The 2022 Hungarian Grand Prix (officially known as the Formula 1 Aramco Magyar Nagydíj 2022) takes place on 31 July 2022 at the Hungaroring in Mogyoród, Hungary, over a distance of 70 laps. This marks the thirty-seventh Hungarian Grand Prix to be held as part of the Formula One World Championship. The event is scheduled across the weekend of 29–31 July. It represents the thirteenth round of the 2022 Formula One World Championship. As the race approaches, Max Verstappen leads the Drivers' Championship with a 63-point advantage over Charles Leclerc, who is in second place, while Sergio Pérez holds third, 7 points behind Leclerc. Red Bull Racing dominates the Constructors' Championship, leading Ferrari by 82 points and Mercedes by 126 points. On Thursday, 29 July 2022, Sebastian Vettel announces his retirement at the end of the season. Vettel makes his Formula 1 debut in the 2007 season during the United States Grand Prix, driving for the former German team BMW Sauber as a reserve driver. From 2007 to 2008, he races for the Italian constructor, at the time known as Toro Rosso, with which he wins his first race in the category at the 2008 Italian Grand Prix, becoming the youngest driver to win a race at the time. From 2009 to 2014, he races for the Austrian team Red Bull Racing, before joining Ferrari, where he competes from 2015 to 2020. In the last two seasons, he joins the British team Aston Martin. Over the course of his career, he competes in 290 Grand Prix, winning 53 of them, ranking third in the all-time list for race wins. He wins four drivers' championships, ranked fourth in the all-time championship list, all with Red Bull Racing between 2010 and 2013, with the first world title setting the record for the youngest driver to win a World Championship.
He also sets 122 podiums in 16 seasons, ranked third overall, 57 pole positions, ranked fourth overall, and 38 fastest laps, scoring 3,076 points. In the days leading up to the Hungarian Grand Prix, Formula 1 declares that it remains on track to supply 100% sustainable fuels by 2026. As part of the category's plans to achieve net-zero emissions by 2030, it announces the testing of a 100% sustainable fuel that can be used not only in Formula 1 cars from 2026 onwards but also, crucially, by most road cars around the world. British engineer Pat Symonds, who has been involved in the category for many years with various teams, including Toleman, Benetton, Renault, Marussia, and finally Williams, leads the team focused on creating this revolutionary fuel. He has spent months researching to create the best quality product for 2026. Additionally, the World Council of the Federation, before the Grand Prix, decides to put to a vote among the teams the introduction of a technical directive, which will come into force at the subsequent Belgian Grand Prix, scheduled for late August after the three-week summer break. This directive aims to counter the phenomenon of car bouncing along the straights, known as porpoising. The metric introduced by the Federation is able to measure oscillations only in a straight line, not in corners. On Wednesday, 27 July 2022, the German car manufacturer Porsche acquires the Austrian team Red Bull Racing. The acquisition includes 50% of Red Bull Technology in its Grand Prix activities. The original plan was to announce the partnership at the Austrian Grand Prix, held at the beginning of July. However, the announcement is delayed because the World Motor Sport Council of the Federation does not approve the engine regulations that will come into effect from 2026. The approval of these regulations is a prerequisite for Porsche to officially announce its entry into Formula 1. Arrived in Budapest, Mercedes Team Principal Toto Wolff underlines the step forward taken in France and hopes to repeat the good result in Hungary as well:
"It was encouraging to score such a big haul of points in France and maximise the situation on Sunday but we know there is much work still to do. The gap to the leaders on a single lap persists and we struggle more at the start of stints.We need to keep unlocking more performance, and by maintaining the culture, mindset and spirit that has spurred on all the hard work at the factories, I'm confident we will. Our reliability was good once again, and both Lewis and George were on strong form, to deliver a double podium.Now we're switching focus to Hungary and a very different circuit; tight, twisty and bumpy, almost the opposite of where we just were. It's hard to predict how we will fare because our expectations this year haven't always matched up to reality, in terms of which tracks suit the W13.Nevertheless, we'll give it our all and we always look forward to being in Budapest and the warm welcome we receive from the fans. It also marks our 250th Grand Prix with our title partners, Petronas, which is a brilliant milestone".
A highly motivated Carlos Sainz Jr. looks forward to the weekend in Hungary:
"This year, we have been in the fight for the win at every race and I expect it will be the same here. Our rivals have quite a lead, but we have a lot of potential. That’s why, until it’s no longer mathematically possible, we will continue to fight for both titles".
Also the Monegasque driver Charles Leclerc hopes for a better weekend in Hungary to redeem the mistake of the last Grand Prix in France:
"The best way to react to what happened at Le Castellet is to get a win here in Hungary. I am driving the best car I’ve ever had in Formula 1 and I know the only way to stay in the fight for the title is to win races and always finish ahead of Max. Qualifying is very important here and so far, I’ve been quickest on Saturdays. I hope I can get the job done and go into the break with a smile on my face. On the subject of the holiday, both drivers are thinking along similar lines, having a bit of a rest and spending as much time as possible with family and friends".
