Lando Norris narrowly held off a late charge from Oscar Piastri to claim victory at the 2025 F1 Hungarian GP, sealing McLaren’s 200th Formula 1 win while George Russell rounded out the podium.
The triumph delivered the seventh McLaren 1-2 finish of the season and also closed the Drivers’ Championship gap to just nine points as the grid heads into the summer break.
From the outset, the weather played its ever-uncertain role over the tight, winding 4.381km layout of the Hungaroring. Qualifying had provided a jolt: Charles Leclerc delivered a dazzling lap to seal Ferrari’s first pole of the year.
Lights out saw Leclerc instantly capitalizing on his pole start, fending off a robust challenge from Oscar Piastri who could not find a way past as the field barreled into Turn 1.
Lando Norris sensing an early opportunity, darted inwards but was boxed in, surrendering ground as George Russell and Fernando Alonso swept past on the outside, relegating Norris to fifth by the end of the first lap.
Meanwhile, Sauber rookie Gabriel Bortoleto made a decisive move into sixth setting the stage for a breakout performance while Verstappen slipped to ninth in the melee.
As DRS was enabled on lap 3 Norris began the painstaking task of recovery, managing to slipstream past Alonso to regain fourth.
Verstappen too found momentum, muscling by Lance Stroll for seventh, yet the reigning World Champion cut a frustrated figure, Red Bull’s much-vaunted RB21 clearly adrift of the front pace.
Leclerc’s Ferrari was the class of the early running as he proceeded to stretch his lead to nearly three seconds over Piastri. Yet the Hungaroring’s notorious lack of overtaking coupled with the wear-inducing, high-downforce demands on tires promised intricate strategy that would shape the race.
The strategic divergence that would define the F1 Hungarian GP began to emerge at the first round of pit stops. Piastri shadowed Leclerc closely, Ferrari opting for a two-stop plan in response to the Australian’s similar approach.
By contrast, Norris and his McLaren crew calculated a high-risk, high-reward one-stop strategy—a decision that many saw as both daring and fraught with peril on the abrasive Hungarian tarmac.
With tyre wear typically dictating two stops at the circuit, Norris and strategist Ruth Buscombe banked on track position in the race’s later stages—banking on Norris’s ability to manage tire life while staying within attack range.
After the second stops for the primary contenders, Leclerc’s early pace evaporated as tyre degradation set in, allowing first Piastri and then Norris who stretched his initial hard tire stint until lap 31—to leapfrog the Ferrari after the Monégasque driver’s second visit to the pits.
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Norris found himself leading, his charge up the field impressively orchestrated while Piastri on fresher mediums began to hone in as the closing laps approached.
Piastri with better grip and a burning desire to extend his championship lead pressed Norris lap after lap, their McLarens matching each other for pace, trading sector times in tenths or less.
Norris under immense pressure delivered a defensive masterclass despite repeated lunges from Piastri at Turn 1 and a late-braking attempt on lap 65 that nearly saw the Australian lock up and overshoot the apex.
Lando Norris ultimately took the checkered flag just 0.698s clear of Oscar Piastri to seal McLaren’s 200th Formula 1 win in a fitting style with their cars first and second.
Meanwhile, George Russell secured the final podium place for Mercedes after executing a measured late-race move on Charles Leclerc—whose afternoon soured further after an erratic defensive move on Russell earned him a five-second penalty.
Fernando Alonso produced his best drive of the season to secure fifth while his Aston Martin teammate Lance Stroll brought home points with a controlled run to seventh. Splitting them, Gabriel Bortoleto netted a career-best sixth for Sauber.
Liam Lawson turned in an impressive showing for Racing Bulls by taking eighth after holding off a late charge from a frustrated Max Verstappen who had to settle for ninth.
Rounding out the points was Mercedes prospect Kimi Antonelli, who soaked up immense pressure to bring his car home in tenth. Meanwhile, Hamilton struggled to twelfth after ceding track position to Antonelli.
Ollie Bearman was the sole retirement of the race—the Briton’s weekend ended prematurely after sustaining race-ending damage in the early laps, denying fans what might have been a feisty midfield performance.
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