McLaren Wins Again in Formula 1 with Norris, and Verstappen Finishes Second in Hungary

Lando Norris and McLaren scored their first victory of the 2026 F1 season at the Hungarian Grand Prix, a result built on the second round of pit stops that left Oscar Piastri out of the race with a gearbox failure. The Australian had defended the lead from the first lap, when he passed Norris at Turn 2, but lost the position to his teammate after getting caught in traffic and losing time with contact against Carlos Sainz. Max Verstappen finished second in a Red Bull that had mechanical problems from the start, and Kimi Antonelli completed the podium to extend his championship lead.

Photo By Mclaren

Ferrari arrived at the Hungaroring with the confidence of having dominated Friday practice, when Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc led FP2 in an SF-26 that suited the medium‑ and low‑speed corners. That advantage evaporated before the start due to qualifying penalties. Hamilton lost three places for impeding Piastri in Q3, Antonelli lost three more for not respecting yellow flags, and as a result the Briton started fifth and the Italian seventh. Ferrari opted for soft tyres for both drivers at the start, a gamble that did not pay off. Hamilton attempted an undercut early in the race that left him trapped in traffic, and a pit‑lane speeding penalty cost him five seconds, dropping him to fifth place at the finish. Leclerc, who moved up to fourth, reported temperature problems in his car during the second half of the race.

Photo By Mclaren

Norris had insisted over the radio throughout the first half of the race that he was faster than Piastri, but McLaren kept the positions until traffic and pit stops tipped the balance. On lap 39, Piastri got stuck behind Sainz, and contact between them exiting Turn 2 cost him valuable time. Norris, who had extended his second stint to build a tyre advantage, emerged from the pit lane ahead and took control of the race.

Piastri's retirement with the gearbox failure triggered a Virtual Safety Car that Norris used to switch to soft tyres and pull away in the final stint, managing a lead that grew to over fourteen seconds over Verstappen.

Verstappen never had the pace to fight for the win, but second place felt like a major reward after a race in which he reported suspension failures and gear‑shift issues from the early laps, the same problems he had mentioned in Friday practice. Red Bull put soft tyres on his car for the final stop, and the Dutchman held off Antonelli, who was charging from seventh on the grid with a two‑stop strategy and very strong pace on hard tyres. Antonelli left Hungary with 219 points in the championship, extending his lead over Hamilton and George Russell. Russell also had to fight from the back after anti‑stall left him stationary at the start and dropped him to 19th place; his recovery to seventh place was one of the few consolations for Mercedes.

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Aston Martin arrived at Hungary with the biggest update of its season, a package of 16 new components that included a revised floor, deflectors, diffuser, rear suspension, and modified brake ducts — the first major revision of the AMR26. Fernando Alonso had already said on Friday that the main goal was to understand the new package rather than chase immediate results, and the weekend ended with a mixed bag. Lance Stroll broke his left‑rear suspension in FP1 and missed all of FP2, leaving Alonso as the team's sole representative in the second practice. In qualifying, Alonso made it into Q2 and qualified 16th, something he had not achieved for several races. Stroll was eliminated in Q1 and started 20th. Sunday's race ended with both Aston Martins in 13th and 14th place, ahead of the Haas and Williams cars, in the team's best performance of the season. Alonso left Hungary with the certainty that the AMR26, for the first time in 2026, is pointing in the right direction.

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The retirements of the Cadillacs added more concerns to a team already carrying reliability problems. Sergio Pérez retired on lap 48 with a left‑front suspension failure, an issue he had already suffered in Canada and that Graeme Lowdon, the team principal, had then described as "easily preventable". Valtteri Bottas stopped earlier with brake overheating, the same cause that had put him out in Austria and that had also affected Pérez that weekend. The smoke that appeared on Bottas's brakes as he drove through the pit lane in Hungary confirmed that the problem persists. Isack Hadjar was sixth in the second Red Bull, and Liam Lawson, Nico Hülkenberg and Arvid Lindblad closed out the points‑scoring positions. The next round on the calendar is the Belgian Grand Prix on August 30, after the summer break. Norris and McLaren arrive with the certainty that the MCL40 can sustain its pace against its rivals on high‑downforce circuits.

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Hungarian Grand Prix - Race

Pos.	No.	driver	team	time
1	#1	Lando Norris	McLaren	-
2	#3	Max Verstappen	Red Bull Racing	+15.080s
3	#12	Kimi Antonelli	Mercedes	+18.728s
4	#16	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	+23.840s
5	#44	Lewis Hamilton	Ferrari	+24.540s
6	#6	Isack Hadjar	Red Bull Racing	+55.488s
7	#63	George Russell	Mercedes	+57.503s
8	#30	Liam Lawson	Racing Bulls	+1 LAP
9	#27	Nico Hulkenberg	Audi	+1 LAP
10	#41	Arvid Lindblad	Racing Bulls	+1 LAP
11	#5	Gabriel Bortoleto	Audi	+1 LAP
12	#10	Pierre Gasly	Alpine	+1 LAP
13	#18	Lance Stroll	Aston Martin	+1 LAP
14	#14	Fernando Alonso	Aston Martin	+1 LAP
15	#43	Franco Colapinto	Alpine	+2 LAPS
16	#31	Esteban Ocon	Haas F1 Team	+2 LAPS
17	#23	Alexander Albon	Williams	+2 LAPS
18	#55	Carlos Sainz	Williams	+2 LAPS
19	#87	Oliver Bearman	Haas F1 Team	+2 LAPS
DNF	#81	Oscar Piastri	McLaren	-
DNF	#11	Sergio Perez	Cadillac	-
DNF	#77	Valtteri Bottas	Cadillac	-