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This Grand Prix – Hungarian

Hello, welcome to This Hungarian Grand Prix, Lando Norris took a seven-tenths win ahead of Oscar Piastri, providing further evidence that this is becoming a two-horse championship fight. Does that help what Zak Brown wants this fight to be? Max Verstappen and Fred Vasseur commit their futures for now…

General News

The two-stop rule trailed for the Monaco Grand Prix will be retained next year in the latest revision to the 2026 sporting regulations. The rule was introduced this year in an attempt to spice up the street race, which has become increasingly processional over the years.

However, it offered little in the way of additional overtaking and resulted in teams adopting strategies that saw one of their two drivers slow significantly to hold up a pack of chasing cars while their teammate ahead was able to create a gap and make a pit stop without losing a position.

The regulation published by the FIA on Friday, the rule – article 6.36 which requires at least three sets of tyres be used by each driver at the Monaco Grand Prix – remains in place. But the regulation appears not to have not yet been ratified by the WMSC.

Asked about the inclusion of the rule in the 2026 regulations, Williams team principal James Vowles said asking his drivers to slow down and hold up rivals was one of the most uncomfortable decisions he has had to make from the pit wall.

Weekend Recap

FP1 saw Lando Norris lead a McLaren one-two with 16.052 to put himself just under two hundredths faster than teammate Oscar Piastri. Norris put himself ahead of his teammate, who was two-tenths faster than the Ferrari of Charles Leclerc. Meanwhile, Leclerc put his Ferrari third two tenths off as he went four tenths faster than Isack Hadjar, the Racing Bulls driver, splitting the Ferraris as the Frenchman went half a tenth ahead of Lewis Hamilton.

FP2 saw Norris once again lead Piastri with a 15.624, going three tenths faster than his teammate after the Englishman aborted his first flying lap after a mistake at Turn Two, while Piastri had heavy traffic on his fastest. Leclerc again was third just over a tenth behind Piastri and ahead of an impressive Aston Martin duo, Lance Stroll a tenth off the Monacan as he went just under a tenth faster than his teammate Fernando Alonso.

FP3 was topped by Piastri with a 14.916, which put him just over three hundredths ahead of Norris. While Leclerc was again third over a quarter of a second off Norris, as he went nearly half a second ahead of his teammate Lewis Hamilton. Kimi Antonelli put his Mercedes fifth, going six hundredths behind the seven-time champion, as the Italian looks to recover from his mid-season dip in form and confidence.

Qualifying saw Leclerc beat both McLaren’s to pole with a 15.372, putting himself a quarter of a tenth faster than Oscar Piastri. He appeared bemused and in disbelief, as many expected this to be a McLaren front row lockout. Piastri put himself a hundredth and a half ahead of teammate Lando Norris, the favourites for pole both beaten by the Ferrari.

Norris took victory by seven tenths ahead of Piastri by undercutting and switching to the one stop taking the lead when the Australian made his second stop. Piastri then spent the next few laps trying to pass George Russell and Charles Leclerc. After passing Russell, the Australian outbraked Leclerc on lap sixty-two, but the Mercedes came back at him before Piastri made the move stick a few corners later.

Leclerc finished the race twenty-one seconds behind the McLarens; the Ferrari driver didn’t have the pace ultimately to fend off the two McLaren’s who managed to undercut him just before three-quarters distance and secure a one-two.

McLaren

McLaren CEO Zak Brown believes the title battle between the team’s drivers, Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris, will be a “coin toss” every weekend. Piastri leads Norris by sixteen points in the Drivers’ Championship going into this week’s Hungarian Grand Prix after a dominant victory in Belgium.

However, the gap between the two has never been above twenty-three points, less than a Grand Prix win, between them when they have won ten of the thirteen Grands Prix. Asked by Sky Sports which driver has the momentum, Brown said: “They both do because they’re winning a lot and getting one-twos. I think Oscar was a little disappointed with qualifying in Belgium.”

“Lando was very happy. I’m sure he’ll be a little bummed that he didn’t win today, but it’s coming off two wins. I think it’s going to be a coin toss every weekend. Oscar is a machine. And what’s impressive is how aggressive he is, and yet he always brings the car home. That’s quite a talent.”

McLaren has made it clear they want this championship to be a two-way fight between only their drivers. Max Verstappen has lost ground over the last three events and fallen to eighty points behind championship leader Piastri, but Brown is still not ruling out the Red Bull driver yet.

