In difficult weather conditions in Hungary, the Formula 1 racing team Ferrari once again missed good chances of winning. Instead, the Red Bull driver and current world champion Max Verstappen celebrated on Sunday (07/31/2022).
The Dutchman finished in Budapest about 7.8 seconds ahead of Mercedes pursuer Lewis Hamilton. His colleague George Russell was third in the second Silver Arrow (+12.337 seconds). Verstappen only started the race from tenth place.
A full lead for Verstappen in front of Ferrari driver Leclerc
Ferrari drivers Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc, who suffered the next blow after leaving France, only finished fourth and sixth. After the 13th of 22 races, Verstappen is now going into the summer break with an 80-point lead over Leclerc.
With nine races remaining, the Ferrari driver can no longer catch up on his own. Leclerc is dependent on Verstappen leaving points or even making a failure.
Vettel in tenth place, Schumacher missed points
Former world champion Sebastian Vettel finished tenth in the Aston Martin in the first race after announcing his retirement at the end of the year. In the last race before the summer break, Mick Schumacher clearly missed the points in 14th place in the Haas.
Tire tacticians expect rain – it doesn’t come
With a gloomy sky and light drizzle, Mercedes driver George Russell got off to a good start from the first pole position of his career. The two Ferraris, crewed by Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc, lurked behind him. But Russell was able to get a two-second lead over Sainz.
Many teams had expected heavier rain at the start of the race and put on the soft tires. Including Russell, who was suddenly radioed: “It won’t rain for the next 30 minutes.” As a result, the softs gradually degraded, and during the pit stop he switched to the medium slicks – just like his competitors.
Strong Leclerc overtaking maneuver to change leadership
After the two Ferrari pit stops, Leclerc was Russell’s first pursuer. The Monegasque attacked the Mercedes driver several times with DRS and broke through on lap 31 after DRS had been deployed, braking late in the corner. As a result, the Ferrari driver increased his lead over Russell to over three seconds.
World champion Verstappen in the Red Bull also worked his way up the field and kept up with the podium finishes. In fourth place, he was only 2.8 seconds behind Sainz.
Feared rain causes more pit stops
After further tire changes and corresponding pit stops due to the renewed drizzle, the field was shaken up. Verstappen, Russell and Sainz took the lead.
Leclerc had significant problems. And he couldn’t get it anymore. Because Ferrari made mistakes again during the pit stops by Leclerc and Sainz, Leclerc initially decided on the completely wrong tires with the hard in increasingly slippery conditions.
Instead, Hamilton fought back and was happy with second place in the end. A defect in Valtteri Bottas’ Alfa Romeo caused a virtual safety car phase, which ensured Verstappen’s victory two laps before the end.