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Norris wins his first grand prix of year in Hungary
F1 Correspondent at the Hungaroring Published 26 July 2026, 15:56 BST Updated 1 hour ago Lando Norris took his and McLaren's first grand prix victory of the year in a compelling race in Hungary.
As the world champion cruised to a comfortable victory, there was a tense fight for the remaining podium positions in the closing laps between Red Bull's Max Verstappen and Mercedes' Kimi Antonelli.
Verstappen just managed to hold on while Antonelli took third to extend his championship lead to 50 points over Lewis Hamilton and 59 over his Mercedes team-mate George Russell, who finished seventh after a bad start.
Ferrari's Hamilton finished the grand prix on Antonelli's tail in fourth place but was penalised five seconds for speeding in the pit lane and dropped to fifth behind his team-mate Charles Leclerc.
Norris' team-mate Oscar Piastri led for most of the first half of the race but retired from second place with a gearbox failure.
Norris said he was "happy to be back and be number one again", adding: "My pace today was probably some of the best pace I've ever had. The car was beautiful to drive and I had confidence."
Norris' victory, helped by a controversial strategy that did not please his team-mate Piastri
A surprise second for Verstappen after a strategy gamble paid off for Red Bull
Yet another penalty harming Hamilton's prospects in a disappointing race for Ferrari given their pace
A positive weekend for Aston Martin with their new car, despite not scoring points
Norris' concern before the start would have been about the losing a place to Leclerc, who was starting second behind the Briton.
The McLaren driver made a good start, the challenge from Leclerc never materialised, but instead Norris lost the lead to Piastri.
Norris was leading through Turn Two, but a strong start put the Australian second, and when Norris made an error and ran wide through Turn Two, Piastri seized his opportunity to take the lead.
That left McLaren with a quandary for although their cars were running one-two, the slower one was in the lead, and they were concerned about threats from behind.
Piastri led through the first pit stops, with Norris never much more than a second behind, but Norris started to challenge hard in the second stint and wanted to be given the opportunity to challenge his team-mate.
Norris asked to make his second stop first but was refused.
Instead, Piastri was called in, McLaren saying they were covering the threat from Hamilton, who had just stopped himself, and Norris was allowed to run for six further laps before making his pit call for fresh tyres.
Norris returned to the track just in front of Piastri, who had been delayed by a collision with Williams driver Carlos Sainz while lapping the Spaniard, who was penalised five seconds for the incident.
Piastri was clearly unhappy, telling his engineer not to talk to him shortly after Norris returned to the track.
But Norris' pace afterwards justified the decision and he pulled away into a comfortable lead.
Piastri had just been promoted back to second place by Antonelli's second pit stop when he lost use of his gearbox on lap 56 and pulled off after Turn Three.
That led to a late virtual safety car (VSC) which enlivened the battles behind Norris, but he was untouchable as he and McLaren, who came to Hungary with an upgraded car, revived memories of some of their dominant victories of their championship last year.
Verstappen was unhappy with his car for much of the race, with regular complaints on team radio, but Red Bull pulled a masterstroke when they fitted soft tyres to his car at his second pit stop.
The aim was to challenge Hamilton in the later laps after the seven-time champion made an early second stop with 40 laps still to go.
It was heading towards a tense climax when Piastri's retirement brought out the VSC.
That prompted a late round of pit stops, Ferrari bringing in both their drivers and putting them behind Verstappen.
Hamilton came out of the pits and passed Antonelli into the first corner, after the Italian stayed out under the VSC, but had to give the place back after the restart because the Mercedes driver had just passed the key line on the track in front.
Antonelli and Hamilton started chasing back towards Verstappen, but they were delayed while lapping Audi's Gabriel Bortoleto.
That looked as if it might be decisive, but in the end Verstappen was comfortably able to keep Antonelli at bay, crossing the line 3.6 seconds ahead.
Another key point in Verstappen's race had been his re-passing of Hamilton after the Ferrari had got briefly ahead following the first pit stops.
That gave him clear air and enabled the Dutchman to consolidate his race position in third place behind the McLarens, laying the foundations for Red Bull's late strategy call.
Hamilton will leave Hungary ruing another penalty - the one for speeding in the pit lane was his second in two days after behind penalised for blocking Piastri in qualifying, and follows two others at the previous two races in Belgium and Britain.
Behind him, Red Bull's Isack Hadjar was sixth, ahead of Russell, who dropped to 21st place on the first lap after his anti-stall kicked in at the start, and fought back strongly.
At Aston Martin, Lance Stroll finished in 13th, ahead of team-mate Fernando Alonso, their positions dictated to a degree by luck under the VSC and their divergent strategies.
But the key point was that Alonso, in particular, was able to fight with other cars for the first time, and he ran a long first stint on the soft tyres, before switching to the mediums, which was a bold strategy.
The long-awaited upgrade to their car, which was new apart from the front suspension, engine and gearbox, has reduced their lap times by about two seconds.
A Honda engine upgrade is due for the Dutch Grand Prix, the next race in four weeks' time after the summer break, which the team hope will elevate them further and potentially bring the possibilit...
NorrisHungaryLando NorrisMcLaren'sHungarian Grand Prix
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