– Lando Norris (McLaren) won the Hungarian Grand Prix at the Hungaroring on Sunday, Race 11 of the 2026 Formula 1 season, securing his first victory as reigning world champion (Chronology: 2026 Hungarian Grand Prix at the Hungaroring).
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Norris started from pole, but spent the first half of the race behind his leading McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri. The decisive moment in the fight for victory came when Piastri collided with Williams driver Carlos Sainz while lapping him. Later, Piastri even retired completely with a gearbox failure.
Max Verstappen (Red Bull) finished second behind winner Lando Norris. Championship leader Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes) finished third, further extending his lead in the overall standings.
Key points
Result: Hungarian Grand Prix
Championship Standings: Current Overall Standings
Photos: 2026 Hungarian Grand Prix
Ticker: Paddock live with Ruben Zimmermann
With an air temperature of almost 30 degrees Celsius and sunshine, the Hungarian Grand Prix covered a distance of 70 laps. Championship leader Kimi Antonelli and his closest pursuer Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari) both incurred grid penalties in Saturday’s qualifying. Hamilton started the race from P5 after a three-place grid drop, and Antonelli from P7 after a three-place grid drop of his own.
Piastri takes lead from Norris shortly after the start
At the start, polesitter Lando Norris got away best. He entered Turn 1 ahead of teammate Oscar Piastri. Just a few meters later, however, Norris lost the lead. While he took a wide line into Turn 2, Piastri moved past on the inside and took the lead.
Max Verstappen returned from the first lap in third place after a slight touch with Lewis Hamilton. The contact occurred at the exit of the Hamilton corner (Turn 2). Hamilton himself was fourth after the first of 70 laps, followed by his Ferrari teammate Charles Leclerc and Kimi Antonelli.
Russell only in P18 after first lap
Leclerc didn’t have a good start from the front row, but at least a significantly better one than George Russell from the third row. The Mercedes driver had a very poor getaway from his sixth starting position and was only noted as 18th after the first lap.
Regarding the tires in the first stint of the race, Ferrari drivers Hamilton and Leclerc had opted for the red-marked Soft compound, while everyone else in the leading group chose the yellow-marked Medium compound.
In the entire 22-car field, there were six drivers who started the race on Soft tires. Apart from the Ferrari duo, these were Gabriel Bortoleto (Audi), Carlos Sainz (Williams), and Aston Martin drivers Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll.
Verstappen surprises Hamilton shortly after pit stop
On lap 13, Lewis Hamilton, from fourth in the field, was the first to pit. He switched from Soft tires to the soft-marked Hard compound. The seven-time world champion returned to the track in ninth place, but immediately passed rookie Arvid Lindblad (Racing Bulls) in Turn 5 (Mogyorod).
Max Verstappen also pitted early, on lap 14. This temporarily dropped the four-time world champion behind Hamilton. But just two laps later, Verstappen managed to overtake Hamilton with a surprise attack in Turn 1. “That was something very special,” praised Verstappen’s race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase over the radio.
After the McLaren duo Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris also pitted for the first time, and the internal team order remained unchanged, Kimi Antonelli, who started from P7, led the race for a few laps.
Russell with longest first stint after botched start
At the same time, George Russell quickly worked his way forward from his initial 18th position. Championship leader Antonelli pitted for the first time after 22 laps, handing the race lead back to Oscar Piastri.
At the start of the second stint, the entire leading group was on Hard tires. Piastri had a lead of just under a second over teammate Lando Norris. Max Verstappen was third, almost five seconds behind Piastri, followed by Lewis Hamilton, Charles Leclerc, Kimi Antonelli, and George Russell.
Russell had gained 11 positions in the first good 20 laps – partly through his own overtakes, partly through competitors’ pit stops. On lap 27, Russell, running in seventh place, made his first pit stop as the last driver to do so. He only lost two positions, to Isack Hadjar (Red Bull) and Audi driver Gabriel Bortoleto.
Lewis Hamilton was again the first to pit for service during the second round of pit stops, on lap 30 of 70. No changes were made to the setup, and there was no change in tire compound either: from used Hards to fresh Hards.
