How Lando nailed one-stop strategy, Ferrari’s mixed fortunes + Bortoleto’s personal best - 2025 Hungarian GP Review

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0:42Lando Norris wins the Hungarian Grand Prix By six tenths of a second Lovely Do you think Oscar is thinking that's one that got away? Equally, do you think Lando is thinking I stole that one. Piastri going late, locking up, and he avoids his teammate. That was a little bit over the edge. Lando, our winner, has just joined us. Did you roll off the brakes to stop Oscar hitting you? I must have. I put a little squirt on the throttle. For Gabi to be able to deliver in the kind of brakes that he was able to deliver here at the Hungarov ring was great to see. If you just have to listen to me, I would have found a different way of managing those issues.

1:28Did Ferrari get the strategy wrong with Leclerc? Yeah, maybe. What happened in quality? I'm just useless. I've never heard him talk himself down to that extent. People in the pub, they worry about Lewis. He has a 100 % contract for next year, but hmm.

1:51McLaren vs Ferrari, Piastri vs Norris. The Hungarian Grand Prix was decided by some gripping strategy battles and a tense duel on track in the closing laps. Welcome everyone to F1 Nation. I'm Tom Clarkson and joining me in the Budapest paddock is the most successful driver in Le Mans history, Tom Christensen and Fox Sports Mexico's Diego Meyer. Guys, what a race, what a weekend. TK, it was a stunning duel at the front, wasn't it? Yeah, it was. I mean, it has been a stunning. I mean, Hungary just never disappoints. It always throws up some suspense. Look at the qualifying yesterday, just in the middle of it.

2:31It starts to get cooler, the wind come up, and suddenly, poof, you had a Ferrari on pole. Tom makes a good point there, Diego, about the closeness of it all. I mean, top 10 yesterday separated by just half a second. And this was the closest winning margin in a green race that we've had all year. Yeah, absolutely. It was a fantastic weekend. Coming from qualifying, the drivers having to improvise with these changing conditions in the win, even within Q3, changing direction. And Charles delivering this surprising poll. the contrast with the crisis Luis is going through on the other side of the garage.

3:10And then this Grand Prix that delivered, I think, the best fight we've seen so far between Lando and Oscar and hopefully the first of many that we see in the last ten races. It was the tensest battle we've had between the two McLaren drivers, wasn't it? Yeah, and a little bit, I mean, going right till the very end. If we start there, when Oscar launched it on the penultimate lap, I mean, that was a little bit over the edge. Again, a little bit similar, of course, in Austria. But this was even a little bit worse because for me it was not on. And that was a little bit surprising seeing how decisive he has been in his overtakes.

3:49When you look at his career in Formula 1, they have always been splendid the way he put it in. But this time he was a little bit ambitious with that sense. Diego, how did Lando Norris' one-stop strategy beat Oscar Piastri on a two? Well, I think there was no other way for Lando to win the race, basically. So I think from that point of view, he had to try it. Because otherwise, he was going to finish behind his teammate and he was going to lose margins. So at that point, I mean, we saw from very early with Fernando, especially, that there were some drivers keen on trying the one-stop. I think Fernando's pace indicated that from very early on.

4:32And then the radio is starting to come up with Oscar also being asked about the possibility of making it work. So, I mean, as Lando himself said on the radio, I mean, let's give it a try. He went for it and he delivered. He knew it was going to be difficult in the end. He also preserved the one-two for the team. because had he not left the space when Oscar did these launches twice in the closing laps, maybe there would have been some contact. I don't know if the kind of contact to get both of them out of the one-two, but yeah, it would have been very difficult to avoid contact. Do you know what?

5:12Lando said something I thought very interesting after the race. In the press conference, he said he didn't doubt that he could make the tyre last the Grand Prix. He did 39 laps on that one set, and yet he said even at the beginning of that stint, he didn't doubt it. That's when you see his experience come to front. For some time, we've had the ability, at least I thought that Lando had better ultimate speed than Oscar, but this year, I don't think so. I mean, especially the last few races, we've seen Oscar, the way he dominated at Spa. I asked the other day Andrea Stella what has improved the most on Oscar's side since he claimed his first win a year ago here, and he said speed.

