Oscar Piastri sealed a debut Formula 1 race win at the Hungarian Grand Prix, a maiden triumph for the Aussie marred by team orders delivered to team-mate Lando Norris and questionable strategy calls from the McLaren pit wall.
Here are the winners and losers from a tense Hungarian Grand Prix.
Oscar Piastri: 9
Qualifying: P2, Race Finish P1
Piastri made an epic start from second to pip Norris to the lead into Turn 1 and made his early advantage pay dividends, opening up a 1.5s gap in the early running. He pitted to the Hard tyre a lap later than Norris after a strong first stint, but showed less poise through the middle of the race, running wide at Turn 11 on Lap 33.
He struggled for pace versus Norris on the middle stint and was undercut by his own team through no fault of his own. Piastri dipped a wheel in the gravel on his out-lap and didn’t show any sign thereafter of closing the gap to Norris.
Norris handed Piastri first with three laps to go, securing a victory the Aussie had secured at Turn 1 off the start line. He lacked the raw pace of his team-mate but drove a measured, controlled race for a deserved maiden win.
Lando Norris: 8.5
Qualifying: P1, Race Finish P2
Lando Norris drove brilliantly to put his McLaren on pole ahead of Piastri on Saturday, but for the fifth successive time in his career (three grand prix and two sprints), he couldn’t convert pole into a Lap one lead.
He blamed a bad shift into second gear off the line which cost him valuable momentum to his team-mate Piastri. He did well to avoid a Turn 1 shunt, sandwiched between the 81 and Max Verstappen but found himself shuffled down to fourth early on.
Norris did well to quickly recover a place from Hamilton and began to open a gap to Verstappen from Lap 11. Pitting to Hard tyres on Lap 18, he made good use of the rubber and opened a gap to Hamilton, closing up to leader Piastri on Lap 36. He pitted again on Lap 45 for new Mediums, undercutting his opposite number to begin McLaren’s radio shenanigans.
He eventually yielded first to Piastri on Lap 68 but drove brilliantly on both his stints, showing the best race pace of the field and crucially more than that of his team-mate, such that Piastri couldn’t catch him in the final stint. However, Norris’ race starts remain a crucial weakness.
Max Verstappen: 6
Qualifying: P3, Race Finish P5
Red Bull’s one-lap pace was only good enough for a second-row start on Sunday after qualifying. Verstappen threatened to take the lead into Turn 1 but could only hang onto second by going off track.
After yielding a position to Norris he struggled on the opening stint, battling understeer and difficult braking. He looked much quicker in the second stint after switching to the Hard tyre, putting a lot of pressure on Lewis Hamilton, ultimately to no avail. On his final Medium stint, he made short work of Charles Leclerc but couldn’t convert his significant tyre advantage over Hamilton into a podium.
Verstappen cut an increasingly frustrated figure over the radio, his mood boiling over with a rash divebomb on Hamilton into Turn 1 on Lap 63. Verstappen was fortunate not to see his (or Hamilton’s) race ended, but his move cost him a place to Leclerc, along with valuable championship points.
Sergio Perez: 5
Qualifying: P16, Race Finish P7
Perez was knocked out in Q1 for the fourth time in six races, finding the wall at the exit of Turn 8 on a slippery Hungaroring. It was the last thing Perez needed under intensified scrutiny about his race seat and talk of a looming summer decision on his future.
However, Perez drove a commendable recovery race on Sunday, showing decent pace and fending off George Russell to bring home seventh. He lost a couple of positions in the opening laps but made his Hard tyres count on the opening stint before undercutting Russell. However, his Sunday task was made immeasurably more difficult by his Q1 exit.
Charles Leclerc: 8
Qualifying: P6, Race Finish P4
Charles Leclerc secured a desperately needed fourth and valuable points for his team on Sunday.
He jumped two places at the start including team-mate Sainz, and despite a slow stop on Lap 23, he showed excellent pace on the Hard tyre and again on the Mediums, closing up to the battling duo of Verstappen and Hamilton.
His well-managed drive ensured he was there to pick up the pieces when Hamilton and Verstappen came together.
Carlos Sainz: 6
Qualifying: P4, Race Finish P6
Sainz enjoyed the reverse of his team-mate’s fortunes over the weekend.
A strong qualifying performance put him fourth ahead of Lewis Hamilton’s Mercedes but he lost three places off the line because of wheelspin. He made three successive passes on Perez, Russell, and Tsunoda in three laps, but wasn’t able to make any inroads further up the field, ending the race in P6.
Lewis Hamilton: 8
Qualifying: P5, Race Finish P3
Hamilton and Mercedes didn’t show enough pace to challenge McLaren or Red Bull on Saturday but the Silverstone victor showed great poise and some staunch defending to convert fifth into a 200th career podium.
Hamilton took advantage of the undercut to gain track position over Verstappen and then held him off with some robust defending. Despite the stewards ruling, there probably wasn’t much more he could have done to avoid the contact with Verstappen on Lap 63.
