Site icon Paddock Magazine

2022 Formula 1 Hungarian Grand Prix highlights

2022 Formula 1 Hungarian GP
Introduction

 

Max Verstappen won the 2022 Formula 1 Hungarian Grand Prix from P10 with pitch-perfect execution of Red Bull’s strategy, while Lewis Hamilton finished second ahead of his pole-sitting Mercedes teammate George Russell.

Click here to subscribe to our print edition!

Russell led on soft tyres and pitted on Lap 15, soft-shod Verstappen pitting from P5 a lap later to force Carlos Sainz to pit from the lead. Charles Leclerc meanwhile stayed out in the lead, extending his first stint until Lap 22. Russell led again but was passed by Sainz on Lap 31. So, from P4, Verstappen forced the issue with a second stop for mediums on Lap 39.

Crucially, with that stop, Verstappen had pulled off an undercut on Sainz and had an advantage on Leclerc too, the Monegasque starting on mediums to swap for the same compound after a long first stint – and from the lead pitting from hard tyres well after Verstappen. The Dutchman cleared his rival with ease soon after that and it became clear that hard tyres weren’t the answer; Leclerc fell to P6 as he switched again for softs while Verstappen won by 7.8s.

And that was despite a 360-degree spin that almost cost Verstappen at the final corner and forced him to make another overtake on Leclerc.

Hamilton started seventh on mediums, cleared the Alpines, pitted for mediums and stayed out long to ensure he could finish the race on softs, which ensured he could pass the likes of Sainz and then Russell to finish second.

Having started on pole, Russell couldn’t convert that to a win, his soft-medium-medium strategy seeing him end up third ahead of Sainz, who was cost by slow pit stops to finish fourth behind the Mercedes. Sainz still held off Sergio Perez by a second, while Leclerc couldn’t use his soft tyres to pass Perez and ended up sixth behind the Red Bull on another disappointing day for the Scuderia.

Lando Norris beat the Alpines to seventh, while Fernando Alonso finished P8 at the expense of teammate Esteban Ocon. Sebastian Vettel scrapped with Lance Stroll to lead his Canadian teammate for P10.

Pierre Gasly took P12, comfortably ahead of 13th-place Zhou Guanyu. Mick Schumacher was next, while Daniel Ricciardo could only manage 15th thanks to a five-second penalty ahead of the other Haas of Kevin Magnussen – who was involved in a minor collision early on.

Williams were next, Alex Albon finishing ahead of Nicholas Latifi in P17 and P18 respectively, while a spin saw Yuki Tsunoda finish 19th and last for AlphaTauri.

Valtteri Bottas stopped five laps from the end to bring out a Virtual Safety Car and a last-place classification for the Alfa Romeo.

Mario Isola – Motorsport Director, Pirelli:

I’m thrilled for the hundreds of thousands of spectators who came to the track and all the other fans around the world who saw three teams in a close fight for victory for the first time this season. This is a win for everyone in Formula 1, and it was also great to see around 10 different tyre strategies during the race – with every compound used – which all played their part in delivering an exciting and spectacular Grand Prix, just as we have seen all year so far. Budapest now marks the beginning of the summer break, but not straight away for us: on Tuesday and Wednesday we stay here at the Hungaroring to continue our 2023 testing programme. It’s the final push before the holidays, which we will tackle safe in the knowledge of all the work that has been carried out thanks to the efforts of everyone at Pirelli: both present on the track, and back at base in Milan.

How the compounds made a difference:

 

