Lucky Lando Norris WINS the Hungarian Grand Prix after team-mate Oscar Piastri's spectacular capitulation - while Kimi Antonelli gains the upper hand on title rivals Lewis Hamilton and George Russell

Lucky, lucky, Lando. Not that world champion Norris was other than the fastest man in the Hungarian Grand Prix and should have won it on his own.But he was helped, first, by a bizarre incident befalling his McLaren team-mate Oscar Piastri handing him the victory chance his pole position deserved and his poor first lap did not.This first of two pivotal moments in Norris’s triumph came on lap 38 when Piastri, who had pitted for a second time, was trying to make progress back to the front. In front of him, Williams’ Carlos Sainz – the villain of the piece – was fighting with Fernando Alonso for 15th.Distracted by this, Sainz was oblivious of Piastri behind him. It was a blue-flag time. The Spaniard should have made way. He did not. Piastri fumed: ‘Get out of the f***ing way. You idiot.’ They banged tyres. ‘Oh, my God!’All this was delaying Piastri, obviously, while Norris was making hay out on his own. After Norris was called in at the end of the following lap, he emerged in front of the other papaya car. Job done.Piastri was furious. Obviously with Sainz. But also, it seemed, with his McLaren team for granting Norris freedom to open up an advantage for seven laps after his own stop.Lando Norris returned to the top step of the podium with a dominant win in Hungary The British driver was stunned by team-mate Oscar Piastri but wrestled back control Piastri’s race engineer Tom Stallard came on the radio, to pacify him, saying: ‘Oscar, it’s Sainz that cost us. Target is to get to the end on this tyre.’Piastri rejoined: ‘Oh, mate, just don’t talk to me now.‘Nice of you guys to factor that one (the traffic) in by the way, thanks.’If he believes the team pull for Norris, their hand-reared champion, this state of affairs will hardly have put his mind to rest.The second and final piece of luck working for Norris came as Piastri, who looked set to finish second, conked out with a gearbox problem, his race over on lap 56 of 70. Thus, without any concerns at all, Norris went on to claim the first win of his title defence, indeed since the Sao Paulo Grand Prix last November.Now more drama ensued as a virtual safety car was enlisted. Lewis Hamilton, on a unravellingly disappointing weekend for him given what riches it promised, had succeeded the stricken Piastri in second place.Ah, but this was not to last. Norris came in for new tyres and so did Hamilton. For Norris, fine, back out at the front. But Hamilton emerged from the pits virtually level with third-placed Kimi Antonelli, and, although the seven-time world champion pushed himself ahead of the Italian into and out of the first corner, it was not legit, given the VSC limits in place.Was he speeding in the pits in desperation? He was placed under investigation for the offence and handed a five-second penalty a few minutes later. ‘They are handing out penalties like crazy,’ said Hamilton.He had already been told by his pit wall to hand the place back to Antonelli, but that is not quite how it stayed: yes, Norris was first, Max Verstappen second (because he did not need to stop under the VSC, being on newer tyres than Hamilton) and Antonelli third. But Hamilton’s penalty dropped him below team-mate Charles Leclerc and into fifth place. Norris benefitted from Oscar Piastri's spectacular capitulation on Sunday afternoon Lewis Hamilton fell further back in the championship race to Kimi AntonelliWhat a headache for Hamilton. Instead of clipping Antonelli’s championship lead by two points, as he was due to do prior to Piastri’s departure, he fell five points back. He is 50 behind Antonelli heading for the summer break.Why didn’t Ferrari slow Leclerc down? Do the fools want to win the title?George Russell, seventh on the day, is now 59 adrift, nine points down on his starting position. Not great for the Briton, but not the worst outcome given how he watched the field fly by him at the start as anti-stall kicked in on his Mercedes. He had gone down to 19th at the end of lap one, but, helped by a new engine fitted between qualifying and the race, came through the midfield.There was little overtaking on display, though Verstappen made a brilliant pass on Hamilton at the first corner – named after his (Verstappen’s) de facto father-in-law Nelson Piquet. He caught the Briton by surprise, a typical Max mugging. It was the move of the day.Piastri did not need to exert such virtuosity as an old Norris habit came to haunt him, his weakness on first laps that has repeatedly cost him race wins from promising starting positions, especially in 2024 when he had an outside chance of claiming the title.He was very smartly away from pole and took the first corner in command. But he drifted wide at the second corner, named after Hamilton, and that allowed Piastri to assume the lead.Norris seemed to have more pace than his team-mate and harried him, but Piastri held track position until his afternoon unravelled. Norris finally streaked away, finishing 15 seconds up the road and out of sight.