05/08/2025

SPORTS TUESDAY | AUG 5, 2025

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Ferrari feared Leclerc might not finish in Hungary

FERRARI feared Charles Leclerc might not finish yesterday’s Hungarian Grand Prix after the Monegasque, who started on pole position, suffered a dramatic loss of performance after his second pitstop. Leclerc pitted from the lead on lap 40 of 70 and ended up fourth, with teammate Lewis Hamilton 12th in a race won by McLaren’s Lando Norris. Team boss Fred Vasseur told reporters that the situation had been “quite strange” after being in control for the first 40 laps. “The last stint was a disaster, very difficult to

Ferrari lost speed. “We had to try and do something to beat Leclerc because it wasn’t obvious that we just had enough pace to blow past him and go and win that way,” said Piastri of a failed attempt to get ahead with an earlier first pitstop. “I don’t know what happened to Charles in the second half of the race, but clearly something happened because he looked quite quick for the first half.” – Reuters

led cleanly away from the start at a circuit where overtaking is difficult. Norris switched from a two-stop strategy to a one-stop, despite McLaren’s initial reservations about the tyres lasting, after dropping to fifth on lap one and needing to do something different to teammate Oscar Piastri. Championship leader Piastri had failed to get past Leclerc on strategy but was able to take second and close the gap to Norris after the

drive, the balance was not there. Honestly, we don’t know exactly what’s happened so far,” he said. “We have to investigate if there’s something broken on the chassis side or whatever. At one stage I thought that we would never finish the race.” Leclerc had taken Ferrari’s first proper pole of the Formula One season on Saturday, apart from Hamilton’s sprint pole in Shanghai in March, and

Brown hails 200th win

Norris holds off holds off Piastri Piastri in Budapest

MCLAREN boss Zak Brown hailed the team’s 200th Formula One win, with Lando Norris ahead of championship leader Oscar Piastri in a one-two finish in Hungary yesterday, as close to perfect. “You’re never perfect in a race but I think that was as close to perfect as you can get,” Brown told Sky Sports television. “The drivers were awesome, pit stops amazing, strategy was great to get Lando up there, Oscar drove brilliantly. I couldn’t be prouder of this racing team.” Norris and Piastri crossed the finish line 0.698 of a second apart, with the pair almost touching when the Australian tried to make a move on his British teammate on the penultimate lap and locked up. Team principal Andrea Stella said it had been “firm” racing but also fair between rivals now separated by just nine points. “We had a bit of a lock-up with Oscar but at the same time Lando left some space because he knew that Oscar would have been at the limit of braking,” said the Italian. “We keep being very proud of our Lando and Oscar for racing. I think this is a great way of honouring Formula One racing. These are the value of McLaren.” Despite celebrating his ninth career win, Norris said he needed to improve because he was making life too hard for himself. He won from third on the grid, after dropping to fifth at the start and then making a one-stop strategy work with Piastri on two. “It’s going to be a good and tough battle probably until the end. It takes a lot out of you trying to focus so much for every single session, race, everything. So, it’s going be a long second half of the season, I’m sure,” he said. “There are those things I need to improve on and want to improve on. I’m not giving myself the best opportunities. Even though the results have looked great, I’m not making my life very easy for myself at the minute. “So if I can work on those things, then I’ll be in a better place.” – Reuters

Seventh one-two of the season for McLaren at Hungarian GP

L ANDO NORRIS held off McLaren team mate Oscar Piastri to win the Hungarian Grand Prix on a one-stop strategy and slash the Australian’s Formula One lead to nine points going into the August break. Norris completed 39 of the 70 laps on a single set of hard tyres while Piastri stopped twice and closed a 12-second gap to just 0.6 at the finish, with a nail-biting chase to the chequered flag and a near-collision on the penultimate lap. McLaren’s Lando Norris (right )passes the chequered flag to win the Hungarian Grand Prix. – REUTERSPIC

