Analysis: things we learned from the Hungarian Grand prix

Double world champion and championship runaway chief Max Verstappen claimed his forty fourth win and a record-breaking twelfth consecutive victory for Red Bull at the F1 Hungarian Grand Prix. F1Technical’s senior author Balázs Szabó picks out the key classes from the Budapest F1 race.

Long drought – Everything appeared constructive round seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton on Saturday after the Briton secured his 104th profession pole place. It got here after an extended drought for Hamilton as his final pole place got here at the 2021 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.

However, the eight-time Hungarian Grand Prix winner was unable to show his 104th pole right into a 104th win as his hopes had been dashed at the begin when he misplaced out to Max Verstappen.

New document – Despite beginning solely from second on the grid, reigning world champion Max Verstappen secured his seventh straight triumph and his forty fourth profession victory. The Dutchman’s win additionally implies that his crew Red Bull clinched their twelfth triump in a row, beating McLaren’s long-standing document of 11 consecutive victory.

Fastest lap – Max Verstappen clinched not solely his ninth victory of the season, however he additionally set the quickest race lap at the Hungarian Grand Prix. It was the sixth time this 12 months that the double world champion recorded a quickest race lap.

Displaying nice pace in his final stint, Lewis Hamilton posted the second quickest time with a 1m21.601s which he clocked on Lap 54 on a used set of yellow-banded medium compound, 5 laps into his final stint. It was virtually nothing to decide on between George Russell, Lando Norris, Sergio Perez, Charles Leclerc, Carlos Sainz, Oscar Piastri and Fernando Alonso, who all set comparable quickest lap time.

Interestingly, whereas most of the drivers set their quickest lap in the dying minutes of the race, Alfa Romeo’s Zhou Guanyu recorded his personal benchmark very early on in the race on Lap 12. Daniel Ricciardo set his quickest lap in the newest level of the race as the Australian clocked his greatest time of 1m23.934s on Lap 67. Confirming his nice tyre administration was the proven fact that he had a particularly lengthy ultimate stint on the medium compound, and he posted his greatest time 37 laps into his final stint.

Unexpected return – On his shock return, eight-time grand prix winner Daniel Ricciardo completed in thirteenth, recovering from an early four-car incident at the begin. Starting from P5, Zhou Guanyu endured a sluggish getaway and bumped into Ricciardo with the incident eliminating the two Alpine vehicles and sending the F1 returnee to the again of the grid.

Commenting his first race in 2023, Ricciardo mentioned: “Our tempo wasn’t unhealthy, possibly we may’ve been in the factors immediately, I don’t know, however our technique was good, we had been only a bit unfortunate. On the different hand, the contact at the begin may’ve ended my race, so I’m grateful the automobile was nonetheless okay, and I used to be capable of do 70 laps to study as a lot as attainable.

“I’ll study from the errors I made to get higher and higher, and I made little psychological notes, which I’ll share with the crew. Overall although, there are lots of things to be glad about.”

Penalties – Two drivers had been handed out penalties throughout the Budapest F1 race. First, Alfa Romeo’s Zhou Guanyu obtained a 5-second time penalty and two penalty factors on his driver license for inflicting a collision at the begin of the race.

The stewards defined that the Chinese driver did not decelerate and brake in time at Turn 1 on the opening lap and collided into the again of Daniel Ricciardo’s ALphaTauri. With the incident inflicting a sequence response, not solely Ricciardo was despatched to the again of the discipline, however the two Alpine drivers Pierre Gasly and Esteban Ocon crashed as nicely.

Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc exceeded the pit lane restrict which was set at 80kph at the Hungaroring by 0.7kph. The Monegasque was given a five-second penalty which dropped him to P7 and gave George Russell the seventh place.

Off-track incident – Lando Norris smashed up Max Verstappen’s trophy on the Hungarian Grand Prix podium. The McLaren star deliberately banged his champagne bottle on the rostrum, inflicting Verstappen’s trophy to fall off the prime step.

The trophies had been manufactured by Herend Porcelain Manufactory that’s specialised in luxurious hand painted and gilded porcelain. The estimated worth of the trophy that has been smashed by Verstappen was EUR4000.

Point-scorers – Five completely different groups have scored factors at the Hungarian Grand Prix. Red Bull have secured a double podium end, McLaren clinched a fifth-place end, Mercedes secured a fourth- and sixth-place end. On the decrease finish of the spectrum had been Ferrari and Aston Martin with their drivers occupying the final 4 point-scoring positions.

Growing dominance – As far as the Constructors’ Championship is anxious, Red Bull Racing managed to extend the hole from second-placed Mercedes with their benefit having grown to 229 factors. Thanks to their fourth- and sixth-place end, Mercedes at the moment are 39 factors away from third-placed Aston Martin with Ferrari occupying P4 in the standings with 167 factors.

Following a really tough begin to their season, McLaren significantly closed in on Ferrari with the distinction having decreased to only 80 factors. On the different hand, Alpine which have been locked in an in depth struggle with McLaren, have endured two extraordinarily tough races with out gaining a single level. The Anglo-French crew now discover themselves in P6 40 factors adrift of their papaya-coloured rivals.

Williams and Haas are tied in the standings with eleven factors with Alfa Romeo and AlphaTauri rounding out the level desk with 9 and two factors respectively.

Race technique – As predicted by Pirelli forward of the race, the two-stop technique dominated immediately’s Hungarian Grand Prix so far as the tyre methods had been involved. Following Alpine’s double retirement, eighteen drivers remained in the race with all of them choosing a two-stop technique. Seven of them used two units of mediums and one set of hards whereas eight drivers opted for 2 units of hards and one set of medium. Three drivers began the race on the gentle compound earlier than switching to the mediums and the hards for the following two stints.

The Mexican – After being significantly overshadowed by crew mate Max Verstappen in latest race, Sergio Perez managed to get again on to podium. In truth, it was the Mexican’s first podium end at the Hungarian Grand Prix.

However, it was far from straightforward for the six-time F1 race winner as he solely certified ninth yesterday, and needed to work his manner up the order.
His comeback earned Perez the title of Driver of the Day due to his 20.7 per cent. McLaren’s Lando Norris solely missed the title with 20.4 per cent with Oscar Piastri, George Russell and Max Verstappen finishing the prime 5 of the vote.

Disappointment – It was a troublesome day in the workplace for a number of driver. Despite claiming his 104th profession pole place, Lewis Hamilton missed the podium at the Hungaroring for the first time since 2017.

Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc got here house in P6, however he was demoted to P7 as a result of his five-second penalty. The Monegasque completed a spot decrease than he did in final 12 months’s race.

Claiming his first F1 victory precisely twenty years in the past, Fernando Alonso had a fairly afternoon as his automobile was unable to get on pair with the likes of Red Bull, Mercedes, McLaren or Ferrari. With his ninth place end, the Spaniard recorded his worst Hungaroring consequence since 2009.

Podium finishes – Red Bull scored their 250th podium end immediately due to the win and the third place end from Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez. Lando Norris recorded his eighth podium end at the Hungarian Grand Prix which turned McLaren’s 496th podium end of their illustrious historical past.