Race Previews & Recaps
Two From Two: Shaheen Survives an Amir Ehud Storm as Alon Breaks Through in Hungary
ISLRecapSeason 1HungaryHungaroringRound 2ShaheenAlonAzranEhud
Season 1 · Round 2 · Hungarian Grand Prix · Hungaroring · 1 August 2026 · Dry
The Hungaroring was supposed to be the anti-Spa — a tight, twisty circuit where passing is very hard and track position rules. It kept that promise and still served up one of the fights of the young season. Youssef Shaheen made it two wins from two, but he had to earn this one the hard way: a brilliant opening-stint duel with debutant Amir Ehud, decided — for the second race running — by a perfectly judged undercut. Behind them, Nitzan Alon produced the drive of his ISL life to finish second, and Eden Azran completed the podium with his first ISL rostrum. A dry night, a lively qualifying session, plenty of wheel-to-wheel contact through the field — and, remarkably, a second race in a row with not a single case for the stewards.
This was the mega-battle we were promised, and for one glorious stint it was everything. Shaheen started from his first ISL pole, but Amir Ehud — on debut, and already looking utterly at home — refused to sit still. In a long, ambitious opening stint, Ehud produced the move of the night, hunting Shaheen down and finding a way past on a circuit where clean overtakes are precious. For a while, the newcomer led the ISL field.
Then the race turned exactly where it turned at Spa. Shaheen answered with the undercut — the same weapon that won him the opener — timing his stop to perfection and using fresh rubber to leapfrog back into the lead. Ehud had one job left: chase it back down and try again. He never got the chance. A technical problem left him disconnected, and by the time he rejoined he had dropped to fourth — a mountain to climb on a track this unforgiving. Unable to recover the lost ground, Ehud retired to the pits, his race over. It was a cruel end to a spectacular debut — and, in a bittersweet footnote, he still owned the fastest lap of the race.
Shaheen took it home unbothered from there. Two rounds, two wins, both sealed by his undercut — and now he sits on a perfect 48 points with a commanding championship lead.
If the front was Shaheen's story, second place was Nitzan Alon's. After a busy, frustrating opener that left him eighth, Alon was a different driver here — fast, precise and finally rewarded. Climbing from fourth on the grid, he claimed a maiden ISL podium in second place, the standout result of his season and a statement of just how quick he can be when it all clicks.
The battle that shaped the podium came early, when Eden Azran and Alon went toe-to-toe in a terrific scrap that ended with the lightest of touches — hard, fair racing with nothing given away. Both drivers emerged with credit and, ultimately, with silverware: Alon in second, Azran holding on for third and his first ISL podium. For Azran it is back-to-back top results after fourth at Spa, and proof that his early-season consistency is turning into hardware.
The through-line all night was hard but respectful racing. There was contact — plenty of it, up and down the order — but for the second race in a row, nothing reached the stewards' table. For a grid this competitive, on a circuit this narrow, that is its own kind of achievement.
Two rounds in, Shaheen has turned an early lead into a gap: a perfect 48 points, 17 clear at the top. Behind him the fight is ferociously tight — Idan Turjeman and Eden Azran are locked together on 31 points, second and third by the narrowest of margins, with Nitzan Alon's breakthrough lifting him to fourth on 26 and Harel Ben Harosh fifth on 22.
The most striking swing belongs to Spa's runner-up: with Shaul Ezra sitting out Round 2, the polesitter from the opener slid down to sixth, a reminder of how unforgiving a 13-round season is when a rival is banking maximum points. And with the best 12 of 13 results counting toward the title, everyone still has one weekend to discard — but nobody chasing Shaheen will want to burn it this early.
If the drivers' gap is opening, the constructors' gap is already a chasm. McLaren lead on 66 points, 30 clear — and not by accident: both of their cars are scoring, with Dan Radia backing up Shaheen's wins rather than leaning on one driver. Behind them, Williams (36) and Aston Martin (35) are locked in a tight fight for second, hauled along almost single-handedly by Turjeman and Azran. Cadillac sit fourth (26) built largely on Alon's breakthrough — a neat illustration of how much a two-car scoring effort is worth against teams relying on a single driver.
Round 3 heads to Zandvoort on 22 August. Shaheen has now won from P3 and from pole, in the wet and in the dry. The rest of the grid has three weeks to work out how to stop him.
See you on the grid.