In an event full of strong performances, F1 Hungarian Grand Prix Winners and Losers dominated the show, bringing about a fresh chapter in the campaign until the summer break. With a breakthrough win, Lando Norris secured a victory whilst both Max Verstappen and Ferrari pulled out another brilliant effort from Budapest, only for a promising weekend to be lost. There was a cruel stain on Oscar Piastri’s victory, despite the leadership, but Mercedes youngster Kimi Antonelli maintained his string of good fortunes. The Hungarian Grand Prix didn’t just pay tribute to the teams that improved most, it also revealed those that were having trouble keeping up in Formula 1’s ongoing development arms race.
After that, Lando Norris came out on top of the weekend to propel his raw pace into a pivotal win. He had allowed the lead to slip away early after a misjudging move at Turn 2 but it never slipped further from Norris’ grasp. Instead, he dogged his teammate Oscar Piastri around every lap, always managing to beat him, doing it at the right pace while also making sure not to be too aggressive, too much. His doggedness finally got him after he was held up by Carlos Sainz at pit stop, giving Norris time to pull off the overcut he rarely does in Hungary. It certainly seemed to work for Norris, as he didn’t seem to need the restraining hand on him when McLaren put his nose into the grid, confident to race ferociously the whole length of the way and remind the grid all over him that he is still fully in the championship race.
But for Oscar Piastir, there was yet another sad episode to his Hungarian Grand Prix. The Australian had so acutely exploited his chance to secure the race lead from Norris while he was having trouble early on with that, admittedly, and then it seemed to go all the way downhill. McLaren then played the traditional game of sending their top driver first, but that was penalised with a delay after the contact between Piastri and Carlos Sainz in the backmarkers’ blue-flag zone. That was the missing time that made the difference and Norris run past the clock. Worse still than that, a gearbox failure was to end Piastri’s afternoon with no value added championship points. Undoubtedly frustrated about the team radio the Australian later said, “I couldn’t help being emotional.
As one of its best weekends of the season, sadly Ferrari’s result in Budapest was among the most disappointing. With the pace of the race expected to be healthy on Friday, expectations were high for both Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton to compete for much of the weekend with McLaren and Mercedes, but they weren’t able to because of strategic decisions and blunders. They were handicapped from the start with soft tyres, and Hamilton’s daring approach did not pay off. It was not enough of a blessing for Ferrari given the points imposed on the last day for slow driving on the pit lane and the Team Principal Frederic Vasseur conceding too many mistakes on Sunday. It was a major disappointment to a championship-hungry team to fall to competitors from McLaren, Mercedes and Red Bull.
Not going into too much detail about the RB22 and its isolated moments of instability – very big issue for max but he showed, again, why he qualifies to be one of the drivers who should be the standard bearers of Formula 1. The second less than gameful qualifying period merely reinforced the Red Bull’s poor handling qualities and meant that little was expected at race day. In the end, though, Verstappen put on a great performance to recover, making the most of his tyre selection and fearless overtaking. His daring pass of Lewis Hamilton at Turn 1 was one of the race highlights and Red Bull’s choice to run the final stint on soft tyres was a smart choice. Even the best drivers can make a difference without the fastest vehicles, as Verstappen admits the car is still very hard to drive, but had won.
Mercedes saw another mixed weekend which further divided fortunes of its two drivers. There was a lot of bad luck and inconsistent running at several points during the season, but the beginning of George Russell’s race was particularly unlucky. Russell really was a Mercedes favourite for his race heirship, but he will now go into the summer break in position to be challenged by teammate, Kimi Antonelli, and Lewis Hamilton in the points table. Antonelli, by contrast, delighted in apparently superachievable consistency, beyond his years. Despite the fact that Mercedes didn’t manage to pull it off at a perfect pace, the 19-year-old player managed to avoid unnecessary risks, go into every opportunity and take another platform. The steady demeanor has proved to be one of the big stories of the season, and continues to be praised by the competition, including Norris.
Aston Martin had a few positive notes to play off the front, but they come in the grey background. Though it did not find a level of success at first glance, its B-spec package, with significant changes, proved to be encouraging for both cars compared to the previous weeks. The Silverstone team now seems to have laid a solid base upon which Honda can build its next power pack. It’s still a long-term plan but for now, Hungary tried to signal that there’s a possibility for Aston Martin to move away from the small steps and to get back on track for 2027.
Several midfield rivals, however, didn’t look so bright in the picture. Persistent aero issues held back both Alex Albon and Carlos Sainz, leaving Williams with yet another sore afternoon. Albon has conceded he didn’t get the performance out of the car he could just as had Piastri’s collision with Sainz in blue flags only made it an even more forgettable race. Cadillac saw an early repeat of problems with their brakes, which saw both Valtteri Bottas and Sergio Perez thrown out of the second race of the season, dropping their two wins of the year.Cadillac also got their breaches and had to race through early retirement for both Bottas and Sergio Perez yet again, with concerns they had previously raised in Austria resurfacing. Haas, on the other hand, seemed to be on top of the world following a promising beginning to the season, but everyone else is just getting past his team as the season progresses.
With the weekly speed/classification formats still to be determined and the red flag remaining in reverse circuit for the classic French Grand Prix following this year’s Barcelona careers test, the competitive order appears even more uncertain than ever as Formula 1 enters its much-needed summer shutdown. McLaren’s sweep has brought a lot of excitement back into the title conflict, Verstappen is still proving to be the force on paper to his powers, Antonelli is one of the biggest surprises in this season and Ferrari have plenty of questions regarding their performance and nothing else. What a fast-moving game of Formula 1 the Hungarian Grand Prix Winners and Losers captured brilliantly, as the fight for the second half of next year looks all set to be a fight.
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