Lando Norris Wins the Hungarian Grand Prix for His First Victory of 2026

BUDAPEST, Hungary. Lando Norris won the Hungarian Grand Prix from pole on Sunday, his first victory of 2026 and McLaren's first of the season. He finished 15.080 seconds ahead of Max Verstappen of Red Bull Racing, with championship leader Kimi Antonelli third for Mercedes.

Teammate Oscar Piastri led the first half of the race but retired late with an apparent gearbox problem. It was Norris's first Grand Prix win as world champion.

"I'm tired! What happened?" Norris said. "My pace today was probably some of the best pace I've ever had. The car was beautiful to drive and I felt very confident, so a great race. To get it back in terms of going long, which is certainly not what I was expecting, but the pace was so good I could always extend the stints, and fresh tyres then always won me the race. I'm just happy to be back and see the number one again."

Piastri takes the lead

Norris took pole by 0.012 seconds over Lewis Hamilton, but Hamilton and Antonelli both received three-place grid penalties, so Charles Leclerc and Piastri started second and third.

Piastri got the jump on Leclerc into Turn 1 and then passed Norris with a cutback at Turn 2. Norris said he lost the rear several times on the opening lap. McLaren resisted his calls to swap the cars as he sat in Piastri's dirty air.

George Russell's start went badly wrong when the anti stall kicked in, and he fell from sixth to 21st.

The race turns

Piastri made his second stop on Lap 33, giving Norris clear air, and Norris lapped much faster on older tyres. Piastri then made contact with Carlos Sainz's Williams at the exit of Turn 2 while blue flags were out. Norris stopped at the end of Lap 39 and rejoined with a net lead.

Antonelli made his final stop on Lap 54. A couple of laps later, Piastri stopped with the gearbox problem, and the Virtual Safety Car came out. Norris, Hamilton and Leclerc pitted again, while Verstappen stayed out and moved up to second.

Hamilton came out of his stop ahead of Antonelli, but replays showed Antonelli reached the Virtual Safety Car line first, and Hamilton gave the place back. A five-second penalty for pit lane speeding then dropped Hamilton to fifth, behind Leclerc.

The rest of the order

Isack Hadjar was sixth, and Russell recovered to seventh. Liam Lawson was eighth for Racing Bulls, Nico Hulkenberg took ninth and his first points of 2026 for Audi, and Arvid Lindblad was 10th. Gabriel Bortoleto was 11th.

Aston Martin had its most encouraging day of the season, with Lance Stroll and Fernando Alonso 13th and 14th in updated cars, splitting the Alpines of Pierre Gasly and Franco Colapinto. The Haas and Williams cars finished behind them.

Valtteri Bottas retired with overheating brakes and Sergio Perez with an issue at the front left of his Cadillac, along with Piastri.

Formula 1 now takes its summer break before the Dutch Grand Prix at Zandvoort on August 21 to 23.

For more, see Formula 1's race report (opens in a new tab).

This was Round 11 of the 2026 season. It came after Antonelli's win at Spa and before Norris' win at the final Dutch Grand Prix. For the full title picture, see our 2026 F1 standings breakdown.

Sources: Formula 1. More Formula 1 coverage on Undrafted.

Photo: McLaren via X