Lando Norris ha ganado el Gran Premio de Hungría después de resistir un emocionante desafío por el liderato al final de la carrera por parte de su compañero de equipo en McLaren, Oscar Piastri. El británico logró que una estrategia alternativa funcionara a su favor para lograr la victoria.

El poleman Charles Leclerc había tenido un buen comienzo para mantener el primer puesto cuando comenzó la carrera, lo que le permitió al piloto de Ferrari construir una ventaja constante sobre Piastri en el segundo puesto durante las primeras etapas de la carrera, una posición que mantuvo durante la primera ronda de paradas en boxes, a pesar del intento de Piastri de socavar a su rival.

Sin embargo, el panorama comenzó a cambiar a medida que se desarrollaban diferentes estrategias entre los líderes, con Leclerc y Piastri, ambos con planes de dos paradas, encontrándose detrás de Norris, que solo hacía una parada, en la fase final de la carrera.

Mientras que el ritmo de Leclerc disminuyó en las últimas etapas, un rápido Piastri se dispuso a perseguir a Norris por el liderato, lo que llevó a una conclusión apasionante cuando el australiano estaba pisándole los talones a su compañero de equipo en las últimas vueltas.

A pesar de un par de intentos, Piastri no pudo superar al otro McLaren, y Norris cruzó la meta con solo 0,698 segundos de ventaja para sellar su quinta victoria de la temporada. Esto ha reducido la ventaja de Piastri en el Campeonato de Pilotos a nueve puntos al comenzar el parón veraniego.

George Russell se alzó con el tercer puesto para Mercedes, tras superar a un Leclerc en apuros para hacerse con el último puesto del podio. Leclerc tuvo que conformarse con el cuarto puesto en un día decepcionante para el monegasco, quien además recibió una penalización de cinco segundos por conducir erráticamente durante su batalla con Russell.

Fernando Alonso realizó una sólida actuación para conseguir el quinto puesto con Aston Martin, lo que supuso un valioso doblete de puntos para la escudería, con Lance Stroll pisándole los talones en séptimo lugar. Entre ellos se encontraba Gabriel Bortoleto, de Kick Sauber, quien marcó otra actuación destacada del debutante.

Liam Lawson fue octavo con Racing Bulls, seguido por el Red Bull de Max Verstappen, quien tuvo un día complicado en noveno lugar. El holandés fue investigado después de la carrera por un incidente con Lewis Hamilton que provocó que el piloto de Ferrari se saliera, pero no se tomaron medidas adicionales y mantuvo su noveno puesto.

Kimi Antonelli se llevó el último punto en juego en la décima posición para Mercedes, mientras que Isack Hadjar, de Racing Bulls, se quedó a las puertas en la undécima posición. Hamilton también quedó fuera del top 10, quien tuvo que conformarse con la duodécima posición en un fin de semana difícil para el siete veces campeón del mundo.

Nico Hulkenberg se ubicó 13.º con Kick Sauber, seguido por la dupla Williams de Carlos Sainz y Alex Albon en 14.º y 15.º lugar respectivamente. Esteban Ocon fue el único Haas que terminó la carrera en 16.º lugar, seguido por Yuki Tsunoda en 17.º lugar con Red Bull.

Fue un día complicado para Alpine, ya que Franco Colapinto y Pierre Gasly completaron el orden en P18 y P19, este último habiendo recibido una penalización de 10 segundos por provocar una colisión con Sainz.

Ollie Bearman, por su parte, no logró llegar a la bandera a cuadros debido a que los daños en su Haas lo obligaron a retirarse de la carrera.

COMO SUCEDIÓ

Después de que el polvo se hubiera asentado en medio de un final sorpresivo para la Clasificación del sábado en Hungaroring, con Leclerc superando al dúo de McLaren para obtener una pole position inesperada, la atención se centró en el Gran Premio de Hungría de 70 vueltas del domingo, la carrera final antes del tradicional descanso de verano de la F1.

Tras esa agitada sesión decisiva de la parrilla, se realizó un cambio en el orden de salida durante la preparación para la carrera. Se confirmó que Tsunoda tendría que salir desde boxes, debido a que Red Bull había reemplazado los componentes de la unidad de potencia de su coche, así como la configuración de refrigeración de los frenos, en condiciones de parque cerrado.

Aunque había llovido en Budapest el domingo por la mañana, los pilotos se encontraron con condiciones secas, racheadas y ligeramente más frescas a medida que se acercaba la hora de inicio, con un 20 por ciento de probabilidad de lluvia prevista durante la carrera.

Cuando se quitaron las mantas de los neumáticos una vez que los coches se habían reunido en la parrilla para el esperado evento de dos paradas, se reveló que la mayoría de los participantes comenzarían con el compuesto medio, con la excepción de Sainz, Hulkenberg y Albon con los blandos, y Hamilton y Gasly con los duros.

