Norris breaks his 2026 duck with commanding win in Hungary

Lando Norris finally opened his 2026 account in style, taking a dominant victory at the Hungarian Grand Prix from pole position. It was his 12th career win and his first of the season, arriving at a track that has long suited McLaren’s package.

Ahead of the weekend, Norris had suggested he was actually driving at a higher level than during his title winning 2025 campaign, even if the results had not always reflected it. Budapest backed up that claim. Once McLaren team mate Oscar Piastri lost the lead in the pit window, Norris simply drove away, building a gap of more than ten seconds before Piastri was forced to retire.

The result keeps Norris in fifth place in the championship, still trailing both Ferrari and Mercedes on points, but it is a clear signal that the reigning world champion is squeezing every ounce of performance out of the MCL40, arguably more effectively than he managed with last year’s car.

Ferrari let a golden opportunity slip

Ferrari arrived in Hungary as the favourites given the characteristics of the circuit, yet the team failed to convert that promise into results. Lewis Hamilton came agonisingly close to pole, missing out by just 0.012 seconds, before a grid penalty for impeding a McLaren driver dropped him further back.

Charles Leclerc had a real shot at fighting for the win, but a cautious opening lap saw him lose ground to Piastri, Max Verstappen and his own team mate. Despite showing genuine pace across the weekend, Ferrari never found a way to put it to use, and no strategic gamble was enough to paper over a disappointing Saturday.

Russell’s title hopes are fading fast

George Russell’s championship fight against Mercedes team mate Kimi Antonelli is looking increasingly difficult. Russell now trails his younger team mate by 59 points at the halfway point of the season, a gap that would represent one of the largest ever overturned after the summer break.

An anti-stall at the start dropped Russell from sixth to the back of the field, and although he recovered to seventh, it continued a familiar pattern this year of progress followed by setbacks. A strong run through Barcelona, Austria and Silverstone had cut into Antonelli’s advantage, only for Spa and now Budapest to undo that work.

Aston martin finally finds some pace

Aston Martin looked like a different team in Hungary. Just a week after being over two seconds off the slowest car at Spa, Fernando Alonso reached Q2 for the first time all season, a direct result of the 16 new upgrade parts introduced on Friday by Adrian Newey’s technical team.

Lance Stroll could not quite match his team mate’s pace, but both drivers were competitive throughout the race, suddenly putting Aston Martin in the mix for midfield honours. There is still ground to make up before the team matches the ambitions of the Alonso, Newey and Honda project, but the upgrade delivered exactly what technical staff had hoped for: the chance to race rivals rather than simply follow them.

A rare glimpse of what 2026 racing should look like

After energy limited, processional races at Silverstone and Spa Francorchamps, the Hungaroring produced something far more natural. Overtaking remained possible without becoming trivial, offering a welcome break from the boost assisted passes that have defined much of the season.

Verstappen’s move on Hamilton and Hamilton’s own passes around the outside of Isack Hadjar and Arvid Lindblad stood out as genuine, hard fought overtakes. Add in tightly matched pace among the top teams and real strategic variation, and Hungary delivered the kind of balanced, entertaining race that 2026’s regulations have often struggled to produce elsewhere.

Hungarian grand prix results