2023 Formula 1 Hungarian Grand Prix highlights

Mexican Pérez got his season back on track after his sixth place at Silverstone to extend the drivers’ gap in second overall with Scuderia AlphaTauri’s Daniel Ricciardo 13th on his return to competitive track action and Japanese teammate Yuki Tsunoda 15th.

Daniel Ricciardo

The whole weekend has been good, and to come back, I really feel all the things I’ve missed in the last 12 months, I can’t ask for more on the first weekend, and it gives me confidence. I got hit in turn 1 and dropped to the tail of the pack. 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. Our pace wasn’t bad. Maybe we could’ve been in the points today, I don’t know, but our strategy was good. We were just a bit unlucky. On the other hand, the contact at the start could’ve ended my race, so I’m grateful the car was still ok, and I was able to do 70 laps to learn as much as possible. I’ll learn from the mistakes I made to get better and better, and I made little mental notes, which I will share with the team. Overall though, there are a lot of things to be happy about.

Yuki Tsunoda

We chose to start the race on the soft compound tyre today to gain as many positions as possible early in the race. The start was good, and I managed to make up quite a few places, so I’m happy with my performance. I had pace and was managing my tyres well today, especially on the soft compound, but unfortunately, it didn’t quite work out, so together with the team, we’ll look at it. It’s a shame because the pace was there. Overall, I’m frustrated with myself because I didn’t put it all together and extract the maximum out of my performance every day. It’s been a week of learning, and what I learnt today I will use in the future to maximise our performance.

CLAUDIO BALESTRI – Chief Engineer Vehicle Performance

For today’s race, we decided to split the cars in terms of starting compounds. As for Yuki, we decided to go aggressive and use the softest compound, while for Daniel, we opted for the medium tyre. At the start, Yuki gained many positions and got close to the top 10, but Daniel was hit by Zhou, finding himself in P18 at the end of lap one after the two Alpines retired. After 10 laps, the cars that had started on the soft tyres pitted, so we did the same with Yuki, fitting the hard tyres to go long for the second stint. Unfortunately, the pitstop was longer than normal, and we lost some positions, ending up behind Albon, who was on the same compound. Daniel was on a different strategy, completing a longer first stint, after which we decided to fit a set of hard tyres on lap 18, the best compound to be flexible for the remainder of the race. In the second part of the race, with both drivers on the hard compound, we decided to extend Yuki’s stint while cutting Daniel’s short to have free air for the last stint on medium tyres. This paid off because Daniel was able to be fast and consistent, and this was enough to regain the positions lost in the first lap, finishing the race in P13. Yuki was fitted with medium tyres in his last stint, but this wasn’t sufficient to move him up, and he finished in P15, just two-tenths behind Hulkenberg. We’ll focus on the next race, where we believe we’ll be in the position to fight for points.

Scuderia AlphaTauri Team best pictures:

BUDAPEST, HUNGARY – JULY 22: Daniel Ricciardo of Australia and Scuderia AlphaTauri walks in the Paddock prior to final practice ahead of the 2023 Formula 1 Hungarian Grand Prix at Hungaroring on July 22, 2023 in Budapest, Hungary. (Photo by Francois Nel/Getty Images)

BUDAPEST, HUNGARY – JULY 23: Fernando Alonso of Spain and Aston Martin F1 Team, Daniel Ricciardo of Australia and Scuderia AlphaTauri and Nico Hulkenberg of Germany and Haas F1 look on from the drivers parade prior to the 2023 Formula 1 Hungarian Grand Prix at Hungaroring on July 23, 2023 in Budapest, Hungary. (Photo by Peter Fox/Getty Images)

BUDAPEST, HUNGARY – JULY 23: Daniel Ricciardo of Australia and Scuderia AlphaTauri looks on from the drivers parade prior to the 2023 Formula 1 Hungarian Grand Prix at Hungaroring on July 23, 2023 in Budapest, Hungary. (Photo by Dan Mullan/Getty Images)

BUDAPEST, HUNGARY – JULY 23: Yuki Tsunoda of Japan and Scuderia AlphaTauri looks on from the drivers parade prior to the 2023 Formula 1 Hungarian Grand Prix at Hungaroring on July 23, 2023 in Budapest, Hungary. (Photo by Dan Mullan/Getty Images)

BUDAPEST, HUNGARY – JULY 23: The Scuderia AlphaTauri team stood on the grid before the 2023 Formula 1 Hungarian Grand Prix at Hungaroring on July 23, 2023 in Budapest, Hungary. (Photo by Peter Fox/Getty Images)

1. Previous
2. 1
3. 2
4. 3
5. 4
6. 5
7. 6
8. 7
9. 8
10. 9
11. 10
12. 11