Category Archives: Cars

2026 F1 Grand Prix of Hungary — Results & aftermath

Norris romps to first victory of season with dominant drive in Hungary; Verstappen a hard-earned P2; Antonelli salvages day with solid P3; Ferrari struggle in traffic and execution; nightmare start for Russell

After starting squarely on the back foot under the new Formula 1 rules regime for 2026, McLaren finally came good in the eleventh round of the season in Hungary, as reigning champion Lando Norris out-dueled and out-paced his teammate Oscar Piastri, as well as Red Bull’s Max Verstappen and Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli, to take his first win of the year in dominant fashion. With mighty Mercedes’ pace advantage neutralized by the short, twisty and slow nature of the Hungaroring, the second slowest circuit on the calendar to Monaco, Norris made good on the exceptional consistency he showed here in earning pole on Saturday over Red Bull, Ferrari and the Silver Arrows, and then had to contend with Piastri, who started from P3 on the grid but passed both the Ferrari of Charles Leclerc and then stablemate Norris in quick order on Lap 1 of the 70-lap contest. It quickly became clear that the fight for the win would be between the two McLaren men, barring the reliability issues that have been the bane of Team Papaya all season long.

Piastri kept Norris behind him until pitting on Lap 17 to doff his opening Pirelli Mediums for a set of the Hard tires and attempt to run a long second stint on the more durable rubber. Norris pulled the same swap a lap later and came out still behind Piastri, albeit vocally trying to convince his pit wall that his car was the faster and all this fighting between them was a waste of effort and resources. The McLaren braintrust pulled the plug on the internecine battle in their own way by splitting the strategy for the rest of the race between the two cars, opting to box Piastri a second time on only Lap 33 for another set of Hards, while Norris stayed out, still pleased with the  performance of his now 15-lap old Hard tires. This enabled him to build the gap to Piastri, who also came to grief when the inattentive back marker Carlos Sainz failed to follow blue flags in his Williams and closed the racing line on Piastri, leading to contact between the two. That cost Piastri serious time as well potentially damaging his car. Norris kept stretching his advantage, running all the way to Lap 40 before making his second stop. The overcut and yet another fine stop by his McLaren mechanics worked a treat, bringing the English World Champion out ahead of his Australian rival.

With Piastri unable to challenge from the rear, Norris used the pace advantage of his fresh Pirellis to move back towards the front. He inherited second place when Red Bull’s Max Verstappen made his second stop, choosing an alternate Hard to Soft tire strategy for what was ostensibly his final stint. Norris then set about hunting down Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli, who was running a very long second stint en route to inheriting the lead due to staying out while others boxed. But Antonelli’s Merc on aging tires was no match for Norris freshly shod McLaren and Norris blew by him to retake the lead on Lap 46 after several laps of hard dicing between the two young aces. Now obviously losing time, Antonelli then decided to make his second stop on Lap 54, which turned out to be the lucky call of the race. Two laps later Piastri came to an abrupt stop on track with a heartbreaking gearbox failure, his second mechanical failure of the season and his fifth non-scoring day in eleven races. With the Virtual Safety Car deployed, Norris made the decision to duck in for Softs to finish out the race, still coming out ahead of the second place Verstappen due to the reduced speed, as well as the remarkably third place Antonelli, who also benefited from solid strategy to overcome a penalty-affected P7 starting spot and vault himself back to the podium. Norris won by a very handy 15 seconds when all was said and done, with a highly vocal yet highly effective Verstappen holding on to P2 by 3.7 seconds over Antonelli.

It was a good way to go into the break for the top there and their teams but the same could not be said of Ferrari. Despite the Prancing Horses looking the the team to beat here entering the weekend, and Lewis Hamilton barely missing out on pole to Norris by a scant .008 seconds, the team from Maranello was undone by a penalty to Hamilton for impeding during qualifying that dropped him to P5 on the grid and then a poor start from the dirty side of the track by the now P2 Leclerc. As the Monegasque spun his wheels at the getaway, he was jumped by both Piastri and Verstappen. Hamilton also managed to overtake Leclerc early but found it incredibly difficult to make further headway following that, especially against the stubborn Red Bull of Verstappen, as the two greatest drivers of their generation engaged in a multi-lap mano a mano. And when Hamilton did manage to get ahead of Verstappen on pit strategy by running a short first stint in Softs before switching to the preferred Hards, he was taken by surprise by the Dutchman on Lap 15, when Verstappen, fresh from the pits himself and seemingly coming from a mile back, dive bombed his way past the Ferrari into Turn 1. It was a race full of sound and fury for the Scuderia that wound up signifying not very much, as Hamilton earned a late race pit lane speeding penalty that demoted him to fifth place and Leclerc was therefore promoted to P4, despite rather mediocre long run race pace. The second Red Bull of Isack Hadjar came home a solid P6, while the second Mercedes of George Russell recovered somewhat from a nightmare anti-stall start that saw the Briton drop from seventh to the rear of the field on the opening lap. Russell fought back to his original P7 position but it continued a tough run of form and fortune for the preseason favorite. The long summer break is probably coming at the right time for him.

