Norris fends off challenging Piastri to win Hungarian GP
McLaren's Lando Norris has won the Hungarian Grand Prix by recovering from a suboptimal start with a perfectly executed single-stop strategy. Piastri came a close but disappointed second after being unable to pass his teammate in the closing laps. Russell completed the podium as pole sitter Leclerc struggled with car issues.
When the lights went out Leclerc enjoyed a start from the clean side of the race track and somewhat easily maintained the lead as the pack went into Turn 1. Trouble was behind him though as Norris didn't have the greatest start whereas Russell was very challenging towards both McLarens through the first few corners.
By the time they exited Turn 3, Russell was third and Alonso fourth after sticking on the inside of Turn 2 and slotting in behind Russell.
The top 3 quickly distanced themselves in the first few laps and Alonso was clearly not able to follow that pace in the Aston Martin. That meant that Norris could stay close to the Spaniard and use DRS to move back up into 4th at the start of the third lap. It wasn't the end of the trouble for Alonso though as Bortoleto looked ready to punch as well while Verstappen passed Stroll and seemed very feisty as well.
Further back, Hamilton didn't get anywhere and was stuck in 14th by lap 5 still, following Antonelli while keeping an eye on Ocon in his mirrors.
By lap 8 Norris had pretty much joined Piastri and Russell while Leclerc had managed to pull a 2.7s advantage on Piastri. Alonso in 5th continued to be chased by a big pack of cars and was by then already 6 seconds behind Norris.
Meanwhile it appeared there was an issue at the start with both Kick Sauber cars. Both ended up being investigated but only Hulkenberg received a 5 second penalty for moving before the start signal.
As Russell gradually starting losing ground to Piastri, Norris was told by his engineer he needed to make it past Russell. Surely the pace is in the McLaren to go faster, but passing is a completely different story at the Hungaroring.
On lap 14 Colapinto was the first to pit. He rejoined at the back and was soon followed by Sainz and Ocon, all switching medium to hard. Verstappen stopped on lap 18 for the same change as Piastri was told "use the pace now", immediately leading to a reduction of Leclerc's advantage by half a second in that lap.
One lap later Piastri pitted and enjoyed a very quick stop to return to the track in 5th, 4 seconds behind Alonso as the Spaniard had upped his pace and distance himself from Bortoleto. Leclerc and Russell were pitted the next lap in response to Piastri's stop, Russell in between Bortoleto and Stroll while Leclerc remained ahead of Piastri.
Leclerc was lucky to catch Alonso right at the pit straight, enabling for an easy pass with DRS without too much delay. Piastri, who followed quite closely was less lucky and surely lost some time before making it past Alonso on the next pass at the finish line.
Norris meanwhile, just like Alonso made it a long stint on medium tyres, even after Norris reported before Piastri's stop that his tyres were dead.
Verstappen's stop meanwhile had not payed off with the Dutchman reporting it was not helping much to have to fight his way back through the field. It was reasonably easy but when he ended up behind the trio Bearman, Hadjar and Hamilton things became more dificult. The DRS that Hadjar enjoyed by trailing Bearman was also the reason why Hamilton was unable to make progress.
Verstappen eventually made it past Hamilton on lap 30 as the Ferrari driver was sliding through pretty much every corner and had no way to defend through Turn 4 after Verstappen had much better accelleration out of Turn 3. Hamilton went wide as there seemed insufficient room for two cars through that quick corner, resulting in an investigation by the stewards who opted to decide on the matter after the race.
Hadjar was passed a single lap later, resulting in 9th place for Verstappen. Bearman had meanwhile pitted.
Norris also pitted at the end of lap 31 looking for a single stop strategy on medium-hard. Along with his engineer they worked on extending that first stint on medium until times dropped off too much. The McLaren driver returned to the track in 4th place, just ahead of Fernando Alonso who himself now had 7s over Bortoleto and another 4 more on Stroll and Lawson, all of whom were still on medium tyres from the start.
As Norris recorded a series of fastest laps on his fresh hard tyres to chase down Russell, Stroll was pitted from 8th, returning to the track in 12th position. Hadjar had done the same two laps earlier but found himself in 17th only after his stop.
Alonso eventually pitted at the end of lap 39, leaving 31 laps on a fresh set of hard tyres. The Spaniard ended up still in 6th position, a couple of seconds ahead of Hamilton. In front, McLaren were ready to pit Piastri to try to undercut Leclerc, but instead Leclerc was pitted, forcing Piastri to go longer to try to make a difference for the race win.
On lap 43 Hamilton was pitted to change his old hard tyres for a set of mediums to go for a single stopper. Russell also stopped for his second stop, switching back to hards. The move released Norris on a clear track, allowing him to set yet another fastest lap, bringing his deficit to Piastri down to 8 seconds.
Piastri stopped the next lap for his mechanics to change him back to hard in a mere 1.9 seconds. That saw Piastri return to the track 4.9 seconds down on Leclerc . The Ferrari driver at the time was chasing Norris who had 7 seconds in hand.
What followed was an impressive display of performance by Piastri. Having needed only three laps to get Leclerc, the first attempt to make it past the Ferrari immediately worked, happily taking the outside of Turn 1 after Leclerc defended the inside line. More trouble was up for Leclerc as Russell was now only 5 seconds behind after just recording the fastest lap.
Charles was getting more and more frustrated by the cuts he was experiencing since early on in the race. Having noted midway that the issue could cost them the win, Leclerc complained to his engineer they should have helped him to try to manage the situation with some settings. He then said on lap 52 his car at the moment was undriveable and would make it impossible to finish on the podium.
Behind Russell, Alonso continued to manage his race, a solid 30 second down on the car ahead. Bortoleto had meanwhile come back without touching distance of the Spaniard with Stroll following a couple of seconds down. Lawson, Verstappen and Antonelli at the time held the remaining points scoring positions.
By lap 58 Russell had come close enough to Leclerc to start challenging for the podium. Their first pass at the pit straight involved backmarkers that prevented an overtaking chance and the next lap Russell was simply not close enough. The next pass triggered a rightful complaint by Russell for moving under braking, but his engineer rightly urged him to stay calm, resulting in a successful pass the next lap even though Leclerc again sort of squeezed on the inside while braking with Russell on the same side. Despite his overtake working, Russell again called for a penalty.
Meanwhile up in front, Piastri steadily decreased his deficit on Norris to end up in DRS range at the start of lap 55, leaving 6 to try to overtake his teammate for victory. The duo soon ended up in traffic with Antonelli, Hadjar and Hamilton up ahead. The backmarkers proved very compliant leading to a clean chase throughout lap 67, starting with a 0.5s difference between the two after Turn 2.
It proved very difficult for Piastri and on the penultimate braking for Turn 1 Piastri made a desperate dive bomb and only just avoided a collision. Still, after locking up, he was closer than ever and in a better position than ever but again, no overtake proved possible. This sealed the result of the Hungarian Grand Prix in which Norris turned the tables with a single stop strategy after a troubled start.
