F1 - Hungarian GP

The final race before the summer break and the end of the season was a strategic battle at the Hungaroring in Budapest. Let's see how the latest installment in the 2025 F1 season took place...

Performances

McLaren - massive win for Lando to close the championship up again to just a 9 point deficit for him. He made the one stop work and did just enough to hold off Oscar in the final few laps. Some people said that McLaren favored him but honestly... everyone thought the two-stop would be the fastest strategy this weekend. It's not really favoring a driver but rather the situation just worked out for Lando in the end. (I mean also basic logic that track position > tyre delta at a track like Hungary but anyway...) 3 wins in the last 4 races has really saved Lando's season after Canada and now the WDC fight is fully on. Also McLaren's 4th 1-2 finish in a row (the record is 5 which atp they could easily break) and 7th overall (again record is 12 so it could be broken?) Also McLaren's 200th win overall in F1! Just a fantastic season and race for the team overall.

Ferrari - pain. Let's start with Charles. A fantastic pole position but his pace completely evaporated and he didn't even finish on the podium. Apparently he had some kind of chassis issue related to Ferrari's plank wear (essentially they have to mess with engine modes and tyre pressures because the car is just too low) and they clearly had a disagreement on how to handle that. Honestly it's just getting annoying seeing a driver like him suffering when he clearly should be fighting for wins and championships, and the incompetence of Ferrari isn't helping. I mean he's basically had race-winning cars in 2019, 2022 and 2024. That's pretty shocking from Ferrari. And don't even start with Lewis. The worst weekend of the season by far for him! As a Lewis fan I just want his season to end please. It's looking like we won't even score a podium this season now! I get that he has to adapt to the new team but still... these kind of performances are really terrible. Qualifying P12 while your teammate is on pole is just embarrassing at this point. Just no confidence in himself or his ability to drive this generation of cars. Miserable race too. I just had to get all my Ferrari anger out there. This team hasn't won a championship since 2007/2008 and watching them closely as a Lewis fan this season it's clear to see why!

Mercedes - Good race pace from George and a nice podium. It seems like going back to the old spec of upgrades worked for them. He's actually getting close to Max for P3 in the championship now and with the way Red Bull are going it's possible. Kimi honestly had an okay race from P15 to score a point but he can't keep on qualifying so poorly.

Red Bull - pace absolutely sucked this weekend. Max came P9 and finished behind a Racing Bulls car! Their season is clearly over and they're focusing all resources on 2026 and the new Ford engines and new regulations. Yuki also had completely no pace once again.

Aston Martin - where did this pace come from??? Amazing qualifying and race result from both drivers! Fernando had his best drive of the season to finish P5 and even Stroll had good pace to finish P7! Apparently it's because the car suits low downforce tracks but this didn't happen earlier in the season. Easily the team of the race for me. They're above Sauber now in P6 in the WCC.

Sauber - very nice P6 from Bortoleto! He's really finding his feet now in F1 with 3 points finishes in the last 4 races. Good to see him finally showing what he can do in F1. That midfield fight for P6 in the WCC is once again really good this season!

Williams - no pace again and another disappointing weekend after Albon's great result in Spa.

Racing Bulls - similar to Bortoleto, Lawson has also scored points in 3 of the last 4 races! Great P8 from him and he finished above Max which must feel good surely after the way he was kicked out of the senior team. Glad to see him rebuilding his confidence after that early season trouble. Hadjar hasn't scored points since Spain but the raw pace in quali has still been really good so not too worried yet.

Haas/Alpine - no pace from either of these teams again. Haas no points in the last 4 races while Alpine are just being Alpine at this point. I actually can't believe Alpine's downfall - they came P4 in the WCC in 2022! What the hell happened?

Race rating - 7/10 - a slowburn but a good strategic race (as Hungary usually is) and the last few laps were really tense with the two McLarens fighting!

Team radio of the race - Charles losing it and writing a essay! This might be the longest team radio message I've ever seen and it almost went off screen!

Driver of the race - tough one. Norris, Bortoleto and even guys like Stroll and Lawson all had good race, but I have to give it to Fernando Alonso. 44 years old (!) and still putting in excellent performances like this in a car that clearly just isn't good. Absolute legend.

Next weekend - the Zandvoort circuit in the Netherlands is the first race after the summer break. A very historic circuit, it held races in F1 from 1952 all the way to 1985, before being brought back in 2021. The circuit's fast sweeping corners, unique camber and banking in the corners and the backdrop of the sand dunes make it a very unique addition to the F1 calendar! Some great races from the past include: 1975 (James Hunt's first win in changeable conditions), 1985 (amazing Lauda - Prost battle for the win with Lauda taking his last win from 10th on the grid), 2023 (very fun race in wet conditions with Alonso and Gasly scoring podiums).