Top 10 finishers of the Hungarian GP:

POS DRIVER TEAM RACE TIME LAPS PITS FASTEST LAPS
1

Lando Norris

 McLaren 1:39:56.180 70 3 —
2

Max Verstappen

 Red Bull +15.080 70 2 —
3

Kimi Antonelli

 Mercedes +18.728 70 2 —
4

Charles Leclerc

 Ferrari +23.840 70 3 1:22.000 (58)
5

Lewis Hamilton

 Ferrari +24.540 70 3 —
6

Isack Hadjar

 Red Bull +55.488 70 2 —
7

George Russell

 Mercedes +57.503 70 2 —
8

Liam Lawson

 Racing Bulls +1 Lap 69 2 —
9

Nico Hülkenberg

 Audi +1 Lap 69 2 —
10

Arvid Lindblad

 Racing Bulls +1 Lap 69 1 —

Complete race results available via Formula1.com.

With the enforced summer break upon us, the next race is not until the weekend of August 23rd, when the teams return from vacation and take on the dunes of Zandvoort in the Netherlands. Hope to see you then when the F1 festivities resume and enjoy your summer in the meantime!

2026 F1 Grand Prix of Hungary — Qualifying results

Norris nabs first poll as champ by pipping Hamilton, Leclerc P3, as Mercedes struggle with rivals’ Hungaroring pace; Antonelli’s final effort compromised by Verstappen spin, then earns penalty for not slowing

With the short, low speed and twisty Hungaroring proving the same sort of kryptonite to Mighty Mercedes as Monaco, it was other teams time to shine during Saturday Qualifying for the Hungarian Grand Prix. And the two that shone brightest were a steadily improving McLaren and what was already the second fastest team in F1 this year, Ferrari. On a very dusty and dry circuit where grip has been at a premium throughout the race weekend so far, it was McLaren’s Lando Norris keeping his car planted the best over the course of his final Q3 flying lap, bettering what had seemed like a supreme time by Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton by a scant eight-one hundredths of a second. Hamilton had set his fast time on the first attempt and could not improve on it with his second run, a pattern shared by most drivers in the final session. But Norris did improve, vaulting up the pylon at the death and earning his first pole position as reigning champion this season. Even worse for Hamilton, he was demoted three grid places after Quali for impeding Norris’ teammate Oscar Piastri in the session. That elevated the second Prancing Horse of Charles Leclerc to P2 and the Monegaque will now start alongside Norris in Sunday’s race.

Mercedes not only failed to display their usual superior pace in Hungary but even the best efforts of their points-leading breakout star Kimi Antonelli went for naught when Red Bull’s Max Verstappen spun out on his last Q3 attempt, bringing out a yellow that Antonelli was later adjudged to have not slowed enough through while transiting  the single waved yellow zone. Already a bit disappointed not to be able to improve on his P4 time, Antonelli will have it all to do in the Grand Prix, now starting from P7 and against some extremely formidable competition ahead.

With Hamilton compromising his final lap, Piastri could do no better than a P5 time, while Verstappen’s spin doomed him to P6, with Red Bull teammate Isack Hadjar also struggling for grip en route to the eighth best time. Antonelli’s Mercedes teammate George Russell continued to look unsettled in the car with a mediocre P7. Rookie Arvid Lindbad was P9 for Racing Bulls and veteran Nico Hulkenberg was P10 for Audi.