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Norris takes lead from Piastri, who collides with Sainz
At the front, Lando Norris maintained direct contact with his leading McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri. At the same time, Max Verstappen was closing in on Norris from behind. After a good 30 laps, the Red Bull driver was less than two seconds behind the McLaren duo. However, this was mainly due to traffic. In the following laps, Verstappen’s gap increased significantly again.
Leader Piastri was the first of the two McLaren drivers to make his second pit stop on lap 33. After this stop, the Australian rejoined the field in fifth place, directly ahead of Hamilton. A few laps later, the decisive moment in the team duel occurred.
While lapping Carlos Sainz, Piastri had a slight collision with the Williams driver. Sainz had driven directly into Piastri’s path at the exit of Turn 2, and the McLaren driver could not avoid contact. Sainz received a five-second time penalty.
Lando Norris, as the leader, pitted on lap 39. And after this stop, the Briton returned to the track directly ahead of teammate Piastri. Thus, there was a change in position among the McLaren drivers. The collision with Sainz contributed to Piastri losing valuable tenths of a second in this phase of the race.
Max Verstappen, as the temporary leader, made his second pit stop on lap 41 and switched to Soft tires. Kimi Antonelli only pitted on lap 53 and had fresh Hard tires fitted. By this time, as the (again) temporary leader, he had long been overtaken on track by the freshly-tired Lando Norris.
Piastri out with gearbox failure in second place
The starting situation in the top 5 at the beginning of the third stint was: Lando Norris on Hard tires ahead of Oscar Piastri on Hard tires, Lewis Hamilton on Hard tires, Max Verstappen on Soft tires, Charles Leclerc on Hard tires. Kimi Antonelli, also on Hard tires, was sixth after his late second pit stop.
It was noticeable that Piastri could no longer match Norris’s pace after the collision with Sainz. 15 laps from the end, the two McLaren drivers were already separated by more than 12 seconds. And things got worse for Piastri: On lap 56, he retired with a gearbox failure. Hamilton thus inherited second position for the moment, and Verstappen third.
Because there was a Virtual Safety Car (VSC) period due to Piastri’s retirement, Lando Norris, Lewis Hamilton, and Charles Leclerc took the opportunity for a third pit stop. The rest of the leading group, however, stayed on track. While Norris maintained the lead even after his third pit stop, Max Verstappen moved up to second position, and Kimi Antonelli to third.
Hamilton receives late five-second penalty
Hamilton’s reaction over the radio when he learned of the penalty: “They’re handing out penalties like hotcakes.” Because the race was already in its final stint, the five seconds were added to Hamilton’s race time. He finished fourth on track, but due to the time penalty, he dropped behind teammate Charles Leclerc to fifth position.
At the very front, Lando Norris secured his first season victory for himself and McLaren. Max Verstappen finished second. Kimi Antonelli, in turn, made it onto the podium in third place, thereby further extending his championship lead.
First championship points 2026 for Hülkenberg
Behind the top 5 – Norris, Verstappen, Antonelli, Leclerc, Hamilton – the top 10 were completed by Isack Hadjar, George Russell, Liam Lawson (Racing Bulls), Nico Hülkenberg (Audi), and Arvid Lindblad. These are Hülkenberg’s first championship points of the season. Now, only Aston Martin driver Lance Stroll and the Cadillac duo Sergio Perez and Valtteri Bottas remain without points.
Speaking of the Cadillac duo: Perez and Bottas were the only ones, apart from McLaren driver Oscar Piastri, who did not finish on Sunday. Bottas’s MAC-26 suffered a technical defect, while teammate Perez retired with a collapsed left front suspension.
In the 2026 Formula 1 Drivers’ Championship, Kimi Antonelli now has a 50-point lead over Lewis Hamilton and a 59-point lead over teammate George Russell. Race winner Lando Norris is fifth in the championship, 10 points behind Charles Leclerc and 91 points behind championship leader Antonelli.
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The Hungarian Grand Prix was the last race before the summer break in the 2026 Formula 1 calendar. Racing will resume on August 23 with what is currently the last edition of the Dutch Grand Prix in Zandvoort.
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