Red Bull breaks record wins with Max Verstappen’s victory in Hungary

Max Verstappen outperformed Lando Norris in the Hungarian Grand Prix to win a record-breaking 12th straight race victory for Red Bull.

Max Verstappen triumphed in the 2023 Hungarian Grand Prix with ease after overcoming his shocking loss to Lewis Hamilton in qualifying. Lando Norris again finished in second place for McLaren, and Sergio Perez came from ninth place to finish on the podium.

Hamilton lost his first pole position since the memorable and controversial 2021 season, shattering any hopes of an epic struggle for victory between Verstappen and Hamilton in the Hungarian Grand Prix race.

Verstappen’s Red Bull managed to get inside the Mercedes as they approached Turn 1 after starting off the grid in second place. Verstappen took command of the race from the front once he gained the lead and won (with fastest lap) by over 34 seconds.

Oscar Pastri drove his McLaren on a tighter line through the right-hander to advance from fourth to second as Lewis Hamilton fought to hold it together on the outside at the start.

The Mercedes was subsequently dropped from pole to fourth within three laps by Lando Norris, who maneuvered the sister McLaren past Hamilton’s outside at Turn 2 to take the critical inside line for Turn 3.

Hamilton apologized to Mercedes before beginning to pursue the McLarens for the second straight race. Despite Mercedes’ well-known expertise in rear tyre management on hot and gritty tracks, the team tried to boost Hamilton’s confidence by warning him that the race would be long and hot. However, this didn’t seem to aid Mercedes much until the last stint.

At the first set of pit stops, Hamilton was unable to overtake the McLarens and lost more time in the second stint while trailing a slow George Russell. The team acknowledged taking efforts to control the car in near-30C ambient temperatures and admitted that Hamilton felt his engine had been detuned.

Zhou Guanyu, who was running in fifth place, had a poor start and dropped down the list. He later crashed into Daniel Ricciardo when braking for the first turn, which caused the AlphaTauri to hit Esteban Ocon who then struck Alpine’s Pierre Gasly.

Although the incident left both Alpine cars permanently damaged, the race was able to continue without the assistance of the Safety Car as Zhou was later given a five-second time penalty for his role in triggering the crash.

By lap seven, Verstappen had established a short lead over Piastri, two seconds behind as the McLarens fell out of Hamilton’s Mercedes’ DRS range. While the leaders were satisfied to stay out, many teams farther back elected to pit their drivers early for the hard compound tyre before lap 10.

Over the course of the second stint, Verstappen moved ahead of the McLarens extending his lead to well over 10 seconds by the halfway point. His teammate Perez, who was running fourth at the time, caught up with Hamilton and pitted for a second set of medium tyres.

Soon after, the two McLarens also checked in for mediums while maintaining their positions ahead of Perez. Piastri was immediately under pressure from Perez, and despite his best attempts, the Red Bull overtook the rookie McLaren driver around the outside of turn one to separate the McLarens.

Verstappen was the only driver who had not yet made a second pit stop when Hamilton eventually pulled into the garage from the second spot and reappeared behind Perez and Piastri in fifth.

On lap 51, the race’s early leader finally made a pit stop and took the medium tyres for his last stint. He was 12 seconds ahead of Norris when he exited the pits, but he immediately started to widen the gap after setting the new fastest lap of the race.

Hamilton, who was running in fifth place drew up to the McLaren of Piastri and easily overtook him going into the first turn to move up to fourth.

Verstappen swiftly outpaced everyone else as he effortlessly strolled through the closing laps. He took the chequered flag at the conclusion of the 70th lap to secure his ninth victory of the year and seventh straight victory, setting a new record of 12 consecutive victories for his Red Bull team.

Norris followed him home for the second consecutive race. Perez beat Hamilton to the final podium spot, preventing Hamilton from repeating the podium rostrum from the British Grand Prix. Piastri lost time and dropped to fifth, some 20 seconds behind Hamilton.

Charles Leclerc was given a five-second time penalty for speeding in the pit lane, which allowed George Russell to finish sixth despite starting 18th. Carlos Sainz Jr. came in eighth place.

The top 10 was rounded out by Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll on another quiet weekend for the Aston Martin team, which appears to be losing ground in the battle to be the best of the rest behind Red Bull. Neither Alfa Romeo scored points despite impressive and unexpected qualifying positions inside the top ten.

Zhou Guanyu turned fifth on the grid into a 16th-place finish, while Valtteri Bottas flipped from seventh on the grid to 12th, behind Alex Albon’s Williams.

After the Zhou incident, Ricciardo appeared unharmed and resumed the race, finishing in 13th place which is a decent result in his comeback race after taking Nyck de Vries’ place at AlphaTauri.

2023 F1 HUNGARIAN GRAND PRIX – RACE RESULTS