Top 10 qualifiers for the Hungarian Gand Prix:

POS DRIVER TEAM Q1 Q2 Q3 LAPS
1

Lando Norris

 McLaren 1:18.277 1:17.456 1:17.207 16
2

Lewis Hamilton

 Ferrari 1:18.730 1:17.803 1:17.219 15
3

Charles Leclerc

 Ferrari 1:18.984 1:17.626 1:17.445 20
4

Kimi Antonelli

 Mercedes 1:18.726 1:18.393 1:17.479 20
5

Oscar Piastri

 McLaren 1:18.891 1:17.928 1:17.684 15
6

Max Verstappen

 Red Bull 1:18.656 1:18.249 1:17.725 18
7

George Russell

 Mercedes 1:18.856 1:18.445 1:17.760 20
8

Isack Hadjar

 Red Bull 1:18.754 1:17.872 1:17.856 14
9

Arvid Lindblad

 Racing Bulls 1:19.233 1:18.360 1:18.281 18
10

Nico Hülkenberg

 Audi 1:18.796 1:18.639 1:18.686 18

Complete qualifying results available via Formula1.com.

Tomorrow’s race airs live beginning at 9 AM Eastern on AppleTV here in the States. Can Norris earn his first win of the 2026 campaign or will the high flying Ferraris surge back to take victory? And can Antonelli do his best to limit the damage or perhaps even pull an unlikely surprise? Hope to see you then to see how it all shakes out!

2026 F1 Grand Prix of Belgium — Results & aftermath

Antonelli earns sixth victory by fending off rapid Leclerc for win at Spa; Verstappen a game P3 for Red Bull; Russell suffers calamitous opening-lap DNF after collision with Hamilton

Mercedes rising superstar Kimi Anotnelli earned his sixth victory of the 2026 season after a three-race drought, successfully overtaking the Ferrari of Charles Leclerc late in the race, and then keeping the very rapid Monegasque in his rearview mirrors until the checkered flag. Even better for the young Italian phenom, his Silver Arrows teammate and closest pursuer George Russell spun off the Spa-Francorchamps Circuit and unceremoniously beached in a gravel trap Les Combes on the opening lap of the race after a contretemps with the second Ferrari of Lewis Hamilton. With Russell certain to score zero points on the day after outscoring Antonelli in the last three Grand Prix, it was all up to Kimi to recover from yet another mediocre start that saw his Mercedes overtaken by Red Bull’s Max Verstappen nearly as soon as the lights had gone out to begin the contest. But the superior long run pace of the Mercedes W17 shone over over the first flowing third of this classic 4.3 mile course and not only did Antonelli repass Verstappen but Leclerc’s Ferrari also got around the defending Red Bull, relegating Verstappen to P3 in the blink of an eye. Verstappen returned the favor to reclaim second place on the 6th lap of this 44-lap contest, making it clear this would be an elite three team and three driver battle until the race’s conclusion. 

Hamilton was also showing good pace, his Prancing Horse undamaged by the contact with Russell and still performing well. Unfortunately for the seven-time champ, however, the stewards reviewed the opening lap incident and adjudged Hamilton the guilty party, earning him a 5-second time penalty for the second race in a row. While that decision was highly questionable, as it looked for all the world like a racing incident between the two cars, it essentially foreclosed any chance of Hamilton fighting back for a podium against either Verstappen or his teammate Leclerc. Conversely, Leclerc was somehow spared a penalty despite forcefully closing the door on Oscar Piastri’s McLaren on Lap 8, causing aero-affecting damage to the latter’s side elements. And when Leclerc was cleared of culpability on Lap 17, that had the decisive consequence of Verstappen deciding to pit the next lap to endeavor to undercut the Ferrari. It was another solid stop by team Red Bull but the timing proved poor when a Virtual Safety Car for debris was called two laps later, enabling Leclerc to pit under full course yellow conditions and thereby jump not only Verstappen but also the former race leader Antonelli in the process. The second McLaren of Lando Norris briefly inherited the lead an ran a long opening stint on Hard Pirellis, opposite to the majority of the contenders due to his penalty-induced P13 starting position. Likely hoping for another VSC, Norris gamely ran to Lap 31 despite being passed by Leclerc, Antonelli and Verstappen in quick succession, before finally diving in to switch onto the better performing Mediums and finish out the race with that tire advantage over the other contenders. But the stop was dreadfully slow at 7.8 seconds due to a stuck rear left and all of the reigning champion’s good work was undone.

