Dutchman Max Verstappen shrugged off a loss of control and his worst starting position of the season to win the Hungarian Grand Prix on Sunday. With his eighth win of the campaign, the Red Bull driver extended his lead at the top of the drivers’ standings to 80 points ahead of Charles Leclerc at Formula 1’s summer break.
Even though his lead continues to grow, Verstappen is taking nothing for granted. “Of course it’s a big lead,” said the reigning world champion. But if you want to fight for the championship, you can’t afford to make mistakes. »
Mercedes saw its two drivers reach the podium in a second Grand Prix in a row. Seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton moved from seventh to second, while teammate George Russell, who started in the lead position, finished third.
Carlos Sainz took fourth after another disastrous day for Ferrari. Leclerc settled for sixth, behind Red Bull’s Sergio Perez.
Verstappen now has 28 wins in his career.
“Who would have thought, when we woke up this morning, that we would get this result? Unbelievable,” exclaimed Verstappen after the race, speaking to his team on the radio system. “I had to fight a lot of riders and I had a lot of fun. It was a bit of a crazy race, but I kept my cool, and we won,” he added.
Quebec driver Lance Stroll, of Aston Martin, settled for 11e rank, just behind his teammate Sebastian Vettel. Ontario’s Nicholas Latifi of Williams finished in 18e square.
Verstappen had qualified in 10e position due to a mechanical problem on Saturday. He was able to afford a 360 on the track on Sunday. “Incredible Max, it’s one of your best performances. Fantastic”, launched the director of Red Bull, Christian Horner.
Russell spent 30 laps in the lead before being overtaken by Leclerc.
Red Bull decided to send Verstappen to the pits for a second pit stop early, and Ferrari responded by asking Leclerc to do the same. However, Verstappen put on the medium rubbers and Leclerc, the hard rubbers.
“These tires are [censurés] said Leclerc on the radio system.
He later explained that he believed the team made the wrong decision. “I had been clear in saying that I wanted to continue on the mediums as long as possible, but we finally made an early stop for the hard compounds. I would like to understand why we did this. It was the decisive moment,” said Leclerc.
“Before thinking about the championship, we have to think about what we have to do best as a team. Otherwise, it will be very difficult,” he added.
Verstappen quickly edged out Leclerc in the 41e lap, before losing control of his car at the end of the same lap, performing a full 360 degree rotation. The Dutchman, however, overtook Leclerc again two laps later. “The conditions weren’t obvious, but the strategy was the right one,” said Verstappen. We did well, making the saves at the right time. Even despite my 360, we won. »
Leclerc returned to the pits during the 55e turn to replace his hard tires with soft ones, but the damage was done.
Ferrari seems unable not to shoot itself in the foot. Leclerc passed up possible victories at Monaco and Silverstone after tactically questionable decisions. He was also the author of his own misfortune by finishing the French Grand Prix inside the safety wall after making a mistake while in the lead. “It always seems like there’s something going on, whether it’s reliability, mistakes, whatever,” admitted Leclerc, visibly frustrated.
Ferrari’s strategy in Budapest even raised eyebrows at Verstappen. “I think Ferrari didn’t make the right tire choice,” he said. They were very fast, but it was not the right decision to go with the hard tires [pour Leclerc]. »
Sainz stayed on the track longer than his teammate in the middle of the race and opted for the soft tyres. However, he was unable to move up the field like Hamilton did with the same tactic.
“To have both cars on the podium again is very special for us,” said Hamilton. Hopefully we can build on that when we come back from the break and really challenge the leading teams. »
Russell recalled that not so long ago Mercedes were unable to keep pace with Red Bull. “We were finishing a minute late, now we’re talking about 10 seconds,” he noted.
Verstappen said he was happy with Mercedes’ resurgence. “It’s good to have competition,” he said. They may well continue to steal points from Ferrari! »
The F1 circus will be back in action from August 26-28 for the Belgian Grand Prix.