• Hamilton questions strategy after finishing fifth

• Briton lost place after penalty for speeding in pit lane

Lewis Hamilton expressed frustration with his Ferrari team after he dropped points in the title battle against Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli at the Hungarian Grand Prix, while Lando Norris returned to form with the defending world champion claiming his first race victory of the season.

Hamilton finished in fourth place on the track at the Hungaroring but, with a five-second penalty imposed for speeding in the pit lane, he was classified as fifth in the race won by McLaren’s Norris, with Max Verstappen second for Red Bull and Antonelli third.

• World champion wins from pole; Piastri’s gearbox fails

• Verstappen second, championship leader Antonelli third

Lando Norris finally had reason to celebrate after a testing opening to the season, as McLaren’s defending Formula One world champion took his first win of the year at the Hungarian Grand Prix.

However, while the victory was thoroughly deserved in an incident-packed race, there was an all too familiar feel to the bigger picture as Kimi Antonelli emerged from a weekend that might have been considered damage limitation for the Mercedes driver having once more extended his advantage at the top of the drivers’ championship.

• Defending champion takes first pole of 2026 by 0.012sec

• Hamilton and Antonelli receive three-place penalties

The margins were tiny and for a moment it seemed Lewis Hamilton had finally found his edge in qualifying, only for the seven-time champion to be beaten by but a breath. The defending world champion, Lando Norris, pipped him to pole for the Hungarian Grand Prix in a thrilling, dramatic contest.

Worse was to follow for Hamilton as his very real chance of converting a front-row start to a win in his hugely competitive Ferrari took a severe blow as he was penalised three grid places for impeding McLaren’s Oscar Piastri during their final laps. Hamilton will start from fifth place.

Racing director believes his career behind the wheel can help the team deliver where others have failed as new entrants in the top tier of motor sport

There is nowhere to hide in Formula One, a sport where deficiency is brutally exposed week in, week out. It is an environment where success must be fought for tooth and nail yet one where the former driver and multiple Le Mans winner Allan McNish is in his element, convinced he and his Audi team can deliver where so many others have failed.

Always a gregarious, personable character, McNish could not be more at ease even under the intense pressure in his position as racing director for the team which joined the grid for the first time this year. He is one of the very few personnel in F1 in such a senior position who is a former driver and one who has enjoyed enormous success.

• Electrical fault had damaged Briton’s world title hopes

• ‘I’m glad we found it. Spa and Silverstone exposed issue’

George Russell believes his Mercedes team have identified the problem with his engine that damaged his world championship hopes over recent races and left the driver fuming when it played a key role in him being knocked out of Sunday’s round in Belgium.

Russell has been struggling with issues with his electrical energy deployment for three races now, since the Austrian GP, particularly at Silverstone and Spa which are energy-dependent circuits. In Belgium he was furious after he lacked electrical energy when exiting turn one on the opening lap. It left him vulnerable to the chasing pack, notably the Ferraris which swept past and he entered Les Combes corner alongside Lewis Hamilton, who clipped the Mercedes, sending Russell out of the race.