THE BIG PICTURE: Remember, McLaren uses the same power units as Mercedes. The only difference is the chassis. If McLaren has truly caught up, or even surpassed, Mercedes on that front, it will be a very interesting second half. Mercedes has to hope they accumulated enough points while the getting was good, so they can't get caught, a la Brawn GP.

EVENT: Fourty years ago, this was an Iron Curtain event. Now they get full stands with an international fanbase.

TRACK: They repaved a third of the track, and it was breaking up. More bumps developed to wreck havoc on braking zones. But they named the corners after famous drivers. So, there's that...

QUALIFYING: Norris shocks everyone with pole. Hamilton is peeved he lost all grip on his last lap as did Leclerc. Then Hamilton loses three grid spots for pissing off Piastri. Antonelli is an "also ran." Russell still can't find his teammate's speed. Verstappen spins. An Aston Martin gets out of Q1.

RACE: It was a race where you just expected Mercedes to get their act together and win. Or, Ferrari to show off their speed at a track they like. But that never came. Instead, you had to finally admit, McLaren was the best and somehow Red Bull finished second.

START: It's 2025 all over again as McLaren jumps out to a 1-2 with Norris running wide, allowing Piastri to take the early lead. Verstappen jumps into third as shockingly the Ferraris get the worst start of the frontrunners. And Russell goes into anti-stall (cue the consipiracy theories...).

NORRIS: Lando's playbook of 2024 and 2025 came back. Get in the lead, and just run away with it. And he continued to widen the gap even after being told to stay off the curbs because of what happened to Piastri.

PIASTRI: Oscar may have had the early lead. But in clean air, he could not pull away. Lando was easily able to catch up to him when chasing. And when Norris got clean air, he stomped the field. Regardless of the gearbox, Oscar did not have the speed to win this race.

MCLAREN: Can they maintain this newfound speed?

VERSTAPPEN: Even Max can not figure out how he finished second. Part of the reason was the dive bomb on Hamilton. Absolutely epic.

HADJAR: Another fine sixth place finish, which is probably where a Red Bull should be.

ANTONELLI: Kimi salvaged a lot of points, even extending his leads, when his car was anything but a podium finisher.

RUSSELL: What does George have to do to get a break? However, like we said before, he really can't complain until he starts matching Antonelli's speed.

MERCEDES: Two week shutdown or not, the Silver Arrows has their work cutout for them over the summer break.

HAMILTON: Continues to make way too many silly mistakes for a veteran.

LECLERC: Interesting how Ferrari didn't tell Charles to back off in order to protect Hamilton's position, knowing a five-second penalty was coming, when Hamilton has a better chance at the championship.

FERRARI: There's always this feeling the Prancing Horses are so close .. yet, so far.

HULKENBERG: Finally got some points this year.

ALPINE: Going backwards again.

ASTON MARTIN: Now heading in the right direction. In certain areas, the improvement was drastic. Newey is certainly not done working as more updates are coming for Zandvoort. And with Honda promising improvements next time out, the nightmare may be over.

SAINZ: Open your eyes. Look in the mirrors. Notice the flags. You don't need to be told what to do or rely on steering wheel lights to know how to pay attention.

CADILLAC: Them rear brakes are afire again.

FIA: Who approved this track in this condition?

F2: Thanks to a VSC just as he was making his mandatory pit stop, Mexican Noel Leon gained just enough time to jump Kush Maini for the lead and win the feature race. In the sprint race, Italian Gabriele Mini bided his time before pouncing on Sebastian Montoya to win.

F3: A crazy start with a three-car crash in the sprint race allowed Frenchman Théophile Naël from sixth starting spot to win. The feature race saw a ferocious battle for the lead as new points leader, Brit Freddie Slater, held off Ugo Ugochukwu (who got to second with the move of the season, passing two cars on the outside of Turn 2).

WORD OF THE WEEKEND: Break.

STAT OF THE WEEKEND: 21 and 22 -- Where Aston Martin did not qualify.

HISTORICAL STAT OF THE WEEKEND: In 1986, Bernie Ecclestone pulled a rabbit out of his hat by producing the first F1 race behind the Iron Curtain, after his failed attempts to place one in the Soviet Union. Fourty years on, and the Hungaroring has never missed a year, including the covid times. Only one venue can lay claim to that in the same time period -- Monza. That's it. Not Spa and Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, both of which sporadically skipped years. Not even Monaco, which had to skip the covid year. A number of grands prix which still exist changed tracks. Truly amazing for a race and a track nobody thought was going to last.

TWEET OF THE WEEKEND: From @FastestPitStop:

Norris in the Cooldown room after seeing Verstappen's overtake on Hamilton:

"Did you mean to do that??"

Max Verstappen: "Yes"

#F1 #HungarianGP

QUOTE OF THE WEEKEND: Oscar Piastri after hearing Carlos Sainz's excuses about the blue flags, "That's no excuse at all. It's been one of the stupidest things I've seen on a circuit. So I don't care what excuse he gave."

QUOTE OF THE WEEKEND RUNNERUP: George Russell was blunt about the state of the track, "Budapest is one of the most enjoyable circuits to drive. They've resurfaced a third of the track and unfortunately they've done a really bad job. It's really bumpy. The track's breaking up in the last corner."

SCHEDULE: As we take a four week break, we get to ponder the replacement race slotted in between Baku and Singapore with the bizarre name -- the Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia. Oooookaaaay... Well, at least both locations are very hot, albeit one a dry heat and the other a humid heat.

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