A shock pole for Charles Leclerc on Saturday, but what would the 40th edition of the Hungarian GP bring during the race? All the action is laid out for you in the full report and results below.
Verstappen charging forward, a little
With a significantly cooler day than earlier in the weekend, it was Lando Norris who had the best getaway. He got boxed in by team mate Oscar Piastri, giving both George Russell and Fernando Alonso the possibility to pass Norris.
Further back, Max Verstappen got stuck in the pack and lost a spot to Liam Lawson, but overtook the young Kiwi into turn 6 in the second lap.
At the end of the lap Norris took back fourth place from Alonso once DRS was activated. The other Aston Martin of Lance Stroll was overtaken by Verstappen, again in turn 6.
Verstappen next takes a look at the outside of Gabriel Bortoleto, as the Kick-Sauber driver is noted for a false start.
A DRS-train is forming behind Alonso as Bortoleto is unable to pass his manager, and thus the drivers behind him are unable to pass Bortoleto.
Isack Hadjar goes on the radio complaining about his hand, which apparently was hit by some gravel.
The stewards deem no investigation necessary for Bortoleto’s start, but team mate Nico Hülkenberg is under investigation. He does get a five second time penalty once the investigation is completed.

Ferrari repeats quickest stop of the season
At the front of the race Leclerc is still leading the Hungarian GP with a decent gap to the McLaren of Oscar Piastri. Norris in the meantime reached the back of Russell’s Mercedes, but is not able to find a way past yet.
The gaps in the Alonso train have somewhat opened up, as the drivers need to look after their tyres.
Franco Colapinto stops to escape the train, dropping him to last, behind Hülkenberg, who had stopped in lap 5 already. Esteban Ocon and Alex Albon stop a lap later, covering Colapinto.
Verstappen pits in lap 18, getting out of the train, but drops back behind Hülkenberg. Piastri stops a lap later, in an attempt to take the lead once Leclerc stops. He comes out just ahead of Bortoleto, giving him some breathing space.
Leclerc covers Piastri’s stop, and a 2.0 second stop brings him back ahead of Piastri. Russell also stops, as Verstappen demonstrates the power of new tyres with the fastest lap.
Piastri quickly betters him, but gets stuck behind Alonso for a bit. Verstappen isn’t stuck behind Hülkeberg, as he again overtakes into turn 6. Next in line is Pierre Gasly, who gets overtaken around the outside of turn 2. The Dutchman does not feel happy about the tactics, as he feels has too much work to do.
Russell tries to overtake Alonso, but misjudges the closing speed and has the slightest of touches against Alonso’s diffuser.
The undercut tactics of Verstappen don’t seem to work as he gets stuck behind Lewis Hamilton, giving Bortoleto and Alonso the possibility to increase the gap. Verstappen takes a look at the inside of turn 4, and Hamilton takes evasive action to prevent a collision. Next up is Hadjar, who doesn’t fight back too much.
Norris trying the one-stop
McLaren discussed with Norris in the meantime, and decided to go for the one stop race, pitting in lap 32 of the Hungarian GP. This brings Leclerc back in the lead, with Piastri a little over 1.5 seconds behind.
As Verstappen is under investigation for his turn 4 antics, Lance Stroll finally makes his first pit stop. He comes back behind Carlos Sainz in 12th.
Norris is pushing like crazy, stringing fastest laps together, as Alonso finally makes his first and likely only stop, putting him behind Verstappen.
Leclerc stops a lap later, countering a message by McLaren for Piastri to stop. Another 2.0 second stop puts the pressure on Piastri to create a big enough gap to stop into.
Bortoleto and Lawson stop as well, giving Verstappen fifth on the road. His incident with
Hamilton will be investigated after the race, and his engineer is trying to convince him doing a one-stop race.
The gap between Russell and Norris has been closed, a sign for the Mercedes crew to bring in their driver in. Norris keeps going and keeps closing the gap to his team mate. The Ozzy stops which puts Norris in the lead.
Further back Andrea Kimi Antonelli makes a late lunge for tenth, nicking the position from Sainz.

Leclerc dropping back
Verstappen cannot make an in-promptu one-stop strategy, which drops him back behind Lawson in ninth. Bearman in the meantime has to retire the car due to damage.
Hamilton manages to overtake Gasly for 14th, as Yuki Tsunoda and Hülkenberg have a coming together into turn 1.
Up front Piastri has cleared the gap to Leclerc, and overtakes the Monegasque driver around the outside of turn 1.
Leclerc is clearly not amused with the tactics, as he quickly loses ground to Piastri in front and Russell behind him.
McLarens battle to the flag
With 15 laps to go, the gap between both McLarens is five seconds, as Russell keeps closing the gap to Leclerc in third.
With 10 laps to go, Piastri has closed the gap to within three seconds, with Russell being on the tail of Leclerc. That means the podium positions are far from set in stone. Russell tries a lunge from far away, but can’t get past the Ferrari.
A lap later Russell tries again in turn 1 and gets squeezed massively by Leclerc. He manages to get past, but not without Leclerc looking at the inside of turn 2. Unsurprisingly, the incident is under review.
Russell mentions a few drops of rain, as Piastri is really closing down the gap to Norris. Within DRS with five laps to go, the battle for the lead is on.
Having cleared all backmarkers, the battle is only between both McLaren drivers. In the meantime Gasly gets a 10 second time penalty for colliding with Sainz in turn 1.
With two laps to go Piastri takes a shot but locks his front tyres, almost taking out his team mate. A lap later he cannot muster an attempt, meaning Lando Norris takes McLaren’s 200th race win in F1 at the Hungarian GP.
Piastri follows a close second from Russell and Leclerc, who gets a five second penalty at the end. Alonso is fifth from Bortoleto, Stroll and Lawson. Verstappen finishes ninth ahead of Kimi Antonelli.
Hungarian GP full race results
- Lando Norris
- Oscar Piastri
- George Russell
- Charles Leclerc
- Fernando Alonso
- Gabriel Bortoleto
- Lance Stroll
- Liam Lawson
- Max Verstappen
- Andrea Kimi Antonelli
- Isack Hadjar
- Lewis Hamilton
- Nico Hülkenberg
- Carlos Sainz
- Alexander Albon
- Esteban Ocon
- Yuki Tsunoda
- Franco Colapinto
- Pierre Gasly
- Ollie Bearman