Norris topped both practice sessions on Friday and increased the gap to Piastri to just under three tenths in FP1; however, while encouraged by his start to the weekend he believed he has some “messy” moments which could make it difficult to put his car in the optimal window for Qualifying.

He told the media, “I mean, the car since the first lap has felt pretty good. All my laps have been decent. I think the [FP2] session end was a little bit more messy, just on low fuel, high fuel, a few more mistakes. It’s all part of practice and trying to find the limits in different areas. A good understanding… I think I know what I want from the car, but it might be a bit harder trying to get it.”

Asked if he was pleased with his day’s work, Piastri replied: “I think generally, yes. We’ve had to change a few things and try and make the car a bit better, but the performance has been very good. All in all, pretty happy. Some things to tidy up, it wasn’t the smoothest of FP2s, but I think the underlying pace is good. I’m excited for the rest of the weekend.”

McLaren looked to maintain their advantage in practice, which will add to the talk this week of this effectively becoming a two horse fight between Norris and Piastri, but there is a lot which can happen in the second half. They were going into the weekend with the strongest car.

Both drivers missed out on pole, having been pipped by Charles Leclerc with Piastri second going a hundredth and a half faster than Norris. After dominating the timing sheets throughout the three practice sessions in Hungary, they were both beaten to pole. Stella revealed that the wind changes during qualifying impacted the team’s performance while speaking to Sky Sports after the session.

The Italian said, “Well, having seen the performance of the car in practice and also in Q1 and Q2, we were certainly looking forward to trying to lock out the first row on the grid, but today the conditions were very weird, very dependent on the wind. There was a change of conditions from Q2 to Q3, and I have to say we paid a bit of a price.”

“I think our drivers might have also been a bit cautious because you never knew what kind of grip you find for each corner, so we went four-tenths slower than Q2, while Leclerc went faster and he deserved the pole position. Well done to Leclerc and well done to Ferrari.”

Norris took what he called a surprise, “tough” but “perfect result” as he fended off his teammate Piastri to take seven seven-tenths victory. The British driver started the race from third, but a messy start saw him drop back behind Mercedes’s George Russell and fighting against Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso.

I think that bold one-stop strategy was a brilliant but risky move as we know the Hungaroring can be difficult to overtake, while Piastri stuck with the two-stop, which most drivers went for and that allowed him to hold off his teammate but it was a gamble, which he admitted he couldn’t make a mistake with.

There are now just nine points separating Piastri and Norris heading into the F1 summer break. Although he will come to the Dutch Grand Prix at the end of August with the momentum of his win in Hungary, Norris doesn’t think they will aid him in the championship fight.

Ferrari

Fred Vasseur has signed a new contract to continue as Ferrari team principal beyond the end of this year. The Frenchman’s deal was due to run out at the end of 2025, but he has agreed what the team have called a “multi-year contract for the coming seasons”. Vasseur joined the team at the start of 2023 on what was then a three-year deal.

Ferrari chief executive officer Benedetto Vigna said: “We want to recognise what has been built and commit to what still needs to be achieved. It reflects our trust in Fred’s leadership – a trust rooted in shared ambition, mutual expectations and clear responsibility. We move forward with determination and focus, united in our pursuit of the level of performance Ferrari has to aim for.”

Vasseur said: “I’m grateful for the trust Ferrari continues to place in me. This renewal is not just a confirmation – it’s a challenge to keep progressing, to stay focused, and to deliver. Over the past 30 months, we’ve laid strong foundations, and now we must build on them with consistency and determination. We know what’s expected, and we’re all fully committed to meeting those expectations and taking the next step forward together.”

The move constitutes an expression of faith in Vasseur’s leadership after the first hitch this year in progress under him. He was also instrumental in Ferrari signing seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton over the winter of 2023-24 to join Charles Leclerc in their driver line-up starting from this season.

Ferrari had a mixed qualifying with Leclerc taking a surprise pole after beating Piastri by a quarter of a tenth while Hamilton suggested Ferrari ‘needed to replace him.’ Leclerc had dragged himself through to Q3 before taking pole position. After the opening runs of Q3, Leclerc was sixth in the order – but the drivers had noted that the wind direction had changed significantly for the final stage of qualifying.

