Oscar Piastri's first Formula 1 victory came after a year and a half of experience in the World Championship, with 35 Grand Prix races under his belt. Following a third-place finish in Suzuka and a second-place in Losail in 2023, along with two second-place finishes in Monte Carlo and Spielberg in 2024, Piastri finally made the necessary leap to claim the top step of the podium in Budapest.
Piastri's career has been a meteoric rise: he won the Eurocup Renault, Formula 3, and Formula 2 titles in succession, earning a contract with the Alpine team. However, the French team mismanaged the talent they had, leaving him sidelined for the entire 2022 season. Piastri’s manager, former Formula 1 driver Mark Webber, decided to move him to McLaren in the summer of 2022, given Alpine's uncertainties for 2023. McLaren, eager to secure Piastri, didn’t hesitate to seize the opportunity.
This move sparked a huge controversy, but it's now clear that Renault’s top management made a grave mistake. Looking at recent Formula 1 history, Webber's decision has proven to be one of the most brilliant we've seen. McLaren debuted Piastri in 2023, and the young driver immediately delivered impressive results, culminating in his victory in Hungary. Meanwhile, Alpine has continued to languish at the back of the grid, with no real prospects for two years now. It’s easy to imagine where Piastri would be today if Webber hadn't made that decisive move.
During the Grand Prix, however, McLaren showed an unexpected level of self-sabotage, creating a live mess that left everyone puzzled. Piastri, after a lightning start, maintained the lead until lap 48 of 70. He was called into the pits two laps after his teammate Norris, inevitably suffering an undercut that caused him to lose position. At that point, Piastri’s lead over Norris was about two seconds.
Norris found himself ahead of Piastri, and shortly after, the team asked Norris to return the position to his teammate. But at that point, one wonders: why implement the undercut in the first place? Team principal Andrea Stella, the main architect of McLaren's resurgence, justified the decision as necessary to defend against Mercedes and Ferrari, even though they were clearly distant and unable to threaten the two McLaren MCL38s.
There’s a sense that McLaren is still too conservative, almost not realizing they have the most competitive car at the moment. So what happened? Norris didn’t take the team’s request well and kept pushing, creating a five-second gap from Piastri. On his part, Piastri was confident he would regain the position, so he didn’t push to the maximum. Norris’ engineer, Will Joseph, seemed almost desperate in trying to convince his driver, and only with two laps to go did Norris finally yield the position.
A real shame, as it could have been managed more calmly from the McLaren pit wall. The numerous communications between Norris and Piastri’s engineers will likely be the subject of discussion for weeks. However, what is clear is that McLaren has proven to be a dominant force, monopolizing the front row in qualifying and the top two spots in the race, never being threatened by rivals. This success allowed McLaren to surpass Ferrari in the Constructors' Championship, moving into second place, with Red Bull in their sights, not too far ahead given their reliance on just one driver to bring in heavy points.
Speaking of Red Bull, another sporting drama unfolded in Hungary, this time between Max Verstappen and his engineer Gianpiero Lambiase. The Dutchman showed his worst side, which often emerges when he doesn’t have a dominant car in hand. Already at the first corner after the start, Verstappen attempted a risky move on the outside of both McLarens. When he was informed that he was under investigation for exceeding track limits, he expressed his displeasure with strong words, but was forced to give up the position to Norris to avoid a penalty. From there, a series of complaints about the car and strategy ensued, culminating in an unfounded accusation against Hamilton of pushing him off the track, which was dismissed by Lambiase himself.
When Verstappen attempted another attack on Hamilton at Turn 1, he ran wide and caused a contact that led to him losing position to Charles Leclerc, who finished fourth with Ferrari, putting in a cautious and convincing performance.
Ferrari, unfortunately, now seems destined to fight for fourth place, being inferior to McLaren, Mercedes, and Red Bull. The loss of second place in the Constructors' standings clearly demonstrates this. Carlos Sainz, after a poor start to the race, found himself in seventh within moments, finishing sixth without much excitement.
Signs of recovery came from Sergio Perez, who finished seventh after starting from the back of the grid, ahead of George Russell, who also had a disappointing qualifying. At Racing Bulls-Honda, Yuki Tsunoda secured ninth place, redeeming himself after a qualifying error, while Daniel Ricciardo finished 12th. Lance Stroll took the last available point with a still-disappointing Aston Martin-Mercedes, while his teammate Fernando Alonso finished behind him.
Nico Hulkenberg, with Haas-Ferrari, attempted to break into the top 10 but finished 13th ahead of an uncompetitive Williams-Mercedes. Sauber-Ferrari also had a tough day, with Guan Yu Zhou relegated to the back of the pack. The situation at Alpine-Renault remains critical, with the team desperately searching for solutions.
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