On Friday, first day of free practice, Charles Leclerc seeks redemption after his third ‘DNF’ of the season while leading the race in France. The Monegasque will try his best not to let Max Verstappen win his second title easy, and starts the Hungarian weekend strongly, as he sets the fastest lap of FP2 (1'18"445) after placing third in FP1:
"With weather conditions likely to be variable this weekend, our main focus was on set-up work today. We did some race simulations too, as we may not have the chance to collect representative data in FP3 tomorrow. Though track evolution is always quite high here, it was lower than we expected today. It will be key to put the tyres in the right window tomorrow".
Again, Ferrari seems to be the quickest team able to find a good balance for their car, as Carlos Sainz sets the fastest lap in the first free practice session (1'18"750), before his teammate replicates the same performance some hours later. The F1-75 seems at ease around the tight and slow corners of the Hungaroring, which require a high-downforce set-up, and the Spaniard seems satisfied of the direction the ‘Men in Red’ have taken in terms of balance:
"It has been an interesting Friday. The car felt very good straight out of the garage in FP1 and we could put together some very good laps. For FP2 we tried a couple of changes in the set-up to evaluate which direction is best to take for tomorrow and the race. We lost the feeling a bit, but we are in a good place in terms of car balance and pace. It looks like tomorrow might be wet, so we’ll have to adapt to the conditions. Today was a positive day for the team and I look forward to the rest of the weekend".
The attention is then on Aston Martin, who has introduced a new controversial rear wing on their car for the Hungarian race: in fact, the new component is characterised by two whirls, two small arches at both ends to improve downforce and airflow management. Some teams question this solution as it could represent a violation of the new technical regulations, which require a cleaner design for F1 cars. Max Verstappen keeps the pressure on Ferrari showing strong pace, as the defending World Champion splits the two Ferraris in FP1 then ends his Friday in P4. Is Red Bull hiding? Are they having some troubles finding the right balance? The Flying Dutchman provides us with an answer:
"As expected, it was a bit tricky around here today, we were trying to find the right balance from high to low speed, sometimes it worked and sometimes it didn’t - there’s a bit of work to do. I think the Ferraris will be ahead of us this weekend and it will be hard to beat them. We’ll work hard overnight and try and close that gap as much as we can. The weather looks like it will have an impact on us tomorrow. In the dry we might struggle to compete, but it could be a different story in the rain; who knows, we will see tomorrow".
Sergio Pérez concludes a dull Friday (considering the potential of his car) in P9, but does not flinch, even though he recognizes the value of his rivals:
"We were trying various bits to get comfortable with the car today and I think we have got a good idea and understanding of things, so hopefully tomorrow we will be able to show what we have learned. That should transfer to both high and low fuel pace and I am fairly optimistic for the weekend, but the Ferraris certainly look very strong. They are very fast but rain tomorrow could mix things up a bit and we can be up there with them. We must put everything together tomorrow for qualifying and I am looking forward to it".
Despite a promising start, with a P5 and a P7 for Russell and Hamilton respectively, both within a second from Sainz Jr., the Silver Arrows struggle a bit more in FP2, with Hamilton even 11th fastest with a gap of 1.1s from Leclerc. The seven-time world champion suffers especially from rear-lock and runs wide at turn 11 in both practice sessions, but also at turn number 4 in FP2, as the car proves unstable and quite difficult to get into corners:
"The car was a struggle today, it's crazy how it swings from track to track and tonight we'll be working on setup to try and get the car working. At the moment, it's a little loose and not doing what we want it to do. Not much has changed since last week, I'm still the same driver! But for some reason at this track, the car isn't working as well. In the glimpses where it was working, we were still down a second which was actually similar to last week. I didn't get much chance of a long run at the end because I sustained some damage to my floor and lost a lot of downforce. It's going to be a tough weekend, but we'll give it everything".
Similar issues for George Russell, as the young Briton struggles in the first part of the track, as he experiences bottoming down the main straight and an annoying lock-up at turn 1 which makes it hard for him to turn the car properly. Despite all this, however, Russell shows again great speed and manages to stay ahead of his renowned teammate:
"It definitely hasn't been our smoothest Friday this season, a bit of a strange one because we think it's going to be wet for qualifying tomorrow and then different again on Sunday. We tried quite a few things with the car and used today as a test session so while it's been a tough day, it's probably been a productive one. Today was about gathering lessons long-term rather than maximising our lap times, but we were further behind than we probably expected with a couple of issues here and there. Tomorrow is going to be a totally new day and Sunday, we'll be in a different place too".
On Saturday, July 30, 2022, the FP3 is affected by heavy rain, which forces the drivers to use extreme wet tires. The only one to take a risk with intermediate tires is Fernando Alonso. The fastest, with a wet track, is Leclerc, who also has a double spin. A few minutes before the end of the session, Sebastian Vettel, who holds the third-fastest time, hits the barriers with the front of his car, forcing the race director to stop the session. Once the session is restarted, the sun appears on the track, allowing the drivers to switch to intermediate tires. In a surprise turn of events, Williams places Nicholas Latifi in first and Alexander Albon in third. Verstappen moves up to fourth, having not driven during the first part of the session.
