Adam CooperIn the last of our race debriefs heading into the long F1 summer break, Adam Cooper looks at five key takeaways ad teams and drivers take stock before the second part of the season.
McLaren is back on winning form
After a recent run of frustration McLaren had a lot riding on the Hungaroring update package, which was focussed mainly on a revised floor, with smaller tweaks to the rear endplate, front brake ducts, and what it termed front and rear corner furniture.
Only Lando Norris had the full new package for Friday, and it was immediately apparent that it was working well.
He then not only secured pole but went on to score a comfortable win, the only downside for the team being a gearbox-related retirement for his main challenger, Oscar Piastri.
Very happy Lando 🤗#McLarenF1 | #HungarianGP 🇭🇺 pic.twitter.com/viOJkwefmQ
— McLaren Mastercard Formula 1 Team (@McLarenF1) July 26, 2026
This was by far McLaren’s most impressive performance of 2026, and it was a reminder of how form will continue to ebb and flow as teams bring their latest packages.
“I think the improvement from a competitiveness point of view can be entirely ascribed to the upgrades that we took here,” said team principal Andrea Stella. “Which included several items.
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“But at the same time, we were sort of thinking that this lap time step not necessarily would have been enough to be in pole position at the Hungaroring.
“Definitely, we would not have thought that they would be enough to have such a strong pace in the race.”
Stella knows that McLaren has to keep working.
“Honestly, I still believe that if we want to be in a position to fight for victories consistently in the future, we need to keep our focus on delivering more upgrades.
“That is the plan. But we are not naive. We know that this will be the plan for all the teams.
“So I think, like it’s always been in this 2026 season, it’s a matter of a race of upgrades.
“And the good news is that McLaren is now back in this race of upgrades while fighting for the lead.
“But I expect that the car that will be the best car at the end of the season will keep adding tenths of a second in the next 11 races, probably as much as half a second.
“So definitely a lot of work ahead of everyone – not only McLaren.”
Red Bull is getting there – and there’s more to come
There was a point during the Hungarian GP weekend when Red Bull appeared to be in disarray, so frustrated were both Max Verstappen and Isack Hadjar after a qualifying session that saw both men spin as they struggled with the difficult RB22.
However late on Sunday afternoon Verstappen was standing on the second step of the podium, having somehow put the difficulties behind him and made the best of what he had.
A gift of two grid spots due to penalties for Hamilton and Antonelli was a bonus, and from P4 he moved up a place at the start.
Strategy cost a spot to Hamilton, but he fought back with a great pass, and then an unusually long final stint on soft tyres secured him second place, behind only Norris.
The car might be difficult to drive, thanks to a knife-edge sensitivity to set up that makes it hard to get in the window, but it has become a lot quicker since the start of the season, with rear wing and diffuser tweaks seen in Hungary.
“We don’t sign for anything else than winning races,” said team principal Laurent Mekies.
“But I have to take that opportunity to tell well done to our people, chassis side, PU side, because turning around, starting from 1.2 seconds and finishing three-tenths off half the season in – I think we know why we started there when we put things in perspective, with the late [championship] push of last year, and with the [Ford] PU adventure.
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“But I have to say, everyone, PU side, chassis side, some lap time progressions have been brought through updates, some other lap time progressions have been brought through a lot of people in the background.
“Our 2,000 people have been working to bring a little bit more to every single area.
“Some of them you never hear about, but it put us back in the positions where we are now, fighting every race for the podium.”
It’s now a question of how much more performance the team can find within 2026.
“What is sure is that at some stage we’ll need to make a call on the balance between this year and next year,” said Mekies.
“I expect that to happen earlier than what we have done last year, so especially as regulations are what they are. So we will decide.
🗣️ Max reflects on his P2 in Hungary #F1 || #HungarianGP 🇭🇺 pic.twitter.com/TZvmhx6p8b
— Oracle Red Bull Racing (@redbullracing) July 26, 2026
“But as far as we are concerned, we have brought a huge amount of development to the car between race one and here, in order to try to correct as soon as possible the large deficit we had initially.
“And it’s probably difficult to imagine that we will continue at that rhythm.”
Racing Bulls is still best of the rest
Racing Bulls is still leading the midfield battle, having scored points on a regular basis since a successful upgrade package was introduced in Montreal.
Audi’s Gabriel Bortoleto did manage to finish at the head of the chasing pack in Spa, but he was helped by a stop under the VSC that jumped him ahead of Arvid Lindblad.
The VCARB had a few small tweaks for Hungary, including winglets adjacent to the revised roll hoop that only Lindblad had in Spa, and which Lawson had to wait an extra race to benefit from.
