Mercedes driver Kimi Antonelli said McLaren had “the upper hand” on pace at the Hungarian Grand Prix and he does not think he could have challenged Lando Norris for the win. Antonelli said: "I don't know. I mean if I started P3 then it would have been another thing, but I think Lando still had the upper hand this weekend even on us on pure pace so I don't think I would have been able to challenge him. Especially with how difficult it was to follow as well with a lot of tyre overheating, so I think it would have been very difficult."


Oscar Piastri said “everything that could have gone wrong did” in the Hungarian Grand Prix, after a race that included contact with Carlos Sainz and ended in retirement. Oscar Piastri said: "From that point onwards, pretty much everything that could have gone wrong did. On the strategy side, you don't plan strategy for getting taken out by a backmarker, so… I can't blame the team at all for that. We'll just try and improve over the break, have a bit of time to reset, and come back again."

Carlos Sainz said a problem with the blue-light warning system left him unaware he was about to be lapped when he made contact with Oscar Piastri at the Hungarian Grand Prix, which earned the Williams driver a five-second penalty. Sainz said: "We didn't have blue lights on the steering, which normally, when we are in fights like that one where we are fighting for position, helps us to understand whether we're getting lapped or not. So at this stage, I had no idea I was about to get lapped, and on top of that, I was in a big fight with Fernando... and I wouldn't have expected Oscar to be there."

Lando Norris says McLaren’s ability to extend its tyre stints was the key to his Hungarian Grand Prix win, his first victory of the 2026 season. Norris said: "So, a great race, and to get it back in terms of going long, which is certainly not what I was expecting. But the pace was so good, I could always extend the stints and fresh tyres, and then that won me the race."

Kimi Antonelli said his third place at the Hungarian Grand Prix was “big damage limitation” after a “tough race” in which he relied on strategy to get on the podium. Antonelli said: "It was a tough race. It was really hard to overtake, so we had to do something with strategy. Initially we tried to go for the one-stop, but then [the team] told me that the tyre was too much on the limit, so we stopped. I think today was big damage limitation and we've got to keep pushing because the second half is going to be hard."


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