As a finale to the first half of the ­season, Formula One could not have asked for a better send-off than the Hungarian Grand Prix, a race which sets up the championship run-in after the forthcoming summer break to perfection. The two title protagonists and McLaren teammates, Lando ­Norris and Oscar Piastri, were wheel to wheel to the flag, with ­Norris emerging on top after a nerveless denouement that suggests the championship too will go down to the wire.

For all that this was a contest made by an adroit and opportune ­strategy call for Norris, it also delivered a fiercely competitive head to head between the ­British driver and ­Piastri. As the ­Australian chased down his rival at the death it was the season writ large. On the penultimate lap he threw his McLaren up the inside of turn one in a desperate bid for the lead. His wheels locked up and the ­Hungaroring took an enormous collective inhalation as his nose drifted almost in slow motion towards Norris’s car. They barely missed one another and were through turns two and three before breathing resumed with an appreciative roar.

It was a mighty effort but Norris was equally nerveless to see it off. He closed out with a precision and steely determination just seven-tenths of a second in front, a reminder that he is very much in this title fight. Indeed after 14 rounds, as McLaren secured another one-two and their 200th race win, Piastri’s lead over his ­teammate is down to just nine points.

Relations between the two drivers remain solid and friendly, an almost unheard of feat in teammate rivals vying for a championship, and yet both repeatedly attest to it and it is manifestly true – a lack of drama and needle that many miss but which in no way diminishes how important the title is to both drivers.

Norris was ecstatic with the win while Piastri, who had felt his shot at victory slipping away when McLaren switched to a one-stop strategy for Norris, was clearly disappointed. When his engineer Tom Stallard attempted to soften the blow by reminding him he still led the championship it was cold comfort, met with a stony silence.

Norris’s unlikely victory had stemmed from that strategy call when the team switched from a planned two‑stop. Indeed the team principal, Andrea Stella, revealed afterwards that they had not believed a one-stop was even possible. But after Norris had gone backwards at the start he had nothing to lose and agreed to roll the dice with what felt like a resigned flippancy in the moment of: “Yeah why not.”

It proved inspired. As Piastri, and George Russell and Charles Leclerc – who finished third and fourth respectively – had to stop again, Norris had the track position and the lead. He had to manage his tyres to the close and maintain enough pace to keep Piastri behind and with steely precision he did so by the skin of his teeth. It was an immense effort and it showed.

“I’m dead, it was tough,” he said.

“We weren’t really planning on a one-stop at the beginning but after the first lap it was kind of our only option to get back into things. It was tough in the final stint with Oscar catching. I was ­pushing flat out.”

Oscar Piastri (right) has been fighting to hold off the title challenge from McLaren teammate Lando Norris. Photograph: Bradley Collyer/PA

F1 can present a thriller of a spectacle or, as it likes to rather grandly refer to as a gladiatorial contest just as it can on occasion be a dour affair, a procession. However, for some time the race at the Hungaroring looked a little like the latter might be the case.

Leclerc had led from pole ahead of Piastri but Norris found himself baulked up the inside of turn one, had to back off and dropped to fifth. It changed the face of the race, if inadvertently and not immediately.

Indeed, Leclerc had looked in solid control for the best part of 40 laps when he and Piastri were racing each other, having considered Norris no longer part of the equation. But fortune too was to play its part. Leclerc’s ­balance inexplicably fell away and he was passed by Piastri and Russell in short order. He remonstrated with his team but it appears he had picked up damage that was to blame, letting ­Ferrari off the hook for the rocket he had been furiously preparing in the cockpit.

Leclerc out of contention, then there were two. The title fight in microcosm as the race hung in the balance. When Piastri passed Leclerc he was nine seconds behind Norris with 19 laps ­remaining, and the gap came down as did the laps. They were line astern with four laps to go in a straight fight for that glorious finale where Norris won out.

The summer break will be welcomed but both drivers doubtless cannot wait to fight it out again. A mouthwatering prospect.

After a trying weekend including qualifying in 12th after which he described his driving as “absolutely useless”, Lewis Hamilton could manage to also finish only 12th for Ferrari. While Max Verstappen was similarly disappointed with ninth, having been cleared after an investigation when he appeared to have forced Hamilton wide off the track.

Fernando Alonso was fifth and Lance Stroll seventh for Aston Martin, Gabriel Bortoleto was sixth for Sauber, Liam Lawson eighth for ­Racing Bulls and Kimi Antonelli 10th for Mercedes.