5:56And that has improved everything else with it. The experience obviously gives you more perspective in certain decisions. You know more about what you can do with certain aspects. And he had to play, you know, but yeah, it seemed like he had the conviction that he could make it work. it was tight but he made it work and the other thing is whenever you saw the on-board stuff Oscar getting close to the car ahead on the last corner he had a few nice oversteer moments and when it's the same car you're racing against I guess it's more difficult racing of Rari maybe the cars have different traits but when you're racing your teammate he had the same tools maybe a different age on the tires at that point but it was clear that it was not easy to do that last turn as close as he needed to be able to get a proper attempt the layout of the hungaro ring favors the person in front doesn't it because the pit straight is the one overtaking point and you've got two 180 degree corners leading onto the pit straight right so it's difficult to stay close yeah there's no doubt so you really have to to do well and you need a big upset in the terms of the tires like Diego touches on but I think just you what fascinates me as well is the is the dialogue with engineers you can you can feel there's more intensity on both Oscar and and Lando speaking to to Tom and and Will as the lead engineers on both cars and you think also I I mean, SAC is a, they are free to race.

7:33Also engineers, they are free to do whatever they do to make the best for McLaren. And this intensity goes probably into, and I'm sure they will reflect on that during the summer break here, they're way ahead in the constructors. The championship, it's between those two. And it's a golden opportunity because you don't know what you're going to have in 2026. So to have a world championship, that is going to be an interesting, very interesting in-team battle. Yeah, and I would like to say also that a year ago we were questioning those papaya rules because of how the race unfolded here between Oscar and Lando, that they had to somehow undercut Oscar with Lando because Luis beat before and then they had to ask them to swap positions.

8:24Lando did it in the end. Looked he didn't want to, but he did it with three laps to go. And it didn't look like the Papaya rules would be up for a fight between two McLaren drivers. But a year on, I like what they've done. I mean, I had my doubts that they would leave their sides of the garage, have their own strategy and battle with strategy amongst them. But they're up for it. I mean, they have the gap now. Max is almost 100 points behind in the championship. and the constructors, they may well seal that bite back to Singapore. So I like what I see with the papaya rules and how they are working in this interesting battle.

9:04Do you think Oscar is thinking that's one that got away? Equally, do you think Lando, if he's being really honest with himself when he's looking in the mirror, is thinking, I stole that one? Yeah, in a way, surely. One is right under the gearbox of Charles Leclerc, the leading Ferrari, the other one is down in fifth. And then these strategies sometimes come in handy, like we just explained. Silverstone, he had it all. Spa, he did really well. But then again, here, it's a small dip. So it's... You're smiling. There is nothing to choose. What have we got? Nine points between the two McLaren drivers.

9:43I feel as we go into the summer break, that might as well be zero it's going to be fascinating how this all pans out tom there's one more thought i want to pick your brain about and that is something andrea stella said in the press conference on friday he believes that the relationship between these two these two drivers is better now than it was a couple of years ago and yet now is when it really matters because the world championships at stake. I find that fascinating. I find the psychology behind that fascinating. There's no doubt there's very good people within McLaren having a lot of empathy in that way that they are making sure everything is on the table.

10:27Obviously, when they are racing, we can see very easily that they're doing whatever they can and whatever they should do, really trying to win. And for sure, you have already seen in Canada, you nearly saw a little bit in Austria. You saw it again here. They go all in, in direct fight and trusting their own instincts. But fireworks are coming, there's no doubt. But I have, like Diego touched on before, I have almost respect of the way the management are dealing with the drivers because they're quite close in Lando a little bit older, a little bit more experienced, of course, but they're quite near and they know this is the golden opportunity.

