Third place with a taste of victory for Kimi Antonelli
Lando Norris, McLaren, won the excellent Hungarian GP this Sunday (07/26), and Max Verstappen (‘Driver of the Day’), Red Bull, finished 2nd. Kimi Antonelli, Mercedes, took 3rd place and extended his lead over his main rivals, Lewis Hamilton and George Russell. Gabriel Bortoleto had a quiet race, starting 14th and finishing 11th, failing to score points. Race organizers recorded an attendance of 310,000 people across the three days of the event. After the summer break, Formula 1 will return with the Dutch GP on August 23 in Zandvoort. F1 also confirmed the Bahrain GP will take place on October 4 at the Sepang circuit (which last hosted the category in 2017) in Malaysia. The race will retain the Bahrain name.
Penalized on Saturday for failing to slow down under yellow flags, Kimi Antonelli dropped from 4th to 7th on the starting grid. He delayed his first pit stop and went chasing after the podium, having lost several positions during the tire change.
Max Verstappen, on the other hand, fully justified his vote as the best driver of the race. Starting 4th, he engaged in great battles—especially with Lewis Hamilton—and ultimately got the better of the Ferrari driver.
Norris started on pole, lost the lead to Oscar Piastri, and managed to regain it during the pit stops, which included a solid overtake on Kimi Antonelli. In the end, Piastri was forced to retire from the race with gearbox issues.
Ferrari experienced ups and downs during the race, employing identical strategies for Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc. Hamilton, who had already been handed a 3-place grid penalty for impeding Oscar Piastri’s lap on Saturday, received another penalty during the race for speeding in the pit lane. He lost 4th place to Leclerc and finished 5th.
Brazilian driver Gabriel Bortoleto had more ambitious plans for the race at the Hungaroring, believing he could finish in the points zone. However, he struggled to extract more pace from his Audi. His teammate Nico Hulkenberg finished 9th, scoring his first 2 points of the season.
With this result, Antonelli extended his championship lead to 50 points over Lewis Hamilton and 59 over George Russell. Mercedes, in turn, now leads Ferrari by 72 points. Gabriel Bortoleto sits in 14th with 10 points. Lance Stroll, Valtteri Bottas, and Sergio Perez have yet to score.
Formula 2 – Rafael Câmara finished 3rd in the Feature Race at the Hungaroring, and Emmo Fittipaldi crossed the line in 17th. In Saturday’s Sprint Race, Câmara finished 4th while Fittipaldi was 20th. In the championship standings, Câmara remains in 3rd and Emmo in 21st.
Formula 3 – Pedro Clerot took 17th position in Hungary, and Feffo Barrichello retired. In the Sprint on Saturday, Barrichello finished 9th, scoring points for the first time, while Clerot was 21st. In the championship, Clerot is 10th and Feffo is 26th.