The 2025 F1 Hungarian Grand Prix WINNERS & LOSERS

The 2025 Hungarian Grand Prix turned the F1 world upside down with yet another Lando Norris twist AND some surprise winners…and big losers.

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McLaren celebrated a landmark 200th victory in F1 as Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri delivered a commanding 1-2 finish, showing off perfect teamwork and strategy as Ferrari folded in awkward fashion. Gabriel Bortoleto stole the spotlight with a career-best drive to sixth holding off legends and proving he’s here to stay as a rapidly interesting rookie. Aston Martin bounced back into form with strong finishes from Alonso and Stroll while George Russell secured another podium for Mercedes thanks to going back on failing upgrades and cooler weather. Liam Lawson continued to raise eyebrows with another points finish keeping the Racing Bulls in the midfield battle and Isack Hadjar wishing for better fortunes.

The action-packed weekend wasn’t all celebrations though as Ferrari and Charles Leclerc failed to convert a pole to a shock win and just…lost it. Not as badly as Red Bull though who struggled with grip and strategy with Verstappen and Tsunoda missing out on all but two points…oh dear! Williams, Haas and Alpine all endured tough races too…

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00:00 The Winners
10:21 The Meh
16:34 The Losers

#f1 #hungariangp #formula1 #f1news #f1latest #formulaone #hungariangrandprix #f1predictions #predictions #maxverstappen #redbullracing #mclaren #charlesleclerc #redbull #f12025 #formula12025 #mercedes #gabrielbortoleto #landonorris #mclaren

2025 Hungarian Grand Prix: The WINNERS & LOSERS
The 2025 F1 Hungarian Grand Prix WINNERS & LOSERS

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Well, how about that then? Eh, we got some unusual winners, didn’t we? But unfortunately, as you can imagine, Chuck ain’t one of them cuz uh well, you know, after the air bender known as Charlotte had it, so the wind conspired against the McLaren in qualifying, their landmark 200th victory came the hard way through the art strategy, giving Lando Norris the win. Now, before you get up your ladder on your own, I’m not saying that Lando was given the win. No, it was very much a case of Lando pretty much didn’t have many options. They went for the long shot and it paid off cuz he still had to keep the car on the road and try not to punch air like he was trying to do in Spar. finally managed to actually convert it into yet another win, his third in four races, cuz he did have to ultimately make the call in which to try and get somewhere after having a really mardy start, falling behind not only Fernando Alonso, but also a George Russell, which is in the case reminding us of what happened in Bahrain. But fortunately for Lando fans, he wasn’t stuck behind them for very long and then eventually he was in contention for the win, which he ultimately got. But seriously, I think Lando and the other front runners weren’t expecting Alonzo to be right there and he was going ghost quite frankly and doing what he was doing best at Monaco 2021 and I was really shocked at that at the time. But then I remember that many people throughout the entire weekend were saying, “Oh, the Hungaro ring is just like Monaco without the wall.” So no wonder Fernando was able to do what he was able to do a few years ago. But yeah, once he was in clear air, there were no errors to be had. Even though he had a rampaging Oscar Passri coming his way, he was able to keep it together and therefore be able to get back within single figures again in the championship going into the summer break. And what is the race that we come back to at the end of August? Zanbort, where he had an absolute barnstormer there, winning by over 20 seconds when Oscar was nowhere. That’ll be a very good track for him to come back to after he is now heading into the summer break with yet another victory. and especially at a track which doesn’t have the best of memories in recent times. That’s certainly been a redemption arc in of itself for him. And as for Oscar Pastri, he did the best he could in trying to shadow Charllair’s attempt at a two-stop, which as many people suspected was going to be the conventional strategy given how it can be unforgiving on tires this particular track. But then due to the temperatures being a little bit cooler than expected, it was certainly a lot cooler than it was when I was knocking around that track. I I caught the sun even though I wasn’t looking at the sun. It meant that some cars were afforded a little bit more pace and then the harder tires were able to last that little bit longer which meant the one stop was actually valid. Then having to try and do yet another dive bomb which he said he wouldn’t do after Austria but then ultimately did. It meant that he was then having to look right behind Norris’s diffuser again. But the difference between this race and Spar is that Lando was under pressure and he didn’t succumb. And Andreas Stella ultimately called that entire encounter yet another one too as firm but fair which quite honestly I would say is perfectly accurate. Oh yeah, the call to force Ferrari stopping earlier than ideal that was good. You shows you can be dominant and your drivers not hate each other. It’s certainly a welcome sight I would imagine and I think many people will start to forget what happened last year and now think about what happened this year. But I’ll tell you one thing that is very much at the forefront of our minds, mine especially, Garvey, my other boy. In fact, I think we just got to pull this one out of the bag. Eight points in one go. He goes and more and doubles his tally. He’s now in the mix with all of the other midfield drivers with 14 points. 