Good morning F1 viewers In North America, new and present. Welcome back to the 2022 Hungarian Grand Prix for the 13th race of the season. It’s Race Day Sunday here in Budapest Hungary.
The theme has been, well, unpredictable. The weather pattern changed once again, cloudy, very windy and spots of rain. The track temperature is 26 degrees, much cooler than yesterday. This brings out plans A, B and C … out of the war room.
Pitstops will be critical in this race but the choice of tyre will be even more strategic. Again that will depend on the climatic conditions.
We have a grid with two Alpines, two McLarens, two Mercedes and two Ferrari in the top ten, with a lone wolf of Alfa Romeo.
The “Undercut” will be crucial in taking advantage of position if one of the team rivals has a bad pit stop. The average pit stop from entering the pit lane and back out on the track should be around “20 secs” or so.
Tyre change sound rings in about 2.3 – 2.6 secs, yes! In a heartbeat they are back on the track.
Keep an eye on that because we are in for an electrifying race! Back on grid and waiting on the formation lap.
Wow what a day! It was a crazy race, but we stayed calm and won! This feels absolutely amazing ?
The car was great and today we adapted to the circumstances really good, so our strategy worked out perfectly. Mega job team @redbullracing ?#HungarianGP pic.twitter.com/YwYTty5QXW
— Max Verstappen (@Max33Verstappen) July 31, 2022
Formation lap
The Drivers are taking their position on the grid… the lights go green… the time is winding down, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 and they are off 70 laps to go!
(Special note: Both Red Bull racing carriages were fitted with new power units, no penalty as they are not over the limit of upgrades to their units.)
Circuit lap Commentary!
First Lap
Russell gets away… Ferrari follows closely… A nice driving line into the first two corners by Russell, Sainz and Leclerc. Verstappen overtakes two positions into 8th from tenth. Hamilton from 5th to 6th and the race is on!
Laps 2-30
Going into lap 6, Russell and Mercedes trying to extend the lead but the Red Horses are keeping pace.
Here comes the Red Bulls from the middle of the pack. Wow, for a track not known for overtaking, there is a lot going on.
This is an endorsement to the new racing cars design and clean air technology that keeps the cars closer while cutting down the dirty air between cars by as much as 30%.
Going into laps 7 & 8 and here come the Bulls again. Verstappen for Red Bull overtakes Ocon for Alpine as Perez outwits and passes Alonso with Alpine.
Nicely done, Ferrari still hunting down Russell. As we now see Hamilton and Verstappen chasing down Norris for an overtake.
Norris is trying to defend… Both off and we have within two laps.. Hamilton overtakes Norris. Verstappen overtakes Norris and Perez sweeps around Norris. A lovely three-way battles here. This racing is amazing!
First pit stop coming in. Look out for the undercuts. This will affect the race.
As some of the teams come out of the pit lane we see that Sainz leads Leclerc. They stayed out, as Hamilton is in 3rd followed by Perez for Red Bull.
Russell has a bit of a problem in the pit stop, he will surely lose the lead.
Sainz, and Verstappen are now in the pit lane, those boys are busy in the pit lanes Hamilton comes in, pure insanity, love it!
As they come out, undercut left and right. Who has won this battle… On top we have Leclerc’s Ferrari in the lead but is now not pitting.
Verstappen is flying out there. Russell retakes the lead.
Leclerc is back to hunting a Mercedes but closely followed by Sainz, Verstappen and Hamilton.
So much action going on!
Laps 31-40
Here we go.. Ferrari is again hunting down a silver arrow. Well done, Leclerc leads lap 32, but a red hard charging Bull is coming. Followed by another silver arrow, Hamilton and a Red Horse in Sainz.
Yellow flag and Japanese rider Tsunoda spins out… A quick half circle screecher, a little burnt rubber and he’s back on the track. Back to racing!
Laps 41-64
Here we go again, a lot of hunting going on, Sainz leading the race, but has not pitted for his 2nd time along with Hamilton, Verstappen, went on early 2nd pit stop and will be doing all the hunting, until the end for the race. Verstappen hard charging down the straight he goes, and he overtakes Leclerc and goes into 3rd place. Sainz, 1st Hamilton 2nd leading, but they still have not come into the pitlane for a tyre change. Here comes Sainz into the pit lane, Hamilton staying and leading the race, a brilliant drive so far by Hamilton and Verstappen’s old rivals. Finally, Hamilton comes into the pit for new tyres, and Verstappen from 10th place takes the lead on lap 53! Sensational driving and strategy by team Red Bull!
Checking the time clock, Verstappen leads by the race by over 10 secs, Hamilton is flying, Russell trying to keep pace and the Red Prancing Horse are struggling with their tyre choice and again and timing in the pit lane.
Last 6 laps
Hamilton’s Mercedes is flying out there. Homing in his teammate, Russell for Mercedes and they are racing each other. Great to see and now Hamilton overtakes his teammate and has gone into 2nd place. Russell is in 3rd and staggering behind is a Prancing horse, Sainz in 4th place.
Soft rain is coming down going into the last lap and here we go.
Last lap
Turning into the first corner is Verstappen followed by Hamilton (+7.834s) and Russell (+12.337s) going into the last sector of the race.
Verstappen Wins the Hungarian Grand Prix with a time of 1:39:35.912,
Wow a sensational drive by Max and Lewis from the mid-field.
Sainz (+14.579s) and Perez (+15.668s) round up the top 5.
Quotes
“It’s windy, that’s going to make our lives tricky. Where is best to place my car and how to stay out of trouble. Turn 1 is simple, just get around it. Turn 2 is a big tailwind so choosing where to place your car, not to lock up…”Lando Norris
Brilliant response!!
“I was hoping I could get close to a podium, but we had a good strategy, we were active. Even with the 360, we won the race I was battling a lot of guys, it was a lot of fun out there, a Crazy race, happy we won it! Max Verstappen, Red Bull
Sensational!
Upcoming
Next up on the circuit is BELGIUM, GRAN PRIX, 14th RACE
FORMULA 1 ROLEX BELGIAN GRAND PRIX, 2022
25 days, 19 hrs and 41 mins
August 26th, FP1, 8-9 a.m.
August 26th, FP2, 11-12 NOON
August 27th, FP3, 7-8 a.m.
August 27th, Qualifications 11-12 noon
August 28 Race Day Sunday
During summer break for the next 25 days we will keep posting. Keep viewing and informed along the way into the 2nd half of the season and right into December!
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