F1 2026 - Hungarian GP

The final race before the summer break and the end of the season was a strategic battle at the Hungaroring in Budapest. Let's see how the latest installment in the 2026 F1 season took place...

Performances

McLaren - an excellent drive from the current world champion Norris to take his and McLaren's first win of the season from pole. His pace was amazing today, massive pace advantage over his teammate but of course didn't have the track position. Also the confidence over the radio was amazing!! Good win after all the troubles he's had this season. Piastri had a tough race, got impeded in qualifying but still started P3, good start meant he lead for a lot of the early stages before getting hit while lapping Sainz through no fault of his own which wrecked his chance of winning, and then a gearbox failure took away a probable podium. Just awful luck and a cursed race for him.

Red Bull - great drive from Verstappen as well to get P2. Amazing strategy and pace on the last stint on the soft tyres for such a long period. The fact that he's hated the car all weekend but still managed to get this result out of it is pretty insane! Also that divebomb overtake on Lewis... wow. I'll probably still be dreaming about that next week! Hadjar had another solid race, not really on the pace of the leaders but still enough to pick up another top 6 finish. 7 top 6 finishes in a row is very good, despite the field being less tight this year.

Mercedes - another nightmare for Russell this weekend. A water leak in qualifying meant he had to replace the engine, and then anti-stall kicking in at the start dropped him to last early on before a solid recovery drive to P7. He really needs the summer break to recharge and try and close the points deficit in the second half of the year. Antonelli had a great patient drive I thought, very strong pace to come P3 from 7th on the grid. Pretty much the best result he could ask for his championship, being ahead of Russell and Lewis. The overall pace was pretty low for their usual season standards, so perhaps they haven't been bringing as many upgrades as the other teams? Perhaps another upgrade package after the summer break is needed to make sure McLaren and Ferrari don't leapfrog them.

Ferrari - classic Ferrari race. This was supposed to be one of the tracks that Ferrari would be best at. Why would you give up track position at Hungary???? I don't get it at all. Overtaking is so difficult here. The strategy today was baffling. Why start Charles on used softs as well??? That was just confusing. P5 for Lewis, annoying and avoidable mistake with the pit lane speeding compounding a pretty miserable weekend + the team didn't tell him about Piastri's lap meaning that he got a (deserved) grid penalty after qualifying well in P2. So frustrating. Leclerc had a pretty anonymous race to finish P4, struggled with overheating and also strategy again poor, kept overextending him but not enough to build a high enough offset. That engine upgrade can't come soon enough!!!

Racing Bulls - another really good weekend, double points again with Lawson in P8 and Lindblad in P10. Lawson especially had good race pace to overcome a disappointing qualifying and finish ahead of Lindblad despite being undercut by him. Really good season, hopefully he can get a seat on the grid for next season.

Audi - Bortoleto came in the Audi honorary spot of P11. Hulkenberg finished P9 for finally his first points of the season. Another good weekend though, they're right up there with the Racing Bulls now. I like the direction they seem to be progressing in.

Alpine - P12 for Gasly and P15 for Colapinto. Another team that's really been slipping back recently. Car does not seem to be progressing at all which is a shame. I really thought they might be doing better, but it looks like there were much deeper team issues than the Renault engines as we all thought.

Haas - Bearman with probably his worst race in F1 so far, very messy for P19. Ocon had a better qualifying, a good start and a P16 finish, but again the pace isn't there. Apparently Haas are the only team that can't spend up to the budget cap which explains a lot! They just lack the funding and resource to improve which is a shame. Perhaps outside investment like... Toyota?

Cadillac - double DNF again. I get it's their first season but the car seems super brittle. Constant brake and suspension issues.

Aston Martin - can it be? Something... positive to say about this team? Of course!!! Their upgrade we've been waiting for actually worked!!! Fernando made Q2 and the car was actually competitive in that midfield with Stroll finishing P13 and Fernando P14. The next issue is the engine - reading some stats the Honda engine is incredibly weak!!! Like 30 - 50 bhp weaker, nearly 20 km/h slower on straights. If they can sort that out, this car could score and fight regularly for points for sure to end the season. Two more car upgrades coming too with an engine upgrade in Zandvoort. Actual positivity about Aston Martin is what we want!!!

Williams - but of course there is always one punching bag team. Williams. Car seems absolutely rubbish now, I get the whole facilities stuff and everything but still. The lack of progression or improvement is shocking. Especially after they gave up on what was a pretty decent car last year to work on this one. Albon in P17 and Sainz with some shocking driving to come P18, probably deserved some penalty points for that one.

Race rating - 7/10 - really enjoyed all the strategies in this one, not the most overtaking but once again it shows how different types of races can be entertaining.

Driver of the race - thought the whole top 3 drove fantastically today but Lando Norris is of course the standout for the win here. First win as world champion. Top quality race and driver.

News

Also some good news, the Bahrain race cannot be had for obvious reasons so instead we are going back to SEPANG!!!! Finally. It feels like we've all been waiting for this for years! I'm so happy, Sepang in Malaysia is such a classic venue that was in F1 from 1999-2017. Proper throwback track, tricky monsoon conditions and lovely sweeping corners. What more could you want? Also the fact that the race is going to be called Formula 1 Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia is hilarious!!! So you'll be a winner of the Bahrain GP but not in Bahrain at all. Like when the Luxembourg Grand Prix was held at the Nurburgring.

Next weekend - the Zandvoort circuit in the Netherlands is the first race after the summer break. A very historic circuit, it held races in F1 from 1952 all the way to 1985, before being brought back in 2021. The circuit's fast sweeping corners, unique camber and banking in the corners and the backdrop of the sand dunes make it a very unique addition to the F1 calendar! Some great races from the past include: 1975 (James Hunt's first win in changeable conditions), 1985 (amazing Lauda - Prost battle for the win with Lauda taking his last win from 10th on the grid), 2023 (very fun race in wet conditions with Alonso and Gasly scoring podiums).