Andrea Kimi Antonelli admitted that McLaren had the upper hand over Mercedes in Formula 1 Hungarian Grand Prix, with Lando Norris taking his first win of the 2026 season.
Mercedes struggled for pace at the Hungaroring, starting 6th and 7th on the grid for Sunday’s race, with Antonelli forced to take a three-place grid drop after failing to slow under yellow flags after Max Verstappen spun in Q3.
Championship leader Antonelli was able to hold off Lewis Hamilton to achieve a podium finish, with teammate George Russell finishing in the points after dropping back to P21 on the opening lap.
Speaking to media after the race, Antonelli said that he felt Mercedes had achieved the best finish they could in tricky conditions.
“Yeah, I think today we maximised the result,” he said. “Obviously we’re a bit lucky with the VSC, I mean with Oscar’s issue, but other than that we did the best we could. And conditions were quite difficult today.
“Struggling a little bit with oversteer, balance and then understeer. So yeah, conditions were not easy today but I’m happy with the result.”
Antonelli: “Lando still had the upper hand”
McLaren showed impressive pace throughout the weekend, with reigning Driver’s Champion Lando Norris taking pole on Saturday. Norris’ Hungary win marks McLaren’s first victory in 2026 after being plagued by mechanical issues for much of the season so far.
Antonelli recovered from P7 to P3, but said that even if he had started closer to the McLarens, he doesn’t think he could have challenged for the win due to Norris’ stronger pace giving him the ‘upper hand’.
“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 but other than that it was a great team effort. Also strategy, we took a risk initially and then we kind of pulled back a little bit because we were a bit concerned about safety.
“But still, despite that, they still put me in a position to fight for eventually the podium so it was a great team effort.”
READ MORE – Lewis Hamilton questions Ferrari strategy after ‘downhill’ F1 Hungary performance
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