11:11One of them will be world champion. And it might not be that McLaren have the best car in 2026. So it is going to be nail-biting and there will be fireworks. But the question about how they are behaving, I take my hat off. They are both cool guys. They are both welcome at my Christmas dinner. Can we come? Is it a case of keep your friends close? Keep your enemies closer? but it's not about friendship it's about respecting each other they're raising each other hard but as long as they can look them straight in the eye and discuss these things after I'm sure they are doing that clearly, otherwise and that's done way before the papaya but they're doing it every time because of course you have fractions of when they're overdoing it, just today I mean, Oscar nearly on these two laps he nearly overdid it and I think there was a little bit of help on the second one from Lando actually, knowing that he would have a go as they were running out of laps.

12:18We're in the McLaren Moto and Lando, our winner, has just joined us. Did you roll off the brakes to stop Oscar hitting you? That's been our question. I must have. I probably a little squirt on the throttle. I don't actually know because it's all instincts then. I was watching my mirror so I probably had a little a little off the break and back on I'd have to check, I don't actually know the answer Lando, it's been such a good weekend you're on a high, you're staying for the test don't you? I just don't want to leave so I wanted to go and do another test on Tuesday so yeah, a bit more work to do before the break Well done from all of us, thank you Lando obviously going to turn one Lando knew exactly where Oscar was and probably realised there's a move coming.

13:09There was a penultimate lap, so he knew that it was going to come, and he was watching the mirrors, as he said. So instinctively, you probably do a little bit of modulating of the brakes at the very end. I mean, trail braking there, just to make sure that both cars were leaving turn one again. Definitely, it got close, and instinctively, when you see a little bit of smoke, you know that the car behind comes faster than it should. It must be a hard thing as well. You're in the title fight of your life and he's staying in Hungary to do a 2026 tyre test. Do you think his brain is worried about 2026 right now?

13:49Oh, no. Oh, no. Yeah, as much as they say that they want to preserve, you know, this feeling within the team and hopefully make this a trend that McLaren dominates everyone for many years. yeah the focus remains on what's going on this year i mean any laps i guess tom would know better but any laps that a driver can do are helpful he's he's building you know team building in some way an extra effort before he goes on holiday but yeah i think it is good and i'm touching back on on what tom was saying i asked lando in the tv pen whether he would have tried that same move that that Oscar tried on him twice at the end of the straight.

14:32And he said, yeah, I mean, you'd rather try than leave the track when you know that the victory was there for you to take. TK, you have driven the TPC car for McLaren. Yeah, so I'm a little bit disappointed that they didn't ask me to do the 2026 tire test here, but they might have forgot about me. How do you find these cars? I drove the TPC car last year, actually by invitation of SAC Brown. So it was a big, great opportunity. And he made sure there was a sufficient circuit for me. So in the beginning I thought it was going to be Silverstone, but it was Red Bull Ring. And as you know, SAC 2 and 3 there are pretty fast.

15:17So I realized there that I'm not fit enough anymore by age of these wonderful cars. seamless in terms of the gearboxes unbelievable you don't lose any speed in changing just go through the gears the brakes the car is not pulling anywhere is giving very good feedback so everything comes sort of easy to the point that actually they say thank you very much that's it the 10 laps are done tom but that happened really fast and i i enjoyed it but they are they're very physical particularly turn nine that was where i had the biggest offset to lando and and oscar i I had the whole thing in the sim months before.

15:56That's the penultimate corner. That's the penultimate corner over the crest. I think the whole flesh of my body was at the left side of the monocoque through there. That was the feeling I had and I was still losing a few tenths. But of course the ground effect, the downforce, the power in braking and accelerating and cornering. Yeah, very, very impressive. And it has helped me a lot now to communicate the feeling of these great athletes, what they are achieving, what they are doing. Cadillac has entered Formula One, deepening the racing pedigree behind every V-Series on the road. Discover a line-up that delivers pure adrenaline in the form of modern luxury.

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18:00Now, after leading the way from pole position, Charles Leclerc finished P4 more than 30 seconds behind the McLarens. Charles said in the media pen afterwards that he started to lose performance from around lap 40, just over half distance, due to a problem with the chassis, and I'm using quote marks. On team radio during the race, he wasn't happy with Ferrari's strategy, saying we're going to lose this race after the first stop. And then after being overtaken by Piastri, he said, you just have to listen to me. I would have found a different way of managing those issues. So first, did Ferrari get the strategy wrong with Leclerc?

