Norris fends off Piastri after strategic fight down to the wire
- Meghana Sree
- Aug 3
- 7 min read
Updated: Aug 4
Written by Meghana Sree
Lando Norris wins McLaren's 200th Grand Prix after a pivotal one-stop strategy that gave him the edge over Oscar Piastri's two-stop, while Charles Leclerc lost out on the podium to George Russell.
Formula One makes its final stop before the summer break at the Hungaroring, known for its reputation as ‘Monaco without the walls.’
An electric Qualifying session set the grid for the 2025 Hungarian Grand Prix, with Charles Leclerc sprinting to a shock pole to oust the McLaren pair from their usual front-row lockout.
While the Ferrari driver was all smiles on Saturday, the wrong strategy choice and set-up miscalculations put him out of contention for the win and later, third place too as George Russell picked up the pieces.
Meanwhile, Lando Norris recovered from dropping to fifth in a messy opening lap to steal the win after opting for the more efficient one-stop relative to Oscar Piastri.
Race Report
A frenetic race start saw Leclerc hang on to the lead through Turn 1, while Norris appeared to have a good launch but quickly lost positions to Russell and Fernando Alonso, dropping down to fifth.
While the top two remained intact as Leclerc rapidly built a second’s gap between himself and Piastri, moves were being made further down the field with Gabriel Bortoleto jumping Lance Stroll and Max Verstappen making a straightforward move on the sister team’s Liam Lawson.
Meanwhile, Norris was attempting to salvage his poor first lap, comfortably passing the Aston Martin, but remained held up by Russell, the cooler temperatures favouring the Mercedes throughout the race.
Elsewhere, Ollie Bearman made an early move on Isack Hadjar to gain tenth place, later kicking up gravel that made a painful impact with Hadjar’s hand, the Frenchman complaining over the radio. The bottom of the pack also included the outlier of Lewis Hamilton after a dismal Qualifying, but Sunday didn't seem to be going any better for the Briton either, having dropped down two positions at the start.
Another driver managing a tough race was Nico Hülkenberg, who was noted for moving before the start signal, subsequently collecting a five-second penalty. His teammate meanwhile was perched in a career-best sixth place, only behind his mentor Alonso.
A little ahead, Norris was being hurried on by his engineer to pass Russell, with his hopes of challenging for the win hanging on the line.
Soon after the first ten laps, the airwaves were busy with chatter of a one-stop, particularly on Norris' side, who had to pull out all the stops to save his Grand Prix.
On Lap 14, Franco Colapinto became the first of the backmarkers to trigger the early pitstops, inviting Esteban Ocon and Alex Albon to react as well.
Up front, Leclerc was still doing well to keep Piastri at bay, despite the Australian unleashing his full pace on Lap 17 to chase the Ferrari down. While it quickly became clear for McLaren that waiting for Piastri to close the gap would risk precious time, the order was clear: "Box to overtake Leclerc."
Ferrari had no choice but to respond to the undercut, as the pressure piled on them. Fortunately for the Italian team, a clean two-second stop allowed Leclerc to cover off Piastri, as they maintained track position ahead of the McLaren into Lap 20.
Leclerc's race checklist had almost everthing ticked off at this stage: holding on to the lead at Turn 1 and a clean pitstop under high pressure. What they didn't expect was Norris to be on the better alternative strategy and a dramatic drop in pace in the final moments of the race later on.
His teammate wasn't faring any better, as Hamilton found himself unable to make any moves on Hadjar and Bearman in the final points positions. Hustling him on was former championship rival Verstappen in 12th, who had been one of the early stoppers of the race but was released right in the midst of back markers yet to pit, in a "really terrible" strategy according to the Dutchman.
Verstappen finally got his chance to pass Hamilton around Turn 4, not without a moment of close contact between the champions which was noted by Race Control for investigation but cleared after the race.
While this intense battle was playing out between two drivers in unlikely psitions, further ahead, Russell found himself held up by Alonso who was having a mighty weekend after missing FP1 due to a back muscle injury.
A hairy moment beween the two saw Russell almost brake into Alonso while attempting to get past him, a move that he completed later in the lap.
The race-defining moment arrived on Lap 31, as Norris boxed from the lead for his first and final stop. With a swift 1.9-second tyre change, all Norris had to do now was nurse the hard compound home.
This crucial stop was followed by Leclerc's second stop of the day, after Ferrari reacted to McLaren's radio call to Piastri. However, it quickly became clear that Piastri's true battle was not with the Ferrari, but with his own teammate with the more optimal strategy.
