Ferrari once again paid the price for its failed strategies by paving the way for Red Bull world champion Dutch driver Max Verstappen to win the Hungarian Grand Prix, the thirteenth round of the F1 World Championship, breaking out of tenth place on Sunday at the Hungaroring. scheme.
Ferrari’s strategy to start the race on medium-soft tires and the need to respond to the Italian team’s early Red Bull stoppage with a hard, underperforming tyre, robbed Monaco’s son Charles Leclerc of the win and closed the gap separating him from the lead. from Verstappen to the summer break and even his second Spanish driver Carlos Sainz. From climbing the podium.
After seemingly on his way to winning and correcting a driving error that had forced him out of last Sunday’s race in France, Leclerc finished in sixth place with seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton second behind his a Mercedes teammate. George Russell, who was once the first pole of his career.
As for Sinus, he finished fourth in front of second Mexican Red Bull Sergio Perez.
Verstappen was very pleased with the win, saying: “What a race. I think we kept our cool and ended up winning”, and Hamilton was pleased with the second place in a row, saying: “Great job guys. What result”. for the team. Happy for all of you and grateful to all of you. This is a very positive result.”
With his second win in a row, eighth this season and twenty-eighth of his career, Verstappen secured the overall lead with 258 points, 80 points ahead of Leclerc before going on summer break until 28 August.
Despite Sainz’s attempts, Russell managed to hold on to his first spot, starting ahead of the Spaniard and Leclerc, while Verstappen advanced to eighth from tenth on Saturday due to a food problem. unit which was replaced without penalty by the Dutch as it is still within the legal limits.
The virtual safety car was activated before the end of the first lap due to the presence of pieces scattered around the track, which coincided with the rise of Hamilton by two positions to fifth at the expense of French Alpine duo Esteban Ocon and Spaniard Fernando Alonso.
Verstappen starts to push forward
The drivers returned to racing on lap three, with Russell widening the gap between the pair of Ferraris while Verstappen overtook Alonso in seventh and then sixth on lap seven with Ocon before teammate Pires followed him from eleventh.
Meanwhile, Russell was well ahead of the Ferrari duo and his team informed him that it would be dry for the next half hour.
On lap 11, an exciting three-way battle developed between Verstappen, Hamilton and Norris, who tried to hold on to fourth position but lost it on the next lap to his compatriot, seven-time world champion, and then moved up to sixth after the Dutchman managed to overtake him, as well as his colleague Perez.
By lap 15, the fight for the top three places intensified, with Leclerc managing to close the gap separating him from colleague Sinus and the latter from Russell, who started the race on a soft tyre, as opposed to the Ferrari duo who were on medium soft tyres.
Russell made his first stop on lap 17, allowing Sainz to take the lead in front of Leclerc, who was leading alone after his Spaniard stopped on lap 18 to change tyres.
Unlike the lead drivers, Leclerc waited until lap 22 to make a pit stop and managed to exit right in front of Sinus and behind leader Russell, who began to see Monaco’s son in the mirror as he lapped due to the sheer speed. Ferrari driver speed.
The two drivers got into a very exciting fight for the lead and Leclerc managed after several attempts to overtake the Briton on lap 31, leaving the latter to fight another battle with Sinus and Verstappen behind them by a narrow margin.
In the battle between the Briton and the Spaniard, Leclerc was in the lead by more than four seconds, reaching the 37th lap.
Verstappen stop baffles Ferrari accounts
Instead of getting past Russell, Science was forced to defend his position during Verstappen’s attack, which coincided with the onset of light rain.
And in a sudden decision, especially with the start of rain, Verstappen came in to make his second stop, followed by Russell and Leclerc, meaning teams know the rain won’t be heavy enough to mix up maps and force teams to change tyres.
Verstappen was knocked out by Russell and Sinus was in the lead against Hamilton.
Due to the fact that his tires are of medium softness compared to the less productive hard tires of Leclerc’s car, Verstappen managed to overtake the Ferrari driver on lap 40, but the defending champion made a driving error and once again allowed the prince to overtake him again.