Leclerc’s aim was to secure a clean lap to ensure he could make his way up the order; he did so to claim provisional pole with a 15.372, but this was still shy of the 14’s that the McLarens had logged in Q2. But Norris and Piastri were unable to find that giving the Monacan pole for the first time this season.

He said, “Today is a day where I don’t understand anything anymore about the sport. I mean, honestly, qualifying felt horrible from the first lap to maybe the penultimate lap. Everything felt out of place. It really felt like we had done a step backwards from FP3. And in terms of competitiveness: Q1, I was on the limit, barely made it to Q2. Q2, I was on the limit and I did quite a big mistake in Turn 4. It wasn’t easy to get to Q3.

“Then Q3, the conditions changed for everybody. I basically just did a clean lap, and I think it was a really good lap because those conditions were very difficult to get everything right. And I did, but I was really happy about the lap.” Leclerc says the team’s second pole of the season, after Hamilton’s sprint pole in China, vindicates the work that the team has done in the background to turn around its SF-25 chassis, particularly noting the suspension upgrade introduced in Belgium.

But despite taking pole, Leclerc suffered an “extremely frustrating” drop in pace, dropping from pole to fourth, after McLaren overcut him with Norris going for the alternative strategy and Ferrari appeared to struggle for pace in the latter stages. That surprised me as I thought the team had been better on race pace in recent races.

He said, “From around Lap Forty, we had a problem with the chassis, so now I’ve had more details about it. In the car obviously I had no idea what was going on. I mean I had an idea, but it was a wrong idea because I thought it was something that was in our control.”

“Unfortunately we had an issue on the chassis, so I don’t have much to add on that. It’s just extremely frustrating when you are fighting for a win and when we had the pace that we had at the beginning of the race, and we lose absolutely everything later on, it’s very frustrating.”

Red Bull

Max Verstappen has confirmed he will remain with Red Bull for the 2026 season, putting an end to uncertainty over the four-time world champion’s short-term future. The recent departure of CEO and team principal Christian Horner, coupled with the team’s drop in form over the last year as well as fractional infighting over the last eighteen months.

Verstappen had been linked to a move to Mercedes because of the reports that the German manufacturer will have a strong package when new regulations are introduced for next season. However, Horner’s Mercedes counterpart, Toto Wolff, has admitted over the last month that he was in conversations over trying to sign Verstappen, but maintained throughout that the 27-year-old was more likely to make a switch at some point after the 2026 season.

Verstappen is contracted to Red Bull until 2028, but is understood to have release clauses in his contract that could enable him to exit the team earlier. Asked about his future, Verstappen said: “The thing is always that people are waffling so much throughout the whole season, while the only one that actually can or should speak is not speaking. That’s me.”

“I do that on purpose because it makes no sense to start throwing things around, and actually, that should be the same for everyone. Some people just like to stir the pot, and some people just like to create drama. But, for me, it’s always been quite clear, and also for next year.”

Red Bull adviser Helmut Marko says Christian Horner’s sacking was “the result of various factors” but that a lack of performance on track was the main reason for his dismissal. Horner was removed as CEO and team principal after Silverstone, following eighteen months of turmoil within the team.

After a dominant spell that saw Max Verstappen win four successive drivers’ titles from 2021-2024, Red Bull has suffered a drop-off in form that coincided with several key figures, including Adrian Newey, leaving the team. Also, Horner was twice cleared by an internal and KC-led investigation of inappropriate and controlling behaviour towards a female colleague.

Marko spoke to Sky Germany ahead of the Belgian Grand Prix, Red Bull’s first race without Horner, and said, “The decision was made by the management – that is, Oliver Mintzlaff. We informed Christian Horner of it in London. At the same time, we officially thanked him for twenty years and eight world titles. It was the result of various factors. But primarily, performance was not quite where it should be.”

Verstappen appeared to struggle in Friday’s practice session, saying “nothing really works” when it came to set up. The Dutchman finished FP2 in fourteen a second off the pace set by Norris, as he said it was like “driving on ice”, and swiftly disappeared into the Red Bull’s engineering ‘treehouse’ for a lengthy debrief with team boss Laurent Mekies, Tsunoda and their engineers.

