car on hard tires and was committed to a one-stop strategy, so the opportunity to drastically improve his standing was in the cards.

Verstappen pitted for a set of soft tires on lap 18, intending to undercut Bortoleto. Piastri was in a lap later, bolting on a set of hard tires in an attempt to undercut Ferrari. The ball was now in Ferrari’s court, and they responded by calling in Leclerc on lap 19. Ferrari nailed a 2.0-second start for hard tires and emerged well ahead of Piastri. Advantage Ferrari, for now.

Norris assumed the lead and McLaren briefly considered leaving him out and gambling on a one-stop strategy. Behind him, Leclerc continued to display his car’s dominance, easily building a comfortable gap over Piastri. 

Norris pitted on lap 32 for hard tires and emerged fourth, and set off in an attempt to catch Russell and possibly snatch a podium, and maybe more, depending on how well Leclerc, Piastri, and Russell managed their tires and upcoming pit stops.

Up front, Leclerc was managing a near-two second edge over Piastri, and Ferrari was in position to win the race, a position which, as recent history has shown, would make fans of the Scuderia very nervous and pessimistic.

Leclerc pitted for another set of hard tires on lap 41, and now his battle was now with the other McLaren of Norris, who was about seven seconds ahead of Leclerc. Piastri stayed out after his pit crew made it look like he was coming in. If McLaren was trying to influence Ferrari decision-making, for whatever reason, Ferrari took the bait. 

Russell pitted on lap 44, and Norris moved into second as McLaren now ran 1-2, with Norris nine seconds behind Piastri. Piastri pitted on lap 46, and the McLaren was out quick with a 1.9 second stop. Piastri came out in third, 12 seconds behind Leclerc in second. As it turned out, McLaren’s “dummy” ploy worked, as Piastri was now on newer tires that he would use to attack Leclerc.

Now, Norris’ advantage was track position, with Leclerc and Piastri relying on a fresher tire advantage. With 22 laps left, the race was potentially heading to a crescendo in which three drivers were battling for the race win, possibly four if Russell could find some magic. That battle ultimately was a battle of McLaren’s, with Leclerc and Russell unable to contest the McLaren pace. 

Leclerc, in third, was frustrated with Ferrari’s strategy, which now left him vulnerable to Russell and missing a podium finish altogether. Obviously, Leclerc’s Ferrari was much stronger in clean air, and Ferrari had been outsmarted again, strategy-wise.

Piastri was quickly narrowing the gap, with his McLaren expected to be right on Norris’ tail with five laps left. Leclerc was giving it his all to keep Russell at bay, but it seemed only a matter of time before the Mercedes struck. And it happened with eight laps left as Russell made his play for a podium finish.

Norris ran into lapped traffic, and that helped Piastri move into DRS range with five laps left. Should Norris hold on, he’d just be nine points back of Piastri in the drivers standings; a Piastri win would make that margin 23 points.

Piastri locked up in a lunge into Turn 1 with a lap to go, giving Norris a little room. Piastri would have one more shot into Turn 1 on the final lap, but Piastri wasn’t close enough to make a move as Norris maintained a solid margin. 

Norris held on, taking the checkered flag by .7 seconds for a massive win heading into the summer break.

The Good

Aston Martin has languished in or near the back of the field for most of this season. That changed in Hungary, where the team was a force in qualifying, with Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll qualifying fifth and sixth, respectively, on Saturday (August 2nd).

They backed it up in the race, with Alonso and Stroll coming home fifth and seventh, respectively. Aston Martin brought some front wing and nose upgrades to Belgium last week. Still, the benefits of such were evident more in Hungary, as the higher-downforce Hungaroring circuit suited those upgrades more. 

It remains to be seen whether Aston’s performance continues to improve at such a rate, but it’s nice to see an infusion of performance for the team, as opposed to merely an infusion of cash.   

Racing Bulls’ driver Liam Lawson started ninth and improved one place during the race to finish eighth, which was one spot ahead of Max Verstappen and nine spots better than Yuki Tsunoda. Lawson has scored points in four of the last seven races; in those same seven races, Tsunoda has scored…..(checks notes on bad Red Bull driver changes)….zero points. 

You would think Lawson has the performance, and the grounds, to call for a reversal of Red Bull’s decision in March to replace Lawson with Tsunoda at Red Bull. But considering Lawson’s results since then, and with Red Bull’s struggles that even a four-time world champion can’t even overcome in mind, Lawson might just like to stay where he is. But it would be cool to see Red Bull make the offer, and have Lawson reply with an official press release that reads simply “Nah. I’m good.”

The Bad

What is the F1 world coming to when seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton calls for his own driver change, and four-time champion Max Verstappen says Red Bull won’t win another race this season? And those comments were made well before Verstappen finished ninth in Sunday’s (August 3rd) race, the Dutchman’s third-worst result of the season, and Hamilton came home 12th, which was his first race out of the points all season. 

