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Verstappen spins and wins the 2022 Hungarian Grand Prix

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Max Verstappen secures his 8th win at the 2022 Hungarian Grand Prix as Ferrari tumbles once again.

We are done with round 13 of the 2022 Formula 1 season and once again Max Verstappen and Red Bull take the top spot on the podium.

The Hungaroring served us with quite enthralling racing. The 70-lap race at Budapest was action-packed giving us beautiful close racing and overtakes.

Here are some key points from the race at Budapest as Formula 1 heads to the summer break.

Max Verstappen ‘spins’ to win from P10

Some engine-related issues forced Max Verstappen to start from P10 as the Dutch suffered a power unit failure during Q3 in qualification.

Nevertheless, Red Bull recognized the problem and replaced the Power Unit components. Red Bull did not suffer any penalty as the parts taken were within the allocated limit. The same mirrored for Perez.

With the new engine and Power unit components, the Dutch was ready for a charge down the field.

A remarkable drive combined with a strategic blunder by Ferrari saw the Dutch winning the Hungarian Grand Prix. Max Verstappen overtook his championship rival Charles Leclerc on lap 41.

However, the most memorable moment of the race came on the following lap as Verstappen lost the rear on the final turn sending him into a spin. The Dutch was quick to react and recovered the car without much damage to the car.

The Dutch then charged again and overtook a struggling Leclerc once again.

Verstappen would take the lead of the race for the first time on lap 52 as both Carlos Sainz and Lewis Hamilton were ahead of his pit.

From there, Verstappen would comfortably lead the race and take the checkered flag securing his eighth win of the season. Verstappen now leads the championship by 80-points.

Verstappen on his ‘spin’ to win:

I was of course hoping I could get close to the podium, but very tricky conditions out there. But we had a really good strategy, we were really reactive and always pitting at the right at time, I think we had some good out-laps and at the end even with 360, we won the race!”

“It was very good, I was battling a lot of guys, so it was a lot of fun out there… a crazy race and of course very happy that we won’t it,”

added the defending Champion.

Ferrari messes up again

Hungarian Grand Prix became yet another upsetting evening for the Tifosi and the Scuderia.

Charles Leclerc was comfortably leading the Grand Prix at a moment. Leclerc was showing strong pace and seemed to have the win in his bag after overtaking pole-sitter George Russell for the lead on lap 31.

The Monegasque came in for his 2nd pitstop on lap 40 following Max Verstappen.

However, Ferrari opted to put the hard tyres on his F1-75. This decision turned out to be fatal as Leclerc was unable to find a proper grip on this compound. The 24-year-old would eventually be overtaken by Verstappen two times.

To add to his horrors, the Monegasque would further drop back to P6 following another pitstop for soft tyres. The race where he should have probably won ended up being a disaster for the Monegasque.

The Ferrari strategist again comes under scrutiny after the controversial decision. Choosing hard tyres, even after Alpine drivers were surely struggling on the compound.

Leclerc said this in post-race interview after the Hungarian Grand Prix talking to the media:

“Everything was under control and for some reason, I don’t know why, we went on the hards. I said on the radio I was comfortable on the medium and I wanted to go as long as possible on those tyres because the feeling was good. I don’t know why we took a different decision.”

“Honestly the pace on my side, I was pretty happy. The only thing is obviously everyone will remember the last part of the race where it was a disaster for me, especially with the hards,”

added Leclerc.

Leclerc didn’t seem happy with how the race turned.

Mercedes’s another double podium

Mercedes was on top yet again as the Silver Arrows scored the second consecutive double podium of the season.

On Saturday, Russell had taken the pole position. However, from lap 1 the pole-sitter didn’t seem that fast as compared to Red Bull and Ferrari.

Nevertheless, Ferrari’s strategic blunder and Hamilton’s immense pace in his final stint on soft tyres saw Mercedes score another 2-3 finish in Budapest.

With Hamilton P2 and Russell P3, we saw a repeat of the podium of the French Grand Prix.

Mercedes stands 3rd on Constructors with just 30 points behind Ferrari. George Russell moved up to P4 ahead of Carlos Sainz after the Hungarian Grand Prix.

The race was yet another boost to the already strong championship lead for Red Bull and Verstappen.

Verstappen is now 80 points clear of Charles Leclerc and Red Bull stands 97-points clear of Ferrari in the Constructors Championship.

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