Formula 1: Verstappen signed a victory to remember at the Hungarian GP on another gray Sunday for Leclerc

Max Verstappen goes on vacation with homework done: Tenth on the starting grid after a Saturday to forget, the world champion and undisputed leader of the 2022 World Cup has progressively recovered ground aided by his talent, his luck and Red Bull’s strategy to achieve a great victory in the Grand Prix of Hungary’s Formula 1 Prize. instead of recovering a handful of points, he signed a race to remember which allows him to escape from an evicted person Charles Leclerc, who this time was damaged by a bad decision by the Ferrari mechanics which saw him finish in a bland sixth place.

“I was hoping to get close to the podium, but we had a very good strategy, we were really reactive. Despite the spin – he lost control of his car without consequences – we won the race.”the Dutchman reacted, signing his eighth win of the season after 13 races on the Hungaroring track near Budapest. An overwhelming domain.

A victory far from assured for the reigning champion, who started from the middle of the grid after suffering a mechanical problem during the third qualifying round.

Lap after lap, the Dutchman came from behind and then overtook the Mercedes of Britons Lewis Hamilton and George Russell, who started from pole position for the first time in his Formula 1 career.

This second consecutive double podium for Mercedes, after the one won in France last weekend, offers a breath of fresh air to the German team. After a difficult start to the season, the Silver Arrows are still looking for their first win in 2022.

Since the current season began, the German manufacturer has been trying to get rid of the problems that prevented it from rivaling Red Bull and Ferrari. It is approaching the target.

“We are clearly closing the gap, we hope to be able to bring something more into the second half of the season and start fighting.”yearned for Hamilton, a seven-time world champion who scored his fifth consecutive podium in Hungary, as well as getting the extra point for setting the fastest lap.

And followed: “In the beginning it was difficult for me, but gradually I felt more comfortable with my balance. I started very well. The other guys are at an advantage, but we are clearly closing the gap, I hope we can give something more in the second half of the race. season and start fighting with them. I was hoping it would rain eventually to challenge Max. If the DRS had been good on Saturday, we would have been in [la lucha] for victory”. Hamilton started seventh and finished second, and if the race had had ten more laps …

Under a sky that threatened a thunderstorm throughout the race and barely had any drizzle, the Monegasque Leclerc, who had already cost him the victory in Monaco by Ferrari’s incorrect planning, was once again the victim of a mistake. strategic linked to Sunday tires.

After halfway through the race, Verstappen, who had intermediate tires, took advantage of Leclerc’s much slower set of hard tires to snatch the lead in a race that saw him as a big favorite.

The Scuderia driver had to return to the pits to switch to a set of soft tires, losing more time to his rivals. He could not even take advantage of Verstappen’s childhood lap, who revised him as if Ferrari were not a top team.

“I said I wanted to stay with the intermediate tires as long as possible, I don’t understand why we put the hard ones in the end,” the Monegasque complained at the end of the race: Leclerc is now 80 points behind Verstappen in the championship.

The other Ferrari of the Spaniard Carlos Sainz remained at the gates of the podium despite starting from second position. Mexican Sergio Pérez was 5th with his Red Bull in a good race, as he started eleventh.

Behind Leclerc were the British Lando Norris (McLaren) in seventh place, followed by the Alpini of Fernando Alonso (8th) and Esteban Ocon (9th), the previous winner last year on the Hungarian circuit. German Sebastian Vettel, who announced his retirement at the end of this season this week, has completed the top 10.

Mad Max blew up the Drivers’ World Championship. He is now in the lead with 258 points, eighty more than Leclerc, who is only five points clear of Checo Pérez. If you start playing with the calculator, you can say that if instead of returning from vacation on the last weekend of August, when the championship resumes in Spa-Francorchamps, I decide to do it after missing the next three races, I would still be ahead of the competition. . The Dutchman could even win it without having to get back on the top step of the podium in any of the nine tests that remain for the closing.

Red Bull has also increased its lead in the Constructors’ World Championship, which is now in the lead with 431 points, 97 more than Ferrari; that is getting closer and closer (it is already 30 years old) Mercedes: winner of the last eight team titles.

The Formula 1 World Championship takes a break until the Belgian Grand Prix, a classic of the Máxima, which will take place over the weekend of 28 August.

Source: AFP and EFE