At the Hungarian Grand Prix, Oscar Piastri triumphed in his first Formula 1 title, overcoming McLaren controversy to finish ahead of teammate Lando Norris.
The action started right away when Piastri entered Turn 1 three abreast with Red Bull’s Max Verstappen and McLaren teammate Lando Norris.
Piastri took charge and led with incredible poise and ability. His early performance gave hope that he would have an unforgettable victory.
But McLaren’s pit-stop tactic gave the race an additional level of intricacy. Norris was brought in first during the second set of stops to cover Lewis Hamilton of Mercedes, who was putting up a serious challenge from behind.
To Piastri’s dismay, Norris returned to the race ahead of him due to this decision. An intense intra-team conflict ensued. McLaren repeatedly asked Norris to give up the lead to Piastri, but Norris didn’t seem to want to do that.
It took until the sixty-eighth lap of the race for Norris to give up, slowing down to let Piastri pass. The Australian, 23, took advantage of the chance and didn’t look back, finishing two seconds ahead of his colleague.
Lewis Hamilton earned Mercedes’ 200th career podium, finishing behind the McLaren pair. The stewards are currently looking into Hamilton’s late-race touch with Verstappen, which added drama to his already dramatic race.
After a difficult day, Verstappen came in fifth place behind Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, who took fourth. Carlos Sainz finished sixth in his Ferrari, and Sergio Perez of Red Bull completed a strong comeback from his starting position of P16 to finish seventh.
George Russell had an amazing race as well, finishing ninth after starting from position P17 on the grid.
Lance Stroll of Aston Martin and Yuki Tsunoda of RB completed the top ten. Daniel Ricciardo had a poor race for RB, finishing in P12 despite starting in P9, and Fernando Alonso nearly missed out on points for Aston Martin, finishing Pll.
Haas’ Nico Hulkenberg finished in 13th place, while Alex Albon finished in 14th place for Williams and Kevin Magnussen finished in 15th place for Haas.
Kick Sauber’s pursuit of points continued as Valtteri Bottas finished in P16 and Logan Sargeant of Williams in P17. With Esteban Ocon in P18 and Zhou Guanyu of Kick Sauber the last classified runner in P19, Alpine had a difficult weekend.
Pierre Gasly was the only competitor to retire from the race; his Alpine’s suspected hydraulic leak made matters worse for the team.
