MogyorĂłd, Hungary, July 22:Â In a gripping and contentious Hungarian Grand Prix, Oscar Piastri clinched his first Formula 1 victory amid significant drama and team orders controversy. The 70-lap race at the Hungaroring saw Piastri overcome McLaren team-mate Lando Norris after Norris was ultimately forced to cede the lead following a series of increasingly urgent instructions from the McLaren pit wall.
Piastri, starting from second on the grid, quickly moved into the lead after a strong start. However, a strategic pit-stop gamble by McLaren saw Norris take the lead temporarily after his pit stop. The team had planned to revert positions to avoid disadvantaging Piastri, but Norris resisted the orders for an extended period, despite polite and then stern requests from his race engineer, Will Joseph. Norris’s resistance continued for 20 laps before he finally yielded the lead with just three laps remaining, allowing Piastri to retake the front position and secure the win.
Norris, reflecting on the situation, said, “I know what I’m going to do, I know what I’m not going to do. Of course, I’m going to question it and challenge it, and that’s what I did. It was not easy, but I also understood the situation I was in and I was quite confident always by the last lap I would have done it.”
The race also featured a dramatic collision between Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton, who were battling for third place. The clash occurred on lap 63 when Verstappen, attempting an overtaking maneuver, made contact with Hamilton’s Mercedes. The incident caused Verstappen’s Red Bull to briefly go airborne before he landed back on track and continued racing. Despite the contact, both drivers finished the race with Hamilton securing third place and Verstappen dropping to fifth. The stewards deemed the collision a “racing incident,” with no driver held predominantly responsible, though Hamilton was advised to avoid similar incidents in the future.
In the final standings, Piastri emerged victorious with a time of 1:38:01.989, followed by Norris just 2.141 seconds behind. Hamilton finished third, 14.880 seconds off the lead, while Charles Leclerc and Max Verstappen rounded out the top five. Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz took sixth place, and Sergio Perez from Red Bull finished seventh after a strong drive from 16th on the grid. George Russell in the second Mercedes, Yuki Tsunoda in an RB, and Lance Stroll in an Aston Martin completed the top ten.
McLarenâs strong performance not only marked their first one-two finish since the 2021 Italian Grand Prix but also moved them into second place in the Constructors’ Championship. They closed the gap to Red Bull to 51 points, while Norris reduced his deficit to Verstappen in the Drivers’ Championship from 84 to 76 points.
The Hungarian Grand Prix sets the stage for the final race before the summer break, the Belgian Grand Prix at Spa-Francorchamps. Fans can catch all the action live on Sky Sports F1 from July 26-28.