Budapest, 4 August 2025 (dpa/MIA) - Lando Norris won the Hungarian Grand Prix on Sunday with the help of a one-stop strategy to close in on championship leader and McLaren team-mate Oscar Piastri.

Norris enters a four-week summer break nine points behind Piastri, promising a thrilling final 10 races of the season.

The Briton got his fifth season and ninth career victory - and a 200th for McLaren - ahead of the charging Piastri, who tried to pass entering the penultimate lap and almost hit him after locking up, and Mercedes driver George Russell.

Surprise pole-sitter Charles Leclerc of Ferrari faded to fourth, while Norris won from third place on the grid and after slipping to fifth in lap one thanks to the strategy and good tyre management.

World champion Max Verstappen had to settle for ninth in his Red Bull and is now 97 points off the top. Record champion Lewis Hamilton in the other Ferrari was unable to improve from his 12th place on the grid in a weekend to forget.

The vast majority of drivers pitted twice while Norris said he and the team changed to one stop after the opening phase did not go well.

"I'm dead. It was tough," Norris said. "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 get us the win, I thought it would get us maybe into second," he added. "The final stint with Oscar catching I was pushing flat out.

"It always is a bit of a gamble these kind of things. It also requires no mistakes, good laps, good strategy and that's what we had today."

Norris spoke of "a perfect result" but added there was still a long way to go in the title race.

"We're so tightly fought it's hard to say if momentum is on anyone's side," he said.

Piastri said: "I pushed as hard as I could. After I saw Lando going for a one-stop, I knew I was going to have to overtake on track, which is much easier said than done around here."

Looking at his late passing attempt, he said: "I think I needed to be at least a couple of tenths closer which was going to take a mistake from Lando to achieve that.

"I felt that was going to be my best chance. You never want to try and save it for the next lap, then it never comes, so I thought I would at least try."

Leclerc won the start from Piastri while Norris dropped from third to fifth after initially trying to challenge Piastri - falling behind Russell and Fernando Alonso of Aston Martin.

Norris soon got past Alonso again but found no way to get ahead of Russell while Piastri had no chance to pass the leading Lecelerc.

Norris was swept into first place once the others pitted, and got his fresh rubbers much later in lap 32 as the strategy became clear.

Further back, Verstappen and Hamilton found themselves in a tussle for 11th place which Verstappen won as Hamilton ran wide after they almost made contact. The incident was to be reviewed post-race.

After the second round of pit stops Piastri soon swept past Leclerc and then started to hunt down Norris. He came within striking distance but his attempt entering the penultimate lap but fell short as Norris held on with his old tryres.

Russell meanwhile dipped past Leclerc with eight laps left but was lucky when Leclerc almost drove into him. The Monegasque was hit with a five-second penalty over the incident.

"It was a bit dicey with Charles at some points," Russell said. "I think we made contact the second time. Just glad to get through it and a nice way to go into the break."

Alonso held on to fifth, ahead of impressive Gabriel Bortoleto of Sauber, Aston Martin's Lance Stroll, Racing Bulls' Liam Lawson, Verstappen and Mercedes' Kimi Antonelli. Verstappen's Red Bull team-mate Yuki Tsunoda managed no bethher than 17th.

Photo: epa