It was a mark of the sluggish nature of the 2023 Hungarian Grand Prix that one of the biggest storylines was Lando Norris breaking Max Verstappen‘s beautiful handmade winner’s trophy.
Verstappen left his trophy on the top step of the podium while he enjoyed the champagne celebration champagne but Norris either didn’t see it or misjudged his own effort as he smashed his bottle next to the trophy to open it.
That bumped the trophy off the podium and it smashed open at the base, while Norris happily sprayed away oblivious to the carnage he’d caused after McLaren‘s first back-to-back podiums in Formula 1 since 2012.
“It is with great regret that we learned yesterday that the beautiful Herendi trophy, a handmade work of art, was damaged,” Attila Simon, CEO of Herendi Porcelain Manufactory Zrt told M4 Sport. “It is the result of nearly six months of work by more than 30 people and we were very sorry to see this happen to our artwork.
“But we believe, and Herendi Porcelain Manufactory is a company that plays a key role in building the country’s image, that we will replace the trophy for the first place winner, and while the teams decide who was at fault and who was not, we will take on the joyful and heavy burden of this.”
Norris smashes six months’ hard work and nearly £40,000
Even worse for Verstappen, it was the first time he’s was in line to collect the majestic china Hungarian GP trophy – one of the best on the calendar.
He won at the Hungaroring in 2022 but only picked up the dull Aramco-sponsored design rather than and picked up one of the best trophies on the circuit.
It’s a masterpiece that was last enjoyed by Esteban Ocon in 2021, but Verstappen once again misses out after also picking up the classic BRDC trophy at Silverstone one race before.
The beautiful hand-painted trophy is from a company dating back to 1826, and take around half a year to make meaning work on this one started back in January 2023.
“Max just placed it too close to the edge. It fell over, I guess. Not my problem, it’s his.”
Where is the next F1 2023 race?
With the F1 circus finished at the Hungaroring, we move on to the 2023 Belgian Grand Prix which will a sprint weekend held between Spa-Francorchamps on July 28-30.
