In what appeared to have the possibility of being an exciting race, turned out to be yet another snoozefest, as Red Bull’s Max Verstappen easily won the 2023 Hungarian Grand Prix by a comfortable margin over McLaren’s Lando Norris and Verstappen’s Red Bull teammate Sergio Perez holding off seven-time Formula One world champion, Lewis Hamilton of Mercedes, for the third and final podium position.
Hamilton sat on pole position after a remarkable qualifying session yesterday, but got a poor start and immediately lost out to Verstappen on the first corner with both McLarens of Norris and Oscar Piastri – who had started third and fourth, respectively – also passing Hamilton on the first corner. Verstappen never gave up the lead position from that point onward and the battle of the race was for the second and third podium places, seemingly between Hamilton, Norris and Piastri – until Perez, starting ninth on the grid, entered the scene later in the race.
Hamilton made his pit stop first in the pit crossovers between Laps 17-25 and Perez made his last but the only change in the running order was Norris surpassing Piastri between their pits stops. After the second pit crossover period between Laps 42-50, Norris retained his second position but Perez leapfrogged over both Piastri and Hamilton to claim third position. However, Hamilton made his pit stop last of the trio and was able to pass Piastri on Lap 57 and was closing in on a podium place as the race ended on Lap 70 – finishing less than two seconds behind the lagging Red Bull of Perez.
With the victory, Verstappen pads his commanding lead in the Formula 1 driver’s standings with 282 points to 171 for Perez while the battle for third place tightens up between Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso, with 139 points and Hamilton with 133 points.
2023 Hungarian Grand Prix Top 10
1] Max Verstappen Red Bull
2] Lando Norris McLaren
3] Sergio Pérez Red Bull
4] Lewis Hamilton Mercedes
5] Oscar Piastri McLaren
6] George Russell Mercedes
7] Charles Leclerc Ferrari
8] Carlos Sainz Jr. Ferrari
9] Fernando Alonso Aston Martin
10] Lance Stroll Aston Martin
