And the Victory Goes to Oscar: Piastri Takes Maiden Win at Budapest

Piastri, who won the Sprint at the 2023 Qatar GP, got alongside polesitter Lando Norris at the start and muscled his way past his teammate to take the lead on the exit of Turn 1.

By halfway, the gap between the pair was down to just over a second, and an off on Lap 41 at Turn 11 further reduced it. The Australian made his second stop on Lap 48, rejoining behind the Brit in second.

The next 19 laps were intense for McLaren, as Norris initially refused to yield to his teammate before handing the lead back on Lap 67. This paved the way for McLaren to secure a 1-2 finish, with Piastri becoming the fifth Australian to win a GP.

"Yeah, very, very special. A lot of Australian flags, actually, which was very cool to see. Yeah, it was an incredible moment. I mean, it's always special when you get to stand on an F1 podium, but it's a little bit nicer when you're at the top of it, so very happy," said a delighted Piastri in the FIA post-race press conference. "Like I said, an incredible moment that I've been dreaming of for a very long time. I said my first dream in my career was reaching F1. The second one is winning a race. Yeah, I'm very, very happy and proud, not just of myself but everybody that's helped me get to this position.

"You know, going back to my family, firstly, of course. You know, it took a lot of big decisions at a young age to chase the F1 dream. It's very difficult to become an F1 driver by staying in Australia, so it meant some big decisions early in life. And, yeah, just very, very proud that, you know, those decisions have paid off, and we've managed to make it worth it. And, yeah, of course, myself just incredibly happy to have achieved this moment."

Norris plays the team game

With the disappointment of Silverstone firmly behind him, Norris quickly hit the ground running in Budapest, taking a stellar pole position ahead of Piastri and title rival Max Verstappen.

Although the Brit made a good launch off the line, his attempts to cover off Piastri didn't work, and he lost second to Verstappen, who was forced wide onto the runoff area, picking up second but crucially gaining an advantage, potentially earning him a penalty if he didn't concede the position.

Verstappen reluctantly gave the position back to Norris on Lap 4, and the Brit remained in second until the final round of stops when he inexplicably found himself back in the lead.

Norris pulled away not long after but was later told by the team to give the position back to Piastri, which the Brit didn't do until three laps before the end. One reason behind his change of heart was to keep the Australian onside for the rest of the season, during which time he could play a decisive role in helping the 24-year-old secure his maiden world championship.

"I mean, things are always going to go through your mind because, you know. You've got to be selfish in this sport at times. You've got to think of yourself. That's priority number one, is think of yourself," admitted Norris. "I'm also a team player, so my mind was going pretty crazy at the time. I know what we've done in the past between Oscar and myself. He's helped me plenty of times. I think this is a different situation. This is not someone helping one another. I was put into a position, and we were undoing that position change.

"But I mean, I get it, and I know a lot of people are going to say, like, the gap between me and Max is pretty big, 60, 70, 80 points or something. You know, if Red Bull and Max make the mistakes they did today and continue to do that, and as a team, we continue to improve and have weekends like we've had this weekend, we can turn it around. And it's still optimistic. It's still a big goal to say, yeah, we can close 70 points, and as a driver, I can close 70 points in half a season. And then you're thinking of the seven or six points that I give away, then it crosses your mind for sure. So it was not easy, but I also understood the situation I was in, and I was quite confident by the last lap, I would have done it."

Hamilton pays hommage to McLaren on 200th podium

Behind the two McLarens came one of the Woking-based team's favorite sons, Lewis Hamilton, who continued his love affair with the Hungaroring by finishing third.

Starting from fifth, the Brit made up one spot on Lap 1, and after undercutting Verstappen after the first stint, he found himself in third.

The triple world champion tried to pass twice but made a mistake each time and lost momentum. On Lap 63, Verstappen locked up into Turn 1 and collided with Hamilton, who didn't suffer any damage from the incident and finished the race without any issues.

His third place in Hungary helped Hamilton secure yet another milestone in his illustrious F1 career, his 200th podium, the 12th at the Hungaroring.

"The number doesn't, no. I just think about these two and how young these guys are," said Hamilton when asked about the enormity of his 200th podium. "They were in nappies when I started. No, honestly, it just makes me think about the whole journey and all the great people I've had the chance to work with. You know, I got signed by McLaren when I was 13, and so there was always so much love for that team and through the journey that we had, where I had my first World Championship and then they went through a really difficult time so to see them back up there is great.

"I'm really happy. You know that's my old family, so really, really grateful to be up here with them. And then, ultimately I think it was a tough race today, and I definitely didn't think I would be having 200 podiums, but what have I done? Like 340-something races? So, not too bad a score, but I couldn't have done it without all those great people that I've worked with in both these teams."

Verstappen unapologetic after race from hell

Verstappen's weekend in Budapest had already been unraveling before race day, but Red Bull's lack of pace on Sunday was the catalyst for the Dutchman's most frustrating race of 2024.

After getting a good getaway from third, Verstappen was forced wide at Turn 1 and had to use the escape road, gaining an advantage. His avoidance of a near collision inadvertently moved him up to second before he begrudgingly gave the position back.

It would be the last time that afternoon he would see the McLaren. He lost third at the first round of pitstops, dropping behind Hamilton, much to his chagrin. Following two failed attempts, Verstappen tried again to pass the Mercedes, only to lock up and make contact with his former adversary, dropping him to fifth.

"We didn't have the pace to fight McLaren today, but then I think we still could have had a P3, but the wrong strategy calls put me on the backfoot where I constantly had to fight people and try to overtake, but it didn't work today," said Verstappen. The track was really hot, as soon as you get close to the cars, the tyres overheat and all of the advantage with the tyres [dissapears].

"I got a lot of s**t thrown at me in Austria, where people are saying I am moving under breaking blah blah, I am positioning my car in the initial movement, then I keep it straight, but today under breaking it kept turning to the right, and that's why I locked up because I was going for the move, but I see the car on the outside keep coming at me and otherwise we would have crashed already before but I had to stop the car and lock up."