The clouds are threatening above the circuit, but throughout qualifying, the rain does not return, except for some very light drops. Kevin Magnussen sets the first reference time in 1'20"388. The Dane is beaten by Lance Stroll, who is then beaten by Valtteri Bottas. After Lewis Hamilton takes the lead, Max Verstappen takes control of the timesheet with a 1'19"020. Russell moves up to third, ahead of Pérez. The Ferraris, hoping the weather does not worsen, wait five minutes before going out on track. Carlos Sainz Jr. is fourth, while Leclerc is only tenth. Meanwhile, Verstappen lowers his time further, while Russell and then Pérez move up to second. Alonso climbs to fifth, while Ocon's other Alpine is eighth. Shortly after, Hamilton improves, moving up to second. Verstappen sets 1'18"509, while Leclerc moves up to second, less than three-tenths behind the Dutchman's time. Then, Sainz Jr. beats his teammate and moves to within half a tenth of Verstappen. All the drivers, at risk of elimination, return to the track in the final part of the session. Yuki Tsunoda sees his time cancelled for exceeding track limits. Hamilton sets the session's limit at 1'18"374, while Sainz Jr. places himself 0.060 seconds ahead, just before Russell intercalates between the two, only 0.033 seconds behind the former world champion. Alonso moves up to fifth, Bottas is seventh, and Ricciardo is sixth. Norris also improves, rising to fifth. Tsunoda, Albon, Vettel, Gasly, and Latifi are eliminated. Interestingly, the latter has the best first sector time. In Q2, Lewis Hamilton ruins his first attempt with a lock-up, immediately being beaten by Russell (1'18"883). Russell’s time is then beaten by Leclerc (1'18"769). This time, it is not Sainz Jr. who beats the Monegasque, but Norris.
Sergio Pérez moves up to second, but his time is annulled for exceeding track limits. The driver who beats Norris is Verstappen, the first to go under 1 minute 18. Ocon moves up to third, while Alonso does even better, moving up to second. The two Alfa Romeo cars move back to fourth and sixth. The Mercedes return to the track; Hamilton finishes third, Russell is fifth. The Ferraris return to the track, having been pushed back. Leclerc is second, while Sainz Jr. is fourth. Pérez, meanwhile, complains about raindrops on the straight. Stroll and Magnussen do not improve, unlike Bottas and Ocon. This pushes Pérez out of the qualifying spots. In addition to the Mexican, Zhou, Magnussen, Stroll, and Schumacher do not make it to Q3. In Q3, the first time is set by Esteban Ocon (1'18"890). The Frenchman is beaten by Leclerc (1'17"985), who also has a slight hesitation at the start of the lap. Six-tenths behind the Ferrari driver is Lando Norris. The driver who beats the Monegasque, however, is Sainz Jr. (1'17"505). Behind the Spaniard, there is now Alonso. Alonso's time is beaten by Hamilton, while Russell does even better, intercalating between the two Ferraris. Verstappen misses his lap, only placing himself seventh, penalized by an error at Turn 2. The second attempt for the Red Bull Racing driver is ruined by a loss of power in the power unit. Hamilton is also unable to make his second attempt due to a DRS issue. The drivers who were behind him in the rankings after the first lap improve, pushing him down to tenth place. Leclerc remains second, narrowing the gap to just 0.062 seconds behind Sainz Jr. The Spaniard, for his part, improves, setting the limit at 1'17"421. Norris, on the other hand, moves up to third. In a surprise move, George Russell improves, taking first place from the Spaniard. George Russell claims his first-ever pole position at his 14th Grand Prix with Mercedes.
"You made it".
Says the Mercedes team to George.
"Come on! you kidding you kidding! Amazing, we made it. Well done".
Everyone starts to celebrate in the Mercedes’ box. The mechanics start to hug each other and Toto Wolff smiles, while Verstappen reaches the box on foot, as his car seemed to have abandoned him. Russell turns the engine off, jumps on the front part of his car and exults with the public at the Hungaroring. Then, he goes to hug his team to celebrate his first pole position:
"I'm over the moon and absolutely buzzing. Yesterday was disastrous for us and probably the worst Friday of the season. The team was working so hard last night and we were able to make a big step forward. In Formula 1 there are so many fine margins and when you get in that perfect window, your car will just fly, which we managed to do in today's conditions. We didn't know what direction to go in but on the last lap I came across the line, looked at the screen and saw we went P1, which was such an incredible feeling. We need to look into our performance from today and understand where it came from. We have a few ideas, but don't fully understand it yet. Getting this result today is really huge for all of us. I'm so happy for the whole team and we will do our best to have a great day tomorrow and give it our all".
Lewis Hamilton explains that he had issues with the DRS so he was not able to fully fight for the front line:
"My DRS stopped working, which was frustrating after all the struggle we had to finally have the chance to fight for front row but then not being able to, because of the issues with the DRS. We did a lot of work overnight at track and back at the factory. The car didn't feel good in FP3, but was strong in Qualifying. We didn't know how strong our pace was and where it came from so it's a very positive day for us. I will do what I can tomorrow to support and contribute to us in winning from P7 and I will try and work my way up. I don't know where our race pace is going to be tomorrow, but hopefully we will be in a position to attack. Huge congratulations to George, it's an amazing feeling to get your first pole position and it's also huge for us as a team".