Before the debrief, Verstappen acknowledged that Red Bull’s trackside squad and its support staff at the Milton Keynes factory will have their work cut out. And while it wouldn’t be the first time this season the team can turn around its car setup overnight, the Dutchman indicated there was no clear idea yet on why Friday was so difficult at the Hungaroring.

He told reporters, “Today was very tough, just a really low grip feeling and not really a balance in the car, so it’s difficult to say what the exact problem is. Nothing really works, so this is something that we have to investigate overnight. So far, of course, it’s not been our weekend.”

“I’m sure we can do better, but today was quite bad, so we need to really understand first where it is, and what is causing us to have such a big problem with the car. McLaren looks really on it, they’re flying, but there’s a lot to be [found] to be a little bit closer to P2.”

Verstappen was also summoned by the stewards after throwing out an errant towel from the cockpit of his car, a piece of cloth that was accidentally left in the car in between runs. The stewards handed Red Bull a warning for an unsafe release, as the towel could have interfered with Verstappen’s operation of the pedals.

Meanwhile, teammate Yuki Tsunoda finished eight tenths off in ninth and has a different experience to his teammate on Friday. He said, “I think the balance itself is not the main issue, to be honest. I think where we’re struggling is the grip that I should normally feel, and that’s where we’re lacking. But at least from our side we changed a lot of things into FP2 and it was a bit of a step from FP1.”

Things didn’t get better in qualifying with Verstappen claiming, “nothing works,” after qualifying eighth, three tenths of Leclerc. While Tsunoda was knocked out in Q1 after missing the cut by a quarter of a tenth. Verstappen said “This weekend, already from lap one, it just felt off. We threw the car around a lot, nothing really gave a direction. That is the biggest problem. Normally, when you change a lot on the side of it, it will always give you positives or negatives. Now, nothing works. It’s like going around in circles. Nothing gives you any kind of idea of what to do.”

There are serious problems at Red Bull as he appeared happy to get into Q3, but there remains serious issues with the car which I think carried over from last year. But I am as surprised as the team to how much they have struggled this weekend, with Ferrari, McLaren, Mercedes, Aston Martin and Sauber all beating him.

Verstappen avoided a penalty after the stewards decided that he didn’t force Lewis Hamilton off the road a Turn Four on Lap Thirty. Verstappen went for the inside line at the high-speed left-hander, and Hamilton subsequently went off the road and drove across the run-off. The move was placed under investigation, but was left to be dissected after the race.

Hamilton declined to attend the hearing in the stewards’ room, and the stewards’ report revealed that the Ferrari representative stated that Hamilton indeed chose to take evasive action – with no contact between the two.

The report read: “The driver of Car 1 [Verstappen] stated during the hearing that he had gained some momentum on Car 44 [Hamilton] out of Turn 3 with fresher tyres and used this momentum to make a move on the inside into Turn 4. He further elaborated that he was in full control of his car and could have stayed further to the inside to leave space for Car 44 on the exit.”

“However he said, as Car 44 had gone off track, he elected to use all of the track on the exit. The team representative of Car 44 confirmed that there was no contact between both cars and further stated that the driver of Car 44 chose not to attempt to remain on track.”

Adding “the Stewards determine that there was no contact and that the incident does not qualify as forcing another car off track despite the ambitious nature of the overtaking attempt and take no further action.”

Verstappen stated after the race that there was nothing really in the move, and that Hamilton’s no-show in the stewards’ room suggested that the seven-time champion did not care about trying to mount a defence.

Meanwhile, Tsunoda could only manage seventeenth after starting from the pit lane following a power unit change and damage in the race. He explained, “I also picked up the damage from mid to the end of the race, which was not in my control, to be honest. So I lost a lot of pace with that. I mean, to be honest, the baseline pace was already really, really struggling as a team and on top of it, having damage was not ideal at all. Pretty much the race was done with that.”

This has been a really difficult weekend for Red Bull and you need to wonder how they get out of this spiral, which started a year ago. They certainly have some big questions about the mess they are in, they certainly don’t have the pace, which could also be a headache at Zandvoort.

Mercedes

George Russell could be on the verge of signing a multi-year deal with Mercedes after months of delay following uncertainty around Max Verstappen’s future at Red Bull. The Englishman contract  to poach Verstappen from Red Bull.

However, with Verstappen appearing highly likely to remain with Red Bull for at least the 2026 season following Christian Horner’s sacking as team principal, Mercedes CEO and team principal  Toto Wolff hinted, during an interview with Sky Sports in Spa, that a new deal for Russell could be agreed before the summer break, which follows this weekend’s Hungarian Grand Prix.

