Norris secures his first seasonal victory after his success in the Miami Sprint, so far the only race to escape the Mercedes-Ferrari duo in 2026. Behind him are Verstappen and Antonelli. It could have been a McLaren one-two, but Piastri’s retirement due to a gearbox failure on the fifty-sixth lap reopened space for the struggling rivals. The Ferraris were subdued: they seemed set for a podium finish but instead crossed the finish line with Hamilton fourth and Leclerc fifth, but a five-second penalty for speeding in the pit lane, inflicted at the end, demotes the seven-time world champion behind the Monegasque.
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An unprecedented Hungarian podium given how the first ten races of 2026 had unfolded: the top three, in this order, had not yet been seen with this generation of single-seaters. The Mercedes trajectory is interrupted, at least temporarily, also in an Italian context, while the strong performances shown by the red cars in recent races and Hungarian qualifying are scaled back.
Heat, tire wear, innovations, and technical interpretations were once again the protagonists of this classic atypical Formula 1 event. A race that, unlike Spa, does not particularly challenge the new hybrid units because, as Alonso summarized at the beginning of the weekend, it features “only one relatively short straight and many braking and release phases: conditions that offer more margin to teams struggling with engine power.” Here, the winner tends to emerge from the driver-car combination most capable of not destroying the tires, which are severely tested by restarts from slow corners and high asphalt temperatures.
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The race was indeed won by Norris despite Hamilton being considered one of the favorites and having held the fastest lap for a long time, until the fortieth lap. The British Ferrari driver paid for a combination of factors: the grid demotion, the inability to overtake Verstappen in the early phase, and an aggressive strategy that produced the undercut, rewarding him for only a few moments before the advantage was nullified. A real shame on a track that for Hamilton represents the second most successful race of his career and on which he holds records for wins, podiums, and pole positions. A special bond confirmed by the naming of turn 4, the most difficult and technical, the only corner officially dedicated to a driver while all others remain numbered. Misfortune and penalties aside, Verstappen’s race, second against many predictions, and Antonelli’s, also awarded by the public as driver of the day, should be highlighted.
The start, decisive as per the manual
The two McLarens started well, while Verstappen also got ahead thanks to Leclerc’s poor start, dropping from second to fifth place. Antonelli didn’t start well either, but the real disaster was Russell’s: the anti-stall activation caused him to plummet to twentieth position, an unexpected inconvenience after the replacement of some power unit elements already carried out the previous day, when he had to leave the Mercedes stranded on track.
