Introduction
Max Verstappen stormed to victory over Lando Norris and Sergio Perez with one other commanding efficiency within the 2023 Formulation 1 Hungarian Grand Prix, giving the reigning double world champion his seventh straight triumph and Crimson Bull their twelfth in a row – beating McLaren’s long-standing document.
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Verstappen handed pole-sitting Mercedes rival Lewis Hamilton at first earlier than settling into the lead and pulling away from the chasing pack with aplomb, chalking up a lights-to-flag win that places additional distance between himself and teammate Perez within the drivers’ standings.
It means Crimson Bull continues their 100% profitable run for the 2023 season whereas setting a brand new outright milestone when it comes to successive race wins, with their staggering tally now one away from the 11 McLaren achieved with Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost through the 1988 marketing campaign.
Verstappen took the chequered flag comfortably away from Norris, who dropped behind fellow McLaren driver Oscar Piastri early on however regained the place on the first spherical of pit stops, whereas Perez – certainly one of solely two drivers, together with George Russell, to go lengthy within the first stint on arduous tyres – rose from ninth to 3rd with one other robust restoration drive.
Hamilton’s hopes of turning his 104th pole right into a 104th win have been dashed at first when he misplaced out to Verstappen, Piastri and Norris in fast succession earlier than that was compounded when he fell sufferer to Perez’s alternate technique, however the seven-time champion not less than salvaged fourth by way of a late transfer on the Australian rookie Piastri.
Charles Leclerc crossed the road in sixth place however dropped behind the opposite Mercedes of Russell after the chequered flag when a five-second penalty for rushing within the pit lane was utilized, with Ferrari teammate Carlos Sainz coming house eighth.
Aston Martin ended an nameless race weekend with a minor double factors end, Fernando Alonso the final driver to remain on the identical lap as winner Verstappen in ninth and teammate Stroll ending one tour down in tenth to spherical out the factors.
Recent from their current points-scoring exploits, Alex Albon and Williams needed to accept eleventh this outing, adopted by the lead Alfa Romeo of Valtteri Bottas in twelfth after the Hinwil crew’s high-flying qualifying show turned bitter on race day by incidents and a common lack of tempo.
Certainly, Zhou Guanyu’s fifth-place beginning place turned a lowly sixteenth on race day after he tried to make up for a sluggish getaway and bumped into F1 returnee Daniel Ricciardo at first, triggering a four-car collision that led to each Alpine drivers retiring from proceedings as soon as once more.
Ricciardo recovered to take thirteenth in his first race again because the 2022 season finale in Abu Dhabi, forward of Haas driver Nico Hulkenberg, AlphaTauri teammate Yuki Tsunoda, the aforementioned Zhou and ultimate finisher Kevin Magnussen.
Williams rookie Logan Sargeant pulled into the pits after a late spin, with Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly doing the identical within the early levels because of the important injury their automobiles picked up within the chaos sparked by Zhou.
Mario Isola, Motorsport Director, Pirelli:
It was a really fascinating weekend which noticed a trial of a brand new tyre allocation format and analysis, bringing a trio of compounds one step softer than prior to now. As for the ATA, in the beginning, it needs to be identified that it will likely be trialled once more at Monza this coming September on a observe with utterly completely different traits to this one. The information will likely be analysed very fastidiously. Aside from that, I’d say the 2 salient factors from this weekend have been that yesterday’s qualifying was extra unpredictable than normal as a result of it offered the drivers with new challenges: the necessity to adapt shortly to the change of compound and the truth that having two units of every compound for the race launched larger flexibility when it comes to technique.
The truth that all of the drivers made two stops in very popular situations with a observe temperature that was 53 levels at first, with no excessive degradation issues, confirms that the three compounds we selected to convey right here have been the suitable ones, on condition that 4 drivers even used the Delicate for his or her first stint, exhibiting that it was not out of the query to race with it.
Now we come to the ultimate spherical earlier than the summer season break, at Spa-Francorchamps, probably the most fascinating tracks on the calendar, with completely completely different traits to these of the Hungaroring, each when it comes to its structure and relating to the type of climate we are able to anticipate. Belgium would be the third spherical of the season to function the Dash format, which ought to guarantee an much more thrilling present.
