Norris Wins Hungarian Grand Prix for First Victory of the Season

Lando Norris claimed victory at the Hungarian Grand Prix, securing his first win of the 2026 season and the 12th of his Formula 1 career. The McLaren driver finished ahead of Max Verstappen and championship leader Kimi Antonelli.

The Hungarian weekend proved to be an eventful one. Every practice session was interrupted by red flags, while the competitive order looked markedly different from the previous round at Spa. Lewis Hamilton topped Friday's timesheets, but Norris took control on Saturday by setting the fastest time in the final practice session before claiming McLaren's first pole position of the season.

Norris and Charles Leclerc lined up on the front row of the grid, with Oscar Piastri and Verstappen on the second row, followed by Hamilton and George Russell. Championship leader Antonelli started from seventh.

At the start, Piastri passed both Leclerc and Norris to take the lead. Russell, meanwhile, fell to the back of the field after encountering a technical issue with his car.

Following the opening round of pit stops, Piastri retained the lead ahead of Norris, Verstappen, Hamilton and Leclerc, while Antonelli ran sixth.

On lap 31, Hamilton made his second pit stop, overtook Isack Hadjar after rejoining and began to recover ground. Norris stayed out longer than his rivals and rejoined the track ahead of Piastri after making his stop.

During his second pit stop, Verstappen switched to the Soft compound, becoming the only driver among the front-runners to do so. The others continued on the Hard tyres.

On lap 46, Norris overtook Antonelli to move into the race lead.

The decisive moment came on lap 56 when Piastri suddenly lost pace and stopped on track with a gearbox problem. A Virtual Safety Car was deployed, allowing several drivers, including Norris, Hamilton and Leclerc, to make pit stops.

After his stop, Hamilton rejoined alongside Antonelli and initially emerged ahead, but later allowed the Italian through. The Briton was subsequently handed a five-second penalty for speeding in the pit lane.

Following the restart, Norris maintained the lead, while Verstappen moved into second. Antonelli held on to third under pressure from Hamilton, with Leclerc trying to reduce the gap to his teammate sufficiently to move ahead once the penalty was applied.

Norris comfortably secured victory, taking his first win of the season and the 12th of his Formula 1 career. Verstappen finished second, while Antonelli came home third to extend his championship lead.

Hamilton crossed the line in fourth but dropped behind Leclerc after his time penalty. Nico Hülkenberg finished ninth to score his first points of the season.

Formula 1 now heads into its summer break, with the championship set to resume at the Dutch Grand Prix in Zandvoort at the end of August.