Five winners, five losers: Hungarian Grand Prix
- Peter Johnson
- Aug 4
- 6 min read
Written by Peter Johnson
The events of the Hungarian Grand Prix certainly divided fans, but which drivers had a Sunday to celebrate and who will be desperate to get to the beach?
Winner - Lando Norris
A disappointing Qualifying and a poor getaway on the opening lap pointed to another potential victory sliding away from Lando Norris, but he executed his contra one-stop strategy perfectly to fend off his charging teammate in the closing stages.
Oscar Piastri, on tyres 14 laps fresher than his championship rival, closed to within a second in the final throes of the race but could not deny the Briton a ninth career victory.
Norris, who after his crash at the Canadian Grand Prix appeared to be letting the championship slip away, has now won three of the last four races to close to within nine points of the Australian.
Given the current momentum of the pair, there is every chance Norris will be in the better frame of mind during the summer break.
Winner - Fernando Alonso
The veteran Spaniard marked his birthday weekend with his best result since the 2024 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix some 36 races ago, which proved to be the highlight of the weekend for a resurgent Aston Martin.
Crossing the line in fifth, Alonso’s fifth points finish in six races was a significant factor in the Silverstone team’s vault up to sixth in the Constructors’ Championship, leapfrogging Sauber and Racing Bulls.
Winner - Gabriel Bortoleto
Finishing just one place behind his manager Alonso was Gabriel Bortoleto, quietly bringing himself into the conversation for Rookie of the Year with his best career finish of sixth.
Three points finishes in his last four races when combined with the recent heroics of Nico Hülkenberg mean that Sauber have now scored points at each of the last six Grands Prix, the Swiss outfit’s best run since an eight-race scoring streak from the US Grand Prix in 2018 to the Azerbaijan Grand Prix in 2019.
While it could be interpreted as a stick with which to beat Red Bull, it is also hugely to Bortoleto’s credit that he out-qualified Max Verstappen, before disappearing up the road in the race. It almost defies belief given the teams’ respective performance since the introduction of these regulations that a Sauber would be legitimately quicker than Max Verstappen’s Red Bull.
The team may have been jumped this weekend by Aston Martin in the Constructors’ Championship, but Bortoleto has come of age over the last few races and will reflect on the first half of the season with immense pride.
Winner - Liam Lawson
It has been a roller-coaster opening 14 races of the season for Liam Lawson, but he has arrived at the summer break on a high.
With three points finishes in the last four races, the New Zealander is quickly reeling in teammate Isack Hadjar, who now sits just two points ahead in the Drivers’ Championship.
Winner - George Russell
Toto Wolff began the Hungarian Grand Prix weekend denying that Mercedes had held any crisis talks, having been on a barren run of results since the team’s double podium in Canada.
To the rescue came George Russell, who returned to his early-season tricks of running a fairly anonymous race and finding himself on the podium.
The Mercedes driver was possibly unlucky only to qualify fourth, having set a time just a tenth shy of fastest man Charles Leclerc. His fortune on Sunday, however, came at the expense of his Monégasque rival, with an overtake on the ailing Ferrari in the closing laps to steal third place.
2025 has been a strange season for Mercedes, who almost seem in a post-Lewis Hamilton and pre-new regulations transition period. Russell, however, has been one of the star performers of the campaign so far and enters the summer break on a high.
Loser - Oscar Piastri
The final stages of the Hungarian Grand Prix were a huge opportunity for Oscar Piastri to make an enormous statement in the Drivers’ Championship.
With tyres that were 14 laps fresher and an enviable pace advantage, he had multiple opportunities to pass Norris and snatch victory. However, his desperate lunges into Turn 1 did not cut it, and he may have been wise instead to set up an overtake into Turn 2.
Piastri’s racecraft has been the envy of the field this season, but a little more patience was surely in order in his quest to pass his teammate and exact a 14-point swing in the championship.
It is of course no disaster to be nine points clear in the standings as Formula One heads into its summer break, but the opportunity was there to move almost a full race victory clear.
The momentum is firmly with Norris currently and Piastri may need to come out swinging at Zandvoort to reassert some authority.
Loser - Ferrari
In a generally underwhelming season for Ferrari, the Scuderia headed into the summer break with the most disastrous weekend of the lot in 2025.
Lewis Hamilton improved on his showing in Belgium to progress to Q2, but made it no further despite only being a tenth down on his struggling teammate.
While he cut a desperate figure in the media pen, describing himself as “useless” and positing that maybe Ferrari should “change the driver”, somehow, and it is unclear if anybody has yet understood how, Leclerc went on snatch to pole position and gave Ferrari a ray of hope on Sunday.
Come race day and Hamilton, on a similar strategy to that of race-winning Norris, was unable to advance from twelfth.
Meanwhile, Leclerc led from the start before being jumped by the one-stopping Norris and passed by the charging Piastri. Third place would still have been a decent return, but reliability issues in the closing laps saw George Russell wrench a podium finish from Leclerc’s grasp.
It was the most anticlimactic of Sundays after the shock and jubilation of Saturday, at least from the Monégasque’s side of the garage.
Seven-time world champion Hamilton said there would be “tears” over the summer break, while Leclerc and the rest of the Ferrari team will surely also engage in some deep self-reflection.
Loser - Red Bull
The argument that the Red Bull package is now legitimately slower than that of the sister Racing Bulls team is becoming more difficult to dispute.
Max Verstappen could muster no better than eighth place in Qualifying, meaning he started directly ahead of both Liam Lawson and Isack Hadjar, who were just one tenth and two tenths slower respectively.
Yuki Tsunoda, meanwhile, once again failed to escape the clutches of a Q1 elimination, and went on to finish the race in 17th, a lap down on the leaders.
With just seven points from his first 14 race weekends with Red Bull, he has been very fortunate to escape the criticism levelled at his predecessors.
Verstappen’s Sunday was even worse than his Saturday, coming home in ninth and three seconds behind Racing Bulls’ Lawson, who beat him fair and square across the full race distance.
Laurent Mekies will be enormously relieved to have the summer break ahead of him to try and get his new house in order.
Loser - Williams
Prior to the Hungarian Grand Prix, Carlos Sainz described his season so far as “incredibly frustrating and very disappointing.” It is unlikely his verdict will have changed over the weekend, qualifying in 13th and finishing 14th.
Alex Albon had a similarly miserable time, qualifying slowest and progressing only to 15th on Sunday.
Williams’ season is in serious danger of falling away following the summer break. Collecting 51 points from the first seven rounds, the Grove outfit was sitting comfortably in fifth place in the Constructors’ Championship.
In the seven races since, they have mustered only 19 more points, with Aston Martin and Sauber in particular beginning to rein them in.
Loser - Haas
It was a weekend to forget for Haas, who went a third straight race without collecting any points.
Oliver Bearman, who had finished 11th in four consecutive races, qualified in that position but was unable to challenge for the points and was ultimately the race’s only retirement.
Esteban Ocon, meanwhile, qualified 18th and could only improve to 16th on Sunday.
At no point this season have Haas had consistent pace, but they have been competitive on several occasions. They are on a barren spell currently, though, and they are finding themselves being left behind while rivals such as Sauber, Aston Martin and Racing Bulls are showing clear improvements.
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