Lthey are awkward, the weather forecasters of Mogyoród. At the 37th Hungarian Grand Prix, it was unclear for a long time what they would be serving up on the Hungaroring on Sunday afternoon. It is often boring on the narrow, slow and winding track, where overtaking is difficult. The many tens of thousands of spectators longed for a heavy downpour, so that it could spice up the racing events. Admittedly, these hopes were not fulfilled; at best, it dribbled slightly. Nevertheless, it was a turbulent racing Sunday with many overtaking manoeuvres, at the end of which Max Verstappen was surprisingly waved off as the winner.
The success in Mogyoród, half an hour’s drive from Budapest, is the second triumph in a row for the Dutchman and the next step on the way to defending his title – Verstappen started from tenth place. And on a track where Ferrari had previously been considered a favourite. Lewis Hamilton in the Mercedes finished second ahead of his teammate George Russell. For Ferrari it was only enough for fourth place (Carlos Sainz) and sixth place (Charles Leclerc). Sebastian Vettel, who had announced the end of his career before the race weekend, collected a championship point in tenth place. Mick Schumacher got off to a very good start in the Haas-Ferrari, initially moving up to eleventh place, but ultimately finishing 14th but without any points.
Before the start of the Grand Prix on Sunday afternoon, showers kept falling over the Hungaroring. The thermometer showed 19 degrees Celsius, the asphalt was hardly warmer (27). It was important for the drivers to increase the tire temperature in order to gain traction and not to slide hopelessly over the winding track. Surprisingly, Mercedes driver George Russell won the qualification on Saturday and thus secured the first pole position of his career.
For the first time this season, a Silver Arrow was at the front of the starting grid. The Brit was 0.04 seconds faster than the favorite Ferrari driver Carlos Sainz, who secured second place on the grid ahead of team-mate Charles Leclerc. Max Verstappen could not keep up with the time hunt. Due to problems with the MGU-K electric machine, the championship leader only qualified for tenth place on the grid – actually a heavy burden at the Hungaroring.
At the start, Charles Leclerc got away better than George Russell and Carlos Sainz in front of him, but couldn’t find a way past and the top three held their positions. Pole man Russell had the soft tires fitted, which quickly build up a lot of grip in order to be able to stay in front of the two Ferrari drivers. This plan worked initially, the duo Sainz and Leclerc, both on the medium tires, could not endanger the Silver Arrow in the first laps. Meanwhile, Verstappen quickly worked his way up to fifth place, but then complained about technical problems: “Fail 20”, was the nebulous reply from his engineer – the world champion was able to continue. And how.
After 16 laps, Russell had to swap the worn, soft Pirellis for medium tires. Carlos Sainz was also called in one lap later. His stable mate Charles Leclerc, second in the championship, had previously asked on the radio to be allowed to overtake the Spaniard. This was achieved in the pits, the Monegasse was handled faster. So Leclerc came back on the track with fresh tires in second behind George Russell, but was now ahead of Sainz.
The hunt for the Mercedes was on and soon successful. Leclerc attacked determinedly at the beginning of lap 31 and overtook the Silver Arrow with a daring maneuver on the outside lane in turn one. After 40 tours, Leclerc and Russell changed tires again – at the same time. Then there was a direct duel between the two World Cup rivals. Leclerc had big problems with the fresh, hard tires and just slid over the Hungaroring. Verstappen was able to pass with new mediums and was now leading the Grand Prix.
“The tires are crap,” Leclerc scolded on the radio. At the end of the same lap, Verstappen lost control of his RB18, spun, regained momentum but gave back the lead. But just two laps later, the Ferrari was easy prey for the world champion again, and Verstappen raced away on course for victory. As the? Ferrari had been traded as a favorite. But the hard Pirellis did not reach the necessary temperature. And so it got worse for Leclerc when Russel passed him.
So the Monegasque had no choice but to head into the pits and get rid of the unsuitable tyres, which is why he dropped back to sixth place. Sainz, overtaken by Hamilton, finished fourth. A disaster for Ferrari, team boss Mattia Binotto had previously specified a double success for Scuderia as a goal. “We were strong on the medium tire,” said Leclerc, “I wanted to stay on the tire for a long time. I don’t know why there was a different decision. The hard ones then cost us the race. We talk about that within the team.”
Because there was no heavy downpour, Verstappen rushed to a success that had not been thought possible. “What a Grand Prix,” laughed the winner on the radio, “who would have thought that we could win this race?” In the championship, Verstappen (258 points) now leads with 80 ahead of Charles Leclerc (178). Sergio Perez (Red Bull) is third (173).
After 13 of 22 World Championship races, Formula 1 is now taking a four-week break before continuing with the Belgian Grand Prix. The “roller coaster” at Spa-Francorchamps promises the next turbulent Grand Prix – after all, the weather in the Ardennes is just as unpredictable as that in the hilly landscape of Mogyoród. However, it rains more often.