F1 Hungarian Grand Prix 2025 Recap: Lando Norris leads Oscar Piastri for another McLaren 1-2

Despite losing two places on the opening lap, Lando Norris put in a sublime drive to win the 2025 F1 Hungarian Grand Prix, leading another 1-2 for McLaren as championship leader Oscar Piastri finished second.

Mercedes, meanwhile, picked up a third podium place thanks to a solid drive from George Russell, while pole-sitter Charles Leclerc could only manage P4 after another strategic mess-up from Ferrari.

Norris’ win at the Hungaroring marked McLaren’s 13th win in Hungary and their 200th overall in Formula One. It also sees the British driver head into the summer break only nine points behind his teammate in the Drivers’ standings.

Charles Leclerc led the grid off the line. While Oscar Piastri followed suit, it was his teammate, Lando Norris, who lost two spots heading into the opening corner, as George Russell and Fernando Alonso got past him. Norris picked off Alonso for P4 a couple of laps later, though, just as Leclerc up front began to pull out a decent lead from Piastri; he was almost three seconds clear of the Australian by Lap 6.

It was a massive train behind the top five: from Sauber’s Gabriel Bortoleto in P6 to Alpine’s Franco Colapinto in P18, each driver was within a second of the one in front of him in the opening laps.

Lap 15 saw the first round of stops, as cars in the lower end of the field dove into the pits. Max Verstappen was the first of the top ten to pit on Lap 18 from P7. Piastri followed immediately, rejoining in P5, while Verstappen was P16 after rejoining the track.

Leclerc came in the following lap and, critically, came out just ahead of Piastri in P3, with Norris taking the lead of the race ahead of Alonso — the top two having not yet pitted at the time. Leclerc got past Alonso with ease on Lap 21 to take P2, and a lap later Piastri sped past Alonso on the main straight, dropping the Aston Martin driver to P4.

Just outside the points places, there was a battle between two old title rivals as Verstappen chased Lewis Hamilton for P11. While Hamilton’s former teammate George Russell passed Alonso for P4 on Lap 26, Verstappen picked off the veteran Brit four laps later. The two multiple-time world champions even came inches away from coming together, with Hamilton going off the track, which let Verstappen ease past and move into P11.

At the top, Norris eventually came in for his first stop on Lap 31 and rejoined in P4 after a sub-2s stop. By Lap 40, Leclerc was leading the race with a gap of over one and a half seconds over Piastri, with Russell and Norris behind them.

The Monégasque came in for his second stop on Lap 41 — allowing Piastri to take the lead of the race — and rejoined in P4, over six seconds behind Norris. Two laps later, Ferrari called in Hamilton for his first stop and sent him back out in P16 on the medium compound.

Hamilton was followed into the pits by Russell, who pitted from P3. This allowed Leclerc to move back into the podium places, while the Mercedes driver came out in P4, ahead of Verstappen. Norris moved up to second place as a result, 8.5 seconds behind race leader Piastri.

Piastri came in for his second stop on Lap 46 and came out four seconds behind Leclerc in P3, as Norris took the lead of the race. While Piastri chased Leclerc and Norris, Red Bull called in Verstappen for his second stop on Lap 49. While the reigning world champion came out in P9, the race saw its first retirement on Lap 50 due to Ollie Bearman’s damaged car.

With ten laps to go, Piastri had reduced Norris’ lead to under three and a half seconds, while Russell was in Leclerc’s DRS zone. Russell eventually got P3 from Leclerc on Lap 62 on the main straight, with Leclerc’s Ferrari unable to find any pace to fight back.

Piastri was under a second behind Norris with five laps to go. As he came inches close to retaking the lead, Norris hung on for the win by the skin of his teeth. Russell picked up the final podium place, with pole-sitter Leclerc finishing in fourth despite a late five-second penalty for erratic driving.

Alonso finished a brilliant fifth for Aston Martin, ahead of Gabriel Bortoleto, Lance Stroll, Liam Lawson, Verstappen, and Andrea Kimi Antonelli, who rounded out the points places in that order.

The Formula One grid now heads into the summer break, with Oscar Piastri at the top of the Drivers’ Standings with 284 points, and Lando Norris nine points behind him. George Russell’s podium place sees him just 15 points behind third-placed Max Verstappen.

Racing will resume almost a month later, with the Dutch Grand Prix set to take place on August 31, 2025.