Easily growing his gap to the third place Verstappen, Antonalli set about hunting down the race-leading Ferrari of Leclerc, finally making the decisive overtake on Lap 34, thanks in no small part due to the lapped Cadillac of Valtteri Bottas acting as a moving chicane for the Monegasque. Somewhat surprisingly, Leclerc kept pressing Antonelli to regain the lead for several laps before Antonlli used the clean air to his advantage and finally increased his lead out of the danger zone. He eventually took victory by some 1.9 seconds, not much when you consider how long a lap here is at Spa, and it’s clear that Ferrari has made great strides over the course of the first half of the season. It was also a display of particularly good form from Leclerc, who had seemed a bit lost until his surprise win at Silverstone two weeks ago. But all tribute must be paid to Antonelli, who started from pole, took the victory despite some very game competition and now leads the championship by an impressive 45 points after the first ten rounds. Potentially even better for the young Italian ace, Russell slipped to third in the Drivers’ Standings, falling behind Hamilton by dint of Sunday’s nightmare opening-lap DNF.

Top 10 finishers of the Belgian GP:

POS DRIVER TEAM RACE TIME LAPS PITS FASTEST LAPS
1

Kimi Antonelli

 Mercedes 1:24:42.479 44 1 —
2

Charles Leclerc

 Ferrari +1.952 44 1 —
3

Max Verstappen

 Red Bull +11.586 44 1 —
4

Lewis Hamilton

 Ferrari +17.245 44 1 —
5

Oscar Piastri

 McLaren +18.988 44 1 —
6

Isack Hadjar

 Red Bull +23.307 44 3 —
7

Lando Norris

 McLaren +24.014 44 1 1:48.890 (44)
8

Gabriel Bortoleto

 Audi +49.140 44 1 —
9

Arvid Lindblad

 Racing Bulls +50.406 44 1 —
10

Franco Colapinto

 Alpine +1:16.037 44 1 —

Complete race results available via Formula1.com.

The next race is in but a week’s time as the teams make the quick trip to the always tricky Hungaroring for the Hungarian Grand Prix in Budapest. That will be the final round before the long summer break – hope to see you then to find out if Ferrari can keep closing the gap to Mercedes and if Russell can recover to try to stop Antonelli’s momentum!

2026 F1 Grand Prix of Belgium — Qualifying results

High flying Antonelli snatches Spa pole from Verstappen despite Red Bull teamwork; Norris P3 in improved McLaren but will face 10-spot penalty; Russell a distant P4 on pace

 

Top 10 qualifiers for the Belgian GP:

POS DRIVER TEAM Q1 Q2 Q3 LAPS
1

Kimi Antonelli

 Mercedes 1:46.304 1:45.142 1:44.361 15
2

Max Verstappen

 Red Bull 1:45.930 1:45.589 1:44.678 12
3

Lando Norris

 McLaren 1:45.865 1:45.454 1:44.801 11
4

George Russell

 Mercedes 1:46.185 1:45.689 1:44.869 18
5

Charles Leclerc

 Ferrari 1:46.278 1:45.397 1:44.893 18
6

Lewis Hamilton

 Ferrari 1:46.124 1:45.543 1:44.895 15
7

Oscar Piastri

 McLaren 1:46.433 1:45.671 1:45.016 17
8

Arvid Lindblad

 Racing Bulls 1:46.191 1:45.629 1:45.143 18
9

Gabriel Bortoleto

 Audi 1:46.609 1:46.082 1:45.628 18
10

Isack Hadjar

 Red Bull 1:46.062 1:45.823 — 13

Complete qualifying results available via Formula1.com.

2026 F1 Grand Prix of Great Britain — Results & aftermath

Leclerc fills hard luck script at Silverstone to win dramatic British GP under Safety Car; Russell finishes P2, Hamilton P3 after late race crash out by Verstappen; mechanical issues doom Antonelli to another pointless day

Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc turned around years of bad luck at the venerable Silverstone circuit when the racing gods smiled on the Monegasque with a late race Safety Car in Sunday’s British Grand Prix that sealed a victory for him that looked anything but certain. Leclerc had already benefited when misfortune struck championship points leader, Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli. After a remarkably long 35-lap opening stint on Medium Pirellis  the Italian phenom was poised to fight it out with the race-leading Leclerc for the win on much fresher rubber in the closing stanza. But in a rare moment of structural fragility for this year’s W17 Silver Arrow, Antonelli paid the price for running over one too many curbs and his left wheel shield failed on Lap 41, making high speed steering nigh impossible. The team eventually figured out the problem and removed the broken part but only after two frantic pit stops. To rub salt in the wound, because Antonelli could not really control his car and ran off track several times during the period after first picking up the mechanical, he was assessed a 5-second time penalty for track limits infringements. Antonelli went from having a supreme tire advantage over Leclerc in the hunt for victory to trying to salvage tenth place and a single point on the day.

