F1 2026: Hungarian Grand Prix Race Recap

Lando Norris managed to convert his pole position to a first win of the season as the defending world champion won an eventful Hungarian Grand Prix 2026. Norris’ win in Hungary was his first win since the Brazilian Grand Prix 2025 and also Norris’ first win as a world champion. Red Bull’s Max Verstappen pulled off another incredible race, finishing second despite not having the strongest car while current championship leader Kimi Antonelli converted his P7 start to a third place finish that saw him extend his championship lead.

Being the final race before the summer, it was a much needed win for the defending Constructors’ champions and the Drivers’ champion as McLaren’s upgrades sees them make significant upgrade while Mercedes and Ferrari had a rough outing with Russell having a horror start that ruined his race while Ferrari failed to find pace on their second stint that hampered their race. 

Pole sitter Lando Norris got the race going as the lights went out and he had to get his elbows out to keep the lead as his teammate Oscar Piastri instantly attacked him. Along with Piastri, Verstappen was also making up places as he went P3 after going past the two Ferraris going on the inside of Turn 1 while Piastri led the race in the opening lap itself, storming past Norris. While Piastri, Verstappen was making up places, George Russell had a horror start and an anti-stall off the line saw him drop down to P21, right to the bottom of the grid. By lap five, Piastri was a second clear off Norris while Verstappen was just about keeping the two Ferraris at bay with the Ferraris being the only ones in the top 15 running on Softs. George Russell, who dropped right down the grid, was moving up the grid and was at the fringes of the points by lap 10 as Russell was P12. 

After being unable to pass Verstappen for P3, Lewis Hamilton was the first car to pit and the Ferrari driver rejoined in P9 after switching to the Hard compound tyres. He instantly went on the outside of Arvid Lindblad to move up to P8 the next lap while Verstappen came in for his stop but Hamilton came out just ahead of Verstappen despite a swift stop from the Red Bull crew.  Verstappen retook his place ahead of Hamilton as he went around his old rival going into Turn 1 to pull off an incredible overtake. Race leader Oscar Piastri pitted on lap 17 and rejoined in P4 while Leclerc also came in for his stop but a slower stop saw him rejoin the action in P8. McLaren called in Norris the following lap which saw Kimi Antonelli take the lead of the race but more importantly it was Norris just coming out ahead of a fast charging Verstappen. Piastri, Norris and Verstappen cleared Isack Hadjar, who was yet to stop to move into second, third and fourth place respectively with Antonelli leading the race by over 13 seconds although he was yet to stop. 

Antonelli finally pitted on lap 23, which saw Piastri lead the race again from Norris and Verstappen and Antonelli rejoined in sixth place, ahead of his teammate, George Russell who had broken into the top 10 but was yet to pit. Norris at the front was catching Piastri and was under half a second from the race leader and was constantly on the radio to his team, letting them know that he had more pace at the front. Leclerc was voicing similar sentiment a couple of places behind as he felt Hamiton in P4 was slowing him down as the two Ferraris were trying to move into the podium places but had Verstappen in their way. Russell was the final top 10 car to pit on lap 28 and came out in P9 behind Audi’s Gabriel Borteleto. Norris in front, lost some time to Piastri as he went off the road at Turn 4 on lap 29 which meant Piastri immediately pulled out almost two seconds between himself and his teammate.

Ferrari called in for Hamilton for a second stop on lap 31 and the seven-time world champion came out in P7, just behind Isack Hadjar. Hamilton took a lap to get past Hadjar and got the Red Bull driver at the hairpin to move into P6. Piastri pitted from the lead for his second stop on lap 34 and the Australian driver was out in P5, crucially ahead of Hamilton as Norris inherited the lead of the race with Verstappen and Leclerc behind him in the podium places. As the race crossed the halfway mark on lap 35, Norris led from Verstappen and Leclerc with Antonelli and Piastri making up the top five. Antonelli was catching Leclerc and with the Ferrari man finding no pace at all on his Hard set, Ferrari got Leclerc in for his second stop on lap 37 with Leclerc coming out in P7 behind Hamilton and Hadjar. Leclerc wasted no time in clearing off Hadjar on the main straight but it was Oscar Piastri getting hit by Carlos Sainz on lap 38 as the Williams driver as a back marker made a stupid error to hit Piastri left front tyre but the McLaren driver managed to keep it on track, although he lost time to Verstappen ahead of him. Norris meanwhile pitted on lap 39 and Piastri’s mishap on the track meant that he came out in P3, half a second ahead of Piastri.

Norris on his new set of tyres was dropping Piastri behind by a rate of knots as Norris was not only within a second of Antonelli for the race lead but Piastri was almost seven seconds behind Norris by lap 45. Norris retook the lead of the race on lap 46 as he went on the inside of Antonelli at the hairpin and was instantly on his way, leaving Antonelli and the rest of the grid behind. As Norris left the rest behind, Antonelli pitted from P2 on lap 55 and rejoined in P6 which saw Piastri move up to second place although Piastri was almost 13 seconds behind his teammate with 15 laps to go. On lap 56, Piastri stopped on track as his gearbox malfunctioned that saw the Virtual Safety Car (VSC) being deployed. Norris came in for a quick stop as Lewis Hamilton was also called in along with a host of other drivers, including Hamilton’s teammate, Leclerc. Norris rejoined at the front with Verstappen in second place with Hamilton coming out in third place just ahead of Antonelli while Leclerc was further behind. Racing resumed on lap 57 itself with championship rivals Antonelli and Hamilton at it for third place. Hamilton had a moment on lap 60 at Turn 2, going wide but managed to avoid too much damage but ended up losing time to Antonelli. 

Neither Verstappen nor Antonelli was able to get close to Norris as the reigning world champion picked up his first win of the Formula One season 2025 by winning the Hungarian Grand Prix 2026. Verstappen finished second ahead of Kimi Antonelli who made up the podium places. Leclerc was fourth as Hamilton was given a five-second penalty for speeding in the pit lane which saw him finish fifth ahead of Isack Hadjar, George Russell, Liam Lawson, Nico Hülkenberg and Arvid Lindblad, who rounded out the points places.

Formula One now will go on a near month-long break with the grid returning to racing at the end of August for the Dutch Grand Prix 2026. Kim Antonelli heads into the summer break with a 50 point lead of Lewis Hamilton while George Russell is a further nine points behind. Norris’ win sees him cut down Leclerc’s lead to 10 points for P4 in the Drivers’ championship while Verstappen moves to P6 ahead of Piastri.