Max Verstappen capitalised on a chaotic start to the Hungarian GP to seal a dominant victory and break the F1 record for most consecutive race wins for Red Bull.
Verstappen fended off pole sitter Lewis Hamilton and the rejuvenated McLaren of Lando Norris to take the lead in the early stages of the race, with the fight at Turn 1 resulting in the Mercedes dropping back to fourth as Oscar Piastri pounced to take second.
From there, Verstappen once again raced off into the distance, never looking troubled by the chasing McLarens to break the team’s long-standing record and lead every lap.
The win marks the Dutchman’s seventh in a row this season, despite losing out on pole during qualifying yesterday and hopes that the upgraded McLarens and Mercedes could pose a serious challenge at the front.
Sergio Perez, once again looking to recover from a disappointing qualifying session, rallied to finish on the podium behind Norris in second, while Hamilton had to settle for fourth, despite chasing down Perez in the last few laps.
Piastri faded in the final stages of the race, missing out on a podium once more after his efforts at Silverstone, but held on for fifth, and while Charles Leclerc finished sixth on the road, he was demoted behind George Russell after a 5-second penalty for speeding in the pits.
Leclerc’s Ferrari teammate Carlos Sainz was eighth after failing to hold back Russell on the track, with the two Aston Martins further down the order once again with Fernando Alonso in ninth and Lance Stroll rounding out the points scorers in tenth.
Turn 1 Drama
Further back in the field, the start was marred by an incident which eventually took both Alpines out of the race, with the Alfa Romeo of Zhou Guanyu locking up into the first corner and tagging the AlphaTauri of Daniel Ricciardo.
Ricciardo subsequently sent the Alpine of Esteban Ocon into his teammate Pierre Gasly, with the former’s car up in the air briefly in a crash which forced Ocon to have his back examined by the medical team.
While Ricciardo continued on his return to F1 to rally up to 13th, the French team suffered their second consecutive double DNF in Budapest two weeks after a nightmare British GP.
Zhou similarly struggled after the pile up – for which he received a 5-second time penalty – even though he was able to continue, settling for 16th, while teammate Valtteri Bottas showed more of the car’s potential at the Hungaroring up in 12th.