But even that was not to be, as bad luck caught up with another contender and ruined any chance of Antonelli keeping at least 5 seconds ahead of P11. With the Mercedes hanging on and starting to build a gap, Max Verstappen lost the rear of his Red Bull at Stowe on Lap 48 and beached it into the huge gravel trap there, necessitating a full Safety Car. At the time Verstappen was running solidly in the podium places in P3, skillfully holding off the second Merc of George Russell despite being on much older tires. But in an instant the Dutchman’s race was over due to some sort of violent reaction to the the active suspension snapping shut. The Safety Car bunched the field up, erasing Antonelli’s small advantage over the Alpines of P10 Franco Colapinto and P11 Pierre Gasly. While it looked for a moment that there might be a final lap shootout when the Safety Car appeared to be called in at the end of the penultimate Lap 51, it confusingly stayed out, neutralizing the field and insuring that Leclerc would face no further pressure en route to his first win here at Silverstone. While Antonelli got the short end of the stick and was eventually demoted to a pointless P16 after the penalty amidst such tightly packed processional, his teammate Russell was the beneficiary of not only Antonelli’s misfortune but also Verstappen’s, simultaneously lucking into second place and also not having to duke it out with the second Ferrari of Lewis Hamilton for those valuable points. Hamilton had to settle for P3 but it was still an excellent day for the Scuderiai on English soil. And in the Drivers’ Championship, Russell closed the gap to 35 points in arrears of Antonelli, making it game on once again between the two in the title hunt, with Hamilton now only seven points behind Russell for second place.

Top 10 finishers of the British GP:

POS DRIVER TEAM RACE TIME LAPS PITS FASTEST LAPS
1

Charles Leclerc

 Ferrari 1:27:11.335 52 2 —
2

George Russell

 Mercedes +0.427 52 2 —
3

Lewis Hamilton

 Ferrari +0.772 52 2 —
4

Lando Norris

 McLaren +1.149 52 3 —
5

Isack Hadjar

 Red Bull +1.598 52 3 —
6

Liam Lawson

 Racing Bulls +2.023 52 2 —
7

Arvid Lindblad

 Racing Bulls +2.214 52 2 —
8

Gabriel Bortoleto

 Audi +2.413 52 2 —
9

Franco Colapinto

 Alpine +3.229 52 2 —
10

Pierre Gasly

 Alpine +3.445 52 2 —

Complete race results available via Formula.com.

The next race is in a fortnight and at another all-time classic Formula 1 circuit — the legendary Spa-Francorchamps in Belgium. While it will be tough to top the twists and turns that went down at Silverstone, Spa is no stranger to high drama either. Hope to see you then to find out how it all shakes out!

2026 F1 Grand Prix of Great Britain — Qualifying results

Antonelli reclaims Championship momentum with pole at Silverstone after Sprint victory; Leclerc and Hamilton relegate Russell to P4 after rocky qualifying effort

Championship leader Kimi Antonelli sent a message loud and clear to both his Mercedes teammate and any and all other challengers with a special Saturday effort at the venerable Silverstone Circuit in England. The upstart Italian contender began the day by taking the win in the Sprint race ahead of the Ferrari of Lewis Hamilton and then carried that momentum into the subsequent Qualifying session, earning a dominant pole for Sunday’s British Grand Prix. Ferrari also had a strong showing, albeit miles away from Antonelli’s supreme pace on the day, with Charles Leclerc getting the better of Hamilton, P2 to P3. That put them in front of the second Mercedes of George Russell, who had a choppy qualifying after surviving both an unusual rear axel lockup into a gravel trap and then an uncommon seat change en route to P4 on the grid. Red Bull’s Isack Hadjar had the very rare honor of out-qualifying his highly decorated senior teammate Max Verstappen, P5 to P7. That excellent effort also put the young Frenchman ahead of both McLarens, with Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri scuffling to mediocre P6 and P8 results respectively.

