Norris cruises to victory in Hungary from Verstappen and Antonelli, Piastri retires from second

Credit: Formula One

Lando Norris took his first victory of the 2026 season in Hungary, in an eventful race that saw Oscar Piastri lead the race for much of the distance before contact with Carlos Sainz, a backmarker, compromised his chances of victory and a later, a reliability issue ultimately took him out of the race.

Max Verstappen and Kimi Antonelli complete the podium, Antonelli doing well to avoid bleeding points to his championship rivals who both had disastrous Sundays. Lewis Hamilton lackec pace and later received a five-second time penalty for speeding in the pitlane, and managed only fifth. Meanwhile, Russell's tough luck continues as anti-stall at the race start saw him drop like a stone to the back of the grid, and from then on it was a damage limitiation drive for Russell who could only salvage seventh.

Here's how an exciting Hungarian Grand Prix panned out.

Race Report

As the tyres were revealed, the top 10 were all on the medium tyres barring the Ferrari pair, Charles Leclerc on used softs and Lewis Hamilton on a new set.

Norris got a steady getaway, as did Piastri and Verstappen, with Leclerc dropping to fifth on the used softs. Meanwhile, the misery continued for Russell who had anti-stall at the start and dropped down to 21st on the opening lap.

At the sharp end of the field, Norris went wide which opened the door to Piastri to take the lead. The order into Lap 5 was headed by the Australian driver followed by Norris, Verstappen, Hamilton, Leclerc, Kimi Antonelli, Isack Hadjar, Liam Lawson, Arvid Lindblad and Nico Hülkenberg.

Meanwhile, Russell was focused on a damage limitation drive, climbing up to 14th by Lap 7. 

The top 10 order remained undisturbed into Lap 10 of 70, as Piastri had built a 1.3-second lead to Norris. Behind the Papaya pair, Hamilton was hunting down a heavily frustrated Verstappen with an unbalanced car. “Max [Verstappen] is really slow”, reported Hamilton over the radio.

On Lap 14, Hamilton was the first to blink, swapping his softs for hard tyres. Meanwhile, Leclerc continued on his used soft tyres. Verstappen’s camp reacted immediately, with Hamilton managing to stay ahead of the Red Bull driver.

Meanwhile, the Cadillac of Valtteri Bottas was ordered to retire after yet another case of their brakes going up in flames. 

Verstappen came roaring back with an overtake down the inside of Turn 1 on Hamilton, undoing Hamilton’s efforts to stay ahead of the Red Bull driver. 

The cycle of stops continued with Piastri, Leclerc and Norris also stopped one after the other, with Piastri staying ahead of Norris after their respective stops.

By Lap 20, Antonelli was in the lead having not stopped yet, with Hadjar pitting that lap after trying to hold back Hamilton to play the team game and assist Verstappen but not managing to keep the Ferrari at bay.

Antonelli stopped on Lap 23, taking the hard tyres for his next stint, promoting Piastri back to the race lead. Into Lap 25, the top 10 was occupied by Piastri, Norris, Verstappen, Hamilton, Leclerc, Antonelli, Russell, Hadjar, Gabriel Bortoleto and Fernando Alonso.

Of these drivers, Russell, Bortoleto and Alonso were yet to stop, the Mercedes driver recovering to the points-paying positions after a disastrous start.

Over at Ferrari, Leclerc was keen for team orders, running in fifth behind Hamilton but on fresher hard tyres. Another team battle was gaining traction, this one one that Hungary is familiar with — Piastri vs Norris, the Briton within a second of Piastri.

On Lap 28, Mercedes called Russell in for his first stop, who rejoined the fray in ninth ahead of Lawson. The following lap, Norris ran wide into Turn 4, kicking up some dust and quickly recovering, but losing his sub-one-second gap to Piastri.

On Lap 30, Hamilton took his second stop of the day, just as Leclerc appealed to his race engineer for a different strategy, struggling on the hard compound. Piastri was soon informed of Hamilton’s decision and was urged to push harder out front, but the Australian driver relayed that his car was “super inconsistent” on his current compound.

Meanwhile, Norris was another driver eager for a strategic change, asking his team whether he can pit but being met with pushback. Piastri was the driver who McLaren called into the pits instead, while Norris had to resort to pulling a tyre offset to Piastri instead of pitting.

The top three after Piastri’s stop were Norris, Verstappen and Leclerc. Leclerc took his second stop on Lap 37, which promoted Antonelli to third.

The following lap, Piastri had contact with the backmarker of Carlos Sainz’s Williams. The Australian driver was understandably furious and relayed a colourful message over the radio over Sainz not heeding the blue flags, his race now compromised as Norris took that moment to make his stop and rejoining the track well ahead of Piastri.

On Lap 41, Oliver Bearman had a spin but managed to recover. A lap later, Verstappen boxed for used soft tyres to carry him to the chequered flag. At this stage, Antonelli was in the lead, with Norris in the net-win position right behind him. 

Antonelli put up a fight against Norris but on his 23-lap old hard tyres, was no match for the McLaren driver who sailed past him into Turn 2 for the race lead.

As Norris checked out for the race win, Sainz was handed a five-second time penalty for the race-defining incident with Piastri. With 20 laps to go, Antonelli was yet to pit. 

On Lap 52, Sergio Pérez had started to move slowly on track after a faulty front-left suspension, pulling into the pits to record a double retirement for Cadillac.

Two laps later, Antonelli finally boxed despite wishing to go for a one-stop and took the hard compound, dropping to sixth just ahead of Russell. 

On Lap 57, Piastri’s day went from bad to worse as a gear box failure struck the Australian driver who stopped on track at Turn 3, necessitating the Virtual Safety Car (VSC). Norris, Hamilton and Leclerc boxed under the VSC as Verstappen and Antonelli stayed out.

Hamilton rejoined the track ahead of Antonelli, but after replays showed the Mercedes driver at the white line first, Hamilton relented to giving the position back to the championship leader.

With 10 laps to go, the top 10 was led by Norris cruising off into the distance followed by Verstappen, Antonelli, Hamilton, Leclerc, Hadjar, Russell, Lindblad, Lawson and Hülkenberg. 

Traffic became a headache for the frontrunners soon, as Bortoleto hindered Antonelli and brought Hamilton closer while giving Verstappen up ahead some breathing space.

It was yet another blow to Hamilton’s race as he was handed a five-second penalty for speeding in the pitlane. 

Further back, the drivers in the last of the points were engaged in a scrap of their own, which saw Hülkenberg take ninth from Lindblad. 

As the chequered flag fell, Norris took a dominant victory from Verstappen and Antonelli. Leclerc moved up to fourth with Hamilton’s penalty applied, the Briton dropping to fifth, while Hadar, Russell, Lawson, Hülkenberg and Lindblad completed the top 10 for the Hungarian Grand Prix.

Up Next

We head to F1’s month-long summer break following this round, with the Dutch Grand Prix next on the calendar from 21st to 23rd August. Antonelli enters the break with his eyes already on the prize, while Hamilton and especially Russell will both be seeking a much needed reset before the second part of the season.