Sky Sports also understands that the extension would be until the end of 2027, with Russell delivering his best season so far of his career despite inconsistencies with the car he won in Montreal and has been on the podium a further four times. Asked by Sky Sports whether he believed the contract delay was making Russell perform better, Wolff said, “As a driver, he’s so mature and stable that I don’t think that makes any difference on performance. On the contrary, I would wish to have him in a safe place a little bit earlier. We haven’t managed to do that but I’m optimistic that he’s going to sleep well over the summer break.”

That suggests Mercedes are committed to retaining both Russell and Antonelli at least for 2026, while keeping the door open to Verstappen in the future. But there are concerns in the press about an uneasy situation if there were to be a Russell-Verstappen pairing after clashes between the two on and off track.

Wolff added, “This [Russell and Verstappen pairing] is all more in the, let’s say, long-shot, far-fetched. I want to stay with Kimi and George as it stands, everything else is not realistic. But obviously [if] you have a Russell-Verstappen line-up that’s Prost-Senna I guess, no?”

Following practice, Antonelli said he was “getting the confidence back” with his Mercedes car after a positive Friday. The Italian rookie has endured a difficult spell recently in his debut season, which has included just one points finish in the last seven races and he failed to make it beyond SQ1 and Q1 at Spa.

This weekend the team has gone back to an older specification of suspension for the race in Budapest, with the change seemingly producing an upturn in form for Antonelli. He told reporters, “Today was nice. I’m pretty happy because I’m getting the confidence back with the car. Still missing a little bit to the guys in front but I think we’re working well, we’ve been changing the car a lot because obviously it felt like a big step with the old suspension. The car was completely different and we’re just trying to rebalance the car.”

Russell was seventh in FP2 and was also pleased with the step that the Silver Arrows had made after struggling in Belgium. However, claimed that they still lacked pace compared with the leading teams on the grid and that more work was needed ahead of Sunday’s 70-lap race.

He said, “It always feels good when you’re a bit higher up the leaderboard. Bit of a strange day, obviously the Aston Martins looked unusually fast today, they seemed to make a decent step forward. McLaren are obviously in a league of their own.”

Williams

Williams has announced that Axel Kruse will return to the team after twenty years to be the teams chief operations director. Kruse will start his new job the day after the Dutch Grand Prix on 1^st September.

He said, “I am thrilled to be joining Williams Racing and can’t wait to get started. Williams is an iconic Formula 1 team with huge ambition and momentum, and I look forward to working with everyone at Grove to deliver success on track.”

“As a young engineer I saw first-hand the professionalism and passion at the team as we finished second in the constructors’ championship — there is unfinished business, and the target must be to finish first.” Over the last few years the team have had mixed results but over the last few years but are currently inset in the constructors.

This means Brousseau will depart Williams after joining in April 2023, following a 26-year career with aerospace giant Pratt and Whitney. Team principal James Vowles added, “I am excited to welcome Axel to Williams Racing as we continue to invest in the people, technology and infrastructure needed to achieve our goal of returning to the front of the grid.”

“Axel is the latest top talent to join us from within the F1 paddock and will continue the important work started by Fred to make our operations truly championship-level. I would like to thank Fred for everything he has done, and we all wish him well as he returns home to Canada.”

Current Williams design director Matt Harman has also been promoted to technical director – engineering, having joined from Alpine last year.

Facts and stats (F1.com)

• ·      McLaren today won their 200th world championship Grand Prix, making them only the second team to do so in F1 history after Ferrari.  It was McLaren’s 13th Hungaroring victory (six more than any other constructor).
• ·      Race winner Norris finished second in the 2023 and 2024 Hungarian Grands Prix. Norris’ 1.9 second pit stop today was provisionally the fastest pit stop of the 2025 season to date.
• ·      Charles Leclerc taking P4 for Ferrari, it meant the polesitter failed to win in Hungary for the fifth consecutive year. Leclerc has only won one of his last 16 starts from pole (Monaco 2024).
• ·      Liam Lawson’s Racing Bulls was the highest-finishing Red Bull-owned car with P8. Lawson finished eighth for a second consecutive Grand Prix.

Results Summary

Championship Standings