Top 10 qualifiers for the British GP:

POS DRIVER TEAM Q1 Q2 Q3 LAPS
1

Kimi Antonelli

 Mercedes 1:29.719 1:28.493 1:28.111 19
2

Charles Leclerc

 Ferrari 1:29.534 1:28.626 1:28.286 18
3

Lewis Hamilton

 Ferrari 1:29.644 1:28.864 1:28.458 17
4

George Russell

 Mercedes 1:29.985 1:28.920 1:28.481 17
5

Isack Hadjar

 Red Bull 1:29.276 1:29.069 1:28.746 18
6

Lando Norris

 McLaren 1:30.186 1:29.383 1:28.877 17
7

Max Verstappen

 Red Bull 1:29.549 1:29.113 1:28.893 18
8

Oscar Piastri

 McLaren 1:29.971 1:29.218 1:29.032 18
9

Arvid Lindblad

 Racing Bulls 1:29.661 1:29.324 1:29.305 17
10

Liam Lawson

 Racing Bulls 1:29.300 1:29.429 1:29.716 20

Complete qualifying results available via Formula1.com.

Tomorrow’s race airs live beginning at 10 AM Eastern on AppleTV here in the States. Hope to see you then to find out how it all shakes out, as Antonelli looks to hold off two hungry Ferraris and his always game teammate!

2026 F1 Grand Prix of Austria — Results & aftermath

Russell tames Red Bull Ring for much needed win; Verstappen holds off Antonelli for P2 on home turf; Ferrari spin wheels on pace & strategy leading to non-podiums for P5 Hamilton, P8 Leclerc

Mercedes’ talented ace George Russell needed a win the way a man in the desert needs a drink of water. And on Sunday the thirsty Briton championship contender got to drink from  big bottle of champagne after his first victory since Round 1, converting a pivotal pole position into the win at the Austrian Grand Prix despite arguably not being the fastest car on track. But Russell drove cleanly from the front at the short and tricky Red Bull Ring, his side of the pit wall made the right strategy calls and he held off all comers to take his second win on the year and vault himself back into contention against his precocious points-leading Silver Arrows teammate, Kimi Antonelli. Antonelli suffered with break unreliability from the time the lights went out in this 71-lap slugfest but was still able to make up one spot over his qualifying position and take the last step of the podium in P3. Splitting the two Mercedes was Max Verstappen’s Red Bull, who recovered from binning his car in the last session of Saturday Quali by pushing just that much too hard, starting from fifth as a consequence, to make multiple passes en route to P2 at the checkers, the Dutch master’s best finish of the season so far. With Isack Hadjar working his way up to a P6 finish after starting from P8, it proved to be an encouraging day for the so far underwhelming Red Bull team, albeit at a very short circuit without a lot of long, flat out straights.

On the other side of the coin, Ferrari had a poor race and to at least some degree, pit strategy was to blame. With Leclerc qualifying P2 and Hamilton P3, the Scuderia’s hopes for a big day never came to fruition. Leclerc was slow from the get go and was quickly overtaken by his teammate and then Antonelli shortly thereafter despite the young Italian’s brake issues. Soon Leclerc was mired in a battle with the two McLarens and the second Red Bull of Hadjar. Leclerc lost all those battles in the end after sustaining front wing damage in a early race kerfuffle with McLaren’s Piastri and drifted down the standings, finishing a rather humdrum P8 by the time his race was run. Meanwhile, Hamilton looked to be on for a podium after a ding dong early race battle with Verstappen over second place and then an attempt to undercut the Red Bull with an early stop for Hard tires on Lap 12, with Verstappen running all the way to lap 18 for his first stop for fresh Pirellis. However, the Ferrari braintrust outsmarted themselves when they pitted for a since time under a VSC on Lap 25, choosing to gamble of the short term benefit of the Soft tire but also locking them into a 3-stop race. With that many laps remaining, it didn’t pay off. Hamilton emerged in P7 after that second stop and had to once again get by his teammate Leclerc and also Hadjar, leaving him miles away from the front three by the time he made his third stop on Lap 42. In the end, the seven-time champ and last race’s winner in Barcelona could do no better than a P5 finish with a car — and a strategy — that proved to be inferior to the two Mercedes and Verstappen’s Red Bull. The opportunistic Piastri made the most of Ferrari’s curious strategy calls and his own aggressive efforts against Leclerc to take P4 ahead of both Hamilton and his teammate, Lando Norris.