14. This has got to be the drive of his fledgling career on merit. No rain getting in the way to make it out to be a fluke in a sour as well. And then the meat inside a multiple world champion sandwich. Alonzo ahead of him and Bappen behind him. And he didn’t put a foot wrong. And let’s not forget fifth place at one point. He was within DRS. He could have taken Fernando. But Alonzo, his manager, was not going to make it easy for him. So you could easily imagine that both he and Max are going to be congratulating the Brazilian after the race. And well, no, they already have because this kid has definitely got something. I told you. I told you to let Gabby cook. He’s cooking Michelin star quality food right here. Although, I am not going to lie. I did have a bit of a squeaky bum moment when he was flagged for a start line issue and Hulkenberg was, but then Hulkberg got the penalty and then Gabrielle didn’t. I was so relieved about that. But I’m just proving to you that’s the weekly effect that they were able to talk it down. Because usually when you get those sort of notifications, as Martin Brundle would say, “Oh, that’s a slam dunk.” Well, it wasn’t Slam Dunk in this case. He just kept the pace. And no wonder he got the driver of the day in front of Fernando. People are starting to see that this guy is the real deal. Now, about Alonzo and Stroll. Fifth and seventh may sound a bit hoham for some teams, but this was Aston’s most competitive weekend of the year. And they didn’t need any rain to help them out at all. Especially look at what Fernando had to come back from at the beginning of the weekend where he had back issues. And then the only issue that he had was that he couldn’t try for fourth place and that oh he had to settle for only 10 points and then Lance Stroll he gets a seventh place. Yeah, he did get mugged by a couple of people at the start but I don’t think he’s going to care. I don’t think Aston’s going to care. 16 points in one race has brought Aston Martin right back into the mix and now within 20 points of getting back into fifth place in the constructors for a third year in a row. That is wild considering where they were back in Belgium. Now, I’m going to get my spanner out because I’ve heard many people talk about that, oh, the reason why they were so bad in Spa was because they brought the wrong floor like it was an Australia spec one. Logistics issue. Well, I’ve not really heard that being confirmed and that the team is mainly saying, well, the track just suits our car really, really well. And then you got to remember what Fernando was able to do in one of the worst McLarens in its history in getting the fastest lap. So, oh yeah, okay, it’s Fernando we’re talking about here. That front wing upgrade with then an older spec floor which they then do all that Jenga stuff mixing and matching and they’ve got a good package has done something. Newi has had very much another little bit of a lunchtime conversation even if he’s not doing any active involvement. There’s something to this AMR25 now because it’s come alive after the spar slump and now it’s able to do what many of the other teams were able to do and perfectly enact a one-stop strategy and keep their drivers in the positions they ultimately found themselves in after the start. This is amazing from this team and very much needed. And oh yes, for people counting regarding the battle between Fernando and Lance of the points, this now means they’re both equal with 26 points each. So 52 for Aston Martin. They’re now in sixth, one point ahead of Saur. So, back to Boralto. He’s keeping Saur in the hunt still, while Sulenberg is not having a great time with it. We’ll talk about that in the loser sections because yes, Nico is unfortunately a loser. But another winner we need to discuss is the likes of George Russell. Because you might be thinking, well, how is he a winner? Well, yet another podium without many people paying attention. And then in the case of blime me, he just turned into me. We’re now looking at what happened between he and Charl and going like, yeah, George, you’re right. He did turn into you, but it was so so dramatically engaging. I loved it and oh, priceless. Oh, no, I’m sorry. Wrong sponsor. That’s McLaren. In any case, Brussels’s first podium since Canada owed plenty to opportunism and handy starts. He mugged Norris