LANDO NORRIS won the Hungarian Grand Prix by the skin of his teeth to leave him trailing Oscar Piastri by just nine points in the title race.
It will go down as a pivotal moment for the championship as the plucky Brit had gambled on a one-stop strategy and it paid off against the bold and fearless Aussie, who hunted him down like a shark until the very end but had to settle for second.
GettyLando Norris celebrates after winning the Hungarian Grand prix[/caption]
GettyThe Brit’s brilliant one-stop strategy helped him see off McLaren team-mate Oscar Piastri[/caption]
EPANorris crosses the line with Piastri right behind him[/caption]
George Russell came in third after coming out on top of a fierce battle for third with Charles Leclerc, who had a meltdown at his Ferrari team for blowing pole-position.
Leclerc got away well, holding his lead at the front, while a horrible start from Lando Norris saw him slip down two-places into fifth.
Mercedes’ George Russell nipped up to third with Fernando Alonso close behind him in fourth.
Meanwhile, it was not a good start for Lewis Hamilton as he was overtaken by Carlos Sainz and Kimi Antonelli on the opening lap, leaving him in 14th and a lot of ground to make up.
By lap three Norris got by Alonso’s Aston Martin for fourth while Leclerc was building a lead ahead of Piastri out front.
Norris was soon snapping at the heels of Russell in the battle for third, but just couldn’t get past the Mercedes driver until he pitted on lap 20.
Finally things got spicy when Max Verstappen went for an audacious move on his old rival Lewis Hamilton but the Ferrari driver ran wide.
The pair nearly made contact but the Dutchman got ahead and snatched 11th place from the Brit.
BEST ONLINE CASINOS – TOP SITES IN THE UK
The stewards made note of the incident and Verstappen was under investigation.
Lando Norris sprayed the gravel with two wheels before he was urged to “keep the focus” by his race engineer Will Joseph.
Piastri was over eight seconds ahead of his teammate by lap 45 with Norris closing in and setting a new fastest lap time to eat into the gap between them.
The Aussie was dwindling and pitted before remerging and hunting down Leclerc until he left him for dust on lap 51.
Norris was the only driver ahead of him now, rolling the dice with the one-stop strategy until the end.
Leclerc was left livid at his team for letting first-place fall from their clutches and fumed on the radio: “This is so incredibly frustrating. We have lost all competitiveness, you just have to listen to me.
“I would have found a different way of managing those issues.
“Now it’s just undriveable. It’s a miracle if we finish on the podium.”
Piastri hunted Norris on his fresh tyres with just over three-seconds separating them with 10-laps to go.
Russell was left seething as Leclerc twice moved over to the right as Russell tried to dive down the inside to overtake with the two nearly making contact.
Russell was fuming on the radio demanding a penalty for the Monegasque driver and the stewards investigated.
Leclerc was slapped with a five-second time penalty but didn’t lose any places.
Fans were licking their lips at the battle between Norris and Piastri at the front, as the two McLarens lapped 12th place Hamilton who finished where he started.
After his win a jubilant Norris said: “I’m dead. I’m dead. It was tough.
“We weren’t really planning on the one-stop but after the first lap it was kind of our only option to get back into things.
“The final stint with Oscar catching I was pushing flat out.
“Rewarding even more because of that. The perfect result today.
“I didn’t think it would get us the win, I thought it would get us maybe into second.
“I knew if I had clean air and could push I could maybe make things work and that’s what we did.
“It always is a bit of a gamble these kind of things. It also requires no mistakes, good laps, good strategy and that’s what we had today.
“We’re so tightly fought it’s hard to say if momentum is on anyone’s side.
“It’s tough but fun racing against Oscar. Credit to Oscar he put up a good charge and I just about held on.”
PANorris’ girlfriend Margarida Corceiro was in Hungary to watch him win[/caption]
APLeclerc started on pole but fumed at his Ferrari team after dropping to fourth[/caption]
GettyIt was a miserable weekend for Lewis Hamilton who finished 12th and was lapped by both McLarens[/caption] Creator – [#item_custom_dc:creator]