However, the Dutchman quickly made up for it and beat Leclerc on lap 45, taking advantage of the better performance of the medium-soft tyre.
On lap 48, Science appeared and changed his tires to soft tires, leaving Hamilton in the lead ahead of Verstappen and Leclerc, who continued to suffer with medium soft tyres.
Hamilton stopped to change his tires on lap 52 with a soft quality and went into fifth place behind Science at a time when Leclerc struggled to stay ahead of Russell, not holding on as Verstappen took the lead after Hamilton stopped.
Ferrari realized that Leclerc’s stay on medium soft tires would cost him more of a decline and urged him to make a third stop to use the soft tire and finish in sixth place.
The disastrous weekend for Ferrari ended with the fact that Sinus lost third place to Hamilton on lap 63, then the latter quickly entered the fight for second place with his teammate Russell and managed to overtake the latter on lap 65.
Here are the results of the Hungarian Grand Prix in the Formula 1 World Championship:
1. Max Verstappen (Netherlands/Red Bull) 1.39:35.912 hours
2. Lewis Hamilton (UK/Mercedes) 1.39:43.746
3. George Russell (Great Britain/Mercedes) 1.39:48.249
4. Carlos Science (Spain/Ferrari) 1.39:50.491
5. Sergio Perez (Mexico/Red Bull) 1.39:51.600
6. Charles Leclerc (Monaco/Ferrari) 1.39:51.959
7. Lando Norris (Great Britain/McLaren) 1.40:54.212
8. Fernando Alonso (Spain/Mountaineering) on the lap
9. Esteban Ocon (France/Alpine region) on a lap
10. Sebastian Vettel (Germany/Aston Martin) on the lap
11. Lance Stroll (Canada/Aston Martin) on the lap
12. Pierre Gasly (France/Alpha Tauri-Red Bull) on a lap
13. Zhou Guangyu (China/Alfa Romeo) on the lap
14. Mick Schumacher (Germany/Haas) on the lap
15. Daniel Ricciardo (Australia/McLaren) on the lap
16. Kevin Magnussen (Denmark/Haas) on the lap
17. Alexander Albon (Thailand/Williams) on the lap
18. Nicholas Latifi (Canada/Williams) for one lap
19. Yuki Tsunoda (JP/Alpha Tauri-Red Bull) for two laps
20. Valtteri Bottas (Finland/Alfa Romeo) 5 laps ahead
Fastest lap of the race: Lewis Hamilton (Great Britain/Mercedes) 1:21.386 on lap 57 (average speed: 260,580 km/h)
Withdrawals:
Valtteri Bottas (Finland/Alfa Romeo): Engine (Lap 66)
Here is the Formula 1 World Championship standings after the thirteenth round of this season’s Hungarian Grand Prix, which took place in Budapest.
Driver Rating:
1. Max Verstappen (Netherlands) 258 points
2. Charles Leclerc (Monaco) 178
3. Sergio Perez (Mexico) 173
4. George Russell (Great Britain) 158
5. Carlos Saiens (Spain) 156
6. Lewis Hamilton (Great Britain) 146
7. Lando Norris (Great Britain) 76
8. Esteban Ocon (France) 58
9. Valtteri Bottas (Finland) 46
10. Fernando Alonso (Spain) 41
11. Kevin Magnussen (Denmark) 22
12. Daniel Ricciardo (Australia) 19
13. Pierre Gasly (France) 16
14. Sebastian Vettel (Germany) 16
15. Mick Schumacher (Germany) 12
16. Yuki Tsunoda (Japan) 11
17. Zhou Guanyu (China)
18. Lance Stroll (Canada)
19. Alexander Albon (Thailand)
Manufacturers order:
1. Red Bull 431 points
2. Ferrari 334
3. Mercedes 304
4. Alpine 99
5. McLaren 95
6. Alfa Romeo 51
7. Haas 34
8. Alpha Tauri – Red Bull 27
9. Aston Martin 20
10. Williams 3