as per. He was able to match Ferrari’s earlier pace and then pulled off said move on Charl to eventually get past the driver and break away by nion 20 seconds, albeit five of them, courtesy of the stewards. I would chalk this particular Grand Prix up as a combination of the W16 liking the cooler climates which unfortunately does show the Mercedes team is very much in the whims and the wants of the weather and also to the fact that George Russell is just there in that particular moment just somewhere in between Ferrari and McLaren not really figuring with McLaren because they have not really got much of a leg to stand on between those two but they are very much in the hunt when the conditions are right for the pickling that George can just whistle in there and you just go, “Well, how how did he get there?” Mercedes decision to revert to an older specification of suspension did the trick. But I’ll tell you one person who isn’t floundering, and that is yet again Liam Lawson. He’s back in the winner circle, whilst his teammate had a very unfortunate malady before him. It’s quite safe to say now that the Kiwi is quietly building a reputation as one of the midfield’s most economical races and a case for him to remain in the sport for next year since well he’s only two points shy of Hajar now after being for the longest time having no points at all cuz he had a pretty sharp getaway for a while and yes he did get mugged eventually by the stappen but that was to be expected and also rather smart given my Red Bull hierarchy and Max was stappen on the hunt to try and get back into the top five. It would be very wise for Liam to allow him to do his thing. But then come later in the race, all of the pieces came into a specific position where Liam ultimately was the leading Red Bull Group driver again. Yes, it’s not the sixth place he got in Austria, but it’s yet another four points to his name, which yet again is capitalizing on the fact that Isaac Hajar is having a bit of a unfortunate mid-season spell like Kimmy Anteneelli has been. It doesn’t detract from Isaac’s achievements of what he’s been able to do, but now it’s Liam’s turn to shine. And it’s very much shown that his return to racing balls has worked wonders and that he has indeed not lost any confidence. Yes, we were all very hard in the beginning of the season, myself included, but he has risen to the occasion and proven himself to be yet again one of the winners and keeping racing bulls in the hunt for P6 himself, albeit a little bit further behind Aston Martin and Sala. They are still in very much the midfield hunt and he managed to keep the stappen behind him on a set of soft tires. That that’s crazy. That is something that is certainly commendable and I know that he might struggle to win certain fans over because he very much had the Esther van AOM effect in picking battles with very very popular drivers at the very beginnings of his career and not being immediately repentant. So therefore, you are going to rub people up the wrong way understandably. So this is a big battle for him to try and win. And he may not be here to make friends, but he is certainly making places. And now we get to the section. And for ages, I was agonizing about where to put Ferrari and in particularly Charlair because for the longest time Nion half the race distance, it looked likely Charlotte was going to be pulling off one of the biggest coups of the season given where Ferrari are in relation to McLaren. Because for those first 30ish laps or so, he was convincingly ahead of Pastri by two to three seconds. And ultimately that’s just enough for an undercut salvation insurance policy and also being able to just well control and dictate the pace on his terms. But that didn’t come easily to him because we got to remember what he was saying in Q3. He had to effectively panel beat Ferrari into submission into doing exactly what he wanted to do in relation being put out in certain traffic where he is out one of the first ones to be doing his final lap. And it’s becoming very clear now that a Ferrari, the LEC moniker, the suffix for Charlotte, it doesn’t stand forlair. It stands for lecture. Yeah, too many words of wisdom to count this weekend. But again, we must acknowledge howlair was able to edge clear through the opening stint. But then he reported something strange in the chassis after one of his stops, and the pace just collapsed. So maybe it wasn’t the strategy solely responsible for his downfall. Although the George Russell Detective Service has claimed shenanigans regarding ride heights being changed, which might have made the car illegal in his views. But regardless, Pedestrian Russell did sweep by and the latter got the brunt of his anger to the trouble of a 5-second penalty, which didn’t make any difference to Alonzo behind. So, you know, Shaw could vent without any, you know, repercussions. And then we got to look about what happened with Lewis Hamilton. Him running an alternate strategy, him starting from very much near the back of the grid. He managed to make up some places but nowhere