champion manages. That was also Bortoleto’s best result so far and Sauber’s sixth successive scoring race. Lance Stroll was seventh for Aston Martin, who moved up to sixth overall in the constructors’ standings and one point ahead of Sauber. Racing Bulls’ Liam Lawson was eighth, with Red Bull’s reigning champion Max Verstappen ninth and Mercedes rookie Kimi Antonelli completing the top 10 to end a scoring drought. McLaren’s lead in the constructors’ championship grew to a mighty 299 points over closest rivals Ferrari with 10 races remaining. – Reuters HUNGARIAN GP (TOP 10) : 1. Lando Norris (McLaren), 2. Oscar Piastri (McLaren) , 3. George Russell (Mercedes), 4. Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) , 5. Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin), 6. Gabriel Bortoleto (Sauber) , 7. Lance Stroll (Aston Martin), 8. Liam Lawson (RB) , 9. Max Verstap pen (Red Bull), 10. Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes) . WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS DRIVERS (TOP 5) : 1. Oscar Piastri (AUS) 284pts, 2. Lando Norris (GBR) 275, 3. Max Verstappen (NED) 187, 4. George Russell (GBR) 172, 5. Char les Leclerc (MON) 151. CONSTRUCTORS (TOP 5) : 1. McLaren 559pts , 2. Ferrari 260, 3. Mercedes 236, 4. Red Bull 194, 5. Williams 70. RESULTS & STANDINGS underperformed his own expectations,” added the Austrian. “He’s been that emotional, emotionally transparent since he was a young boy, a young adult. So he’s got to beat himself up. “He’s the GOAT (greatest of all time) and will always be the GOAT and nobody’s going to take that away.” Wolff said also that he was sure Hamilton had unfinished business in Formula One, after losing controversially in 2021 what would have been a record eighth title, and still had what it takes. “He shouldn’t go anywhere next year,”said the Mercedes boss. “Brand new cars, completely different to drive, new power units… I hope he stays on for many more years and certainly next year is going to be an important one.” – The Independent/Reuters

seventh one-two in 14 races. “Going into the race we thought a two-stop was the best thing to do, and in clean air potentially it still was,” said Piastri, who has won six times this year. “Having a two-stop race in clean air versus dirty air is a different story. It’s very easy now to say a one-stop was the way to go but one second different and the answer would be very different.” Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc was a frustrated fourth, after starting on an unexpected pole position but losing out massively on the final stint of a two-stop strategy. The Monegasque, who looked in command for 40 laps until his second stop allowed Piastri to pass, was also handed a meaningless five-second penalty for erratic driving in defending against Russell. “It was a problem on the chassis. There was an issue on that

George Russell was a distant third, 20 seconds down the road, to complete yesterday’s Hungaroring podium for Mercedes. “I’m dead. I’m dead. It was tough,” gasped Norris, who started in third place – with Piastri second – and then dropped to fifth after being squeezed at the start. “We weren’t really planning on the one-stop but after the first lap it was kind of our only option to get back into things. “I didn’t think it would

side so we will look into it for it to not happen again,” said Leclerc. Fernando Alonso

finished fifth in Aston Martin’s best result yet this year, and ahead of Sauber’s sixth placed Brazilian rookie Gabriel Bortoleto – a driver the double world

get us the win, I thought it would get us maybe into second.” The win was Norris’s fifth of the season, and

third in the last four, as well as a career ninth and McLaren’s

Lando Norris

Hamilton hints of ‘background’ issues at Prancing Horse

LEWIS HAMILTON could barely muster any words after a Hungarian Grand Prix to forget on Sunday, though did hint at “background” issues at Ferrari. The seven-time world champion, 40, is yet to register a podium for Ferrari after 14 races this season and finished outside the points in 12th at the Hungaroring. It was Hamilton’s worst result in Budapest in 15 years and caps off a disappointing first-half of the season in Ferrari red, as F1 now takes a three week summer break. After qualifying on Saturday, when teammate Charles Leclerc claimed pole position but Hamilton was knocked out in Q2, Hamilton labelled his display as “useless” and said Ferrari should look for a new driver.

most of all of himself. He said it was a tough situation to be 12th on the grid, at a circuit where he has won a record eight times and been on pole nine, when teammate Charles Leclerc qualified in first place. “I can understand the frustration from Lewis, that this is normal,”added the Frenchman.“So we will be back and we will perform. “I don’t need to motivate him. Honestly, he’s frustrated, but not demotivated. It’s a completely different story.” Hamilton’s former Mercedes boss Toto Wolff also spoke out strongly in the 40-year-old Briton’s defence, calling his Saturday comments just “Lewis wearing his heart on his sleeve. “It was very raw. It was out of himself and we had it in the past when he felt that he

Asked if he wanted to expand on that statement, a deflated Hamilton replied after Sunday’s race: “Not particularly. When you have a feeling, you have a feeling. “There’s a lot going on in the background, which is not great.” Questioned on whether he has lost his love for racing, Hamilton told Sky Sports F1 : “No, I still love racing. I look forward to coming back,” he said. “Hopefully, I will be back, yeah.” On Saturday Hamilton had told reporters that “it’s me every time. I’m useless, absolutely useless” and said Ferrari “probably need to change driver.” Ferrari boss Fred Vasseur said Hamilton, the most successful F1 driver of all time but lapped on Sunday, was demanding of everyone but