Ride-height concerns for Hamilton’s SF-25 have been a mystery all year, but is the situation in Hungary a “new low?” Awful pun intended. And Hamilton’s pain of Q3 elimination was no doubt magnified by his Ferrari teammate Charles Leclerc winning the pole in ostensibly the same car. 

Of course, Hamilton insinuating a driver change is pure hyperbole; you could say Hamilton’s is “going nowhere” and be accurate on several counts. A driver change is not what Hamilton needs. I’m not a doctor, but what I would prescribe for Hamilton is an attitude adjustment, and maybe a long, hard look in the mirror. 

And with Verstappen recently announcing his decision to remain with Red Bull, it now seems he’s stuck in a Red Bull, not only for the remainder of this season, but future seasons as well. When this season concludes on December 7, Verstappen could soon look for some folklore-ish Christmas entity to offer a gift that eases his mind about his decision to stay with Red Bull. Or a request to that lesser-known, yet arguably more effective Christmas spirit, some call him “Escape Claus,” could very well deliver Verstappen a solution.

Just under four years ago, Hamilton and Verstappen were battling in Abu Dhabi for the world championship. Oh how the mighty have fallen; the two were indeed battling again in Hungary, this time, sadly, for 11th. As was the case then in Abu Dhabi, the scrap in Hungary came with controversy, as Verstappen was investigated for forcing Hamilton off the track. This time, unfortunately for Verstappen, the investigation did not result in him being gifted a world championship. 

Grid Walk Moments

Let’s cut right to the chase: Martin Brundle ended the Hungary “Grid Walk” with a chat with Guns ‘N Roses lead singer and reformed loose cannon Axl Rose, who was serving as honorary checkered flag waver, a duty which was apparently a surprise to Axl. Let’s be thankful it’s the 2025 version of Rose waving the checkered flag as opposed to the 1980s-1990s version of Rose. That earlier version of Rose would have never made it to the end of the race: 1) sober, or 2) without assaulting someone, or 3) without slandering or suing his bandmates.  

For a first-time checkered flag-waver, Rose did an excellent job. You could say today’s Rose had an “Appetite For Instruction.”

Brundle complimented Rose on his wardrobe, saying he’d like to be introduced to Rose’s stylist. Someone make that happen, and said stylist can introduce Brundle to a pair of tight-fitting, black leather pants, a chest-bearing black shirt, black boots, some cool shades, a thick gold chain or two, and about 75 bracelets, and demand that he perform the “Grid Walk” at Zandvoort on August 31st in that outfit.

The Driver

Norris made all the right moves in the second half of the race, and if the season ends with a Norris championship, he may very well look back on his performance in Hungary as the turning point in the season. 

Norris’s poor start cost him two positions on the start, down to fifth from third, and oddly enough, if Norris had not had such a poor start, McLaren likely wouldn’t have opted for the one-stop strategy that played a large role in his win. Norris was running fourth when McLaren strategists tossed out the suggestion, and at the time, it was a “what have we got to lose” suggestion. Once implemented, it became a “what have we got to win” strategy.

But strategy alone didn’t hand the win to Norris; the hard part was defending against Piastri, who had a significant tire advantage due to his two-stop strategy and later final pit stop. But Norris held firm and fought off Piastri for five laps, all while Piastri was within DRS range. Piastri could only muster one real dive for the lead, but he locked up under braking into Turn 1 with one lap to go. It’s a good thing Piastri locked his brakes; otherwise, he would have plowed into Norris and likely taken both cars out. That would have been a better outcome for Piastri, although the mood at McLaren would have been significantly more tense afterwards. Had they collided, Piastri would have publicly labeled it an accident, while privately saying the act had “purpose.”

Piastri didn’t get close on the final lap, and Norris took the win and chopped seven points off Piastri’s championship lead. 

The Results (Lenovo Hungarian Grand Prix, Hungaroring)

POS.NO.DRIVERTEAMLAPSTIME / RETIREDPTS.
14Lando NorrisMcLaren701:35:21.23125
281Oscar PiastriMcLaren70+0.698s18
363George RussellMercedes70+21.916s15
416Charles LeclercFerrari70+42.560s12
514Fernando AlonsoAston Martin70+59.040s10
65Gabriel BortoletoKick Sauber70+66.169s8
718Lance StrollAston Martin70+68.174s6
830Liam LawsonRacing Bulls70+69.451s4
91Max VerstappenRed Bull Racing70+72.645s2
1012Kimi AntonelliMercedes69+1 lap1
116Isack HadjarRacing Bulls69+1 lap0
1244Lewis HamiltonFerrari69+1 lap0
1327Nico HulkenbergKick Sauber69+1 lap0
1455Carlos SainzWilliams69+1 lap0
1523Alexander AlbonWilliams69+1 lap0
1631Esteban OconHaas69+1 lap0
1722Yuki TsunodaRed Bull Racing69+1 lap0
1843Franco ColapintoAlpine69+1 lap0
1910Pierre GaslyAlpine69+1 lap0
NC87Oliver BearmanHaas48DNF0
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