Lando Norris ended an eight-month wait by “flying” to a Formula 1 victory with strong pace and a dose of good fortune at the Hungarian Grand Prix on Sunday.
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The defending champion was on pole but lost the lead to his McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri when he ran wide at the second corner.
Norris got the lead back after Piastri was delayed by a collision with Carlos Sainz Jr. while lapping the Williams driver, allowing Norris to come out of the pits ahead of his teammate. Norris cruised to the win from there, but his pace even before the incident proved to be quicker than his Australian teammate.
“Car was unbelievable today, well done guys, incredible. We were flying,” Norris said. “Nice to be finally able to do it all for you. Feels like it’s been a while.”
Piastri then stopped with a broken gearbox, paving the way for Max Verstappen to take second, with Kimi Antonelli third.
McLaren brought five upgrades to its car this weekend, which clearly put the papaya outfit in a more comfortable position for Norris and Piastri.
McLaren has won the last two world constructors’ titles but sits third this season behind Mercedes and Ferrari. Perhaps this new look car can bring the team back into the fight more consistently.
Antonelli gets another boost in the title fight
Even with Mercedes largely off the pace for once and a three-place grid penalty in qualifying, Antonelli recovered from seventh to take his ninth podium finish in 11 races and make a statement to his title rivals.
Antonelli increased his standings lead to 50 points over Lewis Hamilton, who was fifth after a penalty for speeding in the pits. George Russell was barely a factor as he drove through the field to seventh after a near-stall at the start dropped him back to 20th. He’s now 59 points behind his Mercedes teammate Antonelli.
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Norris hadn’t won a full Grand Prix race since Sao Paulo in November, though he did win a sprint in Miami in May.
Hungary was the last race before the summer break. The next race is the Dutch Grand Prix on Aug. 23.
Lewis Hamilton left to rue yet another penalty
“Sometimes you just can’t catch a break,” Hamilton had written on Instagram on Saturday. He discussed how his three-place penalty in qualifying — Hamilton’s third penalty in three race weekends — made it “difficult to hang on to that positivity”.
A fourth penalty won’t have helped, and nor will yet another Ferrari strategy blunder.
When Piastri’s breakdown at the side of the road brought a virtual safety car slowdown, Ferrari decided it was worth calling in Hamilton for fresh tires.
Unfortunately for the seven-time champion, he left the pit lane to see Antonelli approaching fast. In what appeared to be a rush to keep the Mercedes driver at bay, Hamilton broke the pit lane speed limit.
Hamilton ended up being asked to give the place back to Antonelli and was then given a five-second penalty that dropped him behind teammate Charles Leclerc in the final standings.
“Handing out penalties like crazy,” he told Ferrari over the radio.
Isack Hadjar took sixth after a tactical race holding up drivers who threatened his Red Bull teammate Verstappen, with Russell seventh. Liam Lawson was eighth for Racing Bulls ahead of Audi’s Nico Hulkenberg in ninth and Lawson’s teammate Arvid Lindblad 10th.
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