Spin and win as Red Bull read it right
Formula One champion Max Verstappen overcame a spin and his worst starting spot of the season to win the Hungarian Grand Prix yesterday. His eighth win of the season pushed Verstappen’s lead to 80 points over Charles Leclerc as F1 heads into its mid-season break.
Even though his advantage keeps increasing, Verstappen is not thinking ahead.
“It’s of course a great lead,” he said. “But if you want to fight for championships, you can’t afford many mistakes.”
Mercedes placed both their cars on the podium for the second straight race; seven-time F1 champion Lewis Hamilton carved his way from seventh to a second-place finish, team-mate and pole-sitter George Russell was third.
Carlos Sainz Jr. finished fourth in another disastrous day for Ferrari. Leclerc was sixth, one spot behind Sergio Perez of Red Bull.
Verstappen’s eighth win of the season was the 28th of the Dutchman’s career.
“Who would have thought when we woke up today we’d get this result? Amazing,” Verstappen told his team, letting out a laugh. “I was battling a lot of guys and it was a lot of fun out there.
“That was a crazy race but (we) stayed calm and we won.”
He qualified a season-worst 10th because of a loss of power yesterday, then in yesterday’s race Verstappen did a 360-degree spin.
“Unbelievable Max, that is right up there with your best,” Red Bull team principal Christian Horner replied. “Fantastic.”
Russell, who started from the pole for the first time in his career, led 30 laps until Leclerc passed him on the outside as dark clouds rolled over the Hungaroring circuit and a light rain began to fall.
With Leclerc leading, Verstappen undercut for quicker tyres.
Ferrari made a mistake in choosing the more durable hard tyres for
Leclerc.
“These tyres are (expletive),” Leclerc said.
He later explained that he thought it was the wrong call.
“I made it clear that I wanted to keep (the medium tyre) as long as possible, but we pitted very early for the hard, which we need to understand why.
“I think stopping for the hard was the turning point,” Leclerc said.
“Before thinking about the championship, to be honest, as a team we need to understand what we need to do to get better. Because otherwise it’s going to be really difficult.”
Moments later, Verstappen lost grip and spun on track, allowing Sainz to take the lead from Hamilton. Leclerc passed Verstappen, only to lose position soon after because Verstappen had faster tyres.
“It was very tricky conditions out there but we had a really good strategy,” Verstappen said.
“We were really reactive, always pitting at the right time. Even with the 360 we still won.”
Ferrari’s strategy woes just won’t go away. Leclerc has seen two nailedon wins disappear — at the Monaco GP and the British GP — after team calls dropped him down from a dominant position into fourth place.
Ferrari botched Sainz’s next tyre stop on lap 47, taking too long to fit his rear left tyre.
“It always feels like there’s always something going on, reliability, mistakes, whatever,” a clearly frustrated Leclerc said.