Verstappen rallies to eighth win of Formula One season

BUDAPEST, Hungary — Formula One champion Max Verstappen overcame a spin and his worst starting spot of the season to win the Hungarian Grand Prix on Sunday. His eighth win of the season pushed Verstappen’s lead to 80 points over Charles Leclerc as F1 heads into its midseason 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 its 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, teammate 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 on Saturday, then in Sunday’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 tires. Ferrari made a mistake in choosing the more durable hard tires for Leclerc.

“These tires 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 tire) 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 tires.

“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.”

Recalling the spin, Verstappen said: “I went on throttle and completely lost the rear, it caught me out.”

Ferrari’s strategy woes just won’t go away. Leclerc has seen two nailed-on wins disappear — at the Monaco GP and the British GP — after team calls dropped him down from a dominant position into fourth place.