Then, he congrats with his teammate for his first pole position, which is important for the whole team. Toto Wolff is satisfied with team’s performance and finds that if Lewis has not had that DRS issue, he would have fought for the front row:
"From the start of Q3 we had the tyres in the right window, the car was balanced, and everything came together well, with both George and Lewis getting more confident lap after lap. We haven't been in the hunt for a win this season and we know how strong our competitors are so being on pole is a solid result for us and if we have the right pace in the race tomorrow, I wouldn't rule out that we can be part of the front again and have a chance of winning. For Lewis, it was so tough - his DRS failed just at the crucial moment, otherwise he would have been fighting up there with George for pole position, no doubt".
Carlos Sainz Jr. is not satisfied with today’s result as he finds he could have done better in the end:
"I’m not very happy with the final result as I feel I could have done a better lap on the final attempt. However, I prefer to focus on the positives: we are in a good position for tomorrow, I’ve been comfortable in the car all weekend and we keep making steps in the right direction. I’m confident we can carry the good pace of Friday into the race, so we’ll definitely go for it. Congrats to George on his first pole. He did a very good lap today and I look forward to the battle tomorrow".
Charles Leclerc has a bitter feeling toward this session:
"It wasn't a great session. The tyres were very tricky in these conditions and I struggled to get them in the right window, especially in Q3. The pace is there and we know we have some work to do. I'm confident we can come back stronger tomorrow. Congratulations to George for his first pole position, it's a special one".
Laurent Mekies, Ferrari’s Sporting Director, finds that today’s changing conditions made the qualifying unusual:
"It was an unusual qualifying, because after this morning’s rain, we found ourselves with a track that was no longer rubbered-in and the temperatures were much lower than yesterday’s, so it was a case of starting over again. Carlos and Charles progressed well through the three phases and, as we expected, in the end it was a fight to the nearest thousandths of a second. We thought we’d be up against Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez, but in the end it was George Russell who took pole position, beating Carlos by a whisker".
Max Verstappen is disappointed for what happened, as the car had not power and the team could not fix it:
"I don’t know exactly what happened, I drove out of the pits and there was no release and no power in the car, we couldn’t fix it. We tried everything we could whilst out on the track, I‘ll have a chat with the Team and I hope that everything is fixable. It’s frustrating to start in P10 tomorrow after such a positive qualifying, we looked competitive and we had good pace. Although we have a slight point advantage, you always want to start at the front, it’s difficult to overtake here and get through the traffic so we’ll have to be patient. Tomorrow is definitely going to be an interesting one".
Sergio Perez explains the difficulties he experienced during qualifying as he had to use a second set of tyres after his time was deleted for track limit and then he lost time when Magnussen got in his way to the lap:
"Qualification did not go as expected. I had to use a second set of tyres in Q2 because my first lap got deleted for track limits, then I got my time back but this already impacted our session. It was a bit of a strange situation. When I got going again Kevin (Magnussen) got in my way at turn 2, so I lost a few tenths as I had to go very big through the corner and couldn’t recover for the rest of the lap. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to do much more. It wasn’t a great qualifying for me. I don’t have a great feeling in the car at the moment but tomorrow should be better, we should have better pace and hopefully we are able to recover to score some solid points".
Christian Horner, Red Bull Racing Team Principal and CEO, is of the same mind:
"It was a disappointing qualification. Firstly losing Checo in Q2 after encountering some traffic and then unfortunately Max suffering technical issues. We felt Max had a chance at a pole, he seemed a lot happier than he was yesterday with the balance of the car, however a lock up on the first run of Q3 put him on the back foot and then a power related issue on the 2nd run prevented him from posting a representative lap time. Unfortunately we are out of position in 10th and 11th, we will push hard from there and look forward to the race tomorrow, but in the meantime, congratulations to George Russell on his first ever pole".
On Sunday, July 31, 2022, rain is expected at Hungaroring as the Hungarian Gran Prix is going to start. Mercedes’ George Russell will start from pole position for the first time in his career, trying to keep the Ferraris of Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz, respectively second and third on the grid, behind. Max Verstappen will start tenth, ahead of team mate Sergio Perez. AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly begins from the pit lane, due to a power unit change. Also Red Bull has chosen to fit for both drivers a new power unit, but, thanks to a special dispensation by the FIA, neither Perez nor Verstappen take grid penalties. Russell, Lando Norris and Daniel Ricciardo start on used softs, while the twi Red Bull drivers are on new softs. Further down the top 10, also Lance Stroll, Yuki Tsunoda, Alex Albon, Sebastian Vettel and Pierre Gasly are on new softs, while the rest of the grid has new medium compounds. Lights out and Russell manages to keep the first position, even if Sainz tries to take the lead around the outside of Turn 1. Lewis Hamilton overtakes both the Alpines and goes fifth, while Fernando Alonso baulks Esteban Ocon who presses him at Turn 1. Verstappen moves up to eighth and Perez to ninth after the opening lap.