2022 Formula 1 Hungarian GP Race Results

PosNoDriverCountryTeamTimePointsOverall
1.1Max VerstappenNetherlandsRed Bull Racing Honda1:39:35.91225258
2.44Lewis HamiltonGreat BritainMercedes-AMG Petronas+7.834s19146
3.63George RussellGreat BritainMercedes-AMG Petronas+12.337s15153
4.55Carlos SainzSpainScuderia Ferrari+14.579s12156
5.11Sergio PerezMexicoRed Bull Racing Honda+15.688s10173
6.16Charles LeclercMonacoScuderia Ferrari+16.047s8178
7.4Lando NorrisGreat BritainMclaren Racing+78.300s676
8.14Fernando AlonsoSpainAlpine F1 Team+1 lap441
9.31Esteban OconFranceAlpine F1 Team+1 lap258
10.5Sebastian VettelGermanyAston Martin F1 Team+1 lap116
11.18Lance StrollCanadaAston Martin F1 Team+1 lap04
12.10Pierre GaslyFranceScuderia AlphaTauri+1 lap016
13.24Zhou GuanyuChinaAlfa Romeo F1 Team+1 lap05
14.47Mick SchumacherGermanyHaas F1 Team+1 lap012
15.3Daniel RicciardoAustraliaMcLaren Racing+1 lap019
16.20Kevin MagnussenDenmarkHaas F1 Team+1 lap022
17.23Alexander AlbonThailandWilliams Racing+1 lap03
18.6Nicholas LatifiCanadaWilliams Racing+1 lap00
19.22Yuki TsunodaJapanScuderia AlphaTauri+2 laps011
14.77Valtteri BottasFinlandAlfa Romeo F1 TeamDNF046

2022 Constructor Standings

PosPictureTeamPoints
1.Red Bull Racing759
1.Scuderia Ferrari554
3.Mercedes-AMG F1 Team515
4.Alpine F1 Team173
5.McLaren Racing159
6.Alfa Romeo Racing55
7.Aston Martin F1 Team55
8.Haas F1 Team37
9.Scuderia AlphaTauri35
10.Williams Racing8

Here are the team-by-team highlights:

Red Bull Racing

 

Max Verstappen delivered a remarkable performance to win the 2022 Formula 1 Hungarian Grand Prix from 10th place and extend his lead in the 2022 FIA Formula One World Championship chase as Oracle Red Bull Racing teammate Sergio Pérez finished fifth.

After a qualifying session that saw him limited to 10th place on the grid after suffering power issues, Verstappen produced an immense display to power through the field in tricky conditions and take the win over Mercedes duo Lewis Hamilton and George Russell.

Not even a big mid-race spin could slow Verstappen as he took his first-ever win at the Hungaroring and his eighth victory from 13 races so far this season.

With main title rival Charles Leclerc finishing down in sixth place, Verstappen was able to extend his lead over the Ferrari driver to a sizeable 80 points heading into the mid-season break.

Starting one place behind Verstappen in 11th, Pérez also drove a strong passing race to finish in fifth and now sits only three points behind Leclerc for second in the Drivers’ Standings

Max Verstappen

It feels crazy to have won the race today from P10, especially on a track like this where it’s very hard to pass. We made all the right calls today, there were some good undercuts and overall we did a great job today as a team. This was definitely one of my best races, despite the little 360-degree spin! I’m thrilled with the lead that we have, but, of course, we have to keep pushing and win more races.

Sergio Pérez

It’s good to go into the summer break strongly. After qualifying, it was looking like it could have been a poor weekend for us, but we recovered some good points and it was great fun to have the Mercedes and Ferraris racing up there with us. It was quite a tricky race, particularly towards the end, when the conditions changed and especially during the virtual safety car, which meant everyone got cold tyres. Overall, we were a little unlucky with the VSC because we were potentially going to get Carlos and George and I felt we would have got a lot closer to them towards the end. I felt a lot stronger in the final stint and with a few more laps I think I could have been on the podium with Max. It was a great race, though, and very fun at times. It was a fantastic recovery for the team today, and it was great to see Max get the win.

Christian Horner – Team Principal & CEO

It was a fantastic race today. Everyone put in a top performance. Max was exceptional, even adding a little spin to his race as if coming back from 10th wasn’t hard enough. Equally, Checo had a brilliant race and I believe if it hadn’t been for the VSC he would have podiumed. Strategy played a big part in our victory. We were due to start on the hard tyre but switched things up because of the ambient conditions. This win gives us a healthy lead going into the break, but there are still areas to improve on. Ferraris are still quick and Mercedes are coming back, as you saw today. There is plenty more still to come.

