Max Verstappen dominated proceedings to win F1 Hungarian GP by a huge margin from Lando Norris with Sergio Perez in third.
It wasn’t the best of starts from pole-sitter Lewis Hamilton in his Mercedes in the F1 Hungarian GP which allowed Red Bull’s Max Verstappen to take the lead from the McLaren pair of Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris who leapfrogged the Mercedes too.
Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc was fifth from Carlos Sainz who gained six places on the soft compound, with Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso in seventh from Red Bull’s Sergio Perez, Haas’ Nico Hulkenberg and Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll in the Top 10.
The Canadian too gained places as did Mercedes’ George Russell from the back. Alfa Romeo had a disaster when Zhou Guanyu had an anti-stall and as he got going he hit the back of AlphaTauri’s Daniel Ricciardo, who hit Alpine’s Esteban Ocon in return.
The Frenchman went airbourne after touching teammate Pierre Gasly as they both spun onto the run-off. Gasly pitted to retire due to rear wing issue as Ocon followed a lap later due to damage. It was another double DNF for Alpine after British GP.
Ricciardo dropped back due to his off moment, as Guanyu was handed a 5s time penalty for causing a collision. At the front, Verstappen held onto the lead from Piastri and Norris who were not troubling him as much, as Perez passed Alonso for seventh on the hard tyre.
The race steadied on until the pit stop from Sainz which kicked off a chain reaction. Norris gained track position on Piastri during the stop where Hamilton dropped back a bit while a slow stop from Leclerc dropped him behind teammate Sainz having run ahead initially.
Perez pitted to come out in between the Ferrari pair but with Sainz trying to pass Russell who hadn’t stopped, he lost out to the Mexican who pounced on him to take track position. He pressed on to pass Russell too which was close at Turn 3-4 sequence.
With Verstappen leading Norris and Piastri, Hamilton was fourth from Perez who was catching the Brit quickly. Sainz held on sixth from Leclerc with Alonso in eighth from Stroll and Bottas in the Top 10 with Russell not too far off to take the final point.
The race steadied again until the next set of pit stops. Perez was chasing Hamilton for track position who was chasing Piastri but both the Red Bull and McLaren driver pitted. The Mexican was behind the Australian but he pressed hard to pass him.
The two were wheel-to-wheel at Turn 1 and then went same at Turn 3-4 sequence when Piastri was seemingly pushed off track on the grass which was noted. There was no further investigation required where Perez was third from Piastri after pit stop for Hamilton.
He joined the grid in fifth from Leclerc who jumped his teammate Sainz in the pits. But the Monegasque was handed a 5s time penalty for speeding in pitlane. Russell was eighth from Alonso and Stroll in the Top 10 after their second set of pit stops.
With Verstappen comfortable at the front, it was Norris coming under pressure from Perez, while Hamilton got the back of Piastri and passed him for fourth. Leclerc was at distant sixth with enough gap to serve his penalty from Sainz.
But Russell behind caught the back of Sainz and passed him for seventh as he got on the tail of Leclerc as well with 5s penalty for the Monegasque. At the front, Verstappen dominated with a gap of 33.731s from Norris who resisted Perez in F1 Hungarian GP.
Perez came under pressure from Hamilton towards the end but it was enough with Piastri in fifth where Russell took sixth after penalty to Leclerc who was seventh. Sainz was eighth from Alonso and Stroll in the Top 10 where Williams’ Logan Sargeant suffered a late spin.
Red Bull secured their 12th win on the bounce starting from last year’s Abu Dhabi GP breaking McLaren’s record of 12 consecutive wins. Outside the Top 10, it was Williams’ Alexander Albon in 11th from Bottas with Ricciardo ending up 13th.
Hulkenberg was 14th from AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda, Guanyu and Haas’ Kevin Magnussen. Everyone from Stroll to Magnussen finished a lap down on the leader. DNF: Sargeant, Ocon, Gasly.
