Within the final race earlier than F1 embarks on its summer season break, the Hungarian Grand Prix supplied up loads of speaking factors to tide us over till the racing returns.
Whereas Charles Leclerc had taken a formidable pole place, it was in the end Lando Norris who claimed victory following another technique in Sunday’s race – although it didn’t essentially come simply, having confronted an exciting problem for the lead from crew mate Oscar Piastri within the closing levels.
From these nail-biting battles on monitor by to all the happenings off the circuit, right here’s our round-up of the highlights from an eventful weekend in Budapest…
An epic battle for the win between the McLarens
Originally of the Hungarian Grand Prix, it appeared as if McLaren could must accept a 2-3 outcome at greatest; Piastri was operating in second place, with polesitter Leclerc managing to carry a gentle lead, whereas Norris had misplaced two positions off the road.
Nonetheless, that image would evolve dramatically because the 70-lap encounter performed out. Whereas Piastri and Leclerc opted for two-stop methods, Norris took a bet on a one-stop name – a call that appeared to work out nicely for the Briton, who finally discovered himself forward of each of his rivals.
Whereas Leclerc slipped backwards because the race entered its latter levels (extra on which beneath), Piastri was wanting fast on brisker rubber than his crew mate – and promptly began to eat into Norris’ lead because the laps ticked down.
This led to an epic scrap for victory within the dying moments, with Piastri making more than one attempt to cross the opposite papaya automobile – with considered one of these seeing him lock up and solely slim miss making contact with Norris.
Because it was, Norris held on to seal a fifth win of the marketing campaign, a outcome that has helped him to shut the hole to Piastri on the prime of the Drivers’ Championship down to simply 9 factors coming into into the summer season break.
The ultimate spot on the rostrum was claimed by George Russell, who gained out in a feisty battle with Leclerc to assert P3 and take Mercedes’ first rostrum because the Canadian Grand Prix again in June.
Leclerc misses out on a podium amid one other tough weekend for Hamilton
It was definitely a case of dramatic highs and lows for Leclerc throughout the weekend on the Hungaroring. The Monegasque caught everybody – including himself – unexpectedly when he grabbed pole place in Saturday’s Qualifying session, outpacing each McLarens within the course of.
With a potential first Grand Prix win of the season on the desk for Ferrari, Leclerc’s probabilities of attaining this appeared good at first of Sunday’s occasion, the eight-time race winner chalking up an honest lead from Piastri within the opening levels.
However because the race moved into its second half, that early tempo dropping off for Leclerc. After being overtaken by Piastri, he misplaced out on the ultimate spot on the rostrum to Russell – and in addition obtained a five-second time penalty for driving erratically throughout that battle.
Talking afterwards, Leclerc confirmed that the difficulty had been right down to the chassis – a trigger that he admitted was totally different to the one he had thought it to be throughout his annoyed radio messages within the race.
Whereas this was past his management, the 27-year-old conceded that he would enter the summer season break “very dissatisfied” after shedding out on each a rostrum and a possibility to win. And on the opposite aspect of the storage, Lewis Hamilton appeared equally downbeat following a difficult weekend in Budapest.
Having certified down in P12 in Saturday’s Qualifying – after which he called himself “absolutely useless” – the seven-time World Champion ended Sunday’s race in the identical place, main him to declare afterwards: “I’m glad it’s over.”
Finest results of the 12 months for Aston Martin
Aston Martin loved their greatest race weekend of the 2025 season on the Hungaroring, with Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll securing fifth and seventh respectively on the chequered flag.
It marked a outstanding turnaround for the British crew, having been in the back of the grid only one week in the past in Belgium, with the outcome shifting them from P8 to P6 within the Teams’ Championship forward of Kick Sauber and Racing Bulls.
“We actually wanted this outcome. Spa final week we have been on the backside of the checklist and now we’re P5 and P7,” stated Alonso, who managed to succeed in the end on a one-stop technique after holding onto his fifth-place beginning place.
“We have to be taught what’s the distinction between the 2 tracks, what we did totally different to the automobile and attempt to apply these learnings into the following race.”
Bortoleto stars once more for Sauber
Kick Sauber elevated their spectacular run of point-scoring finishes to 6 races, this time courtesy of Gabriel Bortoleto who got here dwelling sixth – his greatest lead to Formulation 1 so far.
The Brazilian rookie claimed a formidable seventh on the grid, out-qualifying four-time World Champion Max Verstappen, and ran forward of the Dutchman and behind supervisor Alonso within the early levels earlier than utilising a one-stop technique to preserve P6.
“We did an incredible job, the crew gave me an incredible automobile for right now’s race,” stated Bortoleto, who has scored factors thrice within the final 4 races. “We managed to place all the things in place.
“The technique was nice. I do not see how we may end this half of the season higher.”
Camara topped F3 champion
Whereas the title battle in Formulation 1 between Piastri and Norris will proceed to rage after the summer season break, the crown in Formula 3 has already been determined in favour of Rafael Camara.
The Ferrari Academy Driver claimed the accolade with a spherical to spare having taken a formidable victory in a moist Characteristic Race on the Hungaroring, his fourth win of the marketing campaign for Trident.
“I’m very completely satisfied. All of the laborious work we did all season has paid off, so tremendous completely satisfied,” stated the 20-year-old Brazilian, who has taken back-to-back titles after his success within the Formulation Regional European Championship by Alpine in 2024.
“It’s a time the place we will lastly chill out a bit as a result of all season, no matter if you’re shedding or when you’re successful, you at all times preserve working laborious.”
The brand new-look Hungaroring receives rave critiques
After almost 4 many years of internet hosting the Hungarian Grand Prix, the Hungaroring bought a number of shiny new upgrades to modernise elements of the venue, from the media centre to the paddock facility.
Suppose 20 garages are sufficient to carry an F1 race? This monitor is now near providing 40, with 36 obtainable to groups and 4 reserved for technical providers.
If that doesn’t impress, perhaps the fashionable rooftop terrace, modern VIP space or up to date commentary cubicles will!
Whereas the constructing work will proceed into 2026 to have fun 40 years of Grands Prix in Budapest, the revamped 10,000 capability grandstand helped the organisers to promote out Sunday’s race and encourage these watching at dwelling so as to add the Hungaroring to their checklist of must-visit tracks.
Stars out in pressure in Hungary
Your greatest guess for celeb recognizing in F1 would sometimes be in Monaco or Las Vegas, however Hungary was removed from missing when it got here to star energy.
Anya Taylor-Pleasure was seen within the Ferrari storage for the second time in three races, whereas fellow actor Jamie Dornan bought the prospect to pay McLaren a go to and watch their drivers safe a mighty 1-2 end.
The honour of waving the chequered flag went to legendary Weapons N’ Roses singer Axl Rose as Norris narrowly beat Piastri to the race victory, however maybe the true winner off-track was Haas’ Esteban Ocon.
An enormous Marvel fanboy (he’s beforehand rocked each Deadpool and Captain America helmets), he was in for a deal with as he met Captain America himself, Anthony Mackie, on Saturday.