The Virtual Safety Car is triggered for two collisions: one between Magnussen and Ricciardo, and the other between Vettel and Albon. On lap 3 the race restarts and Hamilton is closely following Lando Norris, while Verstappen si now behind the Alpines of Ocon and Alonso, in P6 and P7. On the radio, Alonso says to be much faster than his team mate but on lap 5 he runs wide at Turn 3 and Verstappen goes by for P7. On lap 7, the reigning World Champion takes the sixth position off Ocon and follows Hamilton for the fifth, while Perez with DRS passes Alonso on the outside of Turn 2. The Mexican driver then takes the seventh position off Ocon two laps later. Magnussen is forced to pit after his early scrap with Ricciardo, while both the Alfa Romeos had bad starts, with Bottas now 12th and Zhou Guanyu 16th. On lap 10, Russell has a detachment of more than 2 seconds from Sainz, while Hamilton and Verstappen tail Norris for the fourth-place. The Briton takes P4 off Norris on the inside of Turn 1, while Verstappen goes around the outside of the McLaren just after that to leave him sixth ahead of Perez, who passes him with DRS on the following lap. Verstappen complains that his clutch is slipping, while Leclerc asks his team if Sainz can speed up. Indeed, by the start of lap 15 Sainz has cut the gap to 1.2 seconds, but he is called to box. He decides not to go and it is instead Russell to pit for mediums, and Verstappen too, and emerge sixth at the start of Lap 17. Alonso tries to fight with him, but Russell goes on. On lap 17, Sainz pits and emerges between the Alpines in P6, with Alonso and Verstappen behind him.
The Ferrari drivers has to overtake Ocon in order to try to catch Russell, and he does it easily on lap 19. Perez pits and emerges 10th, while Leclerc is in the lead, 11.5 seconds ahead of Hamilton and another 7.5 seconds ahead of Russell. Hamilton pits on Lap 20, emerging in P7. Verstappen is in P5 and takes another place off Ocon on the following lap. Leclerc stops for mediums on lap 22 and emerges ahead of Sainz, so Russell is now back into the lead. Alonso pits for hards, and the same does Ocon two laps later: he emerges in battle with his team mate and Ricciardo takes the opportunity, passing them both and taking the 10th position, behind the Alfa Romeos. Stroll takes P12 off Alonso, and passes also Ocon, because the Alpines begin to struggle. Vettel passes Alonso two laps later and then Ocon on lap 39. On lap 27 Leclerc with DRS tries to pass Russell, but does not manage to do it into Turn 1. In the following lap, the Monegasque tries again, but Russell holds him off in a wheel-to-wheel skirmish on the downhill run to Turn 5. The battle continues, and Leclerc finally manages to pass Russell on lap 31, taking the lead around the outside of Turn 1. Russell now has Sainz and Verstappen following him, while numerous drivers begin to report drizzle on their visors at the halfway mark. On lap 35, Xavier Marcos, Leclerc’s track engineer, says to his driver on the radio the warm-up with the hards is worse than expected, looking at the Alpines’ performance. On the following lap, Marcos asks:
"Leclerc a tyres upgrade, when you can".
But the driver does not answer. He has a good pace on the fresh set of mediums, extending to a 4.8-second lead by lap 39; he says to the team to continue with the mediums: good tyre, stay on it. Verstappen pits for another set of mediums, while the Monegasque mounts a set of hards on lap 40 and Russell changes to mediums a few seconds later. The hards are bery difficult to use because of the cold temperature of the track, also hit by the rain in different points of the race. Verstappen emerges ahead of Russell and overtakes Leclerc down the inside of Turn 1 on lap 41. Sainz is the leader, ahead of Hamilton, when, at the penultimate corner there is a puff of smoke as Verstappen got on the throttle and spun, going again behind Leclerc and allowing Russell a chance to overtake. The British driver does not manage to do so and Verstappen passes Leclerc once more at Turn 2 on lap 45. The Monegasqua driver is angry and says on the radio:
"Fuck. Tyres are shit".
And Marcos answer that the race is still long. Sainz takes his second stop on lap 48 for softs, but the tyre change is slow and he emerges fifth ahead of Perez. For a short time, there is a Yellow flas, as Stroll and Ricciardo collided in the fight for P11 at Turn 2, with the Australian receiving a five-second time penalty. Hamilton is in the lead on lap 51, with Verstappen just 3.5 seconds behind.
Leclerc is third but only half a second ahead of Russell as the medium tyres seems to be better than the hards. Hamilton pits for a set of softs and emerges fifth ahead of Perez. Russell closely follows Leclerc’s Ferrari and on lap 54 he makes the move with ease around the outside of Turn 1. Ferrari reats by pitting Leclerc for softs. On lap 60, Gianpiero Lambiase, Verstappen’s track engineer, says on the radio to the driver to manage the fuel consumption:
"Ok Max, can you put 1.52 as a target on the screen, for the fuel?"
On the following lap, he also says:
"Lift your foot a little more, but push in the corners".
On lap 62, the Red Bull drivers asks to his team if the fuel is now getting better and they answer A little more than necessary, but a lot better and then warn him of the possibility of rain in eight minutes. Hamilton passes Sainz at Turn 1 on lap 63, and engages an intra-team battle with Russell for P2: Hamilton manages to take the position.
