Lando Norris held off Oscar Piastri to clinch McLaren’s 200th F1 victory at 2025 Hungarian Grand Prix.
Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc led much of the race aside from the pit phases until he lost the net lead to Piastri on lap 51, but the Australian was subsequently held off by Norris until the checkered flag by 0.698 seconds.
Speaking post-race about his late duel with Piastri, Norris admitted that his one-stop strategy was his sole hope but was relieved to get the win to close the gap in the title race between the pair.
“I’m dead, it was tough, we weren’t really planning on a one-stop at the beginning but after the first lap it was kind of our only option to get back into things.
“It was tough in the final stint with Oscar catching I was pushing flat out you know so my voice has gone a little bit. It feels good and rewarding a little more because of that but a good result today.”
Mercedes’ George Russell passed Leclerc on lap 62 to finish third ahead of the Monegasque, whilst Fernando Alonso overcame a back injury to finish fifth from Sauber’s Gabriel Bortoleto.
Lance Stroll, Liam Lawson, Max Verstappen and Andrea Kimi Antonelli completed the top ten, although Verstappen kept ninth following a post-race investigation after he forced Hamilton off track at turn 4 on lap 29 when the pair scrapped over 11th position at that point.
In the drivers’ standings, Piastri’s title lead over Norris was reduced to nine points going into the summer break with the latter feeling that it is difficult to see who has the obvious momentum.
“We’re so tightly fought it’s hard to say that momentum is on anyone’s side, but we’re fighting hard both of us and it’s fun, it’s tough but fun racing with Oscar.
“It’s great for us as a team and another one-two and our 200th win in Formula 1. Credit to Oscar, he put up a good charge and I just about held on, so I look forward to many more of these.”
At lights out, Leclerc covered off Piastri who squeezed Norris into an early-braking move which allowed Russell and Alonso to clear the Brit for third and fourth respectively, although Norris soon passed Alonso on lap 3 to regain a position.
Bortoleto cleared Stroll for sixth whilst Lawson passed Verstappen for eighth, but the latter retook eighth on the second lap then cleared Stroll on lap 3 with both moves made into turn 8.
Verstappen however got stuck behind the Sauber of Bortoleto in a DRS train and was forced to trigger the pit stop phase in earnest on lap 18, but he was left in traffic whilst Bortoleto went long on his medium tyres.
Up front, Piastri pitted at the end of lap 18 to try and undercut Leclerc but the Monegasque pitted a lap later to cover the Aussie off.
Norris subsequently inherited the lead and extended his stint until he pitted at the end of lap 31 which left him a distant fourth on an one-stop strategy, with a chance to undercut Piastri who had gone for a two-stopper.
Piastri consequently decided to prioritise covering off Norris’ undercut threat which led Leclerc to make his second stop on lap 41, before Piastri followed suit on lap 46 which left Norris in the lead on the alternate strategy with a seven-second gap to Leclerc.
Leclerc however couldn’t match Norris’ pace and had dropped nine seconds adrift by lap 51 when he was passed by Piastri round the outside of turn 1 for second, which left the Monegasque enraged at how Ferrari had handled their car’s issues.
Norris however couldn’t prevent Piastri from cutting his lead down by over five-and-a-half seconds down to around 3.5s by lap 60, but his teammate got within DRS range by the end of lap 64.
Both drivers however encountered traffic until the start of lap 67 when they found clean air to the checkered flag, as Norris mounted a resiliently stern defence to deny Piastri consecutive victories around the Hungaroring.
F1 will return to action in Zandvoort, Netherlands on the weekend of 29-31 August after a four-week summer break, of which there will be a full two-week shutdown for every team.
| Position | Driver | Team | Laps | Time |
| 1 | Lando Norris | McLaren | 70 | 1h 35m 21.231 |
| 2 | Oscar Piastri | McLaren | 70 | + 0.698 |
| 3 | George Russell | Mercedes | 70 | + 21.916 |
| 4 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | 70 | + 42.560 |
| 5 | Fernando Alonso | Aston Martin | 70 | + 59.040 |
| 6 | Gabriel Bortoleto | Sauber | 70 | + 66.169 |
| 7 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin | 70 | + 68.174 |
| 8 | Liam Lawson | Racing Bulls | 70 | + 69.451 |
| 9 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | 70 | + 72.845 |
| 10 | Andrea Kimi Antonelli | Mercedes | 69 | + 1 Lap |
| 11 | Isack Hadjar | Racing Bulls | 69 | + 1 Lap |
| 12 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 69 | + 1 Lap |
| 13 | Nico Hulkenberg | Sauber | 69 | + 1 Lap |
| 14 | Carlos Sainz | Williams | 69 | + 1 Lap |
| 15 | Alex Albon | Williams | 69 | + 1 Lap |
| 16 | Esteban Ocon | Haas | 69 | + 1 Lap |
| 17 | Yuki Tsunoda | Red Bull | 69 | + 1 Lap |
| 18 | Franco Colapinto | Alpine | 69 | + 1 Lap |
| 19 | Pierre Gasly | Alpine | 69 | + 1 Lap |
| RET | Oliver Bearman | Haas | 48 | Floor |
Leave a Reply