Hungarian Grand Prix: Verstappen – Norris – Perez

Sunny. Dry. Air +29С, rail +50…47С

In 2023, the Hungarian leg was not the last before the mandatory summer holiday – everyone had to postpone their vacation for another week, but the rest of the traditions were observed – it was hot, dusty and cozy on the Hungaroring.

On Friday it rained in the first session and Charles Leclerc led the second protocol. On Saturday morning, Lewis Hamilton led protocol for practice three and then took pole position – the first since 2021, 104th in his career and already ninth at the Hungaroring.

For the sixth time this season, Pirelli brought a “soft” trio of compositions to the podium – C3, C4 and C5 marked Hard, Medium and Soft. The same combination of setups was recently used in Austria, but the format of the qualifier has changed – now, as an experiment, only Hard could be used in the first session, only Medium in the second, and only Soft in the third. This had almost no effect on the balance of power, the trends of recent races remained – McLaren racers were consistently ahead of Ferrari.

Hamilton and Verstappen started from the front row, Norris and Piastri from second, Zhou and Leclerc from third.

Perez and Russell selected Hard for the first leg of the race. Sainz, Stroll, Gasly and Tsunoda started on Soft, the rest, including the entire top eight, started on Medium. Segment length determined rear tire wear.

At the start, Verstappen and both McLaren drivers were ahead of Hamilton. Zhou did not react at the start, lost several places and crashed into Riccardo, Daniel against Okon and Okon against Gasly.

Pierre turned into the pits and retired from the race. Okon around the circle also drove into the pit lane later and also retired – a double lunge in Alpine after the first lap.

Top ten in the second round: Verstappen – Piastri – Norris – Hamilton – Leclerc – Sainz – Alonso – Perez – Hulkenberg – Stroll.

On the eighth lap, Perez was ahead of Alonso in the battle for seventh place.

On lap 9 Albon changed tyres, on lap 10 Stroll, Tsunoda and Bottas, on lap 11 Zhou, on lap 14 Sargent, on lap 15 Magnussen, on lap 16 Sainz, on lap 17 Hamilton and Hulkenberg, on lap 18 Norris and Leclerc – there was a hitch during maintenance on Charles’ car.

On lap 19, Piastri and Ricciardo swapped tyres.

On lap 20, Leclerc was ahead of Stroll for ninth.

On the 21st lap, Alonso pitted and on the 22nd he was ahead of Bottas in the battle for tenth.

On lap 23 Verstappen changed tires, kept the lead, and on lap 25 Perez pitted.

In 25th, Hamilton was ahead of Russell on fresh tires in the pit team, leading by 2.5 seconds on one lap.

On lap 27 Pérez beat Sainz for sixth and on lap 28 Russell for fifth.

Russell changed tires on lap 29. Stroll missed Alonso at the team’s request.

Top ten on lap 30: Verstappen – Norris – Piastri – Hamilton – Perez – Sainz – Leclerc – Alonso – Stroll – Bottas.

Ricciardo pitted on lap 31, Albon on lap 32 and Stroll and Sargent on lap 35.

On lap 37, Stroll overtook Magnussen for 14th. On 39th, Albon was ahead of Kevin.

On lap 40, Hulkenberg and Zhou pitted, on 41st – Bottas, on 42nd – Magnussen, on 43rd – Piastri and Perez, on 44th – Leclerc and Alonso, on 45th – Norris and Sainz, on 46th – Tsunoda, on 47th – Russell.

Leclerc received a five-second time penalty for speeding in the pit lane.

On lap 47, Pérez overtook Piastri at the first corner for fourth.

On lap 50 Hamilton changed tires, on lap 51 Verstappen.

On lap 57, Hamilton overtook Piastri for fourth.

Top ten in round 58: Verstappen – Norris – Perez – Hamilton – Piastri – Leclerc – Sainz – Russell – Alonso – Stroll.

On lap 66, Russell overtook Sainz for seventh.

On lap 69, Sargent spun in the chicane, but the yellow flags were immediately removed and Logan spun into the pits, where he stopped.

Max Verstappen won the Hungarian Grand Prix with his ninth win of the season and 44th of his career. This is Red Bull’s 12th win in a row – a new record in Formula 1 history.

Lando Norris climbed to the second step of the podium, repeating his best result from two weeks ago. Sergio Perez climbed to the third step of the podium.

Racing results

best lap: Max Verstappen (Red Bull Racing) – 1:20.504 (lap 54)

Reasons for leaving

Championship position : Individual

Championship Position: Constructors’ Championship