At least geographically, since from now on all the remaining Grands Prix will be held in Asia and the Americas. Better late than never for another recap of what happened, and ahead of the weekend in Azerbaijan, let’s take a look back at the previous race weekends.
We start with the Hungarian Grand Prix and specifically with Free Practice. There we saw clearly improved Aston Martin cars, while at the top it was consistently the two McLarens with Charles Leclerc in 3rd.
In qualifying, Lewis Hamilton for the second consecutive race failed to make it into Q3, finishing only 12th fastest, while equally disappointing was Kimi Antonelli in 15th place. At the top, to everyone’s surprise—including his own—Leclerc took Pole Position, beating both McLarens by less than half a tenth of a second.
On Sunday, the race started ideally for Lando Norris, who lined up third. Or maybe not, because he lost 2 positions within the first 4 corners. But he quickly regained them, slotting back behind Leclerc and Piastri, with the Monegasque consistently 1–2 seconds ahead of the Australian McLaren driver until lap 40.
Nevertheless, Ferrari had to take measures that slowed down Leclerc’s pace, in order to avoid any potential DSQ due to floor wear (something that had already happened in China earlier in the season). The result was the loss of the podium, with Leclerc limited to 4th place.
The winner, however, was not Oscar Piastri, as Lando Norris, making a one-stop strategy compared to his teammate’s two, took the victory and cut the gap to Piastri down to 9 points. George Russell finished 3rd, while Aston Martin capped off a strong weekend with double points (5th and 7th), separated by Gabriel Bortoleto.
After the summer break, we head to the Dutch Grand Prix, where even though we saw Lando Norris dominating in Free Practice, in qualifying it was Oscar Piastri who took pole. Pleasant surprises on Saturday included Carlos Sainz with Williams making it into Q3 for the first time since Imola (8 races earlier), as well as Isack Hadjar’s 4th place—behind only Max Verstappen and the two McLarens.
In the race, once again Lando Norris did what has become a habit: a poor start that cost him second place—a spot he regained from Verstappen on lap 9. The Dutch fans’ favorite was looking for a strong performance on home soil after his 9th-place finish in Hungary.
Ferrari, meanwhile, seemed on course for a double top-6 finish, until a mistake from Hamilton shortly after his pit stop on lap 23, followed by Antonelli colliding with Leclerc as he exited the pits 30 laps later, left the Scuderia with 0 points from a race weekend for the first time this season.
After two Safety Cars and with the two McLarens battling for victory, Norris’s engine gave up 7 laps before the finish—something that not only extended the gap to 34 points, but also allowed Isack Hadjar to claim his first career podium. In the top 10 there were plenty of shake-ups, with the most notable being Oliver Bearman’s 6th place—remarkable given that the Briton had started dead last(!).
And then we move on to the Italian Grand Prix, at the legendary Monza circuit, where Ferrari finished FP1 with a 1–2. But that was the only time they led the way—no other fastest times all the way through qualifying. There it was Max Verstappen who shone, beating both McLarens and taking pole position for the first time since the British Grand Prix in early July.
Even before the race began, we had a retirement, as Nico Hülkenberg pulled into the pits at the end of the formation lap.
With the race starting with 19 cars, we saw a rare situation where Lando Norris not only made a clean start but actually gained a position—because Verstappen cut the first chicane and had to give the place back to Norris on the start/finish straight. By lap 4, however, the Dutchman had reclaimed the lead in decisive fashion and disappeared into the distance.
Two laps later, Piastri, who had lost a position to Leclerc at the start, regained his place in the podium positions. The driver who climbed the most in a short period, though, was Lewis Hamilton. Starting from 10th due to a 5-place grid penalty, he made 4 overtakes and stayed in 6th until the end, with George Russell sandwiched between the two Ferraris all the way to the chequered flag.
The most interesting scene, however, came near the end of the race. On laps 46 and 47, Piastri and Norris respectively came in for tire changes. Piastri’s stop was normal, but Norris’s was slow—so slow that his teammate managed an “undercut” to take 2nd place. The team, though, didn’t want the final classification to be decided by a slow pit stop, and asked the Australian to give the position back to his teammate. There was pushback—not only from Piastri himself, but even from Max Verstappen, who commented via team radio: “Why did they switch places? Just because of a slow pit stop?”
With Verstappen taking the win, in the Drivers’ Championship the gap between the two McLarens narrowed slightly—to 31 points. In the Constructors’ Championship—or what you could call a championship fight—McLaren now has their first match point, as it can mathematically secure the title.
So that’s the recap of the last European races. Now let’s see if McLaren locks in back-to-back titles in Baku, and how the battle between the drivers will evolve in the standings.
