Max Verstappen is driving towards a title defense in the Formula 1 World Championship at top speed: the Dutchman won the Hungarian Grand Prix ahead of the two Mercedes drivers Lewis Hamilton and George Russell. After 13 of the 22 races of the season, the Red Bull driver is already 80 points ahead of his pursuer Charles Leclerc. The Ferrari driver, who had been in the lead in Budapest for a while, had to settle for sixth place behind team-mate Carlos Sainz and Red Bull’s Sergio Perez.
Verstappen could hardly believe his luck at winning in unusually cool conditions for Hungary (19 degrees at the start). “Who would have thought when we got up that we would win?” asked the 24-year-old, who had missed out on a better starting position due to engine problems in qualifying. Red Bull reacted, in addition to Verstappen and Perez, the drive units of Pierre Gasly (Alpha Tauri) were also swapped. Nevertheless, the world champion complained about technical difficulties early in the race and later even spun. Verstappen could not stop all this. He celebrated his 29th victory, but he had never come from so far behind.
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It played into his hands that the two Ferraris were practically no longer competitive after switching to hard tyres. “I think starting on the medium was the right thing to do, but I just didn’t understand why we went on the hard tyres,” said Leclerc, shaking his head.
Mercedes found its way
The podium finishes for Hamilton and Russell were similarly unexpected, as the Mercedes was still considered undriveable on Friday at the Hungaroring. “The car was in such a bad position that, out of desperation, we said: let’s do the opposite,” team boss Toto Wolff told ORF how the “Silver Arrows” found the right setup more or less by accident. This had surprisingly helped Russell to his first career pole position on Saturday. The 24-year-old was therefore only partially happy about third place. Hamilton is completely different: “We have now closed the gap a little, which gives us courage for the second half of the season.” Formula 1 is now taking a four-week summer break before continuing in Spa on August 28th.
Source: Nachrichten
