F1 Hungary, the report cards of the promoted
1. Max’s overtake. Never bleed in front of sharks, they say in America. Lewis Hamilton should have known when he saw fin #3 in the mirrors. He knows him better than anyone, fears him less than anyone, but perhaps underestimated the moment. Because that shark was really hungry, going through a season that – if it were up to him – he wouldn’t have even started, finding these regulations so disgusting. The rest is down to Verstappen’s talent: it’s the most beautiful move of 2026, worth the race alone and can also decide a small piece of the world championship fight. Because without this magic, Hamilton could have been ahead of Norris after the first pit stop and, given how the race went, could have won it. Don’t want to give him P1? He would have been second, taking 18 points and taking at least two from Antonelli. He would have been at -40 and you would have found him already tomorrow at Zandvoort, forget about holidays.
Read more F1 Budapest, the chaos with the blue flags and the GPS system somewhat clears Carlos Sainz
2. McLaren. The ones who will have very peaceful holidays are McLaren. The papayas have done it again: after those of 2023 and 2024, another leap in quality, proving a team that quickly understands the direction of development. And above all, they bring immediately effective components to the track (even if now with these cars the growth margin is wider for everyone, so responses will come from the competition). Then they have a Lando Norris who is indeed driving like a champion, and who compared to last year has much less to prove. He has lifted a weight, with the 2025 title, he races more freely. If he had had a clear path immediately, we would be here talking about a solo in 2025 style. If he wants to have chances, however, he must also catch up with Piastri. Who is not having a terrible season, but market rumors about Max could have destabilized him.
3. Kimi Antonelli. He does what he must: wait, see how others move and stay as much as possible in clean air. Babyface is really maturing and conquers a P3 that is gold for the World Championship. He has taken all the points he needed so far and can even regret some zeros. Now McLaren’s growth can even be useful to him, because it will take points away from Ferrari if Maranello does not respond immediately. He just has to float, place some hits and let others brawl like Renzo’s capons.
F1 Hungary, the report cards of the failed
3. FIA. It’s very funny that, while F1 flexes drone footage, the FIA has to go back 30 years with flag wavers because the blue flag does not appear on the dash. But I go crazy for another reason: why did Hamilton get the same penalty as Sainz for 0.1 km/h more in the pit lane?
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2. Carlos Sainz. Everything can be understood, first of all the frustration of racing for crumbs despite the progress of the second half of 2025. Sainz is a great driver, neither he nor Albon deserve to be at the bottom. The technical problem on the dash was had by everyone (and created more risky situations) but there is no justification for what happened. He is not a rookie at his first race, he passed eight blue flags and ruined Piastri’s race, regardless of the retirement. He didn’t even apologize, unlike Bearman (punished for the same reason). Carlos, stop inventing.
1. Buiopest 2.0. Hallucinatory weekend for Ferrari: no one, from drivers to engineers, scores above 4. But let’s go in order. In Q3 they send Hamilton out first despite having provisional pole, then a missed communication with Lewis costs three grid positions. On Sunday he starts with two softs and is the only team to lose positions. Leclerc starts very badly and loses three positions. Hamilton remains stuck behind Verstappen despite the aggressive choice of the new soft. To pass him he has to do the undercut but is spectacularly outsmarted in turn 1 (the only overtake of the GP among the top positions). Pit stops that systematically put drivers in traffic. Final pit stop harmful for Hamilton, who in a race with overtakes at zero point something loses track position to Verstappen, finishing P3. Actually, P4, because he has to give up position to Antonelli. Actually, P5 because he removes the speed limiter early.
Ferrari off the podium in a race that both Hamilton and Leclerc should have finished in the top three. An open-air horror museum, competing with the 2022 Budapest race. Maybe it’s even worse, because then the championship was already gone. Yesterday instead there was the chance to reopen it. But giving some world championship hopes would have created an uncomfortable precedent.