Red Bull Racing Honda best pictures:

Scuderia Ferrari

 

Scuderia Ferrari leaves Budapest disappointed with having been unable to convert Saturday’s performance into success in the race. The F1-75 did not react well to the cooler conditions and lower grip levels, which affected the drivers’ race pace.

Tyres. After going well in the first part of the race, taking the lead with a wonderful overtake on George Russell at Turn 1 on lap 31, Charles Leclerc suffered on the Hard tyres fitted on lap 40, leaving him unable to fend off attacks from his rivals. He then made a further stop to fit Soft tyres, eventually finishing sixth.

Carlos Sainz drove the first two stints on the Medium tyre, running well and trying to lengthen his second stint. However, in the closing stages, on used softs, his pace dropped off and he could not attack Russell. He also got overtaken by Lewis Hamilton on newer mediums and had to settle for fourth place.

Break. The team now returns to base for one more week of work prior to the mandatory summer break. The championship resumes with the Belgian Grand Prix on 28 August.

Charles Leclerc #16

It’s a shame we didn’t bring home a better result because the car felt good and we had a strong pace on medium tyres today. Unfortunately, the Hards just did not work in these conditions. We now need to see what we could have done better, recharge our batteries over the break and be ready to fight in the second part of the season.

Carlos Sainz #55

Today was a tough day for the whole team. We expected to have a strong pace for the race, but it’s clear that with these lower temperatures and track conditions we were simply not fast enough to fight. There are some things to look at and learn from today. We will regroup, analyse and come back stronger after the summer break.

Mattia Binotto, Team Principal & Managing Director

Today’s result is unsatisfactory. In general, we did not perform well, with the car unable to reproduce Friday’s pace and in terms of how we managed the strategy and pit stops. Analysing every aspect of this race is our top priority over the coming days, in order to prepare as well as possible for the remaining Grands Prix.

Scuderia Ferrari best pictures:

Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team

 

The team completed a satisfying double podium for the second weekend running as Lewis took P2 and George P3 under changeable weather conditions in Budapest.

The team head into the summer break P3 in the Constructors’ Standings, 30 points behind Ferrari.

Lewis Hamilton

I was struggling at the beginning of the race and wasn’t sure whether I’d be able to catch up so I’m happy I could recover from P7. I had a good start, which was crucial and, bit by bit, I felt more comfortable with the balance of the car. The cooler temperatures in qualifying and the race seemed to work well for us. We made a massive step from Friday and I’m very grateful for it. If the DRS had been working yesterday, we could have been in the run for the win. I want to acknowledge my team, who have continued to push and have never given up through this tough year that we’ve had so far. It’s very special for us to have both cars on the podium today, although how the race unfolded was unlucky for George. It’s an amazing way to go into the break, knowing we’re clearly closing the gap and have more performance. Hopefully, we’ll bring some more into the second part of the season and start fighting with the guys in the front. 

George Russell

I had a really strong start, and it was my first good stint. We pitted quite early on both stints and tried to keep the tyres out until the end, as well as pushing as fast as possible at the same time. Towards the end of the mediums when the rain started to come down, I struggled and lost the temperature. It was challenging to manage the tyres, so there are lots to look into and see where we could’ve done better. Amazing job by the team, pole position yesterday and double podium today. We’re making progress and I’m proud of the work everybody has put into it. We will come back to the second half of the season with a reset, refocussed and will try to fight for some victories.

Toto Wolff

George had a great qualifying session with pole and drove a solid race. He was in the fight utilising the tyres but ran out of them in the second stint. Lewis’ fight today was unbelievable. Budapest continues to be a success story for him. He came out of nowhere and was quicker than everyone else. I think we lost the race with him yesterday with the DRS failing. Otherwise, we would have been able to fight at the front for the victory today. P2 and P3 twice in a row is great, but we want to fight for the win. We have a result we can work with, given we had a terrible Friday. It’s very frustrating and difficult to pick yourself up and stay motivated, so it’s a learning process. Today, we had a good pace, but we need to stay humble and look at race weekend after race weekend so we can try to gain more lessons and experiment to put us when we can actually fight for wins at the end of the season.

