Race Notes - Verstappen wins in Hungary

By Mark Karp

Max Verstappen in the Red Bull-Honda won the Hungarian Grand Prix by 33.731 seconds over Lando Norris in the McLaren-Mercedes.

Sergio Perez made a good comeback run in the second Red Bull to finish in third place, 37.603s behind the winner.

The win is Verstappen’s seventh in a row, and the win is Red Bull’s 12th consecutive victory, beating the record set by McLaren-Honda in 1988.

The win is Verstappen 44th career win.

Pole sitter Lewis Hamilton (39.134s) in the Mercedes GP fell back early, but fought his way back to fourth at the finish, followed by Oscar Piastri (1m02.572s) in the second McLaren, after running the early laps in second place, was fifth, George Russell (1m05.825s) in the second Mercedes was sixth, Charles Leclerc (1m10.317s) with a 5-second penalty for speeding in the pits in the Ferrari was seventh, Carlos Sainz (1m11.073s) in the second Ferrari was eighth, Fernando Alonso (1m15.709s) in the Aston Martin-Mercedes was ninth and his team mate Lance Stroll (1 lap) took the final point in tenth place.

Before the start on a warm afternoon, Hamilton starts on pole with Verstappen alongside on the front row, the McLaren’s of Norris and Piastri on row 2, Zhou and Leclerc on row 3, Bottas and Alonso on row 4 and Perez and Hulkenberg rounding out the top ten.

Most drivers will be starting on mediun tyres and will be looking to make two stops for hard tyres.

Norris is the only one of the front runners to have a new set of medium tyres, and he hopes it will be an advantage during the first stint.

Perez starts on hard tyres and Sainz will start of soft tyres.

At the appointing time the field came around, the lights went out and the race began with Hamilton gets a close start with Verstappen, Verstappen takes the inside into the first corner to take the lead. Piastri and Norris take second and third, Hamilton down to fourth.

Gasly pits on the first lap with rear wing damage.

Sainz is up to sixth with soft tyres. Zhou falls back to 16th,

Both Alpines are out of the race.

On lap 5 Perez is challenging Alonso in seventh.

On lap 7 Verstappen sets fast lap at 1m24,487s.

On lap 8 Perez passes Alonso for seventh.

Zhou is handed a 5-second penalty for causing the collision with the two Alpines at the start.

On lap 9 Verstappen sets another fast lap at 1m24.437s.

Stroll, Tsunoda and Bottas all pit for hard tyres.

At lap 10 Verstappen leads Piastri by 3.6 seconds, followed by Norris (6.2s), Hamilton (8.3s), Leclerc (10.2s), Sainz (13.4s), Perez (15.0s), Alonso (18.1s), Hulkenberg (21.0s) and Russell (23.3s) in tenth place.

On lap 12 Bottas sets fast lap at 1m24.246s, then Zhou goes quicker on hard tyres as well.

On lap 15 Magnussen pits.

On lap 16 Sainz pits from sixth for hard tyres, and rejoins 11th.

On lap 17 Hamilton pits from fourth for hard tyres and rejoins eighth.

The next lap Norris pits from third and changes to hard tyres and rejoins fifth. Leclerc pits as well and has a slow stop with a wheel gun problem, he rejoins 11th.

On lap 19 Piastri pits from second place for hard tyres and rejoins just behind his team mate Norris.

At lap 20 Verstappen leads Perez by 21.4 seconds, followed by Alonso (26.6s), Norris (28.1s), Piastri (30.0s), Russell (34.8s), Hamilton (39.4s), Sainz (41.6s), Leclerc (45.1s), and Stroll (47.6s) in tenth place.

On lap 22 Norris sets fast lap at 1m23.499s.

Alonso passes Bottas for tenth place.

On lap 24 Verstappen pits from the lead for hard tyres and rejoins still in the lead, 3 seconds ahead of his team mate Perez still to stop on hard tyres.

On the next lap Perez pits and changes to medium tyres and rejoins seventh.

Hamilton passes Russell for fourth place.

On lap 27 Perez passes Sainz for sixth placee.

On lap 28 Perez passes Russell for fifth place. Russell then pits for sixth for medium tyres and rejoins in 14th.

At lap 30 Verstappen leads Norris by 7.0 seconds, followed by Piastri (12.3s), Hamilton (21.3s), Perez (25.6s), Sainz (31.1s), Leclerc (32.4s), Alonso (39.8s), Stroll (43.0s) and Bottas (45.7s) in tenth place.

On lap 31 Perez sets fast lap at 1m23.087s.

Russell passes Tsunoda for 11th place.

Hamilton and Perez are closing on Piastri in third.

On lap 33 Russell sets fast lap at 1m23.014s.

On lap 35 Stroll pits from tenth for hard tyres and rejoins 15th.

Russell passes Bottas for ninth.

On lap 37 Stroll passes Magnussen for 14th.

At lap 40 Verstappen leads Norris by 15.5 seconds, followed by Piastri (22.6s), Hamilton (26.3s), Perez (27.2s), Sainz (40.9s), Leclerc (43.0s), Alonso (50.2s), Russell (54.9s) and Bottas (1m03.7s) in tenth.

Perez is closing on Hamilton.

Bottas pits from tenth for hard tyres and rejoins 13th.

On lap 42 Perez challenges Hamilton, but Hamilton stays ahead.

On lap 44 Piastri and Perez both pit for medium tyres, and they rejoin in sixth and seventh.

Stroll passes Tsnoda for tenth.

Leclerc and Alonso both pit for hard tyres and rejoin eighth and ninth.

Norris pris on lap 45 from second place for medium tyres and rejoins third.

Perez sets fast lap at 1m22.020s.

Sainz pits for hard tyres and rejoins in eighth just behind Leclerc.

On lap 45 Perez sets fast lap at 1m22.637s.

Mercedes tells Hamilton in second to run as quick as he can, and the driver says this is as fast as it possible.

On lap 48 Perez passes Piastri for fourth.

Leclerc is handed a 5-second penalty for speeding in the pitlane.

Norris is closing on Hamilton, still to pit again.

On lap 49 Russell sets fast lap at 1m22.158s.

Hamilton pits for medium tyres and rejoins in fifth, 7 seconds behind Piastri.

O lap 52 Verstappen pits from the lead for medium tyres and rejoins still in the lead.

On lap 53 Verstappen sets fast lap at 1m20.504s.

At lap 55 Verstappen leads Norris by 13.1

seconds, followed by Perez (19.3s), Piastri (29.8s), Hamilton (30.8s), Leclerc (38.4s), Sainz (44.2s), Russell (46.3s), Alonso (54.3s) and Stroll (54.6s) in tenth place.

On lap 57 Hamilton passes Piastri for fourth place.

On lap 59 Perez is closing to 4 seconds behind Norris.

Russell tells the team he wants to consider pitting.

On lap 64 Russell passes Sainz for seventh.

At lap 65 Verstappen leads Norris by 26.1 seconds, followed by Perez (30.0s), Hamilton (35.3s), Piastri (48.0s), Leclerc (52.4s), Russell (58.4s), Sainz (1m00.4s), Alonso (1m05.0s) and Stroll (1 lap) in tenth.

Hamilton is running quicker than Perez an trails him for third by 2.5 seconds.

On lap 69 Hamilton trails Perez by 1.8 seconds.

Sargeant spins.

Verstappen wins ahead of Norris and Perez.