near as much as they’ve all do in Spar. And the only major thing of note during the race is that yet again like last year he got in a tangle with Max Vstappen albeit with a little bit less consequence in that you know they both went wide at turn four. It was quite spicy at that corner especially but there was no car flying in the air or anything and the two men weren’t you know batting each other in their head afterwards. They were very much circumspect because they shouldn’t really be fighting for 12th. Oh, and as for those words he was saying on Saturday about how he was useless and Ferrari should change driver. I paid no mind to that. I ignored that because it was a case of like you know how drivers can be fueled with adrenaline in terms of anger. I think he was filled with adrenaline and frustration at that time and it then manifested into sadness. So I just tuned it out. I ignored it. I’m just like, “Yeah, okay, Lewis. I know you’re sad, but I don’t think you really mean that. Ferrari aren’t going to replace him. Let’s be real.” And I also keep Ferrari in the me section instead of pushing them down to the losers because they still scored a fair few points. They only scored a few less than Mercedes. I think they got 12 with SH to Mercedes 16 with the one from Kimmy and then the 15 from George. So it wasn’t a total disaster. They weren’t going to be figuring them at McLaren. And for a while when the car was actually working properly, the Ferrari just came on song and it was looking really really solid. And had there not been a chassis issue which resulted in what happened near the end of the race, thenlair could at the very least gotten in a good podium place or maybe ideally split the McLarens. I also thought about putting Kimmy in the winner’s pen, but I’m quite sure the Italian would have wanted more than a single point for his troubles to be put there. So yeah, I still think it’s better than nothing because a month ago, he would have bitten your hand off for 10th because for the longest time, several weeks after the Ailia Romana Grand Prix, Kim has just lost. no clue what’s been happening with his troubles with the car, the upgrade path of the W16 itself not really giving him any favors and then there was talk about his contract being moved to Alpine or something. Question marks about his future despite the higher ups in the technical team really rating him. There was a lot of uncertainty. So now hopefully this streak has now been put to bed right before the summer break where he can say, “Okay, at least I scored a point.” So now he has 64 of them. And 64 is a very nice number. It is bigger than 63. Especially him coming back from near the middle pack of the bottom 10 to now get into the top 10 and having a few tussled with the likes of Max Stappen and him being able to bend off the likes of Isaac Hajar and Lewis Hamilton. There was a lot of battles with him. He was not like near the pack and got lucky. He did have to rise back up the field and the Mercedes was back on his song. And also, let’s not forget in the midst of all of this, there was a very good example of tire management that Esther Van Okon, a much more experienced driver, wasn’t able to pull off with 55 laps. Kimmy was able to keep his tires going for 48 laps and therefore be able to change and therefore keep that point. And he admits though that it felt like never ending that particular stint. But nevertheless, he was able to do it, pull it off. And I know it’s small potatoes, but as I say time and time again, at least he has some potatoes to share with us. And indeed, he was able to fend off Isaac Hajar, only a few ten behind the Italian. And I feel bad for Isaac incredibly. I really do because a Q3 start after a couple of races where he’s not had the best of times, this was a pretty good return or a rebound, albeit a bit of a small one, behind his teammate. But then what happened near the start of the race was really, really unfortunate and tragic. Blob of gravel right on his finger on his left hand. I saw the video and it was like, “Oh, that’s got to hurt.” because that was coming at him at about 100 miles an hour. That is going to sting for a long time. For him to be able to continue, that is some guts right there. They’ve mirrored the same strategy, I think, as they did with Lawson. He did close in. He finished 11th, so that’s certainly respectable. So, for that and him being able to survive the agony of just caning your finger when you need everything to not hurt, that is very much props to him and respect. He’s tough and I think that maybe being able to keep in touch with Antonelli and keep Hamilton behind him. His idol will certainly ease the pain. Although I think painkillers will do a better job in the long run. But hey, at least he’s got some time to recover. He’ll be fighting fit by the time we get to the Dutch Grand Prix. So I do have to give Isaac my dues in that I give him credit for not just calling it a day, just putting that thing on ice immediately. He kept going. Good on him. But you do have to also accept the fact that in terms