Mercedes-AMG F1 Team best pictures:

McLaren Racing

 

Hear from McLaren Formula 1 drivers Lando Norris and Daniel Ricciardo, and Team Principal Andreas Seidl after the 2022 Formula 1 Hungarian Grand Prix.

Lando Norris

P7, happy with that. After yesterday, of course, we’d all wished for a bit more, but we just didn’t have the pace today with the quicker cars behind. We just did an extremely good job yesterday. I’m happy with it, it’s the maximum we could do today with the cars ahead. Tough in places, but seventh was the best we could have done for the points today, and we were ahead of our rivals.

Daniel Ricciardo

Unfortunately, there were more lows than highs. The launch felt good, but then I dropped a bit after that and I was almost middle braking into Turn One. I felt like I was in a decent spot but I remember an Alpine coming up high on the exit of Turn One and I ran out of room, so I had to get out of that, otherwise, I was going to lose a wing. I lost momentum through Two and got done around the outside of Turn Two as well. So, it was a bit of a mess on the first lap. Then the Soft really fell apart, and I had nothing on that tyre. The Medium was a little bit better. I could make a nice double-move on the Alpines, which was fun. I held off Stroll for a bit on the Medium and then when we came out on the Hard, and he came out on a Soft, we simply had no grip. I tried to avoid contact but I couldn’t and unfortunately hit him, spun him around and got a penalty. And then that was it. The Hard didn’t work for us. I could just never really get it working. I’m looking forward to the break, of course, and will try to come back with a little more speed in the second half of the year.

Andreas Seidl

With all six cars from the top three teams finishing the race, P7 was the best we could achieve today – and we did it. The upgrade we introduced at Paul Ricard – and improved our understanding of here – put us into a position to be the fourth fastest team, which is a great achievement. Lando executed a clean race today to take that seventh place, but with the same strategy on Daniel’s side, we struggled to generate grip in the final stint on the Hard tyre and he fell out of the points.

This is something we will have to study in the final week before the summer shutdown. Big thank you to everyone at the track, back at the factory and our colleagues at Mercedes HPP for the immense effort so far this year. Everyone should go away and enjoy the break, recharge our batteries and come back stronger for what should be a thrilling battle in the Constructors’ Championship. See you in Spa.

McLaren Racing best pictures:

Alpine F1 Team

 

BWT Alpine F1 Team enters the Formula 1 summer break in fourth place in the Constructors’ Championship after scoring six points from the 2022 Formula 1 Hungarian Grand Prix with Fernando Alonso eighth and Esteban Ocon ninth place at the Hungaroring.

It was a hard-fought 70-lap race in Budapest, with both drivers executing a one-stop medium to hard strategy. After a late Virtual Safety Car, Esteban had to battle on the final lap to keep behind Sebastian Vettel, who he could pip by 0.1secs at the chequered flag.

Both drivers started on medium tyres and lost a couple of positions at the start. By lap 12, Esteban held eighth and Fernando ninth. Fernando made his sole pit stop on lap 21 for Hards with Esteban in two laps later for his pit stop for the same compound.

From there, patience was the key to making the one-stop work to the flag. With Fernando showing a strong pace, the team swapped positions on lap 41 with Fernando passing Esteban into Turn 1. Both drivers managed their second stints well to finish eighth and ninth at the end of the race.

Fernando Alonso

It was hard racing today and we are pleased to come away with a double points finish. We avoided cars at a busy Turn 1 on lap one and we lost some positions. After that, we concentrated mostly on our race pace and we wanted to make the one-stop strategy work on the Hard tyres. We didn’t have two medium compounds to choose from for the race and instead, we maximised our tyre choice for Saturday’s Qualifying. Our pace yesterday made us feel quite optimistic for today and we were expecting a better result. We are still ahead of McLaren heading into the summer break, so it’s a strong team result. We just need to keep scoring points like we did today and hopefully, this consistency will be our strength in the battle for a fourth position in the Constructors.

