HUNGARAIN GP – Max Verstappen takes record braking twelfth consecutive win for Red Bull
Max Verstappen has won the Hungarian Grand Prix in another dominant display allowing Red Bull to take twelve consecutive wins in a season, beating McLaren’s 1998 record. The Dutchman once again looked unstoppable as he finished thirty-three seconds ahead of Lando Norris, with his teammate Sergio Perez third.
Verstappen looked unstoppable once again, despite starting on the dirty side he managed to dive pass Lewis Hamilton into Turn One after making a better start than the Mercedes. He then soon opened nearly a second gap over Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris on the opening lap.
Hamilton was slower off the line, that gave Verstappen the opportunity to overtake which he did as they went through Turn One, and then Norris and his McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri took a wider line into Two also passing the Mercedes. However in the closing stages the seven time champion passed Piastiri to take third.
The Englishman had said after taking pole yesterday that he would struggle to challenge the Red Bull given its strong race pace, but any hopes Hamilton might have had of mounting a challenge were gone within a few seconds of the start. But he did give it a try which cost him places to Piastri and Norris.
Hamilton now has gone nearly eighteen months without a win, since losing the race lead and his eighth title on the final lap to Verstappen in Abu Dhabi in 2021. The 38-year-old was frequently on the radio after his first pit stop questioning how the McLaren cars had built up a sizeable advantage, but eventually pace came to his W14 in the closing laps as the fuel burnt off.
He said, “”I had a bit of wheelspin, and then obviously Max was on the inside and he ran me wide, and I got done by the two McLarens. Then after that I just didn’t have the pace to keep up with the guys. The balance of the car was pretty awful on that first stint.”
Norris like Hamilton was unable to go after Verstappen, however in the closing stages fended off Perez who had attempted to close the gap heading into the last ten laps. The team then decided it was better to defend off Hamilton who was closing the gap, however he remained a second and a half behind whe the chequered flag dropped.
Perez had successfully used the under cut to pass Hamilton, his just under two second stop broad him out righ behind Piastri. As they made there pit stop on the same lap, as they rejoined Perez nudged the Australian wide and pushed him onto the grass at Turn Two.
The Mexican using an off-set strategy – starting on the hard tyre rather than the medium used by all the cars ahead of him – and progressively picked off the cars ahead of him. Hamilton meanwhile couldn’t find a way pass Perez once the Mercedes came alive in the latter stages of the race.
Verstappen said “For the team 12 wins in a row is just incredible. What we’ve been going through the last two years is unbelievable and hopefully we can keep this momentum going for a long time.”
McLaren’s midseason upturn in form allowing them to overtake Alpine in the constructors, after the French manufacturer failed to finish following a collison between drivers Pierre Gasly and Esteban Ocon.
George Russell recovered from his poor qualifying to finish seventh on the road, however was prompted to sixth after Charles Leclerc was given a five second penalty for speeding in the pit lane.
Russell had taken advantage of the opening lap incident gaining five places on the opening lap. Then in the closing stages a late pass on Sainz opened the opportunity to close up to Leclerc and take advantage of the Ferrari driver’s penalty.
Russell told Sky Sports “P6 was beyond expectations. The strategists were quoting P11 before the race and P7 if we maximised everything. Here we are in P6 ahead of both Ferraris, who started 12 positions ahead of us.”
It was another race to forget for Ferrari, as well as a speeding ticket Leclerc had dropped behind teammate Carlos Sainz following a poor stop.
Ferrari then refused to use team orders to allow the Monacan pass, until the second stop by then they had lost the advantage which allowed Russell to charge pass for seventh on the road. Sainz finishing eighth, nearly five seconds ahead of Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll, the two Aston Martin’s rounding out the top ten.
Alonso still retains third place in the championship but is now just six points ahead of Hamilton.
Alex Albon was eleventh ahead of Valtteri Bottas, the Finn couldn’t manage to convert the strong pace of Alfa Romeo into points. Bottas and teammate Guany Zhou both hit anti-stall at the start then the Chinese driver triggered the shunt at the opening corner, Zhou misjudged his braking point hitting RiCciardo, the chain reaction hit Pierre Gasly who then went into the back of Alpine teammate Pierre Gasly.
That cost the team point’s resulting in a double retirement. Zhou did manage to continue in the race finishing sixteenth.
Nico Hulkenberg was fourteenth Ahead of Yuki Tsunoda, Zhou and Haas teammate Kevin Magnussen.
Related
- Hungarian GP – Qualifying Result
- HUNGARIAN GP – Lewis Hamilton beats Max Verstappen to pole by three thousandths
- HUNGARIAN GP – Charles Leclerc fastest by a hundredth in second practice from Lando Norris
- HUNGARIAN GP – George Russell fastest by three and a half tenths in unrepresentative first practice
- PRIXVIEW – Hungarian Grand Prix