"Hamilton is now P3. You are free to push, Max but pay attention to the fuel".
Says Giampiero Lambiase to Max Verstappen. On lap 65, Lambiase assures Verstappen that everything is ok with the fuel and warns him that the car behind him is Hamilton’s Mercedes. Bottas reported a loss of power on Lap 68 and the Virtual Safety Car was then deployed to slow the field, Verstappen leading ahead of Hamilton and Russell. The VSC was withdrawn in the middle of Lap 69, and Verstappen’s track engineer asks him Extreme cautin, please, for what concerns the fuel. From there, Max Verstappen comfortably leads to win the 2022 Hungarian Grand Prix by nearly eight seconds. Perez was in the clutches of soft-shod Leclerc but the Ferrari driver couldn’t salvage P5 on the final lap, ending up three-tenths behind the Red Bull in P6. The Monegasque driver says on the radio to his team:
"Oh my God. Hards have been terrible, I wanted to stay on mediums as much as possible. Hards went very bad. It happened to everyone or just to us?"
They say that it was the same for everybody with the hards, so the driver asks:
"Why did we mount them then? There was a reason?"
He also says:
"We were the only ones to stop 3 times".
But his engineer answers that other teams, among those in the back, also did that. With Mercedes completing the podium in a mirror image of the top-three standings at Paul Ricard, Sainz Jr. finished fourth from second - one better than he had from P19 in France. Max Verstappen fought his way back to victory: he managed also to pass Leclerc, helped by the medium tyres, before losing the place due to a spin. Soon he took back the place and the lead, gaining an incredible result from P10 on the grid:
"It feels crazy to have won the race today from P10, especially on a track like this where it’s very hard to pass. We made all the right calls today, there were some good undercuts and overall we did a great job today as a Team. This was definitely one of my best races, despite the little 360-degree spin! I’m very happy with the lead that we have, but of course we have to keep pushing and win more races".
Sergio Perez at the start followed his teammate, but then the fight with the two Ferraris brought him down to the fifth position:
"It is good to go into the summer break strongly. After qualifying it was looking like it could have been a poor weekend for us but we recovered some good points, and it was great fun to have the Mercedes and Ferraris racing up there with us. It was quite a tricky race, particularly towards the end, when the conditions changed and especially during the virtual safety car which meant everyone got cold tyres. Overall, we were a little unlucky with the VSC because we were potentially going to get Carlos and George and I felt we would have got a lot closer to them towards the end. I felt a lot stronger in the final stint and with a few more laps I think I could have been on the podium with Max. It was a great race though and very fun at times. It was a fantastic recovery for the Team today and it was great to see Max get the win".
Christian Horner, Red Bull’s Team Principal, is satisfied of the race:
"It was a fantastic race today. Everyone put in a top performance. Max was exceptional, even adding a little spin to his race as if coming back from 10th wasn’t hard enough. Equally, Checo had a brilliant race and I believe if it hadn’t been for the VSC he would have podiumed. Strategy played a big part in our victory. We were due to start on the hard tyre but switched things up as a result of the ambient conditions. This win gives us a healthy lead going into the break but there are still areas to improve on. Ferrari are still quick, Mercedes are coming back as you saw today. There is plenty more still to come".
As for Mercedes, George Russell started from pole and was the leader of the opening stages of the race. but at the end he did not have the pace to keep Verstappen behind:
"I had a really strong start, and it was a first good stint. We pitted quite early on both stints and tried to keep the tyres out until the end, as well as pushing as fast as possible at the same time. Towards the end on the mediums when the rain started to come down, I struggled and lost temperature. It was challenging to manage the tyres, so there's lots to look into and see where we could've done better. Amazing job by the team, pole position yesterday and double podium today. We're making progress and I'm proud of the work everybody has put into it. We will come back to the second half of the season with a reset, refocussed and will try to fight for some victories".
Lewis Hamilton made a great start: he moved up of two places on the first lap. Unfortunately, he then lost out to Verstappen; at at the end he had incredible pace and climbed back through the field:
"I was struggling at the beginning of the race and wasn't sure whether I'd be able to catch up so I'm happy I was able to recover from P7. I had a good start, which was crucial and, bit by bit, I felt more comfortable with the balance of the car. The cooler temperatures in qualifying and the race seemed to work well for us. We made a massive step from Friday and I'm very grateful for it. If the DRS had been working yesterday, we could have been in the run for the win. I want to acknowledge my team, who have continued to push and have never given up through this tough year that we've had so far. It's very special for us to have both cars on the podium today, although how the race unfolded was unlucky for George. It's an amazing way to go into the break, knowing we're clearly closing the gap and have more performance. Hopefully, we'll bring some more into the second part of the season and start fighting with the guys in the front".