Esteban Ocon

We can be happy to score points with both cars today and that’s always a positive especially as we go into the season break. I don’t think we quite maximised our potential during the race and we’ll discuss as a team what we can do to improve. The one-stop was challenging today, but we made it work to score points and I had to defend hard from Seb [Vettel] on the last lap. Overall, we’re still heading into the break in fourth in the Constructors’ Championship and we’ll be hungry to extend our lead in a few weeks’ time. I’m proud of the team for the improvements in performance over the last couple of months and we’ll aim to continue this upward trajectory when the season returns after the well-deserved rest.

Otmar Szafnauer, Team Principal

After scoring six points from today’s Hungarian Grand Prix, the team remains in fourth place in the Constructors’ Championship as we head into the summer break. That is a great achievement and gives us a real focus to push on and attack the remainder of the year when we head to Belgium next month. It was a tricky race for us today, with varying strategies in place across the field. We opted for a one-stop with both cars, which meant we had to be quite careful across both stints on the Medium and Hard tyres to ensure we could reach the chequered flag with sufficient pace in hand. We did a good job, in the end, to hold off some others behind on two-stops who were coming on strong with fresher tyres. As always, we’ll review our race to see what we can improve for next time. We’ll be ready to continue the enjoyable fight in the championship with our competitors when racing returns in late August. For now, after a busy season so far, the entire team deserves the break and we’ll certainly recharge our energy ready for the season’s resumption.

Alpine F1 Team best pictures:

Alfa Romeo Racing ORLEN

 

Alfa Romeo F1 Team ORLEN saw a race spent nearly entirely within the top ten come to nothing as Zhou Guanyu finished 13th and Valtteri Bottas retired from the 2022 Formula 1 Hungarian Grand Prix. The race marks the end of the first part of the season, with the summer break now allowing the team to regroup and return to the performance levels shown throughout the spring.

Valtteri Bottas (car number 77)

It was tricky again today, a bit like in France, as the hard tires didn’t build up as fast as I was hoping. We tried it, we thought that was going to be the best chance for us, but ultimately it wasn’t. We committed to a one-stop strategy, and it was hard to back out of it. A few laps before the end, I had to stop the car because of a technical issue, which was a shame. I just lost power, we do not know the details yet: obviously, it’s unfortunate and we will investigate it with the team, but I still think points seemed quite unlikely. I am looking forward to enjoying the summer break now, to recharge and come back full of energy for the second half of the season.

Zhou Guanyu (car number 24)

Conditions today weren’t a threat per se. They were a bit mixed, especially a little more slippery on the last few laps, but overall okay. I think our plan today didn’t really pay off, we struggled on lap one and on the first few laps losing ground to other cars, and as going for one stop didn’t work out, we had to do an extra one which put me on the back of the field. It was quite frustrating, as it compromised my chances. Besides this, I think we had a strong pace today, and we deserved a little more, as in terms of performances we seemed to be back to where we were around Silverstone. I learned a lot so far this season, it’s been both tough and enjoyable, and there’s still much room for improvement. It feels good to have a little break now, and hopefully come back even stronger and push for better results.

Frédéric Vasseur, Team Principal

A day that promised much at its beginning left us disappointed in the end. The start put us on the back foot, losing five places with both cars and setting up a tough afternoon to recover some points. Valtteri could break into the top ten and be there until the closing stages, but in the end, a fuel system issue meant he had to retire with a couple of laps to go. Zhou’s afternoon was also compromised at the start. He could recover to 13th in the end, but, as a team, we hoped for a lot more. It is a shame after the good performance we delivered in qualifying yesterday, but we now have a summer break to understand what went wrong and come back into the points for the final three European races of the season at the end of summer.

Alfa Romeo F1 Team best pictures:

Haas F1 Team

 

Haas F1 Team finished the 2022 Formula 1 Hungarian Grand Prix, held on Sunday at the Hungaroring, with Mick Schumacher 14th and Kevin Magnussen 16th.

Magnussen started from P13, with Schumacher lining up P15, each VF-22 kitted out on Pirelli P Zero Yellow medium tires. Both drivers gained three positions respectively at the start, running P10 and P12, but Magnussen was issued a black-and-orange flag after sustaining minimal damage to his front wing endplate on the opening lap. That forced the Dane into an unscheduled and early pit-stop, taking on White hard tires, and re-joining towards the rear of the field.

