Lando Norris wins Hungarian Grand Prix after dramatic Oscar Piastri retirement

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Lando Norris won the Hungarian Grand Prix, as Oscar Piastri’s DNF caused a lot of late-race drama for the field.

Oscar Piastri managed to snatch the lead from P3 from his McLaren teammate, Lando Norris. Right behind, Charles Leclerc faced a similar fate, as Lewis Hamilton made up the gap.

Unfortunately for the Ferraris, a ferocious Max Verstappen managed to snatch third place for himself within the first lap as well.

But perhaps the biggest story was the disastrous start for George Russell, who found himself falling down to 18th place due to an issue with his software going into anti-stall mode.

Further back on the grid, Fernando Alonso managed to move into P15, marking yet another strong start for Aston Martin since they implemented their chassis upgrades.

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Russell didn’t wait long to start making up places, moving into 14th place within the first six laps of the race after a bad start.

Alonso’s strong start didn’t last long, as he fell back into 16th place by Lap 7, as Franco Colapinto got the better of him despite a poor start.

Kimi Antonelli had an uncharacteristically quiet start to the race, moving into sixth place but struggling to get past Charles Leclerc in P5.

Hamilton began chasing Verstappen down to take P3 back for himself, but the Red Bull driver managed to hold off his old rival within the first 10 laps.

Russell inched closer to the points places as he took P11 on Lap 12, showing a great deal of fight to overcome a difficult start.

As far as the Racing Bulls drivers go, Arvid Lindblad was overtaken by Liami Lawson to start the race, and found himself struggling to get his place back.

On Lap 14, Lewis Hamilton went into the pits to change from soft to hard tyres, coming out in P9 right behind Lindblad, but overtook him early on to take P8.

Verstappen went into the pits right after, but as he came out, he wasn’t able to get the better of Hamilton, who managed to pass him.

The following lap, Verstappen managed to brake super late and take the place back from Hamilton, which earned a huge round of applause from the crowd.

Valtteri Bottas had to retire his Cadillac yet again, as his brakes caught fire, which forced him to stop the car in the pit lane.

With Norris, Piastri, and Leclerc coming into the pits, Kimi Antonelli and Isack Hadjar found themselves in P1 and P2 come Lap 18.

Piastri managed to overtake Hadjar the following lap, with Norris following his teammate in doing the same. Right after that, Verstappen and Hamilton managed to snatch P4 and P5 from Hadjar as well.

Antonelli tried to push his medium tyres as much as possible in the lead to try and make it a successful one-stop race for Mercedes, but had to pit on Lap 23.

With the championship leader coming out in P6 behind Charles Leclerc, Antonelli had all the clean air he needed to begin getting some traction on his hard tyres.

After several laps of battling between the three, Hamilton was the first to yield, as he went into the pits to change to a second set of hard tyres after struggling with the initial set.

With the threat of Hadjar possibly ruining his race, Hamilton acted quickly, not letting his unfortunate pit exit cost him and overtaking the Frenchman.

Things took an interesting turn as McLaren shut down Norris’ request for a pitstop, only to let Piastri in, presumably favouring the Australian in accordance with the Papaya Rules.

A skirmish between Oscar Piastri and a lapped Carlos Sainz led to some serious concern for the Australian, who couldn’t help but share his visceral frustration over the radio.

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By Lap 41, Max Verstappen found himself in the lead thanks to Norris going into the pits, with Kimi Antonelli right behind him.

This lead didn’t last long, as Verstappen went into the pits to switch to soft tyres, hoping to push them for 28 laps and earn a big win.

McLaren told Norris, who found himself in P2, to be careful when he comes up against Kimi Antonelli in the lead of the race.

Norris quickly took the lead from Antonelli, who snatched it back, but the reigning world champion emerged out of Lap 46 in the lead of the race.

In the mid-table, Alonso and Lance Stroll were both on track for their best finishes of the season, running in P14 and P15 as of Lap 47.

Sergio Perez began having issues with his car on Lap 51, which forced him to slow down, raising concerns about a possible safety car situation.

Following Perez’s retirement, Antonelli went into the pits, giving McLaren a one-two provisional lead heading into the final laps of the race.

Unfortunately for Oscar Piastri, his race came to an early end after a gearbox issue, forcing a yellow flag and giving Norris a chance to pit.

Under the virtual safety car, Hamilton and Leclerc also pitted, but Verstappen and Antonelli stayed out because they had pitted fairly recently.

But there was some controversy about Hamilton’s exit against Antonelli. To avoid any issues after the race, Ferrari asked the Briton to give the position back.

It proved to be a good decision, as Hamilton was noted for speeding in the pit lane, which resulted in a five-second penalty.

Antonelli began struggling to hold off Hamilton, as a lapped Gabriel Bortoleto got in the way of the young Italian driver.

With Norris up ahead comfortably, Max Verstappen benefited from the drivers behind him aggressively battling it out.

In the end, Norris managed to cross the line as the winner comfortably, with Verstappen and Antonelli completing the podium places.

Leclerc, Hamilton, Hadjar, Russell, Lawson, Hulkenberg, and Lindblad completed the points positions in that order.