Lando Norris and McLaren claimed their first victory of the 2026 season in Hungary, leading home Red Bull\u2019s Max Verstappen and Mercedes\u2019 Kimi Antonelli on a dramatic Sunday afternoon. But who else impressed our Power Rankings judges at the Hungaroring? Check out the latest scores and overall leaderboard below…<\/p>\n
Norris<\/a> headed to the Hungarian Grand Prix feeling that he and McLaren<\/a> had missed an opportunity for more in Belgium. But the reigning World Champions made up for it at the Hungaroring, where the upgraded MCL40 shone in the Briton\u2019s hands. After charging to pole position, Norris\u2019 only mistake was a slight wide moment at Turn 2 on the opening lap, which allowed team mate Oscar Piastri<\/a> through. But his rapid raw pace was clear to see, and his eventual victory was more than deserved.<\/p>\n Verstappen<\/a> had to settle for sixth in Qualifying, around half a second away from polesitter Norris \u2013 explaining afterwards how his Red Bull<\/a> was \u201cdegrading\u201d through the session. He faced more car issues on Sunday, but battled through them \u2013 while benefitting from a couple of grid penalties and making the most of some \u201cspicy\u201d strategy calls<\/a> \u2013 to finish a fine second. His bold move on Lewis Hamilton<\/a> early in the race was particularly impressive.<\/p>\n After missing out at Spa, Liam Lawson<\/a> got his hands on Racing Bulls<\/a>\u2019 latest updates in Budapest, meaning he was level on equipment with Arvid Lindblad<\/a> again. The New Zealander was furious with himself for missing out on Q3 in Qualifying, but came back fighting in the race to lead the squad\u2019s charge on a two-stop strategy compared to his rookie team mate\u2019s one. It marked yet another solid points finish in what is becoming a standout midfield season.<\/p>\n Antonelli<\/a> and Mercedes<\/a> were chasing Ferrari<\/a> and McLaren throughout the Hungary weekend \u2013 the Italian youngster having also missed valuable track time in FP1 to give reserve driver Fred Vesti another run out. His efforts were dented by a three-place grid penalty for failing to slow sufficiently under yellow flags in Q3, but he pulled off a mature damage limitation drive on race day to come away with a podium.<\/p>\n Nico Hulkenberg<\/a> has experienced all sorts of misfortune and drama so far this season, leaving the German wondering if he would ever get points on the board for the Audi<\/a> brand. Thankfully for both parties, he enjoyed a clean run at the Hungaroring, making it into the final phase of Qualifying and converting it into a couple of well-earned points in the Grand Prix itself.<\/p>\n Starting third after a couple of grid penalties, Piastri<\/a> could not have enjoyed a better first lap \u2013 surging past Charles Leclerc<\/a> on the run down to Turn 1 and then slipping past Norris exiting Turn 2. He held the lead through the first half of the race, under sustained pressure from his team mate, before drama struck when he banged wheels with Carlos Sainz<\/a> while trying to put a lap on the Williams<\/a> driver. A terminal gearbox issue added insult to injury.<\/p>\n Also looking to make up for a missed opportunity in Belgium, Hamilton put himself firmly in the pole fight last weekend, missing out to Norris by just 0.012s. That disappointment and frustration grew post-Qualifying when he was penalised for impeding Piastri, pushing him back to fifth. It was always going to be a challenge from there, and the Briton ultimately finished where he started, via another penalty for speeding in the pit lane.<\/p>\n As mentioned above, Lindblad and Lawson were split on race strategies in Hungary, with the former running ahead before the latter\u2019s fresher tyres paid off. It nonetheless marked a sixth successive points finish for F1\u2019s newest driver, who at just 18 years of age continues to impress with his speed and maturity.<\/p>\n Like Verstappen, Isack Hadjar<\/a> cut a frustrated figure after Qualifying for the Hungarian Grand Prix \u2013 spinning his way to eighth, albeit just over a tenth off his team mate. Not benefitting from Hamilton and Antonelli\u2019s penalties, the Frenchman finished as \u2018best of the rest\u2019 behind the top five, keeping a recovering George Russell<\/a> at bay.<\/p>\n After their challenging start to the 2026 season, Aston Martin<\/a> finally delivered an upgrade package in Budapest. Encouraging signs on Friday were followed by a superb run to Q2 from Fernando Alonso<\/a> in Qualifying \u2013 the Spaniard noting how he enjoyed \u201cthe adrenaline that was missed\u201d in previous events. Alonso went on to finish the race in 14th, just behind team mate Lance Stroll<\/a>, in what appears to have marked a new chapter for the team.<\/p>\n Missing out<\/p>\n Just missing out on spots in the top 10 list were Leclerc, who dropped back after running at the front on Friday and had to settle for a P4 finish, and Russell, who suffered yet more pain at the race start when his car went into anti-stall and forced him into a recovery from P21 to P7.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Lando Norris and McLaren claimed their first victory of the 2026 season in Hungary, leading home Red Bull\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":532018,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[572],"tags":[64,63,806,805,803,804,85],"class_list":["post-829146","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-motosport","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-motor","tag-motor-sports","tag-motosport","tag-motosports","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/829146","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=829146"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/829146\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/532018"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=829146"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=829146"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=829146"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}