Schumacher pitted on lap 21 for hard tires, before both drivers came in once more for another set of mediums, Magnussen on lap 35 and Schumacher on lap 42. Magnussen boxed for a third time on lap 68, taking on Red soft tires to see him through to the checkered flag. Schumacher crossed the line P14, with Magnussen P17.

Kevin Magnussen, Driver No. 20

Our race was compromised massively by having to pit for the black and orange flag. I had slight contact at the start with one of the McLarens – I couldn’t avoid it – and it wasn’t that bad, so I was surprised to get the flag. Then later we couldn’t really switch the hard tire on, so it was good to get off that and do some laps on the medium compound. It was positive from the perspective that we could put the car on the track and immediately measure what we were hoping for. It’s just going to be a lot of work to get the lap time out of it and that’s going to come over the next few races – it’s new potential to be unlocked.

Mick Schumacher, Driver No. 47

It was again tougher than what we expected it to be. We hoped that the C2 compound would work, and it didn’t, so in terms of strategy, we may be gambled on the wrong tire. We had a good start, that’s what we aim for, but unfortunately, we couldn’t make it stick so it was P14 at the end. I think we have a lot to look back at, analyze and understand so that for Spa we know how the new package works, what we need in terms of set-up and what we need to be quick. I expect this package to work pretty well in Spa and if that’s the case, we’ll know then for sure.

Guenther Steiner, Team Principal, Haas F1 Team

It was a difficult race today for us. Kevin with apparent front wing damage, which actually was a mistake by the FIA to call us out on. The front wing was clearly safe to continue, so we lost half a lap and that means our race was over and then obviously to get the tires to work was difficult once we ended up in all the blue flags. It was the same for Mick. The C2 just wasn’t working. We didn’t get it to work, and we ended up where we ended up. Unfortunately, that was the race before the summer break, but I’m sure we’ll regroup and come back in our old form not having issues like this.

Haas F1 Team best pictures:

Scuderia AlphaTauri

 

Scuderia AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly finished in 12th after advancing from 19th on the grid and Yuki Tsunoda finished the race in the 19th position.

Pierre Gasly

I must say I’m happy with today. Starting from the pitlane is never easy, and we recovered to 12th position. There were some changes made to the set-up of the car for the pitlane start, which showed a bit more pace and allowed us to make some good moves. The most important thing is that we use the upcoming three weeks to extract more from our package and finish inside the points consistently. I know the team and what we can achieve, and with these new cars being difficult, we need time to understand how to get the best out of them.

Yuki Tsunoda

It’s been a really difficult day. It didn’t feel like I had much of a race. I struggled with the car throughout, as I had absolutely no grip at all out there. I was finding it so difficult to keep it on the track and made a small mistake, which meant I spun. This weekend has not been an easy one. We need to go away and look at all the data to understand why the upgrades we have are not paying off in the way we thought they would. We’ll have a reset now over the summer break and then look to come back stronger for the second half of the season.

Jody Egginton (Technical Director)

We had mixed fortunes as a team today. Pierre drove a very strong race from a pitlane start, well using the soft and medium compounds to come home 12th. Unfortunately, Yuki had a far more difficult race, struggling with grip and balance in every stint and not being happy with his car. Although no issue was clear from the telemetry, we need to investigate to sort this out. Looking at the bigger picture, although we have not achieved the target of getting back to scoring points again here in Hungary, the race pace shown today is positive and with a better starting position we could have potentially delivered points with Pierre, which is a good sign. Equally important, though, is the amount we have learned about the upgrade here which, when combined with the next updates, will hopefully move us forward another step. We now have a week back at base focused on analysis from this event and preparations for the next Grand Prix before everyone heads off for a well-earned break, ahead of the second half of the season, which we are all looking forward to.

Scuderia AlphaTauri Team best pictures:

Aston Martin Formula One Team

 

Sebastian led Lance to bring home a hard-earned point for the team in the final race before the summer break as both drivers climbed up the order at the twisty Hungaroring.

