Continuing to show the dominant form that he has displayed all season, Max Verstappen won the Hungarian GP at the Hungaroring, by a comfortable 33.731 secs margin over McLaren's Lando Norris.
Hamilton qualified on pole but only finished P4
Norris defended second place from a late charging Perez
Perez goes from P9 to P3
The first weekend of the new qualifying format (with particular tyre compounds now mandated for each session) saw Lewis Hamilton claim his first pole position in a year and a half, since the 2021 Saudi Arabian GP. He beat out Verstappen by just 0.003sec, making this F1's closest front row in 13 years.
However, that order was reversed on the opening lap, with Verstappen getting the better start and grabbing the inside line into Turn 1. With Hamilton forced onto the outside, the McLarens of Oscar Piastri and Norris powered past and into the podium positions, dropping the Mercedes driver down to fourth. This order was maintained until the first round of pit-stops, when Norris managed to undercut his teammate and move up to P2.
Hamilton and Perez faced opposing fortunes over the course of the race, with the former getting a poor start and gradually sliding down the order, while the latter got a good start from his P9 grid slot and worked his way up the field. On the way to his hard-earned podium, Perez first passed Hamilton, and Piastri, who slid down from second to an eventual finishing position of fifth. The Australian driver showed great pace in his first stint, but failed to replicate this on his next two sets of tyres, marking the second race in a row that the F1 rookie has held a podium position but failed to finish in it. Nevertheless, both Norris and Piastri once again highlighted the drastic improvements that McLaren's mid-season update have brought to the car's performance.
Further down the field, George Russell claimed P6 after making a late-race pass on Ferrari's Charles Leclerc, while the second Ferrari of Carlos Sainz was one spot back in P8.
After grabbing the lead at turn 1, Verstappen put in a flawless race, and victory never looked in doubt. The Red Bull driver even grabbed the bonus point for fastest lap along the way. This marked not only his seventh straight win, but also the 12th consecutive race win for Red Bull - the first time in the history of the sport that this has ever been achieved. The previous record was held by the legendary McLaren lineup of Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost from 1988.
2023 F1 championship standings
Verstappen's lead at the top of the standings grows to an even more gargantuan 110 points, and the Dutchman seems firmly on course to pick up a second world championship in a row. Teammate Perez also furthered his advantage over third place man Fernando Alonso, who finished a disappointing ninth in Hungary.
Next up on the calendar is the Belgian GP on July 28-30.
2023 Hungarian GP results
| 2023 Hungarian GP results | ||
|---|---|---|
| Pos | Driver | Team |
| 1 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull Racing |
| 2 | Lando Norris | McLaren |
| 3 | Sergio Perez | Red Bull Racing |
| 4 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes |
| 5 | Oscar Piastri | McLaren |
| 6 | George Russell | Mercedes |
| 7 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari |
| 8 | Carlos Sainz | Ferrari |
| 9 | Fernando Alonso | Aston Martin |
| 10 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin |
| 11 | Alex Albon | Williams |
| 12 | Valtteri Bottas | Alfa Romeo |
| 13 | Daniel Ricciardo | AlphaTauri |
| 14 | Nico Hulkenberg | Haas |
| 15 | Yuki Tsunoda | AlphaTauri |
| 16 | Zhou Guanyu | Alfa Romeo |
| 17 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas |
| 18 | Logan Sargeant | Williams |
| NC | Esteban Ocon | Alpine |
| NC | Pierre Gasly | Alpine |
Also see:
Verstappen wins British GP; McLaren back on the podium