Lando Norris fends off teammate Piastri to win the Hungarian GP

Lando Norris delivered a masterclass at the Hungaroring on August 3, 2025, clinching victory at the Hungarian Grand Prix after an electrifying battle with McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri. Norris’s bold decision to attempt a one-stop strategy, unlike Piastri’s two-stop approach, proved decisive. He completed 39 of the 70 laps on hard tyres, while Piastri pitted twice and erased a significant deficit, only to fall short by 0.6 seconds at the finish line. 

After a chaotic start that saw Norris slip from third to fifth place, McLaren pivoted tactics mid-race. With rivals Leclerc and Piastri forced into extra pit stops, Norris emerged in front and managed tyre wear perfectly through the final stint. Piastri, pushing hard with fresher rubber, closed rapidly, nearly colliding with Norris when he locked up at Turn 1 on lap 69. George Russell secured third for Mercedes, strong enough to overtake Charles Leclerc, who struggled with chassis balance that dropped him to fourth. 

Norris was visibly relieved at the finish. “I’m dead … it was tough,” he said. “The final stint with Oscar catching, I was pushing flat out.” His fifth win of the season, and third in four races, puts him just nine points behind Piastri in the championship as Formula 1 pauses for its summer break. The victory marked McLaren’s 200th F1 race win and continued a run of four straight McLaren one‑two finishes. Despite the intense rivalry entering the home straight, team harmony remains intact—with both drivers expressing respect for one another and for the blend of strategy and precision that defined the Hungarian showdown. 

McLaren heads into the mid-season break in a strong position both in the Drivers’ Championship (Piastri leading Norris by nine) and the Constructors’ Championship, where they hold a commanding margin over Ferrari. The title battle looks set to intensify in the second half of the season.