Lando Norris is sometimes asked to show his mean streak and courage. In Hungary, when he was battling for the World Championship with his teammate Oscar Piastri, he did just that to hold on to the title. The fact that the two title contenders finished just six tenths of a second apart after 70 laps speaks volumes about how close the championship is. The Australian now has a cushion of just nine points. It’s a shame it’s just between the two of them. The magic of Fernando Alonso takes on divine overtones when the car is on form, something that has been rare lately. The Aston Martin was on rails at the Hungaroring and the Asturian showed his best tire management skills. He saved his tires when he wanted to and pushed and stretched like no one else to finish fifth. A brilliant weekend for Aston Martin, which pockets a good handful of points after Lance Stroll’s seventh place.
Alonso produced one of those magical starts worthy of a special occasion. One of those that had been sorely missed. With patience and skill, he overtook Lando Norris to move into fourth and almost took third in a head-to-head battle that Russell won a few corners later. That unreal position lasted barely a couple of laps, when the McLaren driver regained his place and moved back into fourth. It wasn’t the Asturian’s race, and he didn’t even try to fight back, with the orange car going much faster. Running two seconds slower than the race leaders (Leclerc, Piastri, Russell, and Norris), the Spaniard formed a traffic jam in the form of a train of cars from fifth place. Pure tire management. Brilliant.
He pulled a similar stunt in Monaco three years ago, keeping Hamilton and half the grid behind him, unable to overtake. Bortoleto, with Verstappen right behind him, threatened him from close range, but his mind was focused on endless combinations to finish higher than fifth. When he wanted to, Alonso pushed hard and pulled away from them after taking care of his tires during the first 17 laps. At the front, Leclerc dominated the race pace and protected his pole position with some comfort, with Piastri a couple of seconds behind, far from DRS range. His teammate Norris was losing valuable points stuck behind Russell. In the middle of the field, Sainz, who decided to start on soft tires, was hovering around the points in twelfth place on lap fifteen.
Hamilton, further back, was stuck in fourteenth. It was a race to forget for both of them. McLaren decided to launch an undercut by pitting Piastri, who was second, more than two seconds behind Leclerc. It was too optimistic, and Ferrari responded by calling the Australian back in. The Monegasque driver maintained his position with Piastri after a quick stop by the Italian team and survived the papaya attack.
Aston Martin decided that Alonso could go for one stop if he conserved and stretched his tires. While Piastri, Leclerc, and Russell pitted, the Spaniard remained on track. Verstappen, who was behind and a direct rival, complained over the radio about Red Bull’s mistake in pitting early and pushing him into slow traffic on the track.
Strategic battle for victory
The green wall believed in making a single stop. They were the only ones to do so, along with Norris, who also stayed on track for 31 laps on medium tires to save himself the second stop that the rest of the grid did make. Alonso, who was comfortably holding on to fifth place, was the last to pit. He moved up to second while his rivals were in the pits. At the halfway point of the race, with 35 laps completed, Leclerc was leading, with Piastri less than two seconds behind, and Norris was a contender with a different strategy that worked. Alonso, who stopped after forty laps, remained in fifth place, while Sainz held on in twelfth, just ahead of his teammate Alex Albon.
It was an uneventful race for the Madrid native, who will welcome the summer break. This weekend, he didn’t suffer any strategic missteps, he just missed a couple of tenths in his car. Three weeks for Sainz to wipe the slate clean. The fight for victory was at its height: Leclerc made his second stop, to everyone’s surprise, just as Piastri was called into the pits to do the same. The Australian focused on beating his teammate Norris, his rival for the World Championship. On lap 51, he threw his car at Leclerc in turn one and overtook him. Now he only had Norris ahead of him, whom he couldn’t beat.
He closed in and ended up crashing into Leclerc’s car, but to no avail. It could have ended in disaster and with a double retirement when they narrowly avoided an accident on the penultimate lap. With eight laps to go and after a couple of attempts, Russell did manage to overtake Leclerc, who was having problems with his Ferrari, to take third place. The Brit snatched the podium from the Monegasque, who exploded over the radio against his team.