Mercedes’ Team Principal Toto Wolff says that today the cars had a great pace, but it is important to stay focused for the future:
"George had a great qualifying session with pole and drove a solid race. He was in the fight utilising the tyres but ran out of them in the second stint. Lewis' fight today was unbelievable, Budapest continues to be a success story for him. He came out of nowhere and was quicker than everyone else. I think we lost the race with him yesterday with the DRS failing. Otherwise, we would have been able to fight at the front for the victory today. P2 and P3 twice in a row is great but we want to fight for the win. We have a result we can work with, given we had a really bad Friday. It's very frustrating and not easy to pick yourself up and stay motivated, so it's a learning process. Today, we had good pace, but we need to stay humble and look at race weekend after race weekend so we can try to gain more learnings and experiment to put us in a situation where we can actually fight for wins at the end of the season".
Charles Leclerc was ahead of Sainz in the first round of stops, but then the team reacted to Verstappen’s stop by bringing him in. He had ran two sets of medium yet, so the choice was among hards or softs, and the team choosed the first ones. But the hards were not good at that point of the race, so the Monegasque went backwards and had to pit again:
"It’s a shame we didn’t bring home a better result, because the car felt good and we had a strong pace on Medium tyres today. Unfortunately, the Hards just did not work in these conditions. We now need to see what we could have done better, recharge our batteries over the break and be ready to fight in the second part of the season".
Carlos Sainz Jr. mounted the softs, but did not have enough pace and missed out on the podium:
"Today was a tough day for the whole team. We expected to have a strong pace for the race, but it’s clear that with these lower temperatures and track conditions we were simply not fast enough to fight. There are some things to look at and learn from today. We will regroup, analyse and come back stronger after the summer break".
Mattia Binotto, Ferrari’s Team Principal & Managing Director expresses the need to analyse what was going on in the car:
"Today’s result is unsatisfactory. In general, we did not perform well, with the car unable to reproduce Friday’s pace and in terms of how we managed the strategy and pit stops. Analysing every aspect of this race is our top priority over the coming days, in order to prepare as well as possible for the remaining Grands Prix".
During the press conference, after the race, Red Bull’s Team Principal Christian Horner talks about the team’s strategy:
“The soft tyre went further than we thought. At that point, we committed to a two-stop. We went on softs-mediums-mediums. The key moment for us was when we saw Leclerc go onto the hard tyre, we thought we've really got a chance now and Checo was fantastic. He was on another strategy but immediately allowed Max to put himself behind Charles. then Max spun and warmed more the tyres. We changed our strategy on the starting grid, both drivers were struggling to generate temperature in the soft tyre on the way to the grid. We were due to start on the hard tyres“.
At the Hungarian GP’s eve, few people could imagine Max Verstappen’s victory, also for what happened in Q3, where the Red Bull Racing number one suddenly lost power. The team substituted his engine, without penalty, because it was the last unit available by rule.
But if the problem would not have happened in Q3, it could have happened during the race. It was a matter of kilometres, as Horner points out:
“We changed the power unit because a part of it broke on Saturday - with hindsight, we are very happy that the part broke during qualifying, because otherwise the engine would have broken 12 km after, while Max was going to the grid. We changed the entire power unit instead of trying to fix it, and we did the same with Perez, to be safe”.
Verstappen also managed another problem which occurred during the race. The Dutch spun in the penultimate corner and retook completely the control of the car, saying that the clutch was the cause of the episode. A version subsequently confirmed by Horner himself:
“We had a problem but Max managed to control it. The temperatures were becoming too much high, and also for this we left him a bit of distance from Carlos after the first stop. But when we released him, after that the clutch problem was under control, he regained speed”.
Talking to the French TV Canal+, Charles Leclerc appears resigned:
“We cannot hope to win the championship if we do races like this. I don’t know about the strategy, my medium tires were good. I had a good feeling with them. I don’t understand”.
To make things even worse for Ferrari fans, there is also a short video, which has already gone viral, that portrays Max Verstappen, Lewis Hamilton and George Russell talking to each other in the cooldown room, the first place where the first three meet after the race, before they going on the podium. The topic of discussion, inevitably, was the Ferrari’s strategy. Hamilton looks at the images on the screen and asks the other two, bewildered, if Charles Leclerc’s Ferrari F1-75 car was actually on hard tires. With a half laugh both Max Verstappen and George Russell answer yes, tacitly underlining how incorrect the call of the Maranello pit wall was. A scene of a few seconds that, however, tells the difficult moment of the Ferrari pit wall better than a thousand words. This strategy contributed to complicating an uphill race, but Mattia Binotto, after the race, underlines the F1-75’s lack of performance. It was more competitive on Friday, but the change of track conditions caused a crisis for the single-seater, for still unknown reasons. He draws an analogy between the strategic decisions and the F1-75’s lack of pace:
“I think it’s important to say the pace of the car today was not as expected, [considering] the speed we had when we look back to Friday and the race simulations from Friday. Today was certainly different conditions. A lot cooler, but overall the speed today was not great enough, and whatever tyres we were using, I don’t think we were as good as we were looking for. Certainly it was even worse with hards. Our simulation was that it could have been a difficult couple of laps of warm-up, so it would have been slower than the medium for 10-11 laps, but then they would have come back, and they would have been faster by the end of the stint, and it was a 30-lap stint. We mounted the hards at that point because there were thirty laps missing, we wanted to defend the position on Max and it would be too long for the softs. With pur strategy we knew that it would be too difficult in the first stint, ma we could have come back at the end. Overall, the tyres didn’t work. I know they were not working as well [as expected] on other cars. Still, the analysis I made was based on all the data we had, and I think as I said before, the main reason is not to look into the strategy but why the car was not as good as we were hoping today. Carlos was on exactly the same strategy of Lewis [Hamilton]. He was starting ahead but finishing behind and Lewis finished 10 seconds [ahead]”.
