Hungarian F1 Grand Prix Review

Oh McLaren, what have you gotten yourself into? A very interesting strategy that led to one of the most awkward and divisive first wins in Formula 1 history, at least that I can remember. Potentially the most divisive first win since Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso squared off…also at McLaren.

First Things First, the 1-2 Fumble

Starting P1 and P2, McLaren were primed and ready for a big race day. Piastri beat Norris off the line (Norris just can’t seem to keep a P1 start no matter what) and to his credit, drove really well the entire race and was deserving of a win, he did everything he needed to do. Lando taking the lead on the undercut in the latter stages was a mistake on the part of the pit wall. Had Piastri pit first and Lando avoided the undercut, we could have seen an interesting race towards the end if Piastri’s tyres started to degrade and Lando caught up.

However, Lando put some distance, rather easily, on Piastri despite having older tyres. But then, with the race drawing to a close, he gave away the win to his young teammate. Norris said afterwards he decided to “do the right thing” after thinking about all the times Piastri supported him. Oscar understandably didn’t turn down the win, but viewers could easily tell he was not pleased with the turn of events in his favor. Almost disappointed.

He did not have the same joy as many first time race winners have, reflecting the sad reality of how the race unfolded for the drivers and the team. What could have been a rewarding day was spoiled by a botched race strategy. Fans took their chance to jab, mostly at Lando, for being childish and selfish in his reaction to Piastri’s win. Others said he won the race fair and square and shouldn’t have felt the urge to give the place back after showing he likely could have beaten Piastri had he given the place back earlier and shouldn’t pay the price for the pit wall’s mistake.

Wherever you land on the debate, racing is a sport where you have one objective: finish first. Any driver told to give up that spot is obviously going to be upset. Any driver told they are given that spot, especially in this circumstance, will not feel the same reward as winning “fair and square”. When we should be singing the praises of the team for finishing 1-2, we are now criticizing them for their handling of the situation. They’ve made their perennially popular No.1 driver look like a villain for being ruthless while also giving ammo to the detractors who say he’s too soft and they took the joy of winning a race away from their young promising No.2. It’s a mess.

The Points Runners

Mercedes started out the day with their work cut out for them: Hamilton needed to maximize his qualifying spot, and Russell needed to quickly get through the field and bag solid points. They achieved that objective with Hamilton getting his 200th career podium and Russell making his way to P8 after a P17 start.

Hamilton had a scuffle with Verstappen towards the end that mirrored their crash in Monza in 2021, though this time around both cars were able to finish the race. While attempting to pass Lewis, Max locked up and their cars touched. Verstappen popped into the air, losing his chance at a podium and sentencing himself to a P5 finish.

Speaking of Red Bull, Vertappen was upset not only by his car’s lack of pace, but his team strategy as well, letting them know as much in no uncertain terms. His race engineer largely returned the favor, though slightly more cordially.

Perez made a decent recovery drive after crashing out of Q1 in Saturday’s qualifying, finishing P7 after starting in P16. However, was it enough to quell the rumors of his seat being in danger? It sounds like he has one more race to save himself. However, it might be too little, too late.

Yuki Tsunoda came in P9 with Daniel Ricciardo falling back to P12. Much like Perez, the Red Bull hopefuls will get another chance to show their stuff at Spa next week. Could one of them be in line for a promotion? If so, does Liam Lawson get the vacant seat? If Ricciardo doesn’t get promoted to Red Bull, does RB move on to Isack Hadjar, who has been rumored for a future seat?

Ferrari were arguably the second fastest car on the weekend behind McLaren despite their finish. Leclerc was passed by Verstappen in the closing stages only to get the place back after the aforementioned collision between Lewis and Max to finish just outside of the podium in P4. Sainz began in P4 only to end up in P6, essentially swapping places with his teammate, Leclerc, who started sixth.

As for the other teams, Aston Martin has continued to struggle, despite showing some promising qualifying pace. Lance Stroll finished P10 just ahead of Fernando Alonso in P11 and has now beaten the two time world champion in each of the last three races.

From Promise to Disappointment

Haas didn’t reach the highs they have attained the last few weeks, but it’s hard to accuse them of bottling their race. Williams was much the same, with Albon and Sargeant may have lost oen and three places respectively compared to their qualifying position, but it is important to note that two of these “spots” were lost once Perez and Russell, both in faster cars, passed them. All in all, the Haas and Williams seemed to more or less max out what their respective car could do.

Valtteri Bottas fell four spots and Zhou Guanyu fell one to finish P16 and P19 respectively. Sauber continue to be one of, if not the worst, cars on the grid. However, Alpine is doing their best to put their name in the spot for worst car. Esteban Ocon could only manage P18, and Gasly suffered a DNF/DNS for the second consecutive race. After having such promise for a few weeks, Alpine has very much fallen to the back of the pack yet again. Their quick rise and fall should be studied for science.

Next week, we are on to Spa and the Belgian Grand Prix, where no doubt all eyes will be on McLaren.