Lando Norris claimed his first victory of the 2026 season at the Hungarian Grand Prix on 26 July, holding off Red Bull’s Max Verstappen and Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli after a mid race collision and a late retirement ended team mate Oscar Piastri’s afternoon in despair.
Norris started from pole but lost the lead to Piastri at Turn 2 on the opening lap after a slide, and the Australian did just enough to hold on through the first half of the race, with McLaren resisting Norris’s repeated requests over the radio to be let through. The picture changed shortly after the midway point. Piastri pitted for the second time on lap 33 and emerged in fifth as the leaders navigated backmarker traffic, a decision Norris protested at the time as he chose to stay out.
Six laps later, on lap 39, Piastri encountered the squabbling cars of Oliver Bearman and Carlos Sainz at Turn 2, with the Williams cutting across his path and nearly spinning him out. “Get out of the way, you idiot,” Piastri fumed over team radio. The moment cost him crucial time, and when Norris pitted at the end of that lap, he emerged just ahead of his team mate to take the net lead of the race.
Norris then passed an off sequence Antonelli to move into the lead outright and, having promised he had the pace to do it, pulled clear of Piastri over the remainder of the stint. Piastri’s race ended in the worst possible way on lap 56 when his gearbox failed, forcing his retirement and triggering a Virtual Safety Car that prompted a fresh round of pit stops.
Verstappen and Antonelli, who had just swapped tyres, stayed out under the VSC to inherit second and third, ahead of a three stopping Ferrari pair in Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc. Hamilton briefly emerged ahead of Antonelli after the stops, only to be demoted following a review that showed he had crossed the relevant VSC line just behind the Mercedes. He was then handed a five second penalty for speeding in the pit lane, ending any hope of a podium finish, though he continued to chase Antonelli hard to the flag, with Leclerc also moving ahead of him for fourth once the penalty was applied.
Isack Hadjar brought the second Red Bull home in sixth, while George Russell recovered to seventh after a disastrous start, having dropped as low as 21st when anti stall issues left him bogged down off the line. Racing Bulls enjoyed another strong day with a double points finish, Liam Lawson eighth and Arvid Lindblad tenth, sandwiching Audi’s Nico Hulkenberg in ninth, the German’s first points of the season for the team. Hulkenberg’s teammate Gabriel Bortoleto narrowly missed out on points in eleventh.
Aston Martin produced their most encouraging showing of the campaign so far, with updated cars taking Lance Stroll and Fernando Alonso to thirteenth and fourteenth, ahead of the Alpine pair of Pierre Gasly and Franco Colapinto and both the Haas and Williams entries. Sainz completed the race despite his earlier coming together with Piastri, finishing among the point less runners along with Esteban Ocon, Bearman and Alex Albon.
There were three retirements in total. Piastri’s gearbox failure was joined by both Cadillacs, with Valtteri Bottas’s car suffering a brake fire early on and Sergio Perez retiring with a suspension problem.
