Max Verstappen won the Hungarian Grand Prix with another dominant display for Red Bull. The Dutchman took the lead of the race into turn one and did not relinquish it throughout, winning by a comfortable margin from the McLaren of Lando Norris. His Red Bull teammate, Sergio Pérez, moved from ninth to third. Lewis Hamilton, who had started on pole, but dropped to fourth on the opening lap finished in the same position while the McLaren rookie, Oscar Piastri, took fifth.
Once Verstappen had taken the lead off the line he did not let up, demonstrating control and pace that was unmatched. Even had Hamilton held him off at the start he had such race pace, he would nary have been denied for long. It was another win with an inexorable air in a processional race of the old-school Hungaroring variety. Verstappen now leads Pérez by 110 points in the world championship.
Red Bull brought upgrades to this race, including changes to the sidepods and radiator intakes and they have clearly paid off, with Verstappen taking the 44th win of his career.
With victory Red Bull have taken a record-breaking 12th win in a row this weekend, one more than McLaren managed in 1988, and have now won 21 of the past 22 races. A season’s clean sweep of wins is an increasingly realistic possibility.
Verstappen now has seven wins in a row and nine from 11 meetings this season. The seventh consecutive win ties him with Alberto Ascari, Michael Schumacher and Nico Rosberg, behind only Sebastian Vettel’s record of nine in a row the German scored in 2013.
Verstappen took off up the inside line from second on the grid into turn one to edge past Hamilton, who had to go wide and was then passed by Piastri and then Norris, who went round the outside of turn two.
It was vital for Verstappen who had the clean air he needed by turn three and within six laps he had put it to use with a two-second lead. Hamilton, however, was staying within a second of Norris, in what was clearly a quick McLaren.
Piastri was displaying enormous confidence and control in second, the highest placing of his career, putting in a series of solid laps to build a two-second gap to his teammate.
Verstappen held a firm lead when the pit stops began cycling through with Hamilton coming in on lap 17. McLaren responded with Norris cooming off a lap later. Piastri followed a lap later but emerged side by side with Norris who on warm tyres took the place.
Verstappen stayed out happy with his rubber and his lead, sufficient that he did not have to react to his rivals stopping. He was called in on lap 23 and emerged still leading. As the final stops worked through, Verstappen led from Norris, Piastri and Hamilton. However, Hamilton was concerned that he was sorely lacking in race pace, unable to stay near the McLarens which were a full nine seconds up the road.
after newsletter promotion
Verstappen was once more cruising, 14 seconds clear out in front by lap 38. Pérez moved up from ninth to fifth and hounded Hamilton but the British driver was enjoying a better run on the harder rubber and held his place, beginning to close on Piastri, who was struggling. Pérez caught Hamilton on lap 41 and the pair vied for the place until the Mexican took his second stop a lap later, as did Piastri.
Norris pitted on lap 45 and Pérez moved past Piastri on track at turn one. Hamilton stayed out only pitting on lap 50 and with the second stops completed, Verstappen led from Norris and Pérez followed by Piastri and Hamilton.
Hamilton, enjoying better grip, caught Piastri to take fourth on lap 56, while Norris battled hard to maintain second against a late Pérez charge. It was the final fight and a great effort by the British driver but once more irrelevant to the winner who cantered home with a 32-second lead.
Daniel Ricciardo performed well on his first race back in F1 since the end of last season, when he was let go by McLaren and became the Red Bull reserve driver. Drafted into the AlphaTauri team Ricciardo delivered a strong race despite being in an incident on the opening lap. He finished 13th and beat his teammate Yuki Tsunoda.
George Russell was in sixth for Mercedes, Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz were in seventh and eighth for Ferrari, Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll in ninth and tenth for Aston Martin.
