EP82: Hungarian GP ... then McLaren happened

Dianne Bortoletto and Ciara Gillan recap the 2026 Hungarian Grand Prix at the Hungaroring, where Lando Norris took his first win of the season and McLaren's strategy left Oscar Piastri fuming before a gearbox failure ended his race. Recorded with Ciara reporting from Budapest on her final morning in the city, and Di in Melbourne.

70 laps, 4.38 kilometres a lap, 14 corners, all of them newly named after Formula 1 drivers, and 310,000 fans through the gates across the weekend.

Piastri started third after Lewis Hamilton was penalised for impeding him in qualifying and Kimi Antonelli picked up a grid penalty of his own. By turn three, Piastri had the lead. He held it until McLaren pitted him into traffic, where a touch with a recovering Carlos Sainz cost him time, and then pitted Norris into clean air. Piastri's radio to his engineer, "I can't even talk to you right now," said plenty, though he had made peace with the strategy by the time he faced the media, repeating Andrea Stella's line that the stop was about beating Hamilton. He retired with a gearbox failure.

Norris won ahead of Max Verstappen, who complained about the Red Bull all weekend and then drove the wheels off it, including a moment where tyres actually brushed with no damage done. Antonelli completed the podium and looked utterly wrecked afterwards, having come from seventh on the grid with a very late second stop just before the virtual safety car.

Ferrari's afternoon: Charles Leclerc fourth, Hamilton fifth, and a pit call for Hamilton with around 15 laps to go that he said afterwards he regretted, because his tyres were fine. That stop then earned him a five-second penalty for exceeding the pit lane limit by 0.1 kilometres an hour.

George Russell's anti-stall kicked in on the grid and dropped him to 22nd by the end of lap one. He recovered to seventh. Isack Hadjar sixth, Liam Lawson eighth, Nico Hulkenberg ninth for his first points of the season, Arvid Lindblad tenth, Gabriel Bortoleto eleventh. Both Cadillacs retired, Sergio Perez with his brakes on fire and Valtteri Bottas limping into the pits.

Di had Ferrari one-two on both her Predict the Podium accounts. It did not go well.

Credit where it is due: Norris is the reigning world champion, the McLaren had pace all weekend, and Hungary suits the team. Norris won there last year and Piastri the year before.

Di and Ciara also address the abuse being directed at Hamilton in social media comments, and make clear there is no place for it on any o