Max Verstappen starting second place on the grid at the start of the Hungarian Grand Prix, blew by Lewis Hamilton, occupying pole position in the first turn of Lap 1 to kick start the 11th race of the 2023 season.
With a better launch than Hamilton at lights out, Verstappen carried the momentum from his previous seven wins to claim his 7th for Red Bull in a row this past weekend.
Fellow Red Bull racer, Sergio Perez, gifted the Red Bull team a double podium by finishing the race in third place, with Mclaren driver, Lando Norris, in second.
The Mclaren team gained the second most points this weekend, with Norris on the podium and his Australian teammate, Oscar Piastri, finishing 5th place and together winning 28 points for the team right behind Red Bull’s 41 points scored in Hungary. Mercedes won the third-best overall score, with 20 points on Hamilton’s tenth anniversary of his first win with team Mercedes on this specific circuit.
Hamilton’s teammate George Russell put in the work this weekend after finishing 18th on Saturday’s qualifying and starting at the back of the grid for Sunday’s race. Russell worked from P18 to P6, continuing the momentum from his exhilarating performance this past weekend, finishing P5 in the British Grand Prix.
Overall a disappointing weekend for the French Alpine team, with Pierre Gasly and Esteban Ocon in Turn 1 of Lap 1 crashing into one another, leading to their cars’ retirement for the remainder of the race.
The accident occurred after Alfa Romeo racer Guanyu Zhou, rammed into the back of returning racer Daniel Riccardo’s Alfa Tauri, who made a full collision into the rear of Ocon, causing both Alpines to collide, resulting in damage and the retirement of both cars.
Daniel Riccardo made his much-anticipated racing return this weekend with team Alfa Tauri, replacing driver Nyck de Vries.
For Riccardo, these past five years in Formula 1 has made a complete cycle after his decision to leave Red Bull in 2018. He is now racing for Red Bull’s B team, Alfa Tauri, leaving fans excited to have “The Honey Badger” back in the Red Bull family.
After the collision in Turn 1 with the Alpine team, Riccardo placed 13th overall for this race weekend but claims he felt points were just within reach for him and his team.
“I got hit in Turn 1, and dropped to the tail of the pack,” Riccardo said. “After that, we got stuck in traffic, but once we got some clear air, I could settle into a rhythm and from then on, I was happy.”
Team Ferrari continues its season that is falling short of expectations, scoring 10 points for themselves, keeping them 4th in Constructors for the season.
French driver Charles Leclerc finished sixth this weekend, with Spanish teammate Carlos Sainz in seventh.
The two have been neck and neck with one another all season. Buzz in the F1 community surrounding the Ferrari drivers becoming frustrated with each other is circulating due to the team’s errors in the pits.
Leclerc went from P6 to P7 when he was enforced a 5-second penalty resulting from speeding into the pits.
Team Ferrari’s woes at pit lane continued with a prolonged pit stop when an error with a wheel gun lost Leclerc any chance of gaining his starting position back.
Leclerc’s teammate Sainz raced a good race after having a displeasing finish on Saturday’s qualifying, resulting in a P11 start for Sunday’s race. Sainz, with some excellent overpasses and his taking advantage of lots of DRS opportunities, found himself finishing P7 and winning some points for Ferrari.
With Max Verstappen’s first place finish, Red Bull broke the record for most consecutive wins ever, making this weekend one for the books. You could almost see his smile through his helmet when “The Dutchman” crossed the finish line.
At the trophy ceremony following the more exciting race, Norris broke Verstappen’s trophy with his signature celebratory champagne bomb. The force from the bottle knocked the trophy off of the first-place podium onto the ground, breaking it in half.
After a good laugh at the podium, the drivers and their teams gear up for this upcoming race weekend in Spa, Belgium. The same track that Verstappen won last year.