Lance Stroll

I think I drove a strong race today. Into the final stint, Sebastian was on the Medium and I was on the Soft – I did not have another Medium left, and he could make that tyre last a little bit longer.

The Soft was the wrong tyre in the circumstances, sadly, but these things happen in racing. I had fun racing into the top 10. When I came up to pass Daniel [Ricciardo], I gave him room on the inside at Turn Two, but I think he was struggling for grip on the Hard tyre and went a bit too deep.

That is how it goes sometimes. We seem to have a better pace on Sundays than we do on Saturdays, so we need to look at that. But there are plenty of positives to take away from today.

Sebastian Vettel

We had to fight hard for a point today and we came close to a second point when I was chasing down Esteban [Ocon] in the final laps.

The team switched cars because I had a better opportunity to catch Esteban, but obviously, the Virtual Safety Car hurt us and we ran out of time. I was very close on the final lap, but I needed just one more corner to make a move.

Overall, it was a fun race with lots of fights and overtakes. The middle stint was a bit difficult, but the balance was better for the third stint on the Mediums.

The race pace was competitive once again, so improving our Saturday performance needs to be a focus for the second half of the year.

Mike Krack, Team Principal

Lance drove a strong race – he managed his tyres well, pulled off some great overtaking moves when it really mattered, and did a great job to close on [Valtteri] Bottas and move into the points.

From 10th, we instructed him to chase down Ocon; with a handful of laps remaining, and with Sebastian showing greater overall pace on the Medium tyre, we switched cars.

Our intention was to switch the cars back if Sebastian could not snatch the ninth position, but it was too close to safely make the change – Sebastian crossed the line just 0.143s behind Ocon.

I know Lance will be disappointed, but it was worth the roll of the dice to try to increase today’s points tally. Taking home one world championship point is little reward for a job well done.

We showed today how hard we can fight – both drivers were relentless, our race pace was strong and our strategy allowed us to pick off the cars ahead of us.

Everyone has worked tirelessly, and I am extremely proud of our entire organisation. We will come back with a fresh focus and look forward to the Belgian Grand Prix at the end of August.

Aston Martin Cognizant F1 Team best pictures:

Williams Racing

 

Williams Racing head into the summer break with plenty to take away from the Hungarian Grand Prix and are ready to come back stronger at the end of August when Formula One returns to action.

The drivers and team now head to the summer break for a chance to regroup. There are positive signs to take, like the P1 and P3 from Saturday’s FP3, and we will look to bounce back in Spa-Francorchamps.

Alex Albon

The race was okay. We were a bit out of sequence with the early damage and there was a lot of tyres degradation and pit stops, which didn’t make it easy. It’s been a tricky weekend for us, but it has been a good learning weekend, continuing to understand the strengths and the weaknesses of the new package. Looking back at the season so far, personally, I’m happy. It’s gone well and better than I expected, and I go into the summer break pretty happy.

Obviously, we’re not where we want to be positioning on circuits, but we’ve got time to reset now and we’ll come back stronger after the break.

Nicholas Latifi

Unfortunately, our race was compromised at the start through some front wing damage. It wasn’t great as the damage set us back with much more tyre degradation than we were hoping for. The balance was very tricky with the wind, so we have to adjust that later in the season. Not the best way to go into the summer break, but we’ll take the time to recharge and look to bounce back in Spa.

Dave Robson, Head of Vehicle Performance:

Unfortunately, the rain was never enough to affect the race and with both cars suffering damage on the 1st lap, we were forced into a difficult race. Alex had to box for a new front wing on lap 2 and although Nicky was able to continue, the damage to his wing did cost him performance for the rest of the race.

All the tyre compounds were difficult today, with many drivers unhappy about at least one of their choices. We opted to avoid the Hard tyre, which offered poor pace, and this required a very disciplined race from both drivers. It has been a challenging weekend and we are now looking forward to a break from the track. When the 2nd half of the season starts in a few weeks’ time the races come quickly, starting in Belgium. Fortunately, Spa is a very different track to the Hungaroring and we are looking forward to being more competitive there.

Williams F1 Team best pictures:

Exit mobile version