Formula One was in action for the final time before the dreaded summer break. This time the action was in Hungary for the FORMULA 1 ARAMCO MAGYAR NAGYDÍJ 2022. The grid was led by George Russell for the first time in his career, as some drivers were out of position on the grid. But the race would have many fans again scratching their heads over the unusual Ferrari strategy calls.
At the start, George Russell got away well from his maiden pole position. Carlos Sainz tried to take the lead of the race around the outside of the first corner, coming close but not managing to get by.
Further back, Lewis Hamilton had a strong start, steaming past both Alpine cars on the main straight before the first corner. Even further back, Sergio Perez braked very late around the outside of the first corner, gaining a handful of positions in the first corner.
In turn two, Alex Albon and Lance Stroll collided, shedding some debris on the circuit. This triggered an early virtual safety car at the end of the first lap, allowing marshals to clear the circuit of debris.
When the race resumed, Russell judged the end of the VSC to perfection, giving himself a huge advantage over the Ferrari drivers with a lead of more than 2 seconds.
The performance of the soft compound tyres began to decline early in the race, causing Russell’s lead over the Ferrari to fade away. On lap 15, the pit window for the drivers who started on the soft compound tyres opened and Lando Norris was the first of the drivers to pit for medium tyres.
A couple of laps later, Russell pitted for a set of medium tyres. He was followed in by Max Verstappen who also took as set of the mediums. Sainz, Perez and Hamilton were next to pit for mediums, each separated by a lap.
Having inherited the race lead after his teammate pitted, it was Charles Leclerc’s turn to pit on lap 22. He rejoined behind Russell, but critically ahead of Sainz.
Alpine was the only lead team to take a gamble with their strategy, putting their drivers onto the hard compound tyre. Fernando Alonso pitted followed by Esteban Ocon a couple of laps later. Ocon rejoined the race alongside his teammate, who was trying to hold of the McLaren of Daniel Ricciardo. The two Alpine drivers fought for position in the second corner, but they both took the corner wide, allowing Ricciardo to sneak on through on the inside.
Their decision to use the hard compound tyres hurt the team, dropping them further down the results as the race progressed.
Back at the front of the field, Leclerc made up ground on Russell quickly and was within striking distance by lap 28. Russell’s Mercedes wiggled as he started to put the power down at the exit of the first corner, allowing Leclerc to make an overtaking attempt around the outside of the second corner. But Russell held him off. Three laps later, Leclerc made a very late lunge around the outside of the first corner, securing the lead of the race.
At the point in the race, some light rain arrived at the circuit. It was only enough to sprinkle some water on the circuit and make it slightly slippery.
On lap 39, Max Verstappen made his second pit stop for medium compound tyres, rejoining the race narrowly ahead of Mick Schumacher’s Haas. Ferrari responded to the potential threat from Verstappen, pitting Charles Leclerc.
However, in doing so, they put themselves in an unfortunate strategic position. Having only used two sets of medium tyres in the race, the team had to pick either the soft tyres or hard tyres to satisfy the requirement to use at least two compounds in the race, unless they wanted to make a third pit stop. Being too far from the end of the race to fit the soft tyres, the team was forced to take the hard tyres, which Alpine had proved were not a great race tyre.
Leclerc rejoined the race ahead of both Red Bulls, with Russell rejoining behind the Red Bulls on the medium tyres.
On the quicker tyres and with some assistance from the DRS, Verstappen made quick work on Leclerc in the first corner the following lap, taking the net lead of the race. His lead was short-lived, as he Verstappen spun in the penultimate corner. He recovered quickly ahead of his teammate. This slowed down Sergio Perez and allowed Russell to overtake the Mexican.
Verstappen caught back up to Leclerc in a few laps. This time, the championship leader took a wide line into the first corner so that he had better traction out of the first corner, easily overtaking Leclerc on the exit of the corner.
On lap 47, Carlos Sainz made his second pit stop, but he waited long enough to be able to switch to the soft tyres to make it to the end. Lewis Hamilton pitted as well on lap 51, also taking the soft tyres.
Somewhat surprisingly, Leclerc made a third pit stop on lap 54, changing to the soft tyres, but his race was effectively ruined by the earlier stint on the hard tyres.
Late in the race, Hamilton began to storm his way through the field, overtaking Sainz and then Russell a couple of laps later to take P2. But Verstappen was too far ahead of Hamilton to challenge for the lead of the race.
With only two laps remaining in the race, Valtteri Bottas parked his Alfa Romeo in turn 10 with a mechanical issue. The virtual safety car was briefly deployed while marshals worked to remove the stranded car from the circuit. The race resumed with just a couple of laps remaining and the rain became heavier.
But it was not enough to change the results, as Max Verstappen cruised to victory for the eighth time in the 2022 season. Both Mercedes drivers joined him on the podium, giving the team their second consecutive double podium.
With that, the teams and drivers will get a well-deserved month-long break for the summer. The racing will resume in Belgium on the weekend of August 28.
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| Race Results | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | M. Verstappen | 25 | |
| 2 | L. Hamilton | 19 | |
| 3 | G. Russell | 15 | |
| 4 | C. Sainz | 12 | |
| 5 | S. Perez | 10 | |
| 6 | C. Leclerc | 8 | |
| 7 | L. Norris | 6 | |
| 8 | F. Alonso | 4 | |
| 9 | E. Ocon | 2 | |
| 10 | S. Vettel | 1 | |
| 11 | L. Stroll | ||
| 12 | P. Gasly | ||
| 13 | G. Zhou | ||
| 14 | M. Schumacher | ||
| 15 | D. Ricciardo | ||
| 16 | K. Magnussen | ||
| 17 | A. Albon | ||
| 18 | N. Latifi | ||
| 19 | Y. Tsunoda | ||
| DNF | V. Bottas | ||
