The Red Bull driver has climbed from 10th position to take his eighth win of the season, with another fiasco for Ferrari
Leclerc has lost his advantage due to the strategy and Sainz has been weighed down by two stops that were too slow
Logic does not go with Max Verstappen. neither with Ferrari. In Hungary, this weekend, everything pointed to a double for the ‘Scuderia’ and a race with many problems for the leader of Red Bull, who started tenth on the grid after the reliability failure of his car in Q3 on Saturday. But at the moment of truth, the Dutch driver has been able to read the race better than anyone else in the Hungaroring and he has taken a victory, the eighth of the season for him, which could be worth a championship. There are nine grand prix left, after the summer break, and the advantage of ‘Mad Max‘ at the forefront of the championship continues to grow. It’s already 80 points with Leclerc.
Verstappen has climbed the podium escorted again by Hamilton y Russell, like last week in France. A Sainz, marked by two very slow stops, the podium has escaped him and Leclerc He finished sixth, condemned again for a lousy Ferrari strategy. Fernando Alonso He hasn’t had an easy race either. The rain did not appear until the end and the Spaniard was due to settle for eighth position, ahead of Ocon.
Russell resists
The race started under the threat of rain, which did not materialize and allowed us to start on slick tyres. the men of Ferrari have opted for the medium compound, while Russell he has opted for the soft to maintain his advantage from pole position. In the Scudería there was only one slogan for Sainz and Leclerc: forbidden to touch. Carlos has started very well, like his partner, but the pilot of Mercedes he has defended masterfully and has managed to put a few meters ahead.
Behind, Norris has preserved the fourth place and Hamilton managed to climb two positions (5th) at the expense of the Alpines, while Ocon made it difficult for him Fernando Alonso and the Red Bull, who changed the engine before the race without penalty, began their comeback from the middle of the grid.
After starring in the worst classification of the season, Verstappen and Perez They started 10th and 11th, respectively, but in less than 10 laps they were in the wake of Hamilton, with Verstappen launching a withering attack on the seven-time British champion and with Norris, with much degradation. Lewis has resisted the first onslaught and Max and Checo have overtaken the McLaren like a ‘plane’.
Slow save for Sainz
The soft ones Russell they said ‘enough’ and Leclerc asked Sainz to pick up the pace to account for the Englishman, who had to anticipate his stop to cover a possible Ferrari ‘undercat’. Sainz He went through the pits a lap later and after another slow pit stop by the Maranello team, he returned to the track behind the Mercedes and an Ocon, who slowed him down.
The stop of Leclerc It was one second faster than Sainz’s and the Monegasque gained the position from Carlos, while Russell regained the lead of the race chased by the Ferraris, with Verstappen ‘flying’ already in fourth place.
Ocon and Alonso they have become entangled in an absurd pulse that Ricciardo has taken advantage of to leave them behind, a ‘bad deal’ for the French team considering that Alpine y McLaren fighting for fourth place in the World Cup.
‘Deadly’ chase
Leclerc has raised the bar with a relentless pursuit of Russell. The Briton has heroically resisted in the DRS zones, but in the end he has not been able to save the ‘suicidal’ overtaking of the Monegasque driver, around the outside of turn 1 of the Hungaroring, with almost no material time to brake.
Then, Sainz has also been thrown on top of Mercedes in search of the coveted double for the Scuderia, but without losing sight of an ambitious Verstappen, who was already less than 5 seconds ahead and only 1 behind Carlos.
Red Bull He has surprised with his strategy, throwing an ‘undercut’ at Sainz. With a super effective ‘pit stop’ (2.4) Verstappen has won the position from Russell and has forced Ferrari to react, which has chosen to mount the hard ones in Leclerc’s car, which has been at the expense of Max. The championship leader, very aggressive, made a mistake when he spun in the middle of the straight, but protected by Pérez, he managed to save the situation and return to the attack, to beat Leclerc with 25 laps to go.
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Sainz He was still in the lead, although with a pending stop and looking at the sky, knowing that the rain could be his only chance. But another disastrous ‘pit stop’ (4.6) definitely weighed down the man from Madrid. The poor choice of tires in Leclerc’s box has completed the fiasco of Ferrari, who has once again wasted a golden opportunity and from a possible double has gone to fourth place for Sainz and sixth for Leclerc, clearly surpassed by Verstappen and the two Mercedes of Hamiton and Russell and increasing the gap with the championship leader.
F1 is going on vacation (it will return from 26 to 28 at the mythical Spa) with everything in favor for Red Bull and Max, who will hardly give up his second crown in the remaining nine races.