Max Verstappen Dominates for Record Setting Win

JULY 23: Race winner Max Verstappen of the Netherlands and Oracle Red Bull Racing celebrates on the podium during the F1 Grand Prix of Hungary at Hungaroring on July 23, 2023 in Budapest, Hungary. (Photo by Mark Thompson/Getty Images)

MOGYORÓD, Hungary – With the Formula 1 schedule inching closer and closer to the summer break, the Hungarian Grand Prix looked to be another attempt for the field to close the gap to Max Verstappen and Red Bull, with Mercedes’ of Lewis Hamilton starting on pole for the 104th time in his career and the impressive McLarens of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri. However, the story was turned to the record-breaking 12th win in a row for Red Bull Racing.

The starting grid wasn’t changed from the previous day thanks to a lack of grid penalties, so the anticipation came from what the tire strategy teams picked up and down the grid. Once the tire warmers were removed right before the grid was cleared, 14 out of the 20 runners were on either used or brand-new Medium compound tires. Meanwhile, the Ferrari of Carlos Sainz, the Aston Martin of Lance Stroll, the AlphaTauri of Yuki Tsunoda, and the Alpine Pierre Gasly start on soft compound tires. Finally, both the Red Bull of Sergio Perez and the Mercedes of George Russell were attempting to run longer with a set of Hard compound tires.

With the field set and the cars sent out on their formation lap, it was almost time for the Hungarian Grand Prix.

The lights went out and Verstappen, after having some mediocre race starts in the past few weeks, got an amazing start and was able to make his way past his 2021 title rival Hamilton going into Turn 1, and clearing past him after putting his elbows out on the exit of the turn. In the start, the McLarens both tried to make moves forward as rookie Oscar Piastri got ahead of both of his teammates Lando Norris and the Mercedes of Hamilton.

But further back, Saturday’s qualifying standout in the Alfa Romeo, Zhou Guanyu had a slow start and in that mess, he got into Daniel Ricciardo’s AlphaTauri, who then got into the Alpine of Esteban Ocon, who got into his teammate of Pierre Gasly, leaving Gasly with a large hole in the side-pod. The domino effect of sorts led to the DNF of both Alpines, another disastrous weekend for the team looking to make up ground on McLaren.

Once all of the chaos had gone away, Verstappen had gained himself a comfortable lead over both McLarens of Piatri and Norris and he was working on stretching out his lead. The biggest movers of the Ferrari of Sainz found himself on the tail of his teammate, Charles Leclerc, taking advantage of using the soft tires at the start while the Mercedes of Russell was marching up through the field and was racing the Alfa Romeo of Valtteri Bottas, who like his teammate, was struggling in the opening stages of the Grand Prix

The first round of pit stops, when those who started on the Soft tires with Albon, Stroll, and Tsunoda while Sainz convinced his Ferrari pit wall to stay out a bit longer since he was comfortable on the soft tires and went into the pits before he was passed by Perez.

Hamilton brought his Mercedes in to begin the pit cycle for those who had started on the Medium tires. Norris followed shortly after and then jumped his teammate Piastri who had run longer with an undercut. The drama of the pit cycle came from the Ferrari garage as Leclerc had a slow pit stop and lost many positions, that he would have to gain back.

Meanwhile, Verstappen continued to grow his advantage on the field, stretching out his opening stint before moving to the Hard tires, like the rest of the front runners, on lap 23. He would rejoin the track once again in the lead, working to once again extend his advantage over the field.

The first round of pit stops finally met the end as the opening stint Hard tire runner Perez brought his Red Bull down to pit road followed shortly by Russell bringing in his Mercedes. Once the cycle was complete, Verstappen led Norris by Piastri, then Hamilton had a charging Perez behind him.

JULY 23: Max Verstappen of the Netherlands driving the (1) Oracle Red Bull Racing RB19 on track during the F1 Grand Prix of Hungary at Hungaroring on July 23, 2023 in Budapest, Hungary. (Photo by Dan Mullan/Getty Images)

The middle stint was quiet, save for a bit of drama from the Ferrari garage, as Leclerc was making his way back up through the field. He made his way behind his teammate, but his team wasn’t giving him much of a chance to easily get behind his teammate. They were just merely existing in sixth and seventh.

The second and final round of stops started with Piastri and Perez bringing their cars down the pit lane, both swapping to used Medium tires. Shortly after that came the second-place driver of Norris making his final stop of the day. The remaining drivers made their second and final stops of the day, leaving both Hamilton and Verstappen on the track waiting to make their last stop.

There was some more drama in the pits, though in the middle of the points runners. First, Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso had a slow stop, pushing him back down the field. However, he wasn’t alone as Leclerc entered the pit lane too fast and received a 5-second penalty.

Mercedes were hoping to take advantage of staying out longer so they would have a better chance to make up spots on fresher tires. Hamilton pitted on Lap 49 and he was sent on a charge in hopes of a possible podium finish. A couple of laps later, Red Bull brought in Verstappen for his final stop of the day.

Verstappen rejoined the track and set to work on increasing his lead, again, and also setting the fastest lap of the race for an extra World Championship point, which he achieved rather quickly. Meanwhile, Perez set on attempting to get the final podium spot from Piastri while Hamilton was making a bit of a charge. Perez put his elbows out in the second turn getting passed the rookie McLaren driver and set forth getting to Norris for second place.

Taking advantage of the later stop for fresher tires, Hamilton made his way to the rear wing of Piastri and made it past lap 57. Meanwhile, Perez was starting to make a charge getting to Norris for second place, taking advantage of lapped traffic that was making it difficult for Norris to get by. Thankfully for Norris, he got back out into clear air and was able to open up a gap to Perez.

Hamilton was then making a spirited drive to Perez to attempt to get a podium finish, however, he would come up short when the checkered flag flew. The fresher tires and lighter fuel load worked to perfection for the 7-Time champ.

The checkered flag flew for Max Verstappen as he crossed the line, leading from lights out to the checkered flag for his seventh victory in a row, matching Sebastian Vettel, Alberto Ascari, Nico Rosberg, and Michael Schumacher. This victory was also a record-breaking win for Red Bull as they achieved 12 victories in a row, moving them ahead of the record set by McLaren drivers Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost in 1988, dating back to Abu Dhabi the previous season.

Following Verstappen came Norris, matching a career-best second place, his first back-to-back podium finishes, and Perez finishing the podium. Hamilton followed with Piastri closing out the Top 5. Russell recovered to sixth from a disappointing qualifying on Saturday and took advantage of Leclerc’s 5-second penalty. Sainz finished behind his teammate and the Aston Martin teammates finished out the Top 10.

F1 will be back at Spa-Francorchamps for the Belgian Grand Prix. Questions to be asked if Red Bull will continue their dominance in 2023 or if the continued improvements of McLaren and Mercedes will put them closer to Red Bull and Verstappen. All of that will be seen in a week when Formula 1 has its final race before its Summer Break.