Top 10 finishers of the Austrian GP:

POS DRIVER TEAM RACE TIME LAPS PITS FASTEST LAPS
1

George Russell

 Mercedes 1:26:37.979 71 2 —
2

Max Verstappen

 Red Bull +1.611 71 2 —
3

Kimi Antonelli

 Mercedes +1.986 71 2 1:10.374 (59)
4

Oscar Piastri

 McLaren +21.809 71 2 —
5

Lewis Hamilton

 Ferrari +26.393 71 3 —
6

Isack Hadjar

 Red Bull +29.399 71 2 —
7

Lando Norris

 McLaren +31.505 71 2 —
8

Charles Leclerc

 Ferrari +45.659 71 3 —
9

Liam Lawson

 Racing Bulls +1 Lap 70 2 —
10

Arvid Lindblad

 Racing Bulls +1 Lap 70 2 —

Complete race results available via Formula1.com.

The 2026 season finally feels like it has some momentum going now, not to mention a number of possible contenders for victory each race weekend. And the next tilt is just a week away, as the teams head to venerable Silverstone for the British GP. Hope to see you then to find out how it all shakes out and who will be the winner in jolly old England!

2026 F1 Grand Prix of Austria — Qualifying results

Verstappen crashes out on the limit in hunt for pole at Red Bull Ring; Russell finesses yellow flags to best Ferraris for top spot; Leclerc ahead of Hamilton in P2; Antonelli lifts too much amid the Q3 mayhem

 

Top 10 qualifiers for the Austrian GP:

POS DRIVER TEAM Q1 Q2 Q3 LAPS
1

George Russell

 Mercedes 1:07.398 1:06.979 1:06.113 20
2

Charles Leclerc

 Ferrari 1:07.543 1:07.030 1:06.349 15
3

Lewis Hamilton

 Ferrari 1:07.290 1:06.994 1:06.408 14
4

Kimi Antonelli

 Mercedes 1:07.083 1:06.763 1:06.414 17
5

Max Verstappen

 Red Bull 1:07.407 1:07.183 1:06.475 11
6

Lando Norris

 McLaren 1:07.259 1:06.897 1:06.502 15
7

Oscar Piastri

 McLaren 1:07.487 1:06.890 1:06.511 14
8

Isack Hadjar

 Red Bull 1:07.408 1:07.086 1:06.632 18
9

Liam Lawson

 Racing Bulls 1:07.385 1:07.136 1:06.955 18
10

Arvid Lindblad

 Racing Bulls 1:07.549 1:07.155 1:07.007 18

Complete qualifying results available via Formula1.com.

Sunday’s race airs love beginning at 9AM Eastern on AppleTV here in the States. Hope to see you then to find out how it all shakes out among the key combatants at the Red Bull Ring!

2026 F1 Grand Prix of Barcelona-Catalunya — Results & aftermath

Hamilton earns first Ferrari win with bold 3-stop strategy; Russell P2 as Antonelli suffers late race DNF; Norris inherits P3

Seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton earned his first win for Scuderia Ferrari with a superb drive and perfect strategy calls from the pit will at Sunday’s Grand Prix of Barcelona-Catalunya. On a hot and sunny day in the northeast of Spain, it was a blast from the past when Hamilton, who qualified P2 just behind Mercedes’ George Russell and ahead of the second Silver Arrow of points leader Kimi Antonelli, drove a perfect opening stint and then made the bold decision to be the first of the top contenders to pit, committing Ferrari and Lewis to a three-stop strategy at this high-deg track. Mercedes, meanwhile, struck with the more conventional two-stopper, but in the end more stops for fresher Pirelli rubber proved superior to running longer and stopping one less time. Hamilton also benefitted greatly from a perfectly timed Virtual Safety Car just about two-thirds of the way through this 66-lap contest that enabled hime to take his third and final stop with his closest competitors all running 30% under their normal speeds. Sir Lewis probably would still have stayed out in front of the pursuing Mercs but this little stroke of luck really tied up the eventual victory with a neat bow. Hamilton steered the car home cleanly and quickly for the final twenty-four laps, crossing the line nearly twenty seconds to the good of Russell and making the dreams of the tifosi — and his own — come true after in his second year with Ferrari.

