Lando Norris held off a thrilling late charge from Oscar Piastri to win the Hungarian Grand Prix and reduce his world championship rival’s lead to nine points.
Norris was running in fourth place but benefited from stopping for tyres one fewer time than his rivals to land his fifth victory of the season.
The British driver took the chequered flag just six tenths ahead of Piastri, who went within centimetres of colliding with Norris on the last-but-one lap when he locked up his front-right tyre at the opening corner.
“Remember how we go racing, Oscar,” came the warning from his race engineer, Tom Stallard.
George Russell passed Charles Leclerc with eight laps to go to take the final spot on the podium.
Pole-sitter Leclerc had to settle for fourth. Lewis Hamilton, who urged Ferrari to replace him after he qualified only 12th, finished in the same position, a lap down.
Norris’ win in the concluding round before the summer break – his third triumph from his last four appearances – reignites his bid to land a maiden world crown.
But the Bristolian can count himself somewhat fortunate to be standing on the top step of the podium.
Norris started third, and although he got away well from his marks, an attempt to pass Piastri on the inside of the opening corner backfired. Norris did not commit to the overtake and that left him in no-man’s land, allowing Russell and then Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso to breeze through.
On lap three, Norris fought his way clear of Alonso but was then tucked up behind Russell and making little progress.
On Saturday, Hamilton described himself as “absolutely useless” after he was knocked out of Q2 with Leclerc, in the other scarlet car, having taken the Scuderia’s first pole of the year.
By the end of the first lap, Hamilton dropped behind Carlos Sainz and Kimi Antonelli and was 14th. By eight laps, he was 20 seconds behind Leclerc, and at the end of lap 14, he trailed his team-mate by half a minute.
Piastri was the first of the leaders to blink, stopping for hard tyres on lap 18. Ferrari, reacting to Piastri’s stop, pulled in Leclerc on the next lap.
On fresh tyres, Piastri had been quicker than the Ferrari, but Leclerc managed to stay ahead. Russell also stopped on lap 19 promoting Norris to the lead.
Further back, and Max Verstappen, who had also taken on fresh tyres, was tucked up behind Hamilton, yet to stop, in a duel for 11th.
Verstappen threw his Red Bull underneath Hamilton’s Ferrari at Turn 4 on lap 29, with the seven-time world champion running off the road and losing the place to his old nemesis. The flashpoint will be investigated by the stewards after the race.
Returning to the front, and McLaren were now considering a one-stop strategy for Norris. His race engineer, Will Joseph, was on the radio: “Lando, 40 laps on the hard tyre, you up for it?”
Norris replied: “Yeah, why not?”
On lap 31 of 70 he came in for his sole change of tyres before lighting up the timesheets with the fastest laps of the race so far.
Norris then dropped two wheels through the gravel on the exit of the chicane, which irked Joseph.
“Lando, just keep the focus, we don’t want these mistakes,” he said.
Both Leclerc and Piastri were forced to stop again on laps 40 and 45, respectively. Norris now led Leclerc by seven seconds, with Piastri five seconds further back.
But Piastri was on the move, swatting Leclerc aside on lap 51 and then setting about reducing Norris’ nine-second advantage.
With five laps to go, Piastri was just a second behind, and on the penultimate lap attempted a banzai move at the first corner but Norris remained ahead to land what could be a pivotal win in his championship charge.
Alonso finished fifth, one place ahead of rookie Gabriel Bortoleto. Verstappen finished ninth, with Hamilton fighting his way past Pierre Gasly and then Sainz but finished outside of the points on a desperate weekend for the 40-year-old.
“I am dead, I am dead,” Norris said. “We were not planning on the one stop, but it was our only chance after the first lap. I have pushed hard, and my voice has gone a little bit but it was the perfect result today.
“We are so close in the championship, it is hard to say if the momentum is on either side, but it is fun racing against Oscar, and I just about held on so I look forward to plenty more of these.”
Piastri said: “I pushed as hard as I could. After I saw Lando take on the one stop, I knew I would have to overtake on track and that is easier said than done.”
