Watch VideoHungarian GP key takeaways: Norris reignites title race as Ferrari flounder in heat

Defending world drivers’ champions Lando Norris won the Hungarian Grand Prix as McLaren closed the gap on title leaders Mercedes. Photo: AFP McLaren’s first success of 2026 owed as much to poor weekends, by their own high standards, for Ferrari and Mercedes asLando Norrisdemonstrated that this year’s title race is anything but a foregone conclusion. The champion’s victory showcased his talent and a new sense of maturity that, coupled with McLaren’s excellent upgrades package, left the rest floundering in pursuit in theHungaroringheat.

As the 2026 season evolves into a “development war” following the summer break, we look at three things we learned from theHungarian Grand Prix. Despite having arguably the fastest car at a circuit that suited them, a wasteful weekend of errors left Ferrari ruing poor decision-making and sloppy execution as Charles Leclerc and seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton finished fourth and fifth. With Mercedes having a rare off day, form suggested the scarlet Scuderia had the pace to finish 1-2, but a sense of complacency gave the initiative to McLaren and Norris, with Red Bull also exploiting their opportunity.

“It’s not a good Sunday when you were 1-2 on Friday (in practice),” said team boss Fred Vasseur. “You expect much more. “On top of that, we made too many mistakes starting with the penalty, and that Max (Verstappen) overtook us and that at each pit stop we were losing a position for 0.2 or 0.3 seconds.

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Then we spent our lives behind those guys! “Everything went wrong. For sure, we have to do a much better job on Sundays.” Vasseur was referring to Leclerc’s poor start from second on the grid, Hamilton’s five-second penalties for impeding Oscar Piastri’s McLaren in qualifying and then speeding in the pit lane, and his failure to prevent Verstappen swooping past him after an undercut had worked.

He could also have questioned several strategy calls, including the choice of soft tyres to start the race, pit-stop timing, and the late stop under a virtual safety car that proved so costly for Hamilton. Hamilton has now received four penalties in three outings, the last gifting championship leader Kimi Antonelli a podium finish that increased his tally to 219 points. He is 50 ahead of Hamilton after 11 of the 23 races, while Mercedes lead Ferrari by 72 points in the teams’ title race.

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