Norris puts the World Championship on fire, Alonso flies with his fifth place and Sainz fails to recover.

Fernando Alonso achieved his best position of the season at the Hungarian Grand Prix. The Spanish driver finished fifth after an exceptional performance, where he knocked off Lando Norris, the Formula 1 Hungarian GP champion, at the start. The Asturian made no mistakes and squeezed the Aston Martin to the limit in a weekend where he went from not running Free Practice 1 due to a back injury to finishing fifth. Norris won after resisting Piastri's attacks to reach within nine points of the championship, and Russell completed the podium. Sainz, fourteenth , finished outside the points.

The Aston Martin driver made a tremendous start to move into fourth place after overtaking Lando Norris. The McLaren driver was cornered by his teammate, Oscar Piastri, and ended up being overtaken by George Russell and Alonso . The Asturian was close to taking the place from Russell as well, but the Briton ultimately held on to his position .

Meanwhile, the drivers who started on hard tires, Pierre Gasly and Lewis Hamilton, lost positions at the start. Charles Leclerc led the race, closely followed by Piastri and Russell. On lap three, Norris regained fourth place. in the hands of Alonso , who was unable to defend himself against the McLaren on the straight and had to manage the life of his medium tyre.

Alonso, a race without errors

Carlos Sainz gained two places to finish twelfth, while Verstappen moved into seventh ahead of Lawson and Stroll after a start that saw him lose a place. On lap 9, the four leading cars (Leclerc, Piastri, Russell, and Norris) pulled away, while Alonso held off Bortoleto. The Spaniard changed pace and opened a gap on Bortoleto, now outside the DRS zone, on lap 16.

Carlos Sainz pitted for hard tires. The flurry of pit stops left Piastri's attempt undercutting Leclerc, but the Monegasque protected himself on lap 20. Russell also took advantage to change tires, and Alonso, who hadn't yet pitted, was second, with Norris in the lead. The Asturian continued to manage his tires, and Leclerc, on fresh tires, overtook him on lap 21. One lap later, Piastri did the same.

"It was a terrible idea, I'm in a lot of traffic," Verstappen said over the radio. On lap 25, Russell launched a collision with Alonso, but it wasn't until a lap later that the Spaniard lost his position and dropped to fifth. Alonso's medium tires were holding up to degradation , and Leclerc complained bitterly to his team over the radio... to the point of claiming that he was "going to lose the race" because of Ferrari's strategy.

Leclerc exploded against Ferrari

On lap 30, Verstappen launched a charge at Hamilton, and the Englishman, twelfth in the race, went off the track to avoid a collision. A lap later, Norris pitted for hard tires and emerged ahead of Alonso and seven seconds behind Russell. Leclerc regained the lead. The Asturian driver pitted on lap 40 and emerged eighth, sandwiched between Verstappen and Hamilton.

McLaren attempted to undercut Piastri, but Ferrari took the lead with Leclerc's pit stop . Piastri, Norris , and Leclerc held the top three. Piastri pitted on lap 46, and the lead of the race switched again, with Norris, Leclerc, and Piastri. Sainz was overtaken by Antonelli on lap 47 and was in eleventh. Alonso remained sixth, managing tires and braking Bortoleto.

Verstappen pitted on lap 50, and Alonso moved up to fifth. A lap later, Piastri overtook Leclerc and moved into second place, just behind Norris. "It's unbelievable that this is happening to us, the car is undriveable, you should have listened to me, we won't finish on the podium, " complained Leclerc. Carlos Sainz, meanwhile, pitted on lap 52 after being overtaken by Hamilton and dropping to thirteenth.

Norris resisted Piastri

With 10 laps remaining, Norris was 3.5 seconds behind Piastri and Leclerc was on the brink of a chasm with Russell. Alonso was living in a comfortable fifth position . Albon let Sainz pass on his medium tire to take fifteenth and try to fight for points... which he wouldn't get. Russell launched an attack on Leclerc a lap later, but the Monegasque resisted the first attack and in the second he risked a penalty... although it ended up taking his podium place.

Norris won the Hungarian Grand Prix , including a scare for his teammate. Piastri finished second, and Russell completed the podium. Leclerc finished fourth, and Alonso, after a great race with no errors and a magnificent start, achieved his best position of the season so far. The Formula 1 World Championship is back in action.