18:42Yeah, maybe they did, but ultimately the strategy with the problem they apparently had was going to be second in the order of causes for not delivering the result, I guess. The real issue was more to do with why did they lose so much pace from that lap 40 that you just mentioned? because it was very clear that that was no more the Leclerc that we saw fend off Piastri at the beginning of the race. So there was a real issue and he had nothing. I mean, strategy could have helped a little bit, but it wouldn't have saved his race, I think. I don't want to focus on the negatives of Ferrari. I think there are so many positives to talk about.

19:27I mean, you know, that pole position lap by Charles Leclerc yesterday was stunning. stunning nothing less than stunning absolutely and that i mean we know how fast charlie claire is over one lap i mean he he's absolutely maybe the best over one lap i mean here we have seen that so often the fight against max for stop and earlier but bringing it up there that bring brought a lot of smile smiles on the faces at ferrari and and they they were very optimistic going into the race starting in front he executed a very good first lap he was leading uh both on the medium tires then on the the hard tire and then when he got into the second stop a little bit probably a little bit early probably a little bit to protect him from oscar i think on lap 40 or 41 and then he got a second set of hard and then he faded after there so for me it's a temperature issue on this or something uh i i could imagine uh which god seems to get worse and the temperature likely which goes to the brakes or eventually on the tires, of course.

20:33But they are very closed on that, of course, and they will go to sort that out. But it's fascinating to hear that it's something they discussed beforehand. They were not completely agreeing. And yeah, Fred Rosson couldn't give us more thought on that. But it will be solved before they go to Sanford. There's no doubt about that. I mean, another positive for Ferrari is that Leclerc was saying before the weekend, statistically, this is my worst track of the season. I've never had a decent result here. And then he goes and puts it on pole position and actually outperforms the Hungaro ring specialist that is Lewis Hamilton in the same car.

21:16Yeah, you touched on that. And that's, I mean, everyone wants him to come back to winning ways, Lewis Hamilton with Ferrari. But he's struggling and he was very hard on himself. But yes, his home race at Silverstone didn't go to plan. I mean, his season is tough for him. And then he goes to a circuit where he has eight wins, nine poles. And if he's not winning, he's definitely always on the podium, like last year. So it must be really hard. And to see Lewis lining up after the race in a queue at Joe Bauer when he has to get weight, he kept his helmet on. There were five or six drivers in front of him who had to get weight before.

21:57I think he takes it hard on himself and it's tough to see. Maybe involuntarily this new suspension is giving more sure what he needs and less Lewis. Not by design necessarily, but Lewis has not spoken positively about this new suspension during the weekend. But yeah, it's hard. I mean, it's the first time that Luis was not in Q3 here. The only time he had not been was 2014 when the car caught fire. Every time he had been in Q3 here. It's hard to see Luis struggling so much. I don't think he has suddenly forgotten how to do things around this place or any place. But clearly this car is not suiting his style.

22:44And he's not finding any answers as to how to get the speed that Charles is able to deliver. What I don't like seeing is Lewis so hard on himself to come out after qualifying and say, Ferrari need to get a new driver. I mean, he's a very emotional driver. We've seen that. That's been a consistent thing throughout Lewis's career. But I've never, in all these years since 2007, heard him talk himself down to that extent. I don't know what he's trying to achieve by it, other than it's an emotional reaction. But why else is he saying things like that? Yeah, me neither. To me, it just comes across as his pure emotions, his frustration at not having really any answers.

23:33Because when your teammate is on pole and you're out in Q2 and they have brought a new part to the car that should deliver, what else can you say? I mean, he's being fair to the team because I think they're trying. He's also being very clear that he's trying his best doing these documents he's been mentioning, trying to give the team all the information they can have in order to give him more of what he needs. But probably he won't get that with this car. And as Tom very well points out, it's going to be a reset next year. I guess Ferrari is looking forward to that reset and maybe see if next year's car suits more.