 

Top 10 finishers of the Barcelona-Catalunya GP:

POS DRIVER TEAM RACE TIME LAPS PITS FASTEST LAPS
1

Lewis Hamilton

 Ferrari 1:32:28.105 66 3 1:20.122 (44)
2

George Russell

 Mercedes +19.561 66 2 —
3

Lando Norris

 McLaren +23.719 66 2 —
4

Max Verstappen

 Red Bull +40.497 66 3 —
5

Oscar Piastri

 McLaren +58.661 66 2 —
6

Isack Hadjar

 Red Bull +1 Lap 65 3 —
7

Pierre Gasly

 Alpine +1 Lap 65 2 —
8

Liam Lawson

 Racing Bulls +1 Lap 65 2 —
9

Arvid Lindblad

 Racing Bulls +1 Lap 65 2 —
10

Franco Colapinto

 Alpine +1 Lap 65 2 —

 

Complete race results available via Formula1.com.

The next race is in a fortnight, as the teams head to Austria and the fast & fierce Red Bull Ring. Can Ferrari keep closing the gap to mighty Mercedes and can Antonelli rebound after his first significant setback in his up til now magical season? Hope top see you then to find out how it all shakes out!

2026 F1 Grand Prix of Barcelona-Catalunya — Qualifying results

Aiming to get ’26 campaign back on track, Russell takes pole in Barcelona just ahead of rapid Lewis Hamilton; Antonelli in P3 off front row for first time this year

Mercedes’ George Russell, the preseason favorite for the Drivers’ title before his upstart teammate Kimi Antonelli put an end to that narrative with an early season salvo of dominance, took the first step in attempting to get his season back on track by laying down a blistering lap at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya good enough for pole position in Sunday’s Grand Prix. After being blanked in terms of points in the last two races in Canada & Monaco, Russell utilized his desperation to hook up a fast lap at the death of Q3 that put him well ahead of  Antonelli by some three-tenths. Somewhat surprisingly, it was a resurgent Lewis Hamilton driving the Ferrari who gave Russell the closest run for his money, displaying a bit of the old seven-time champ magic to slot in just six one-hundredths of a second behind Russell and grab P2 across from his erstwhile teammate come Sunday. That bumped Antonelli off the front row for the first time this year and he will line up side by side with the McLaren of reigning world champion Lando Norris. The Red Bulls of Max Verstappen and Isack Hadjar were the next fastest, qualifying in P5 and P6 respectively, putting them both ahead of the second McLaren of Oscar Piastri, who could only muster a time good enough for P7. The young Aussie struggled more than his teammate with rear locking and controlling tire temperature under the brutal Catalunyan sun.

Rounding out the top ten qualifiers, Racing Bulls’ Liam Lawson was P8, veteran Nico Hulkenberg  an impressive P9 for Audi and the second Ferrari of Charles Leclerc did not set a time after crashing out early in Q3 following a snap of oversteer at Turn 4, bringing out the Red Flag for the cleanup. The Monegasque driver was unhurt aside from his pride, after also crashing out of his home Grand Prix last weekend late in the race.

Top 10 qualifiers for the Barcelona-Catalunya GP:

POS DRIVER TEAM Q1 Q2 Q3 LAPS
1

George Russell

 Mercedes 1:15.717 1:15.228 1:14.679 13
2

Lewis Hamilton

 Ferrari 1:15.625 1:15.418 1:14.743 14
3

Kimi Antonelli

 Mercedes 1:15.977 1:15.295 1:14.998 14
4

Lando Norris

 McLaren 1:16.287 1:15.361 1:15.001 14
5

Max Verstappen

 Red Bull 1:16.352 1:15.484 1:15.021 12
6

Isack Hadjar

 Red Bull 1:16.427 1:15.754 1:15.077 14
7

Oscar Piastri

 McLaren 1:16.138 1:15.518 1:15.090 15
8

Liam Lawson

 Racing Bulls 1:16.673 1:15.585 1:16.542 14
9

Nico Hülkenberg

 Audi 1:16.066 1:15.768 1:16.657 17
10

Charles Leclerc

 Ferrari 1:15.964 1:15.281 — 8

Complete qualifying results available via Formula1.com.

Tomorrow’s race airs live at 9AM Eastern on AppleTV here in the States. Can Russell keep Hamilton and Antonelli behind him and get back into the championship fight? Hope to see you then to find out how it all shakes out!