Evaluation: issues we discovered from the Hungarian Grand prix

F1 Grand Prix, GP Hungary, Hungaroring

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

Lengthy drought – Every little thing appeared optimistic round seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton on Saturday after the Briton secured his 104th profession pole place. It got here after a protracted drought for Hamilton as his final pole place got here on the 2021 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.

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

New report – Regardless of 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 staff Pink Bull clinched their twelfth triump in a row, beating McLaren’s long-standing report of 11 consecutive victory.

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

Displaying nice velocity 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.

Apparently, whereas a lot of the drivers set their quickest lap within the dying minutes of the race, Alfa Romeo’s Zhou Guanyu recorded his personal benchmark very early on within the race on Lap 12. Daniel Ricciardo set his quickest lap within the newest level of the race because the Australian clocked his finest time of 1m23.934s on Lap 67. Confirming his nice tyre administration was the truth that he had a particularly lengthy last stint on the medium compound, and he posted his finest time 37 laps into his final stint.

Sudden return – On his shock return, eight-time grand prix winner Daniel Ricciardo completed in thirteenth, recovering from an early four-car incident at the beginning. Ranging from P5, Zhou Guanyu endured a gradual getaway and bumped into Ricciardo with the incident eliminating the 2 Alpine automobiles and sending the F1 returnee to the again of the grid.

Commenting his first race in 2023, Ricciardo stated: “Our tempo wasn’t unhealthy, perhaps we might’ve been within the factors immediately, I don’t know, however our technique was good, we have been only a bit unfortunate. Then again, the contact at the beginning might’ve ended my race, so I’m grateful the automotive 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 staff. Total although, there are a number of issues to be joyful about.”

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

The stewards defined that the Chinese language driver did not decelerate and brake in time at Flip 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 sphere, however the two Alpine drivers Pierre Gasly and Esteban Ocon crashed as effectively.

Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc exceeded the pit lane restrict which was set at 80kph on 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 podium, inflicting Verstappen’s trophy to fall off the highest step.

The trophies have 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.

Level-scorers – 5 totally different groups have scored factors on the Hungarian Grand Prix. Pink 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 have been Ferrari and Aston Martin with their drivers occupying the final 4 point-scoring positions.

Rising dominance – So far as the Constructors’ Championship is worried, Pink Bull Racing managed to extend the hole from second-placed Mercedes with their benefit having grown to 229 factors. Due to their fourth- and sixth-place end, Mercedes at the moment are 39 factors away from third-placed Aston Martin with Ferrari occupying P4 within the standings with 167 factors.

Following a really troublesome begin to their season, McLaren severely closed in on Ferrari with the distinction having decreased to only 80 factors. Then again, Alpine which were locked in a detailed battle with McLaren, have endured two extraordinarily troublesome races with out gaining a single level. The Anglo-French staff now discover themselves in P6 40 factors adrift of their papaya-coloured rivals.

Williams and Haas are tied within the standings with eleven factors with Alfa Romeo and AlphaTauri rounding out the purpose 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 have been involved. Following Alpine’s double retirement, eighteen drivers remained within 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 mushy compound earlier than switching to the mediums and the hards for the next two stints.

The Mexican – After being severely overshadowed by staff mate Max Verstappen in current race, Sergio Perez managed to get again on to podium. In actual fact, it was the Mexican’s first podium end on the Hungarian Grand Prix.

Nevertheless, it was removed 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 highest 5 of the vote.

Disappointment – It was a troublesome day within the workplace for a number of driver. Regardless of claiming his 104th profession pole place, Lewis Hamilton missed the rostrum on the Hungaroring for the primary time since 2017.

Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc got here residence in P6, however he was demoted to P7 attributable to his five-second penalty. The Monegasque completed a spot decrease than he did in final yr’s race.

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

Podium finishes – Pink 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 on the Hungarian Grand Prix which grew to become McLaren’s 496th podium end of their illustrious historical past.