Una vez completada la vuelta de formación y apagadas las luces, Leclerc hizo una buena salida para mantener el liderato en la curva 1, mientras Norris intentó moverse por el interior de Piastri pero, después de frenar temprano, permitió que Russell pasara al tercer lugar.

Norris tuvo más problemas, ya que Alonso pronto le arrebató la cuarta posición, relegando al británico a la quinta posición. Por otra parte, Verstappen había perdido una posición ante su excompañero Lawson, para recuperarla más tarde en la vuelta, mientras que Stroll había retrocedido a la séptima posición.

Al finalizar la tercera vuelta, Norris superó a Alonso en la recta principal para remontar hasta la cuarta posición. Verstappen, por su parte, también estaba en movimiento. El holandés había superado a Stroll por la séptima posición antes de empezar a perseguir a Bortoleto, que se encontraba por delante en la sexta posición, un piloto al que Dirección de Carrera había avisado por una posible salida en falso.

Hulkenberg was the first to pit on Lap 6, the Kick Sauber driver swapping his soft tyres for a set of mediums. Like his team mate, the German driver had also been noted for a possible false start. Elsewhere, up at the front, Leclerc had built a lead of nearly three seconds from Piastri, with Norris trying to catch Russell for fourth while Alonso was heading a DRS train in fifth.

Hadjar – who had lost a place earlier on to Bearman – seemed to be in some discomfort, the Frenchman reporting that his hand had been hit by gravel flicked up from the car ahead during the opening lap.

There was bad news for Hulkenberg, the German having received a five-second penalty for that false start, while no further action was taken in regards to Bortoleto. Up ahead, questions were started to emerge over strategy as the race headed towards Lap 10, with Piastri asked about the possibility of a one-stop race.

“Difficult to know with so many laps to go,” the Australian responded. Team mate Norris, meanwhile, was told that he needed to get past Russell, the McLaren having found himself stuck behind the Mercedes. Others struggling to overtake included Hamilton, the Ferrari man running close to Antonelli in a battle for 13th.

As Lap 15 arrived, Leclerc was now ahead of Piastri by just over three seconds, while others further back were starting to make pit stops, including Colapinto, Albon and Ocon. Sainz was the next to swap his soft tyres for the hards, but the frontrunning cars showed no signs of pitting yet.

Piastri, meanwhile, was encourage to push – and subsequently started to eat into Leclerc’s advantage, the gap down to 2.3s by Lap 18. On the same tour, Verstappen was the first in the top 10 to pit, the Red Bull man emerging with hard tyres on in an attempt to undercut Alonso and Bortoleto.

Another driver trying an undercut was Piastri, having been told “box to overtake Leclerc”. The McLaren emerged back on track between Alonso and Bortoleto – while Leclerc made his own pit stop for the hard compound shortly afterwards.

Leclerc returned to the track still ahead of Piastri, with that lap having seemingly not been enough for the Australian to warm up his tyres. However, the McLaren team radioed in to warn that Leclerc may struggle with the same issue on his own out-lap.

Norris, meanwhile, had inherited the lead after remaining out on track, while Piastri had overtaken Alonso – yet to pit – for P3. The situation for Norris posed some interesting strategy questions, with the Briton asked about the possibility of Plan A and Plan B. Would the squad attempt a one-stop?

McLaren were not the only ones keeping a driver out on track. Alonso – still running his medium starting tyre – lost P4 to Russell on Lap 26, while Verstappen – one of the early stoppers – reported that his own strategy had been a “really terrible idea”, having spent much of the race since in traffic as he tried to make gains from P12.

As the Dutchman set about chasing down former title rival Hamilton for 11th place, Piastri was questioning whether a one-stop strategy could work, leading to the response that it could prove difficult. On the other side of the garage, Norris was asked for his thoughts on doing a one-stop himself, to which he responded: “Yeah, why not!”

“I can feel what we discussed before the race,” Leclerc cryptically reported, before going on to state that the issue would cause the Scuderia to “lose this race”. The Monegasque was running some 1.6s ahead of Piastri with 40 laps remaining.

Further back, Verstappen boldly moved down the inside of Hamilton into Turn 4 to take P11, with the Ferrari subsequently going wide – an incident that was noted by Race Control. Elsewhere, Norris pitted on Lap 32 for the hard tyres on a rapid 1.9s stop, bringing him back out on track in P4 ahead of Alonso.

As the race reached its halfway point, Leclerc was leading Piastri by just under two seconds, with Russell running in third some eight seconds ahead of Norris. Alonso, Bortoleto, Stroll and Lawson were all still to pit in fifth to eighth respectively, while Verstappen and Hamilton rounded out the top 10.

