By Alexandra Whyte
McLaren driver Lando Norris is going into the F1 summer break with a boost of confidence after a sensational win in the Hungarian Grand Prix at the iconic Hungaroring in Budapest.
Norris’ McLaren counterpart Oscar Piastri was not so lucky and, like many other drivers, will start his summer break with a cloud of grey hanging over his 2026 season.
Here are the winners and losers from the Hungarian GP.
Winner – Lando Norris
The most obvious winner of the weekend is, of course, Norris.
After starting on pole, squeezing out Lewis Hamilton by only 0.012 seconds, it looked like Norris wouldn’t be able to bring it home after being swiftly overtaken by his team-mate on the first lap.
However, the heavily-upgraded McLaren car continued to show impressive pace.
Norris swiftly reclaimed the lost lead from Piastri and held off Max Verstappen and Kimi Antonelli to bring home his 12th career win.
It is the first time an F1 driver has won from pole in Hungary since 2020.
Time will tell if McLaren’s upgrades will continue to succeed this season, but it’s certainly coming up papaya.
Loser – Oscar Piastri (and by extension Carlos Sainz)
On the other side of the McLaren garage is the not-so-lucky Piastri.
He managed to storm ahead of his team-mate on the opening lap and settled into a comfortable lead.
His pace wasn’t as strong as Norris, but defensive driving and decent strategy calls managed to keep him ahead.
However, Piastri got caught up in the 17th place battle between Carlos Sainz and Fernando Alonso, with the former turning into him on Turn 1.
It can be accepted that the blue flag system was not necessarily working correctly, with Oliver Bearman claiming he had been shown blue flags from as early as lap 6, but the Williams pit wall told Sainz about the blue flag as he approached Turn 2.
Five-second penalty
Sainz received a five-second penalty as the FIA determined the collision was his fault, despite limited visibility.
Piastri’s frustrations didn’t end there as he ultimately retired for the first time this season due to a gearbox failure.
This is where it is going to sound harsh, but Sainz’s response earns him a spot as a sore loser amongst Piastri’s disastrous race.
The lack of accountability is frustrating, and no apology has been given to Piastri at the time of writing.
The Spanish driver seems to be growing disheartened by Williams’s lack of pace, despite last year’s hopeful attitude, and is driving as if he is still on a top-tier team.
It is understandable, if not expected, for drivers to keep battling, no matter how far down the grid they are; however, a blue flag is a blue flag, whether it is on track or coming from the pit wall.
Loser – George Russell
The rollercoaster of luck seems to have headed in a downward, despairing spiral for George Russell.
The British Mercedes driver qualified in seventh, the worst start for either Mercedes driver this season. This changed to sixth after a grid place penalty for fellow team-mate, Kimi Antonelli.
After Russell seemed determined to fight with everything he had, an anti-stall failure sent the British driver plummeting to 21st.
It seemed all hope was lost, but an impressive recovery drive allowed Russell to grab some points, finishing in seventh.
He is still third in the championship fight, nine points behind Hamilton in second, who is 50 points behind Antonelli.
Winner – Kimi Antonelli
The current championship leader is going into the summer break with his lead still firmly within his grasp, despite a grid place penalty in qualifying.
While not gaining another win, the young Italian teenager still finished on the podium in third place.
It seemed Antonelli was pushing for an impressive one-stop strategy in the 70-lap race but couldn’t make it work.
However, he grabbed hold of a podium finish during the last 16 laps, storming down the track from sixth place.
Only time will tell how impressive he remains, but so far Antonelli continues to impress and surpass all expectations.
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Winner – Aston Martin
After disaster followed by disaster, it seemed like Aston Martin were fighting a losing battle with both cars struggling in races and qualifying sessions.
However, the team brought a major upgrades package to Hungary, which seems to be paying off.
Fernando Alonso reached the second session of qualifying for the first time in 2026.
Neither he nor Lance Stroll managed to convert their track positions into points, finishing in 14th and 13th respectively.
Speaking to the media, Alonso said this improvement was “important” for the whole team.
“It was important for everyone in the team as it has been a tough period in both factories.
“Having the deficit that we had in terms of performance in the first half of the year, and this package obviously didn’t change many positions, but it changed a lot the momentum of everyone in the factory,” he said on Autosport.
“It’s not anymore that we are chasing something that we don’t know. We know exactly what we are looking for and we know exactly the targets for the next package or the targets for next year.
“So that’s, I think for me, the biggest change of this weekend.”
Loser – Cadillac
So far, so bad. Cadillac are the final losers of this weekend, and will perhaps remain so for the rest of the season.
The brand new team has not had an ounce of good luck this season, from cars catching fire to losing their first-ever point in F1.
Hungary was no different, with Valtteri Bottas forcing his car to a stop with the pit wall after his brakes failed because of a fire on the front left tyre, and Sergio Perez retiring due to a mysterious failure.
However, his rear brake also caught fire, echoing the failures of his team-mate’s car.
A flaming failure is the best way to describe Cadillac’s car, and its only saving grace is that no one has been gravely injured as a result of its issues.
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SportJustSport writers 
Michael Davey