Lando Norris seized pole and recorded the race win at the Hungaroring, leaving Ferrari’s SF‑26 and its front‑row drivers – Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc – unable to breach the top three.
Hamilton and Leclerc miss top‑three spots
Charles Leclerc topped Friday’s FP1, but Lewis Hamilton edged him from second to first during FP2. In FP3 and qualifying, an unexpected Lando Norris was the sole driver to beat both men, while Hamilton’s best lap fell just 0.012 s short of the pole position, later reduced by a three‑grid‑place penalty for impeding Oscar Piastri.
Norris capitalises on early advantage
From the start, Norris used the low‑lift Hungaroring straights to create a clean undercut on Max Verstappen. His flawless race pace on soft compounds – despite 31 °C track temperatures – kept him at the front, while the soft tyres provided by Pirelli endured beyond the usual limits.
Tyre strategy falters for Ferrari
Ferrari’s SF‑26 is known for rapid tyre degradation; the team’s reliance on hard compounds in the first stint did not yield the desired pace. Hamilton started on softs, but a late virtual safety‑car forced a pit stop that cost him crucial track position and a scrubbed soft set that failed to give him the edge over Verstappen or Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli.
Team statements reveal execution issues
McLaren’s Andrea Stella dubbed Norris’s pole “over‑achievement” and maintained that the McLaren chassis remained superior to Ferrari’s. Ferrari’s Frederic Vasseur highlighted the lack of a fresh medium‑compound set at the front of the grid, while both Hamilton and Leclerc admitted the car behaved unpredictably on that compound during the weekend.
Consistency blanks the SF‑26’s potential
Leclerc acknowledged that “the first stint on hard wasn’t bad,” but “there were too many ups and downs” that prevented a podium finish. He urged the team to work towards smoother stints, noting the car’s “unpredictable” character has left the grid fractured from expected dominance.
Call for consistencies ahead of next race
With the SF‑26’s unpredictable behaviour stalling both drivers’ chances, Ferrari must recalibrate tyre management and predictability to transform theoretical track‑position advantage into podium‑reaching outcomes in future Grands Prix.
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