The FORMULA 1 QATAR AIRWAYS HUNGARIAN GRAND PRIX 2023 marked the start of the final back-to-back race weekend before the summer break. With an experimental new tyre allocation mandate for qualifying, the grid was shuffled with Lewis Hamilton in the pole position grid slot for the first time since the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix back in 2021. But it was Red Bull that had to opportunity to topple a record that has stood in Formula One since McLaren’s iconic 1988 season.
Max Verstappen got a good launch off the line and was immediately alongside pole sitter Lewis Hamilton on the run down to the first corner. Verstappen was able to hold on to the inside line in the first corner, as Lando Norris momentarily looked to make it three-wide but thought better of it. Struggling to get the power down in the first sector, Hamilton was a sitting duck for both Norris and Oscar Piastri, dropping down to P4.
Further back, Guanyu Zhou had a horrible start from P5, the highest starting position of his career. The car went into anti-stall, dropping him well down the field. Things turned worse for the Chinese driver, as he braked too late into the first corner, hitting the back of Daniel Ricciardo, who was making his F1 return this weekend. This caused a domino effect, as Ricciardo hit the rear of Esteban Ocon who then collided with teammate Pierre Gasly. This ended the race for the Alpine drivers, both of which were able to limp back to the pit lane to retire. Zhou was handed a five-second penalty for the incident.
Slightly ahead of this drama, Carlos Sainz found himself up five positions at the start, having been in the 11th grid position after a poor qualifying. Starting on the soft compound tyres gave him a speed advantage over the cars ahead and by the end of the first lap he was right on the rear of his teammate Charles Leclerc.
Another driver who had a disappointing qualifying session was Sergio Perez who started in 9th on the grid. He opted to start on the hard compound tyres, which were slower but would bring him further into the race. Despite the pace of the Red Bull, he was stuck behind the Aston Martin of Fernando Alonso for many laps. He was finally able to get by Alonso on lap 8 with the power of the back-to-back DRS zones in the first corners.
By lap 10, the drivers who started the race on the soft compound tyres began pitting for new tyres. Ferrari wanted to pit Sainz as well, but the Spaniard overruled the decision and chose to extend his stint. He waited to pit until the Red Bull of Sergio Perez was close to getting within DRS range on lap 16.
Hamilton was the first of the leading cars to blink, pitting the following lap. He rejoined barely ahead of Ricciardo, which was crucial for his strategy. McLaren responded by pitting Norris a lap later to cover off an undercut potential from Hamilton. Piastri pitted the next lap but, despite a 2 second pit stop from the team, he was narrowly undercut by his teammate.
Leclerc lost out immensely during his pit stop due to a failure of the left-rear wheel gun. He rejoined the race behind his teammate, separated by Lance Stroll. He was nearly overtaken by Valtteri Bottas at the pit exit, but was able to fend off the Alfa Romeo.
Perez ditched his hard compound tyres for a set of mediums on lap 25, coming out of the pit lane behind Sainz. After a handful of laps, he was able to easily overtake Sainz on the inside of the first corner without much defence from the lead Ferrari.
Russell proved to put up much more of a fight against Perez on lap 28. Perez put himself on the inside of turn two, but Russell held on around the outside. The outside of turn 2 becomes the inside of turn 3 and Russell was brave to keep his nose in the inside of the third corner. The two drivers nearly collided, being close enough for the wheels to interlock. Despite the challenge, Russell was never to going to get the position back from Perez and pitted the following lap, having taken his hard compound tyres nearly to have distance.
After the pit stops, the McLaren cars began to lose pace compared to their rivals. Hamilton was fastest than Piastri ahead, but Perez was right on the back of the Mercedes. Rather than fight with the Mercedes, Perez pitted for his second stop along with Piastri. Red Bull was able to perform an astonishing 1.9 second pit stop, which pit Perez directly behind Piastri when they left the pit lane.
Just a few laps later, Piastri was under threat from Perez behind. The McLaren rookie took a defensive line into the first corner, hugging the apex and forcing Perez to go the long way around. Perez was ahead going into turn 2, but Piastri hung on around the outside of the corner. He was shown the grass by Perez, who ran him out of space on the exit of the corner, forcing Piastri to concede the position. The stewards noted the move, but chose not to investigate it any further.
This unleashed Perez to chase down Norris, who had pitted a lap later than his teammate. Norris was lucky to get the car slowed down for his stop, locking up the brakes at the pit entry. Leclerc was not as lucky, earning himself a five-second penalty for speeding in the pit lane.
With ten laps remaining in the race, Norris began to hit a line of lapped cars, allowing Perez to make substantial gains on the leading McLaren. Yuki Tsunoda, whose excellent race start was largely undone by a slow pit stop early in the race, was the first of the lapped cars that proved difficult to overtake. Norris struggled to overtake, while Perez had an easier time fighting his way through the traffic.
But Perez was not able to get close enough to challenge the McLaren. In the closing laps of the race, he came under pressure from Lewis Hamilton in P4. However, the Brit was unable to get within DRS range before the checkered flag.
Max Verstappen chalked up his seventh consecutive victory and ninth this season while Red Bull broke new record-breaking ground with a 12th consecutive win. He also took home the bonus point for fastest lap. Lando Norris and Sergio Perez stood alongside the championship leader on the podium.
Now just a single race stands between us and the Formula One summer break. That race is the Belgian Grand Prix around the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps on the weekend of July 30.
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| Race Results | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | M. Verstappen | 26 | |
| 2 | L. Norris | 18 | |
| 3 | S. Perez | 15 | |
| 4 | L. Hamilton | 12 | |
| 5 | O. Piastri | 10 | |
| 6 | G. Russell | 8 | |
| 7 | C. Leclerc | 6 | |
| 8 | C. Sainz | 4 | |
| 9 | F. Alonso | 2 | |
| 10 | L. Stroll | 1 | |
| 11 | A. Albon | ||
| 12 | V. Bottas | ||
| 13 | D. Ricciardo | ||
| 14 | N. Hulkenberg | ||
| 15 | Y. Tsunoda | ||
| 16 | G. Zhou | ||
| 17 | K. Magnussen | ||
| DNF | L. Sargeant | ||
| DNF | E. Ocon | ||
| DNF | P. Gasly | ||