Asked if the Ferrari pit wall had been keeping tabs on the progress of Alpine, as the Anglo-French team’s drivers also struggled on the hard after fitting them earlier in the race, Binotto says:
“Yes, we discussed it and it’s not all written in the stars; we are looking at what’s going on and what’s happening with the other tyres. We took all considerations, we discussed what was best and that was the choice we made. It certainly was not the right one today".
In the post-race interview, Charles Leclerc declared that his wish was to extend the stint on mediums and Mattia Binotto, in this regards, declares:
“We talked a lot with the drivers in Sunday morning’s meetings. We will meet again and talk about why Charles wanted to stay out more with mediums. But we win and lose all together. We stopped to protect the position on Max”.
Binotto also says:
"What we were lacking today was really speed and pace. I don’t think we could have won today. And the reason, I don’t know, because it was the first time in the first 13 races where we didn’t have the speed somehow to be there for the victory. It is a delusion, but we want to look, understand and correct soon".
He defends his team, assuring that the pit wall must not be changed:
"There is nothing to change in the pit wall. Other teams do mistakes, are the same for ten years, they mantain the same organisation and then win a Championship. I don’t understand why we have to change after every single mistake. My approach is not to change, but to add, always: understand what doesn’t work, correct it. The guys are showing mentality, determination and capacity. We have to grow still and we will do it".
This race has become for Ferrari an opportunity to grow, by analysing the things that undermined the F1-75’s competitiveness:
"That was surely something that didn’t work. If I look at the first 12 races of the season, it is the first time that we are not competitive to fight for the victory. On Friday the car was behaving well,so there was something that made life hard on the tires and now it is still not clear. I don’t think that it is just because of the temperature, because there have been other races in cold conditions and we went well. Surely the teperature have changed since Friday and the basic conditions were different. We will need to see if we adapted correctly. I don’t have answers now, because first we have to analyse data. However, today there was something in the car that was not correct. The car didn’t work and when it is not fast enough it is also more difficult to make tyres work. I think that everything was a consequence".
The car’s lack of pace was such as to bring the Team Principal to exclude the victory, net of the strategy:
"I don’t think that we could win today. We were out of speed".
Binotto concluded his comment clarifying why he walked away from the pit wall during the race: he just went to the toilet, so removes any speculation. In view of the reast of the season, Ferrari’s number one talks again about reliability:
"We are working on the realiability and we’re managing it, because it must be resolved definitively for the next season. Certain changes can’t be done in a week. This doesn’t mean that this thing will not be managed in this season".
The season will restart at the end of August in Spa and, despite the actual ranking, the Scuderia Ferrari’s attitude will not change:
"Our goals are always the same: to be competitive and fight for every race’s victory. We will come back after the summer break with the wish to win at every race and bring home many points as possible. The Championship is a consequence, it is the sum that is drawn only at the end. There are Championship that are matemathically still open: the Constructors’ muust not be forbidden and, for the potential highlighted in this beginning of the season, there’s no reason we can’t talk. Before of this i twill be important to understand what happened today, because only doing this we can come back competitive. Today was a false move, buti t is essential to grow and resolve the problem in a definitive way".
The Team Principal also talks about the regulatory issues, which include the anti-porpoising Technical Directive expected in Spa and the 2023 aerodynamic changes to contrast the aerodynamic bounce:
"The Technical Directive for Spa exists, it is known and will be implemented. It is something sure, famous and among which there are no doubts. About next years’ rules they’re really dragging it out. We cannot arrive at the last minute and do significative changes, when we have hours of limited galleries and a budget cap. the vehicle concepts are now done and the single-seaters are set. To change now is no sense in front of a non-exsisting problem, because today no one talked of bouncing. I expect that, at this point, nothing will change. If someone would change something, I think that it would be crazy".
At the end, Mattia Binotto makes a balance of the first part of a season that saw the Ferrari coming back fighting at the top of the grid:
"The balance can only be positive, because we failed one of thirty races. We didn’t win the others for various reasons, also frustrating and disappointing, and we deserved better results. Overall, if we think about the previous seasons and our past goals, i.e. just to manage to fight durin gevery single race, we did it for twelve races. The balance can only be positive. Today there is disappointment and the concern for what didn’t work, because it must be fixed soon".
Problems also for Carlos Sainz’s F1-75, who after the race, declares:
"When I went out of the car, I found a plastic bag on its side. I dont’ know if it was costing me aerodynamic load or not, because it was big".
Now, Red Bull enjoy a 97-point lead in the constructors' championship, while Max Verstappen has an 80-point lead in the drivers' standings. After the summer break, the action resumes with the Belgian Grand Prix on August 26-28.