George Russell: 7
Qualifying: P17, Race Finish P8
The jury is still out on exactly whose fault it was that Russell got knocked out in Q1 on Saturday, but Russell’s ad-hoc run plan left him short of the fuel required to complete a final run on a drying track and with a mountain to climb on Sunday.
Russell made short work of the back markers and found himself in 10th by Lap 9. He grabbed the fastest lap in the final stint but wasn’t able to close down Sergio Perez
Lance Stroll: 6
Qualifying: P8, Race Finish: P10
Outqualified by Alonso, Stroll made better use of his Soft tyres in the first stint and entered the final stages of the race with much more pace in hand. He was able to pass Hulkenberg and Ricciardo, finishing less than a second behind Yuki Tsunoda with a crucial point.
Fernando Alonso: 5
Qualifying: P7, Race Finish: P11
Both Aston Martins endured a difficult weekend in Hungary. Alonso was unlucky to be caught by the Q3 red flag on Saturday.
However, he still qualified ahead of team-mate Lance Stroll. Despite a strong starting position, he couldn’t take advantage of the Soft tyre in the early running and the team didn’t have enough good rubber to make the strategy work.
Alonso ultimately finished outside of the points and ceded four positions during the race.
Yuki Tsunoda: 7
Qualifying: P10, Race Finish: P9
Tsunoda did well to make it into Q3 but suffered a horror crash out of Turn 5 to bring his qualifying to an abrupt end.
On Sunday, he was the only driver on the grid to make a one-stop strategy work. Despite losing two places on the opening lap he made good progress up the field and was running in sixth at one point.
Strong strategy and well-managed tyres converted his starting slot into ninth and two valuable points, fending off a late challenge from Lance Stroll.
Daniel Ricciardo: 7.5
Qualifying: P9, Race Finish: P12
Another frustrating weekend for Ricciardo saw him fall two places on Lap 1, having qualified in ninth the day before.
The Aussie was brought into the pits on Lap 7 despite running the Medium compound, a decision that ensured he spent most of the race in dirty air and out of the running for points.
Nico Hulkenberg: 5
Qualifying: P11, Race Finish: P13
Hulk was unlucky not to sneak into Q3 on Saturday and showed strong one-lap pace yet again. However, a poor start ruined any chance of moving forward on Sunday.
Running in 14th after the opening lap, he was boxed incredibly early for Hard tyres.
He showed some good pace on the hardest compound but ultimately couldn’t recover any of his lost ground, finishing a lap down in 13th.
Kevin Magnussen: 5
Qualifying: P15, Race Finish: P15
Magnussen only qualified in 15th but made a strong start on the Soft tyre to snag five places on the opening lap.
He couldn’t make the Softs last however and was called into the pits on Lap 6. He did well to make his second set of Hard tyres last 37 laps and held off a late challenge from Valtteri Bottas, but it was only enough to secure the position he started.
Alex Albon: 6
Qualifying: P13, Race Finish: P14
Albon missed out on a Q2 he felt was within his reach on Saturday but converted his 14th grid spot into ninth on the opening lap running the Soft tyre.
However, like many of the midfield pack, he stopped early and spent the rest of the afternoon running around in dirty air.
Albon was left bewildered as the Williams pit wall flip-flopped between a two and three-stop strategy, ultimately to no avail as he finished 14th.
Logan Sargeant: 5
Qualifying: P14, Race Finish: P17
Qualified within a tenth of his team-mate in Q2 on Saturday, but not before an off at Turn 1 in Q1.
Lost four places off the line owing to wheelspin, and lacked the pace to recover any of his lost positions as he battled rear locking.
Valtteri Bottas: 5.5
Qualifying: P12, Race Finish: P15
Bottas did well to reach Q2 with a time almost on par with Hulkenberg’s Haas.
Starting from 12th, he found himself running as high as eighth at one point. He did well to pass Sargeant on Lap 61, but couldn’t make any inroads on Magnussen as the true pace of his Kick Sauber began to show.
Zhou Guanyu: 4
Qualifying: P18, Race Finish P19
Zhou endured a dismal weekend as the team experimented with upgrade combinations on his car.
He could only manage 18th on Saturday, missing Q2, unlike his team-mate. He was another early pitstop casualty but showed so little pace that he was only spared a 20th-place finish by Gasly’s retirement.
Esteban Ocon: 4
Qualifying: P19, Race Finish: P18
Ocon and Alpine got the conditions all wrong in qualifying to secure a back-row lockout for the race on Sunday.
Ocon boxed very early for Hard tyres on Lap 6 and was pulled in again for another set on Lap 30. His third stint was so long he had to take a set of Softs with only six laps remaining. A weekend to forget.
Pierre Gasly: N/A
Qualifying: P20 (Started: Pitlane), Race Finish: DNF
Unlike Silverstone, Pierre Gasly at least made it to the starting grid after qualifying 20th on Saturday.
He showed flashes on the Medium tyre, but a hydraulic leak cut short his race as the Frenchman failed to reach the chequered flag for the second time in two races.
