Oscar Piastri takes first F1 win at Hungarian GP

Oscar Piastri has secured his first F1 race win, taking victory at the Hungarian Grand Prix after team orders.

The Australian led for the first two-thirds of the race before a tactical decision to stop Lando Norris first for new tyres handed the Briton the lead, before the McLarens switched positions late on, with Lewis Hamilton completing the top three.

Norris made a good start, but came under pressure from his teammate and Max Verstappen heading into turn one, with all three looking to take the lead.

Verstappen went wide trying to avoid contact while Piastri took the lead, but the reigning champion rejoined the track ahead of Norris, resulting in complaints from the Briton that Verstappen gained an advantage off track, while the Red Bull driver claimed he was forced off track by Norris. Eventually Verstappen gave the place back.

Norris and Hamilton were the first of the front runners to stop, with Piastri coming in a lap later, but Red Bull left Verstappen out, along with the Ferraris.

Hamilton’s earlier stop allowed him to undercut Verstappen when the Dutchman stopped a few laps later, but as Hamilton’s tyres faded the Red Bull closed in on his rear wing.

Verstappen looked like he’d get the better of Hamilton, using his fresher tyres to go around the outside of the Mercedes, but he ran wide, allowing Hamilton to edge back ahead.

Pierre Gasly’s day came to an early end when Alpine told the Frenchman to retire the car halfway through the race with a suspected hydraulic leak.

Charles Leclerc started to catch the Hamilton-Verstappen battle before the Mercedes and the Ferrari came in for new tyres in a bid to undercut the Dutchman again.

Despite Piastri being ahead on the track, McLaren brought Norris in for the first pitstop to ensure he wasn’t caught by Hamilton, before stopping Piastri a lap later, who rejoined behind his teammate.

McLaren told Norris they wanted to re-establish the order, asking the Briton to let Piastri through, but the Australian dropped a wheel into the runoff area, costing him time and allowing Norris to pull away.

Verstappen stopped later and tried to make up places on fresher tyres, cruising past Leclerc before closing in on Hamilton.

As he tried to overtake Hamilton, Verstappen locked up and collided with the Mercedes, launching his Red Bull onto two wheels and into the runoff, dropping him back down the sixth.

Despite being asked to give the lead back to Piastri, Norris opened up a six second lead at the front of the field, resulting in repeated messages from the McLaren pitwall urging him to give the place back to his teammate. Eventually, Norris slowed on the straight to let Pistri move back ahead and secure the win.

Provisional classification:

1 Oscar Piastri (McLaren)

2. Lando Norris (McLaren)

3. Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes)

4. Charles Leclerc (Ferrari)

5. Max Verstappen (Red Bull)

6. Carlos Sainz (Ferrari)

7. Sergio Perez (Red Bull)

8. George Russell (Mercedes)

9. Yuki Tsunoda (VCARB)

10. Lance Stroll (Aston Martin)

11. Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin)

12. Daniel Ricciardo (VCARB)

13. Nico Hulkenberg (Haas)

14. Alex Albon (Williams)

15. Kevin Magnussen (Haas)

16. Valtteri Bottas (Sauber)

17. Logan Sargeant (Williams)

18. Esteban Ocon (Alpine)

19. Guanyu Zhou (Sauber)

DNF:

Pierre Gasly (Alpine)