How the race was received from the tyre perspective:
Max Verstappen took his ninth win of the season, taking his complete variety of Formulation 1 victories to 44. It was their twelfth consecutive win for Crimson Bull, a brand new outright document. Though he missed out on pole place yesterday afternoon by simply three thousandths, the reigning world champion nonetheless managed to guide throughout the road for all 70 laps of the race. He made essentially the most of the truth that polesitter Lewis Hamilton didn’t get the most effective of begins and likewise got here off greatest in an exciting duel with Oscar Piastri within the McLaren. From then on, Verstappen was in dominant kind, profitable by over 30 seconds from Lando Norris, who secured his second consecutive podium end. Rounding off the rostrum trio was Sergio Perez, who staged an excellent climb up the order from ninth on the grid.
As extensively predicted, all of the drivers opted for 2 stops, though there have been a number of permutations. For instance, the highest two finishers opted to go Medium/Laborious/Medium, whereas Perez began on Laborious earlier than twice becoming Mediums. 4 drivers began on Softs: Sainz, Gasly, Stroll and Tsunoda. Making the most effective use of the additional grip afforded by the C5 was Ferrari’s Spanish driver, who crossed the road sixth on the finish of the opening lap, having began eleventh. AlphaTauri’s Japanese driver used all three obtainable compounds, whereas within the Williams, Alex Albon did essentially the most consecutive laps (38) on Laborious tyres. Sainz drove the longest stint on Softs (15 laps), whereas Ricciardo did no fewer than 40 laps on one set of Mediums. Probably the most used compound was the C3 (770 laps, 61.5%), adopted by the C4 (448, 35.78%) and the C5 (34, 2.72%).
What’s subsequent?
The Belgian Grand Prix takes place subsequent week at Spa-Francorchamps, one of many historic Formulation 1 venues, the place tyres are subjected to important lateral and vertical forces. Pirelli will convey the C2 compound as P Zero White arduous, C3 as P Zero Yellow medium and C4 as P Zero Crimson tender. The Ardennes circuit hosts one other F1 Dash weekend, following on from these in Azerbaijan and Austria. Saturday is given over to the Dash Shootout and race whereas qualifying for Sunday’s race takes place on Friday afternoon.
2023 Formulation 1 Hungarian Grand Prix Race Outcomes
PosNoDriverCountryTeamTimePointsOverall
1.1Max VerstappenNetherlandsRed Bull Racing1:38:08.63426281
2.4Lando NorrisGreat BritainMclaren Racing+33.731s1842
3.11Sergio PerezMexicoRed Bull Racing +37.603s15171
4.44Lewis HamiltonGreat BritainMercedes-AMG Petronas+39.134s12133
5.81Oscar PiastriAustraliaMcLaren Racing+62.572s1027
6.63George RussellGreat BritainMercedes-AMG Petronas+65.825s890
7.16Charles LeclercMonacoScuderia Ferrari+70.317s680
8.55Carlos SainzSpainScuderia Ferrari+71.073s487
9.14Fernando AlonsoSpainAston Martin F1 Workforce+75.709s2139
10.18Lance StrollCanadaAston Martin F1 Workforce+1 lap145
11.45Alexander AlbonThailandWilliams Racing+1 lap011
12.77Valtteri BottasFinlandAlfa Romeo F1 Workforce+1 lap05
13.3Daniel RicciardoAustraliaScuderia AlphaTauri+1 lap0
14.27Nico HulkenbergGermanyHaas F1 Workforce+1 lap09
15.22Yuki TsunodaJapanScuderia AlphaTauri+1 lap02
16.24Zhou GuanyuChinaAlfa Romeo F1 Workforce+1 lap04
17.20Kevin MagnussenDenmarkHaas F1 Workforce+1 lap02
18.2Logan SargeantUSAWilliams RacingDNF00
19.10Pierre GaslyFranceAlpine F1 TeamDNF016
20.31Esteban OconFranceAlpine F1 TeamDNF031
21.21Nyck De VriesNetherlandsScuderia AlphaTauriDNS00