The sky is blue. The grass is green. Max Verstappen is victorious.
Thirty-three seconds. That’s how long it took, after Verstappen won his seventh consecutive race, for the next single-seater to arrive on Sunday in Hungary.
Once again, the two-time reigning world champion rode alone from start to finish. He thus tied the mark of Alberto Ascari and Nico Rosberg for the number of consecutive victories. The record of nine belongs to Sebastian Vettel. No need to specify that it is within reach of the Dutchman.
Speaking of numbers, the victory is Red Bull’s 12th in succession, including the last race of 2022. This is a new Formula 1 record.
“What we’ve been through in the past two years is incredible. Hoping we can maintain that for a long time,” Verstappen said, always restrained in his answers, at the F1 microphone.
As in Great Britain two weeks ago, Lando Norris took second place. “Let’s go!” Yeah baby! asked the young and candid 23-year-old pilot. His teammate, Oscar Piastri, was second for much of the derby before losing pace; he finished in 5th place, but showed great aggressiveness when confronted by other cars trying to pass him.
If McLaren showed little confidence in repeating its exploits in the last days, it is clear that its setbacks at the start of the season are officially behind it. This result cements the new rhythm of the papaya team. Could a victory be possible eventually? Rosberg asked Norris over the F1 microphone.
“If Max retires, maybe!” exclaimed the Briton with a smile. The [Red Bull] guys are too fast. Unless they make mistakes or something happens… But I think we are very happy with where we are compared to four or five races ago. »
Small confidence boost for Sergio Pérez: starting 9th on the grid, the Mexican adopted a different tire strategy and worked his way up to the third step of the podium.
“That kind of performance and day, it’s going to help [my confidence],” he said. From now on, I hope to be on the podium every weekend. »
As you can see, happiness was short-lived for fans of Lewis Hamilton. However, Saturday’s qualifying promised an intriguing race, as the Mercedes driver held the lead position for the first time since 2021…
But from the first corner, Verstappen calmed everyone’s enthusiasm. In his usual brilliance, the 25-year-old took the lead. All hopes of a good old fight between Red Bull and Mercedes suddenly evaporated.
Even the two McLarens of Piastri and Norris passed Hamilton on the exit of the first corner. That’s good to say.
“Sorry about that, guys,” the seven-time world champion told his team. He still managed to finish just off the podium.
At Aston Martin, Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll closed the top 10 with 9th and 10th place respectively. This means that the stagnation continues at the green team, which can no longer keep up with the pace of the leading teams, a bit like Ferrari. Meanwhile, the Red Bulls, Mercedes and McLaren are making progress…
However, Aston Martin’s situation cannot be worse than that of Alpine which, for a second consecutive race, saw its two drivers forced to retire. This time, however, it is Zhou Guanyu’s fault. At the first corner, the Alfa Romeo driver touched Daniel Ricciardo’s AlphaTauri, which incidentally slammed into the rear of Esteban Ocon’s Alpine. The latter led his teammate in his exit from the track. Result: Both Alpines had to retire before they even took a lap.
The Hungarian race marked the return of Daniel Ricciardo, alias Monsieur Sourire, to Formula 1. With his 13th place, the AlphaTauri driver can say mission accomplished for this first race. Especially since he beat his teammate, Yuki Tsunoda, by two places.
After the first corner crash, Ricciardo found himself in last place for part of the derby. Slowly, he took his ease and made up for lost places.
“Our pace wasn’t bad, maybe we could have been in the points today, I don’t know, but our strategy was good. We just got a bit unlucky,” the Australian said in a team statement.
“I’m glad I got to do 70 laps to learn as much as possible,” he continued. I will learn from the mistakes I made to become better. I took mental notes that I will share with the team. All in all, there are many things to be happy about! »