24:14I mean, they'll have his feedback. They'll know, hopefully, why he struggled so much with this car or where did he struggle more and try probably to bring more of what he needs to get his speed out in 2026. But this year is going to be difficult. Tom, were you a documents kind of driver? Did you write messages to your teams? Yes, we did. We gave some thoughts on things, yes. I think that's part of this dialogue, building the team, the camaraderie, all these things, which at the end of the day builds a lot of trusts. So you really, I mean, your engineer has to be really close to you in these senses.

24:57And sometimes you hear that, yeah, there's some discussions with Adami, with Louis' engineer. And last year it was a little bit like, yeah, maybe the team is knowing I'm leaving. Maybe they're focusing more and that's normal. But now he's very, as you touched on, he's really hard on himself. I have the deepest respect on people putting their hand up like that. And of course, a seven-time world champion doing that. But on the other hand, hey, they don't race on fuel. They race on self-confidence. So to have it all there, I think it gets a little bit under the skin on him, unfortunately. I want to see him do well, and I hope he really finds his mojo.

25:39But people in the paddock, they worry about Lewis. He has a 100 % contract for next year. Ferrari wants him to do well the most. Yeah, they're bringing in some changes. There's been a new addition to his side of the garage with Luca Diela, who used to work at Mercedes for a long time, and he's now on his side. that he was, I guess, a performance engineer in the power unit for Lewis at Mercedes. So I guess, I mean, it's not going to happen from one race to the other. Hopefully they're able to use the second part of the year to build more around the team that Lewis needs to get what he has been having in his good time at Mercedes.

26:21It's very true what Tom says about these ground effect cars. And there is this question of whether, like it happened with Daniel Ricciardo, if these cars are so special and so tricky that maybe negate the ways in which certain drivers get their speed and the ultimate pace. But yeah, I would expect things to get a little better on Lewis' side. Hopefully he's able to close up the year in a better place than he's now wrapping up these first 14 races. It's hard for us to talk about that. So if I can mention just on a positive, who was last in Spa, last on the grid? There's two Aston Martins, Alonso and Stroll.

27:04And where were they today? Five and seven. So, hey, it just means that it's so close, as you mentioned. Top 10 are within, yeah, less than six tenths. So you can make a difference very, very fast, it seems. So let's stay positive. And all this passion that Lewis is talking with is proof that it still really matters. Otherwise, he wouldn't be talking like that. That is, I think, the conclusion, the sensible conclusion to reach. And you just hope that it's not too demoralizing to come to this, his racetrack, and not deliver in the way that he'd hoped. on the preview, the F1 Nation preview to this weekend, I spoke to Valtteri Bottas and he said that Lewis was particularly strong.

27:54Sector 3, yeah. Sector 3, the two 180 degree corners, turns 13 and 14. He said that is where Lewis, when Valtteri was his teammate at Mercedes, found his time. And if Charles Leclerc walks past, I would love to ask him, did you actually look at Lewis's data? Is that what has helped turn around your performance this weekend, And Charles, just what he's doing through those three corners. Because actually in qualifying on board with Lewis, he was struggling in the last three corners. Particularly the... Middle oversteer moments through both. He was really fighting the car. And I think everyone is going to benefit from Fred Vasseur re-signing long-term deal that was announced on the Thursday leading into this Grand Prix.

28:35That gives a bit of stability, stops the questions being asked. And everyone you speak to in this paddock will say that very few team bosses in the history of the sport have got a better racing brain than Fred Vasseur right they he knows how to empower people he knows how to bring the collective together and when you've got all these regulation changes coming for next year the only thing they could do was was to re-sign him

29:08let's move on to mercedes who had a much stronger weekend with george russell securing his sixth podium of the season and his first since that win in canada four races ago he finished p3 while kimmy antonelli fought from p15 to p10 to score his first point since his podium in montreal now guys why were mercedes so much more competitive this weekend than they were well the last three weekends since they won in canada with a new suspension actually they of course had some belief in that but it'll have completely destroyed the confidence with kimia antonelli and on friday evening here i i spoke to him he was incredibly happy he found again he could play with the car and he had trust in the car again.