Stroll was the first Aston Martin to pit on Lap 37, returning to the track with the hard tyres bolted on. Elsewhere, Norris was looking fast as he tried to chase down Russell, the Briton dipping a wheel as he pushed hard. This charge had brought his distance to the leaders down to just 13.9s by Lap 40.

Shortly afterwards, Leclerc made another pit stop for a second set of the hard rubber, bringing him back out in fourth around seven seconds behind Norris. Piastri – now in the lead – was subsequently told to push, the Australian now leading by 9.2s from Russell.

While the stewards confirmed that the earlier incident between Verstappen and Hamilton would be investigated after the race, the former – running in P5 – was informed that Red Bull were considering keeping him on a one-stop strategy. “It’s not going to be easy,” the Dutchman reported.

With Russell pitting for the hard compound – and returning to the track in fourth – Norris had been promoted to second and was now 8.7s away from his team mate. As Lap 46 ticked down, Piastri dived into the pits and rejoined in third, five seconds back from Leclerc in P2 and a further 12s adrift of new leader Norris. Could Piastri or Leclerc catch the Briton before the chequered flag?

As the race moved towards the final 20 laps, Verstappen could not hold out any longer on his medium tyres and pitted for a set of hards, bringing him back out into P9 just ahead of Antonelli. Piastri, meanwhile, had caught Leclerc and made a move into Turn 1 to snatch P2 from the Ferrari.

Elsewhere, Bearman became the first retiree from the race, the Haas driver having reported that his car was “broken” after struggling for grip. It also seemed to be turning into a tough day for Leclerc, who voiced his frustration about his SF-25 being “undriveable” before suggesting that a podium finish would be a “miracle”.

The Monegasque’s position did indeed look to be at risk, with Russell closing the gap down to 3.1s with 15 laps to go. Up ahead, Piastri was now 5.6s away from Norris and lapping quickly – setting up a thrilling conclusion to the race.

By Lap 60 of 70, that gap had come down to 3.3s – while Russell was mere tenths away from a struggling Leclerc in the scrap for third. The Silver Arrows driver looked at making a lunge into Turn 1, only for Leclerc to cover him off.

“That was moving under braking!” an irritated Russell complained. The Briton was warned to keep cool – and seemed to do so when he repeated the move at the same place one lap later. This time he made it stick, though was still left unhappy with Leclerc’s defensive moves on track in an incident that was set to be investigated by the stewards.

As the stewards also put Gasly and Sainz under investigation for a collision at Turn 2 – leading to a 10-second penalty for Gasly – all eyes were on the battle at the front. With six laps to go, Piastri was only 1.2s behind Norris – just as the leader was approaching traffic to lap in the form of Hamilton, Hadjar and Antonelli.

After clearing those cars, the gap had dropped to just 0.6s as the final two laps approached. A late lunge on Lap 69 failed to pay off for Piastri, who locked up and just missed his team mate. “Remember how we go racing,” the 24-year-old was warned.

With one more attempt remaining, Piastri ultimately was too far back to make a move on the final tour – meaning that Norris crossed the line to take victory by 0.698s from his team mate and in the process cutting Piastri’s lead in the World Championship down to just nine points.

Russell completed the podium in third place, while Leclerc held onto fourth despite being handed a five-second time penalty for driving erratically during his scrap with Russell. Alonso took a season-best fifth, while Bortoleto – a driver managed by the Spaniard – followed in sixth.

Stroll completed a good day for Aston Martin in P7, while Lawson, Verstappen and Antonelli completed the top 10. Verstappen, however, will still need to visit the stewards post-race for that earlier incident with Hamilton.

Hadjar claimed 11th place ahead of Hamilton in 12th, followed by Hulkenberg in 13th and the Williams duo of Sainz and Albon in 14th and 15th respectively.

Ocon placed in P16, with Tsunoda facing another tough outing behind in P17, while Alpine ended a difficult day with Colapinto in P18 from Gasly in the last classified position.

Bearman resultó ser el único retirado de la carrera en la última salida de la F1 antes de que el deporte se embarque en un descanso de verano.

Cita clave

“Estoy muerto, estoy muerto”, bromeó Norris al reflexionar sobre su carrera. “Fue duro, duro. Al principio no planeábamos hacer una sola parada, pero después de la primera vuelta era prácticamente nuestra única opción para volver a la carga. Fue duro. En el último stint, con Oscar alcanzándome, iba a fondo. Me ha fallado un poco la voz. Pero bien, y por eso es aún más gratificante: el resultado perfecto de hoy”.

¿Qué sigue?

La F1 comenzará ahora su tradicional descanso de verano antes de regresar para el Gran Premio de los Países Bajos el fin de semana del 29 al 31 de agosto. Visita el RACE HUB para descubrir cómo seguir la acción.