of the battle between he and his teammate, Lawson is catching up very, very quickly. But yeah, feel better soon, mate. And I think you know where we were going to go next because the losers start off with Red Bull with Vstappen describing his weekend as one of those having just no grip. And the data agree, yeah, it wasn’t the crash out we were expecting that we got last year, but Max kind of just rolling with it. Something that is a little bit out of character. But at the same time, you might be thinking that he has just started to get his head down and try and fix Red Bull’s problem in the long term and just accepting that he might struggle to win a Grand Prix this season. And that is a really big surprise given the fact that he’s been really dominating from him getting dozens and dozens of victories the last three years. For him to now probably be lucky to get in the top five, let alone win a race, that’s wild, man. But at least in some sense, it’s reassuring that he’s not flying off the handle. So he’s not getting angry. He’s aware of the task. He understands the assignment and what have you and all the other Gen Z memory type things. But it is still a little bit jarring to see that at some point in Q1 it looked likely that the Stappen might have crashed out in some way. 11th and then Yuki 16th and Senogan. My god. I mean like he was closer to Max than ever. Not that far at all but he still went out in Q1. That is something to remember is that the car is very much coming to Yuki, but the car is falling behind everybody else. So therefore, it means that he’s exactly where he was just a few races ago when he was struggling with the car. The guy can’t get a break. But you got to admit that with the Stappen trying his best to make a couple of places at the start, we saw overtakes that were godly and reminding us of his skill. Being able to overtake at the chicane, I think twice, three times over the race, that’s nuts. I didn’t see anyone else do that. That is really a hallmark of his general skill that he can make the RB21 do something albeit not get a podium. And then with Yuki it was compounded where he had a pit lane start. He then I think damaged his front win with Hulenberg which meant that he lost downforce so he couldn’t really make up places. So Red Bull just had a mardy of it. But they weren’t kicking and screaming like they would have done in the Hornet era. They were just realizing that, yeah, no, no, we suck right now and we got to stop that from happening for, you know, a long time. This is at least a more pragmatic Red Bull. It may not be a spunky, sexy Red Bull, but it’s the Red Bull that we need right now. One that is doing a little bit of soularching. And hey, at least Vapin’s able to be honest and he’s not railing against the system. And you know how I touched upon Nikico Hulenberg earlier in the video? Because, yeah, let’s be honest, Nico was a loser today. And it was compounded by the fact that today was Gabby’s day. Plain and simple. He got 5 seconds added to his time, so that really didn’t help him. He did have a little bit of a fight back, but then ultimately it fell back towards 13th place. It was okay. It wasn’t a disastrous weekend. But you really got to look at this in contrast with his younger teammate, a rookie teammate where it was faultless Q3 again, eight points, not the podium that we got from Nico. I think honestly Hulenberg doesn’t really care anymore what happens this season. He gets his podium. Fine. This is great because I think he likelair was complaining that something felt completely different about his car after one of his stops which meant that he was really up against it and therefore it compounded what was going on with this weekend. So that again not much else to be said honestly. It was okay but it was certainly nothing close to what Gerby was able to do a P6 fighting Aston Martin and a Red Bull convincingly. Yeah. Sala swings and roundabouts and with Williams this really shouldn’t have been a surprise. We all knew this was going to be a weak weekend for them. The drivers had accepted it too. So they both started on the soft tires. This was a bit of a last resort Hail Mary sort of a thing. And it did work for a while with Carlos taking up a few places. Alex made a couple, but then traffic locked them in. The tires would understandably fall away and that was it really. So the important thing with a soft tire start is that you make up places. You don’t get stuck in traffic. But then unfortunately they got stuck in traffic because due to the fact the car has much less downforce than some of its competitors. And then SCS had a tangle with Gastley that sustained some damage, cost him some time, meant that he could only get 14th. And then even then, SCS was saying that maybe 13th was the best the car could come up with, which admittedly was not that inaccurate. And then Alex Alban qualifying last and then making up a few places. It just felt like, yeah, the statement he said in that nothing’s been working couldn’t be more true. But I think the team were not really surprised about