McLaren’s Oscar Piastri took home his maiden career win as he put in a solid drive to win the 2024 Hungarian Grand Prix.
It was a tense race as Lando Norris had to be told multiple times by his team to obey their orders, with the Brit eventually finishing second ahead of Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton.
Pole-sitter Norris was overtaken at the first corner itself on the opening lap as Piastri put in a well-measured drive to take his first-ever win.
Max Verstappen, on the other hand, also had an eventful race, first having a moment with Norris on the opening lap before getting locked up and hit by Hamilton. The Dutchman did manage to finish the race within the top five, though he had an unfamiliar erroneous weekend.
Pole-sitter Norris got off to a shocking start as his teammate, Piastri, squeezed him to take the lead on the opening corner itself. Norris pushed Verstappen wide, which dropped the former to P3, while Verstappen managed to re-join the track in P2.
Nico Hülkenberg went into the pits on Lap 3, switching to the hard compound tyres early on. With Norris and Verstappen’s early scrap under investigation, the latter was told by his teammate to let Norris through.
By Lap 8, a host of drivers had started coming into the pits, with the Haas drivers, Williams’ Alex Albon, and VCARB’s Daniel Ricciardo all switching to the hard compounds, Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso being the only one to go to the mediums.
Hamilton was the first of the front-runners to pit on Lap 17, with Mercedes looking to overcut Verstappen. Norris came in for his stop the following lap, re-joining in P5 ahead of Hamilton. Piastri, meanwhile, held the lead of the race with Verstappen moving into P2 ahead of Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz.
With the race leader coming in for his stop a couple of laps later, Verstappen, yet to pit, inherited the lead. He too eventually came in on Lap 22, with Ferrari also calling in Sainz on the same lap, which saw Piastri re-take the lead followed by his teammate in second.
While there was barely any movement up front as Piastri led from Norris, Hamilton, and Verstappen, the midfield drivers started coming in for their second stops around Lap 30.
Alpine retired Pierre Gasly on Lap 35 due to a hydraulics issue as, on the track, Verstappen battled it out with Hamilton for P3. Verstappen eventually got Hamilton at Turn 2 as the latter had a small lock up, but the former went wide to allow Hamilton re-take P3.
Hamilton and Verstappen scrapping out brought Leclerc into the fight as well, as it became a three-way fight for the third position. Hamilton and Leclerc both came in for their second stops on Lap 41, which allowed Verstappen to get behind Norris. The two re-joined in fifth and sixth place, respectively.
As he was catching up to Piastri, Norris was called in for his second stop on Lap 46. He re-joined in P4, just ahead of Hamilton. Piastri followed suit and came in for his stop from the lead the following lap, which saw Verstappen take the lead as the Aussie re-joined in P3.
Verstappen was the last of the top five to come in for his second stop, which he did on Lap 49 before coming out in P5.
With 15 laps to go, Verstappen got past Leclerc going into Turn 1 for P4. Hamilton, who was being pursued by Verstappen, came together on Lap 63 as Verstappen dived down the inside at Turn 1 but locked up, which saw him getting hit by Hamilton. Luckily, both drivers were able to continue.
Up ahead, there was considerable tension between Norris and his team as he was unwilling to give back the place to his teammate, who had led the race for the most part. After being told repeatedly by his team, an irate Norris finally let Piastri through on the main straight on Lap 68.
Piastri eventually took the chequered flag to take home his maiden win with Norris in P2 ahead of Hamilton. Leclerc finished P4, with Verstappen finishing P5 ahead of Carlos Sainz. Sergio Pérez, George Russell, Yuki Tsunoda, and Lance Stroll rounded out the points places—in that order—for the 2024 Hungarian Grand Prix.
Verstappen’s P5 finish, combined with Norris’ P2 finish, sees the former’s lead in the Drivers Standings cut down to 76 points, with Piastri now five points behind Sainz in fifth.
After the 2024 Hungarian Grand Prix, racing will be back next week for the 2024 Belgian Grand Prix, which will be the final race of the first half of this season before heading into the summer break.
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