The two drivers have been closely matched for most of this season, and their fight continued in Hungary.
Lawson had the upper hand in practice, Lindblad got ahead in qualifying, and then Lawson had the better start.
Ultimately it was strategy that decided the battle as the fight with Audi led Racing Bulls to split the cars, with Lawson switching to two stops, and Lindblad sticking with the pre-planned one-stopper.
The Kiwi got the better deal, passing his teammate in the last part of the race and going on to claim P8, as Lindblad slipped to P10.
“It was a bit of a shame the one-stop didn’t work,” Lindblad rued when asked by this website about his strategy.
“But I fully understand from the team’s point of view. It was a big question mark going to the race.
“Then we saw Nico [Hulkenberg] trigger the two, and we decided to split the strategy with the cars. Which made sense, because if the hard hung on better, I would have looked like a hero being P8.
“And unfortunately, it didn’t. So Liam was the one that maximised.
“I think from the team’s point of view, it was the maximum that was possible today. I don’t have any regrets about the one not working, because it could have also been the other way around, quite easily.”
Still it was another double points finish, and it moved the team ahead of Alpine in the battle for fifth in the World Championship, the Enstone outfit having scored so well with Pierre Gasly’s third place in Monaco.
Aston Martin’s upgrade strategy has worked thus far
Aston Martin’s dire form has been one of the biggest talking points of the season, and Adrian Newey’s decision to postpone any upgrades until a major package arrived before the summer break was certainly a bold one.
It also meant that the team had to show decent progress in Hungary – and given the previous deficit it was a question of not just of how much lap time could be gained, but also how that converted into positions in the midfield pecking order.
The official FIA aero update submission list included a remarkable 16 items, and from the start of the weekend they worked, although a frustrating rear suspension failure cost Lance Stroll most of Friday.
Fernando Alonso made Q2 and started 16th, and after the drivers swapped places in the race they finished 13th and 14th, with Stroll ahead.
That might not sound like much, but the team outran both cars from Haas, Williams and Cadillac, and one of the Alpines.
A new power unit, and the next stage of aero upgrades, will be coming after the summer break in Zandvoort – and the big question now is what will they bring?
“That’s difficult to say,” said chief trackside officer Mike Krack. “We will know in the next events if we find more performance or not.
“We lost a bit of time this weekend with Lance after the issue in FP1, so he didn’t drive in FP2. So for sure, we missed a bit of time to optimise everything.
“We take it from there, and we see what we can unlock in the next races. We have not driven much so far. Everything was new.
“We had issues, so we’re trying to have a good look at the data. And then we’ll see in Zandvoort if we can get more out of the package.”
Williams still has a lot of work to do
Hungary was another disastrous weekend for Williams, with the jump made by Aston Martin making it even more painful.
It was clear that the drivers were struggling at times to stay on track, and Carlos Sainz and Alex Albon could qualify only P18 and P19.
“They finished Sunday’s race in the same positions – albeit reversed – before a penalty for Ollier Bearman moved them both up one spot.
Sainz’s clash with Oscar Piastri while being lapped not only landed him a penalty but also put a focus on his frustration at being at the back and fighting with Alonso.
“It’s been a bit of a trend of the weekend,” said Albon when asked by this website about his race.
“Very wind affected. It’s frustrating because I can’t even drive really, the team’s not getting the best from me because I have to underdrive so much.
“I think there were six laps in the race where the wind stabilised, and I could finally settle down and get into a rhythm.
Debriefing the Hungarian GP in The Vowles Verdict, presented by @krakenfx 🤝
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— Atlassian Williams F1 Team (@WilliamsF1) July 29, 2026
“And then the wind picks up again, and then you’re back into that cycle.
“It feels like you’re making mistakes, but you’re not. You’re just braking at the same places, doing the same things, but just lacking consistency.
“It was a battle out there today.”
The team’s hopes rest on an upgrade package due for the Azerbaijan GP in September, but Albon fears it won’t be enough.
“We know the weaknesses of the car. We know the directions. I think as a team, this year the work that’s being done at the factory it’s the biggest effort I’ve seen from the team to really fight these genetic DNA problems that this team has.
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“I think we’re doing exactly the right things to get back on track.
“It’s a shame that we’re here in the first place, but I do believe we’re doing the right thing.
“So if it’s cured by Baku, I doubt it. I think a lot of the Baku stuff has happened – that upgrade was planned quite a long time ago.
“A lot of what we’re really unfortunately biting into is next year’s car. It’s making sure next year’s car doesn’t have these traits.”
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