this at all. So it really shouldn’t be a shocker to any Williams fans. It was just a case of grinning and bearing it. But what they didn’t expect was Aston Martin to score that many points. And now their place on fifth looks really, really vulnerable. And speaking of constructors, H are a team in which they are rapidly falling away from the midfield and into the clutches of Alpine in fighting to not be last. Especially Gaulling since Beman’s promising qualifying imploded once floor damage robbed him of decent grip. He couldn’t even appease David Croft and get P1 for the X time in a row. In fact, he didn’t even finish the race. And I say once again, the upgrades with H are working, but the fact remains is that the execution in regards to qualifying. They’re just not coming up with the goods to make the drivers lives a little bit easier. Really, really compounds Bman’s mistake in practice at Silverstone where he did get into Q3. That could have been at least a seventh or an eighth place with his experience a little bit more in the rain. the only surviving rookie that weekend. But H are dropping the ball in key areas where they really shouldn’t be and their competitors are simply not doing that and having weekends where they score big. And Esban Aron, I mean, my goodness, he was just a sitting duck. It just meant that all of the hard work that he did at the beginning of that long stent was completely undone in the last 10 laps or so where he was completely losing losing traction and losing losing time. At least I Kamatu admitted their mistakes that everything just went wrong. The strategy was wrong, the execution was wrong, it was just a bad day. I do feel this team has the potential to do more and I know they are trying their best, but it just feels like it’s just not coming together at the same time in all respects. It’s just really not sinking correctly, you know, especially with Oliver, right? I think he’s had to bear the brunt of all of the technical maladies as well. And yet again, he got damaged. He was losing so much time. They boxed to retire the car. I feel bad for them. And I really do. I do feel bad for Okon as well, but at least he can be smiling a little bit in that. Hey, at least I’m not at Alpine on him because what were they doing? This is not a power circuit. Therefore, Alpine might have been able to at least score a little bit more likely than they did at Spar, which is definitely is a power circuit. And then Pierre got a 10th place there. But what did they go and do? They finished 18th and 19th with Franco being the faster of the two or certainly the more fortunate of the two. They didn’t get a chance to score some points. How? Well, it does ultimately turn out execution was very much the weakness. The pit stops especially and Pierre Gassley getting a time penalty was signed and all because according to Gassley his hard medium plan looked like it could have yielded some smiles for the team until that slow stop really hindered his progression and Colipinto looked set to emulate the top 10’s pace in clean air. He felt pretty good, but then he had two sticky pit stops which cost him even more time arguably than Gastly had with his maladies. And that meant he couldn’t do more better the Argentinian than 18th. So now we’re getting into a state of damage limitation where Flavia Britori say even though they started the year saying they were going to give it all the beans and try and get fifth place in the constructors to get a little bit more money to maybe solve the team. But in any case, I mean it’s always been the no no. This is very much damage limitation realizing the car is absolutely garbage. Either that or it’s not progressing fast enough than the other people around them. I don’t think it’s going to explain away in the eyes of the public. It just feels like this car and team are incredibly weak and these two drivers, both Pierre and Franco, are just doing all they can, but they are met with obstacles right, left, up, down, pit lane, what have you, everywhere. So therefore, I really think that Franco should be given a little bit of slack here, as should Pierre, because I’d bet he’s steing right now. But in the midst of all of these comments, and I think this might give Flavio a bit of a relief in the long term, is that Franco is starting to get a handle of the car as well as the team. It may be again small potatoes, but it is something the Argentinian is improving, but the car is rapidly falling behind everyone else. So, you don’t really actually see that. It’s very much like Mick Schumacer toward the end of 2022. He was progressing, but the car wasn’t, and everyone else was. So, what good could he do to make up for the mistakes he made at the start of the season? Who is the complete opposite right now? F3’s newly minted champion, Raphael Kamara. And I had a chat with him last week before he wrapped up the title with a round to spare. Something that has not happened since the days of George Russell. To get to know the F3 champion a little bit more, watch my interview with him right after this video.