2026 F1 Hungarian Grand Prix - Budapest Driver Ratings

The 2026 Hungarian Grand Prix featured a vast split across the F1 field in terms of performances - with this reflected in the latest edition of driver ratings. 

Did Lando Norris get a perfect 10 after his first win of the season, and how did Lewis Hamilton's terrible day affect his score?

What about Carlos Sainz? How did the incident with Oscar Piastri affect his rating in Budapest?

Check out the ratings from Hungary below!

The top five

Lando Norris - 9.5 

Peaked just at the right time to snatch a stunning pole position away from Hamilton, but fudged his start and almost cost himself the race at Turn 2 when he went wide to allow Piastri through. After that, and the minor off at Turn 4, he was faultless and had extreme pace, something Piastri couldn't contend with. Has been driving brilliantly for weeks, and finally got his just reward. Loses half a mark for the Turn 2 and Turn 4 moments.

Max Verstappen - 9 

Gets the benefit of the doubt for the qualifying spin after feeling the car was 'degrading' aerodynamically. Strong start to run third and keep Hamilton behind, and then seized the only chance he had to pass with a clinical move on his old rival into Turn 1. Lucky to get P2 after Hamilton pitted under the VSC, but probably would have passed anyway. 

Kimi Antonelli - 8

Difficult to judge given his problems with track limits and not lifting enough under yellow flags in qualifying to earn a three-place grid drop. But made it up for it in the race with a strong drive and did well to fend off an aggressive Hamilton late on whilst navigating backmarkers. Can't win them all on the way to a title. 

Oscar Piastri - 8 

Again, difficult to judge after being over four-tenths slower than Norris in qualifying. But an expert stat got him into position to capitalise if Norris made a mistake, which he did at Turn 2. Did well to keep himself in the lead, despite Norris being the faster driver, and was extremely hard done by with the Sainz incident at Turn 2 which cost him the lead, which then became academic after the gearbox cried enough. 

Isack Hadjar - 7.5 

Was just over a tenth slower than Verstappen in qualifiyng, and although the race pace is still lacking in comparison, he did his job in holding the field up to aid his team-mate. Was 31s behind a penalised Hamilton, which was too much, but was the best he could hope for.

The bottom five

Lewis Hamilton - 5 

Had the weekend in the palm of his hand right up until the start of his second run in Q3. He failed to improve, opening the door for Norris to deny him pole - and then had the slamest dunk of an impeding against Piastri for which a three-place penalty was lenient. Couldn't use his soft tyres to get past Verstappen off the line, which transformed his race into pitting early and hoping for the best. Another five-second time penalty for pit-lane speeding cost him yet more points, and if he wants to win that eighth title, he has to cut them out. 

Sergio Perez - 5 

A difficult weekend with qualifying a write-off effectively after FP3, and then stopped with suspension issues. 

Franco Colapinto - 4 

Qualified just behind Gasly, but managed to contrive finishing behind an Audi, his team-mate and both Aston Martins two laps down. Stroll and Alonso were only lapped once. 

Carlos Sainz - 3.5

Did out-qualify Albon once again, but his incident with Piastri was racecraft of the lowest order. Not only did he make contact at Turn 2, but then proceded to block the McLaren right up to Turn 6. Blame must also go on the engineer for not telling him he was being lapped, but a driver of Sainz's experience should know his "good excuse" was not up to par.

Oliver Bearman - 3.5 

An extremely tough weekend for the Briton as Haas struggled badly. Was out-qualified and out-raced by Ocon, who was positively upbeat post-race. In contrast, Bearman wasn't and even had a loopy Turn 2 spin on a character-building weekend.