Oscar Piastri, the Australian driver of McLaren, won the 39th Formula 1 Hungarian Grand Prix on Sunday at the Hungaroring, thereby achieving the first success of his career in the elite category.
Behind the 23-year-old pilot, his teammate, the British Lando Norris, finished second, so McLaren won a double victory in F1 for the first time since the 2021 Italian Grand Prix.
In third place was the seven-time world champion British Lewis Hamilton with Mercedes, his 200th podium finish in Formula 1.
Piastri is the seventh driver this season who was able to win at least one race, and the last time more than six different drivers won in F1 was in 2012, when eight drivers triumphed at least once.
Defending champion and three-time world champion Max Verstappen (Red Bull) had a chance to finish in third place, but ended up finishing fifth behind Charles Leclerc, Ferrari’s Monaco driver.
After the start, Norris, who started from pole position, as well as Piastri and Verstappen turned into the first corner next to each other, and the Australian rider who turned on the inside curve came out the best from this battle. At the end of the first lap, Piastri was in the lead, followed by Verstappen and Norris, although the defending Dutch champion left the track in the first corner and thus gained the advantage. In the fourth lap, the team advised him to let Norris pass before he was penalized, and the three-time World Cup winner did so, but indicated on the radio that he did not agree with the decision.
In the 10th lap, Piastri’s lead was already more than 2.7 seconds ahead of Norris, and the Briton was followed by Verstappen, around two seconds behind. Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) raced in fourth place, followed by Leclerc and Carlos Sainz Jr. (Ferrari).
By lap 15, the strategy was determined at McLaren, at least Norris was told on the radio to concentrate on Verstappen and not on catching Piastri.
Hamilton started the series of tire changes from the front, he drove into the pit at the beginning of the 17th lap, and at the end of the same lap, Norris also received fresh tires. At the beginning of the 19th lap, the new tires were put on Piastri’s car, and Verstappen was only in the pits on the 21st lap.
The biggest winner of the tire changes was Hamilton, who actually overtook Verstappen thanks to his pit stop and came third. In addition, the British star ran the fastest lap several times in a row, thus approaching Norris, who was racing ahead of him, as well as Piastri, who was leading the race. Verstappen then started to accelerate on the increasingly warm rubber compounds, as did the McLarens, and soon the leading Piastri had the fastest lap.
Verstappen overtook Hamilton on the 34th lap, tried to overtake him once, but was unable to turn into the corner during the maneuver, so the seven-time World Cup winner remained in third position. The defending Dutch champion then complained again on the radio that he could not take the corners at the right pace. In the meantime, Piastri lost a lot of his advantage against Norris, who reduced his deficit from four to one and a half seconds.
On the 41st lap, Hamilton drove to the pits again for a tire change, and Norris was called by McLaren on the 45th lap. Two laps later, Piastri had to stop at the call of the team for fresh tires, thus handing over the lead to Norris, who gained an advantage of roughly three seconds. McLaren radioed Norris after two laps to hand the lead back to Piastri, while Verstappen made his second tire change on lap 50.
Verstappen, who slipped to fifth place in the heat, argued with the team on the radio about what he believed to be a messed up strategy, while McLaren persuaded Norris to spare the tires even more, but the British driver was not really willing to go slower. Until the final whistle, the Verstappen-Red Bull and Norris-McLaren debates mainly entertained the spectators, and in the end, the defending Dutch champion made an overly optimistic maneuver against Hamilton, as a result of which the Red Bull’s left rear wheel collided with the right front tire of the Mercedes, and Verstappen left the track teasingly. Meanwhile, with three laps to go, Norris allowed Piastri to get ahead of him on the finish line, allowing McLaren to win many times, while Verstappen, who was constantly arguing with his own team, had to settle for fifth place.
A total of 310,000 spectators visited the Hungaroring during the weekend of the Hungarian Grand Prix.
The World Cup continues next weekend with the Belgian Grand Prix in Spa-Francorchamps.
Final result, the standings of the World Cup points competitions
1. Oscar Piastri (Australian, McLaren) 1:38:01.989 hours
2. Lando Norris (UK, McLaren) 2.141 seconds back
3. Lewis Hamilton (brit, Mercedes) 14.880 mp h.
4. Charles Leclerc (Monaco, Ferrari) 19.686 sec h.
5. Max Verstappen (holland, Red Bull) 21.349 mp h.
6. Carlos Sainz Jr. (Spain, Ferrari) 23.073 mph.
7. Sergio Pérez (Mexico, Red Bull) 39.792 sec h.
8. George Russell (brit, Mercedes) 42.368 mp h.
9. Juki Cunoda (Japan, RB) 1:17.259 min h.
10. Lance Stroll (Canadian, Aston Martin) 1:17.976 p h.
11. Fernando Alonso (Spain, Aston Martin) 1:22.460 p h.
12. Daniel Ricciardo (Australian, RB) 1 lap h.
13. Nico Hülkenberg (Germany, Haas) 1 lap h.
14. Alexander Albon (Thailand, Williams) 1 lap h.
15. Kevin Magnussen (deceased, Haas) 1 car h.
16. Valtteri Bottas (Finn, Sauber) 1 run h.
17. Logan Sargeant (American, Williams) 1 lap h.
18. Esteban Ocon (France, Alpine) 1 lap h.
19. Chou Kuan-yü (Chinese, Sauber) 1 lap h.
fastest lap: 1:20.305 min (Russell, lap 55)
pole position: Norris
submitted by: Pierre Gasly (France, Alpine, technical fault, lap 33)
The standings of the World Cup points races after 13 races (11 more to go):
competitors:
1. Verstappen 265 pound
2. Norris 189
3. Leclerc 162
4. Sainz 154
5. Plates 149
6. Hamilton 125
7. Pérez 124
8. Russell 116
9. Alonso 45
10. Stroll 24
11. Hulkenberg 22
12. Cunoda 22
13. Ricciardo 11
14. Oliver Bearman (brit, Ferrari) 6
15. Gasly 6
16. Magnussen 5
17. Albon 4
18. Ocon 3
19. Chou 0
20. Sargeant 0
21. Bottas 0
teams:
1. Red Bull 389 pont
2. McLaren 338
3. Ferrari 322
4. Mercedes 241
5. Aston Martin 69
6. RB 33
7. Haas 27
8. Alpine 9
9. Williams 4
10. Sauber 0
Source: propeller.hu
