Formula 1 in Budapest: Norris wins and hopes to catch up

From world champion to world champion, Max Verstappen gave his neighbor on the podium a small sign to be on the safe side. Lando Norris had held his trophy with one hand as high as the length of his arm would allow him, beaming at it as happily as if it were his firstborn child. When Norris put it on the ground, Verstappen pointed at it with his index finger and looked at Norris as if to say: Remember what has already happened to us here! Three years ago, Verstappen drove to victory ahead of Norris at the Hungarian Grand Prix. At the podium party, Norris slammed the champagne bottle vertically onto the floor in his typical manner so that the bubbly would shoot out in a fountain. Unfortunately, next to Verstappen’s trophy, which fell over as a result. And because it is made in Budapest from the finest, hand-painted porcelain from the Herend factory, it broke. Verstappen later received a new one.

This time Norris was more careful and the trophy, worth around 45,000 euros, did not have to be replaced. Professionals like him are characterized by a certain learning curve, coupled with a bit of competitive luck, success all too often results. The 26-year-old got it back on the eleventh race weekend of this season, the last before Formula 1’s four-week summer break. The combination of upgrades to the MCL40 and a track that suits the McLaren made it possible to put together a successful package. The speed and tire wear were better than he expected, Norris said in the press conference: “But it was probably one of my best performances in terms of driving the car.”

Norris had not lost his confidence that his team could win this season, even on all those Sundays when men in black or red overalls were constantly celebrating successes. In Japan, Oscar Piastri came second, in Miami both McLarens made it onto the podium with second place for Norris and third for Piastri, and in Barcelona there was bronze for Norris. But what kind of gain is this for the defending champion in the constructors’ and drivers’ championships? Mercedes and Ferrari are coping much better with the newly introduced regulations, McLaren is doctoring around, and so Norris admitted after his twelfth victory in the premier class: “That came a little earlier than I thought.”

The question is what value and what effect this start-finish success will have. Was that the climax? Or does July 26, 2026 even mark a turning point when McLaren starts its race to catch up and turns the duel for the title into a three-way battle in the second half of the year?

It is not impossible for Lando Norris to make up for the gap in the drivers’ standings

In qualifying, Norris was only twelve milliseconds faster than Hamilton. Mercedes is dominating this season. The Silver Arrows had won every pole up to Budapest, with Ferrari only snatching two of the victories away from them. Kimi Antonelli leads the overall standings with 219 points because he fought his way from seventh to third place in Hungary despite setbacks. Lewis Hamilton (169) lost a better position in the Ferrari due to penalties in both qualifying and the race. George Russell in the second Mercedes is far from out with 160 points, followed by Hamilton’s teammate Charles Leclerc (138), then Norris with 128 points. So he has 91 points less than the leader.

It is not impossible to equalize this deficit. In the history of Formula 1 there have been many amazing comebacks that initially seemed unrealistic. Some people were rewarded with the title, others narrowly failed. Last year after Hungary, Verstappen was 96 points behind Piastri, who drove so confidently that he looked like the new champion. With five races to go the gap had shrunk to 40 points. In the last race, Verstappen was only two points behind – albeit behind Norris, who had taken the lead from Piastri in October.

It’s still only half over, maybe even less if there is to be a 24th Grand Prix. Due to the difficult security situation caused by the Iran war, the stops in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia were canceled in April. Bahrain is to be rescheduled on October 4th between the dates in Azerbaijan and Singapore, although not in the Middle East, but in Southeast Asia: The choice fell on Malaysia, where Formula 1 raced from 1999 to 2017. Finding an alternative for Saudi Arabia will be difficult; the calendar hardly offers any gaps. Given the current political situation, it is also questionable whether the last two Grand Prix on November 29th in Qatar and December 6th in Abu Dhabi will also find a new home or have to be canceled.

But, they also know this at McLaren: catching up like this will be extremely difficult. Team boss Andrea Stella had already admitted that the delay in further developments this year was around two to three months. The upgrades installed for Budapest have obviously had an effect, and more are to follow. But in Zandvoort the situation may change if energy management becomes more important again. And the competition continues to tinker in the same way. “The car was still terrible to drive at times,” Norris said. “But it was fast. And I prefer a terrible but fast car to anything else.” He worked a lot with his engineers to understand the MCL40 – which was as difficult as figuring out how to consistently drive this car at the limit.

“It’s a race of upgrades,” Stella said in a media roundtable. “And the good news is that McLaren is back in this race – as we fight for the top position.” The racing team almost achieved a double success. Piastri looked like the winner for a long time after overtaking Norris in the second corner on the first lap. But first Carlos Sainz ruined Piastri’s race to catch up after a pit stop because he got in the way while overtaking despite the blue flag. Then a gearbox failure ended Piastri’s race prematurely. Stella still sat contentedly in the motorhome that evening. The 55-year-old predicted a “very strong Oscar” for the second half of the season. He observes “a great development” in Norris and thinks: “Lando appears much more self-confident.”

The first victory as world champion – that’s how you can say goodbye to the summer break. Lando Norris sent the postcard to the competition before his vacation: “We were on a different level today,” he said. “When the car is good and I’m in the flow, there’s no stopping me.” McLaren now has four weeks to provide the next proof of this.