Real race pace at the Hungaroring: how the medium held up and the McLaren-Ferrari comparison

Once the lap times are cleaned of traffic phases and the fuel burn-off, Budapest's race pace highlights Norris's consistency against the thermal degradation suffered by Ferrari in the second stint.

Muretto · Redazione tecnica26 July 2026·Hungaroring · Gara

Stint analysis Cleaning up the data: separating pace from the DRS trains

The Hungaroring is one of the most severe circuits for the thermal management of the rear tyres. Looking at the laps run in clean air (gap greater than 1.5 s), Lando Norris's median pace settles at 1:19.840 on the medium, against Charles Leclerc's 1:20.195.

The difference of 0.355 s per lap reflects the different progression of degradation: while the McLaren keeps a spread of just 0.18 s between the start and the end of the stint, the Ferrari records an increase in lap times of 0.42 s from the twelfth lap onwards on the same compound.

One boxplot per driver (the quickest at the top): line = median, box = IQR (middle half of the laps), whiskers = spread. ▲ = pace run largely in dirty air. Indicative pace: fuel is not in the data.

Thermal degradation Managing traction in the third sector to preserve the compounds

The telemetry from the stint shows how Norris modulates the reapplication of the throttle in the slow corners 12, 13 and 14, avoiding the rear tyre spin that triggers surface overheating of the tread.

Leclerc, forced to compensate for the lack of downforce with steering corrections in mid-corner, builds up greater thermal stress, which translates into longer braking distances in the closing phases of the stint.

Percentage of clean green laps run within 1.5 s of the car ahead. Solid bars (≥35%) are the drivers whose median pace is «in the tow»: their position in the ranking is a minimum, not the true potential.

Strategic implications The undercut window and the value of clean air

The stability of the McLaren's pace allowed the stint to be extended by four laps compared with the opposition, protecting the position from any undercut attempts and guaranteeing fresher tyres at the end of the race.

Reading the real pace shows that the MCL39's superiority at the Hungaroring is not born of one-lap pace, but of its remarkable efficiency in preserving the tyre on high-temperature asphalt.

Seconds per lap gained by each driver after the first neutralisation (lap 37): it is systematic across the whole grid — fuel burning off and the track rubbering in, not separable with this data.