Hungarian GP Round Up

After a hectic and great race around the Hungaroring we now have quite a few things to talk about. From Lando getting his first win as a world champion, to McLaren having pace going into the summer break, to Oscar and Sainz getting tangled ruining Oscar's race, to Russell looking slow and Aston Martin has caught up with the rest of the grid. So let's break it all down.

Lando has Landed in 2026

Lando has silenced all the haters that said he can only win in the fastest car. It was an insane lap on Saturday getting pole by 0.012 of a second over Lewis Hamilton. Going into Sunday, Lando was ready to become the first winner outside the top 2 this season to win a Grand Prix. Lando had Leclerc and Piastri starting behind him after Kimi and Lewis had penalties for impeding and a yellow flag infringement. On the first lap, Lando was able to hold onto first coming out of turn 1 with his team mate behind him; and in true Lando fashion he went deep into turn 2 (Hamilton Corner) leading to Oscar taking the lead. Then, on Lap 33, on his 2nd stint Lando had decided to pit before Piastri to try and get the und

ercut. However, he was told to stay out until Oscar boxed because Papaya rules and all of that nonsense. Lando then proceeded to gamble all of his aura by saying "I could build a 10 second gap with no tyres" since he was being held up by Oscar. He pulled off the overcut and overtook Kimi. He then proceeded to build a 10 second gap on Verstappen; twice!

Piastri's Nightmare

Piastri had his worst Sunday in all of his career (other than Baku 2025 and every Australian GP ever): it started off alright; he took the race lead after Lando's mistake and held the race lead for 34 laps. Then it all went wrong for the young Aussie. He began holding up Lando which annoyed Lando. Oscar then pitted on Lap 33. This is arguably the worst decision I've seen McLaren make since Qatar 2025; Oscar came out in so much traffic he might as well have gone through the Dartford tunnel. On Lap 38, Oscar tried to lap Carlos Sainz and Sainz for some reason turned straight into him. Piastri said on radio and I quote, "is he f--king stupid or what" and "Oh mate, just don't even f--ing talk to me" this is really out of character for Oscar because he is known as someone who shows zero personality over the radio or just in general. Carlos Sainz refused to take any blame since he was trying to battle with Alonso for last place. I think Oscar put it perfectly himself, "they were battling for last place as if it was for the World Championship." I just don't understand why Carlos is refusing to take blame for his mistake. If you look at his onboard, he had 7 blue flags to let him through and didn't. Piastri ended up getting overcut by Lando and eventually retired due to gearbox problems.

Past the Point of Disappointment

George Russell had the weekend of nightmares. It started on Saturday. He was nowhere in qualifying and when it came to Q3 he was literally nowhere and eventually retired due to a water leak. He qualified 6th only due to the fact that his team mate got a grid penalty. He had a chance to rectify his mistakes and guess what? On the race start he went into anti-stall and fell down to 20th. While that should've finished his race, by lap 10 he was up to 10th and ended 5th. This is not a good look at all for him since his team mate is scoring podiums while he's battling with Hadjar. Not to discredit him but he is not battling for podiums like Russell should be. If he keeps going like this then we might need to have serious conversations about his seat at Mercedes.

Budapest Breakthrough

After Aston Martin's nightmare start to the season, they brought an entirely new car to Budapest and it did wonders for them. Alonso was the first driver since 2025 to make it to Q2 and while he qualified 16th it was a great lap by him in Q1. Then in the race Stroll climbed 7 places to finish P13 while Alonso came P14. While it wasn't points it is still a huge leap going into the backend of the season. Newey clearly knows what he is doing and will get Aston Martin back to when they were in 2023

Overall, this was an enjoyable weekend and it was a great way to finish before the break. We will have a break round up on Wednesday and Summer break prediction on Friday. In the meantime, thank you for reading and I hope you will follow along tomorrow.