Russell had his own part to play in this battle, who was initially happy to extend his stint but quickly pulled into the pitlane, undoubtedly to the dismay of Leclerc who would've counted on him to hold the McLaren up for longer.
On the other end of the top ten, the rookies were going head-to-head for the final point, with Carlos Sainz in the mix as well. A neat pass for Kimi Antonelli, running the old suspension of the Mercedes, saw him take tenth from Sainz.
While Bearman was running with this gaggle of cars, he reported compromised performance on his car, which was a result of "1% more aero damage than planned for" according to Haas, resulting in his retirement.
With 20 laps to go, the top three order was Norris, followed by Leclerc then Piastri, who had completed his final stop. The Ferrari driver was no match for Piastri's newfound pace on the hards, and was quickly dispatched by the Australian on Lap 51, dropping him into the clutches of Russell.
At this stage, Leclerc was furious with his team for their dramatic reversal of fortunes, unleashing a lengthy rant on the radio stating that they've "lost all competitiveness."
Now driving with frustration, Leclerc tried to hold off Russell with some risky tactics down Turn 1. The Mercedes driver, though vexed by Leclerc's manoeuvres, bided his time and eventually made his way through to take third.
With the final podium place now determined, only the win was up in the air. Piastri was blitzing through the field with purple sectors and quickly chipped away at his gap to Norris in the lead, reeling his rival in.
With five laps to go, just six tenths separated the championship's top two.
It was all set to be a fight down to the wire: Norris on chewed-through hards but with the all-important track position against Piastri with fresher rubber.
With the Hungaroring giving little ability to overtake and Turn 1 being Piastri's only real chance of passing his teammate for the win, the situation was easily in Norris' favour as he soon crossed the line to claim a ninth career win behind Piastri who had run out of laps.
Russell joined in third followed by pole-sitter Leclerc who received a late five-second penalty for moving under braking while defending from Russell.
Alonso in fifth and Stroll in seventh completed a remarkable weekend for Aston Martin, who had been consistently quick since Friday practice.
Splitting the pair was Bortoleto who achieved a career-best finish with P6, making a place up after starting seventh.
The Red Bull family followed in eighth and ninth, although miraculously led by Lawon ahead of Verstappen, after the Red Bull driver was unable to pass the Racing Bulls car in the final moments.
Antonelli rounded out the top ten, scoring his first ever points since his maiden podium back in Canada, completing a positive weekend for the team.
Hadjar dropped down from where he started and only managed 11th, followed by Hamilton, Hülkenberg and the Williams pair after team orders that promoted Sainz to 14th.
Ocon and Tsunoda finished ahead of the two Alpines, Gasly at the lower end of the order after receiving a ten-second penalty late in the race for pushing Sainz off the track.
Championship Standings
Despite another win for Norris, Piastri still clings on to his championship lead but the gap is now down to nine points.
Meanwhile, Verstappen and Russell behind are separated by 15 points.
A brilliant turnaround for Aston Martin sees them leap up to sixth in the Constructors' standings, with Sauber just one point behind.
Key Quotes
Norris now has one more win than the two drivers who started the race ahead of him, and fresh from his ninth victory, he joked: "I’m dead, I’m dead."
The Briton added: "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 [Piastri] 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."
Piastri meanwhile was ruing a missed opportunity to boost his lead, and shared: "Going into the race, we thought a two-stop was the best thing to do and in clean air it potentially still was.
"It is easy now to say a one-stop was the way to go, as one second different and the answer would be very different.
"Some things to analyse with the team, but overall a good day."
Up Next
F1 takes its annual summer break next, and will resume the fight for the Drivers' World Championship in Zandvoort from 29th to 31st August.
Hungarian Grand Prix Results
Lando Norris (McLaren)
Oscar Piastri (McLaren), +0.698s
George Russell (Mercedes), +21.916s
Charles Leclerc (Ferrari), +42.560s
Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin), +59.040s
Gabriel Bortoleto (Sauber), +1m06.169s
Lance Stroll (Aston Martin), +1m08.174s
Liam Lawson (Racing Bulls), +1m09.451s
Max Verstappen (Red Bull), +1m12.645s
Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes), +1 lap
Isack Hadjar (Racing Bulls), +1 lap
Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari), +1 lap
Nico Hülkenberg (Sauber), +1 lap
Carlos Sainz (Williams), +1 lap
Alex Albon (Williams), +1 lap
Esteban Ocon (Haas), +1 lap
Yuki Tsunoda (Racing Bulls), +1 lap
Franco Colapinto (Alpine), +1 lap
Pierre Gasly (Alpine). +1 lap
DNF Ollie Bearman (Haas)
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