Formula One
We are officially into the second half of the season with the Hungarian GP. The weekend started off with a wild and somewhat wet Free Practice session and qualifying. Team McLaren ended up locking out the front row with Norris and Piastri P1 and P2 respectfully. Red Bull Driver Perez continues top force RB to question if he should be their driver next season by spinning off and not getting out of Q1 yet again. More shocking was that Mercedes driver George Russell didn’t get out of Q1 either. Once again this is a great opportunity for the McLaren team to chew up some of the gap between them and RB at the top of the constructors cup.
Race Day didn’t start the way I wanted it too with the McLaren team feverishly working on Norris’s car while it was sitting on the grid before the formation lap as he complained of an issue with the throttle. It looks like the McLaren engineers were able to make the fixes they needed to and get the car buttoned back up just in time for the race to start.
For tires today, this is the softest range that can be used. With the heat of the track will be interesting to see what impacts this has on strategy. Most of the top cars were on Medium tires with a few in the second half of the top 10 chose soft tires to start the race.
Lights Out! Great start by mMcLaren three wide on first turn, but Verstappen goes wide, Norris falls to third, with max going ahead. Max should have to give up that spot due to Max going wide and taking a place while he was off track. Piastri doing well in P1.
Finally at lap 4 Max lets Lando pass him to take the spot back, but as Versappen is want to do as soon as he can he tries to use DRS to pass Norris but he is able to keep Max back.
By Lap 7 Norris had gotten enough space between him and Max that Verstappen could no longer use DRS.
The top 10 drivers started pitting around lap 8, meaning this race is probably going to be a 2 stop race. Most of there drivers switching to hard tires during this initial pit.
Lando in P2 pitted at Lap 18 switching form Medium tires to Hard. Good 2.8s pit stop. He comes out in P5, put into a good position. McLaren called Piastri in to pit the next lap again switching to hard tires with a 2.5s stop. Piastri came out ahead of Norris in P4. This back to back pit put Verstappen in P1, who has yet to pit along with the two Ferrari drivers who are in P2 and P3.
Verstappen and Sainz pitted at lap 22. Verstappen got a 3s pit stop. Max goes out in P5, with LeClerc who stayed out in P1 followed by the two McLaren drivers. LeClerc pitted at lap 23 and came out in P5.
Alpine driver Gasly got called into box at lap 34 to retire the car and is out of the Hungarian GP.
P3 driver Hamilton takes his second pit stop at Lap 41 as does LeClerc, both had pit stops under 3s. Hamilton come out P5 and LeClerc in P6. Hamilton on his second set of Hard tires and the Ferrari driver switched to medium tires.
Norris being called into the pits at Lap 45. Goes in at P2, good pit stop at 2.3s and a switch to Medium tires. He comes out at P4 ahead of Hamilton. Great job by the McLaren team as everyone ahead of Norris hasn’t had their second pit stop.
Piastri called into pit at lap 47, as is Sainz. Good pit stoppage by McLaren at 2.9S switching to medium tires coming out at P3. Norris in P2, Oscar in P3 both behind Max who hasn’t pitted.
Max pitted at Lap 50, good pit stop at 2.3s switching to Medium tires. Max comes out at P5 behind Hamilton and LeClerc.
20 Laps to go Norris in P1, Piastri in P2, Hamilton in P3, Leclere in P4 and then Max in p5, all on Medium tires except Hamilton who is on Hard tires.
After the last pit, McLaren gave orders for Norris to allow Oscar to pass him when he got close. Piastri never really did, with Norris opening up an almost 6 second gap on his McLaren Team mate. The Team radios got very awkward as the laps counted down to the end of the race with the team principal ordering Lando to slow down for Oscar to get back into 1st. I don’t get why McLaren was this adamant about Oscar getting P1 when Lando is in a fight for the championship. Eventually Lando let Oscar pass on the straightaway which allowed Oscar to get his first win, and McLaren getting P1 and P2 and Hamilton getting his 200th podium. Earlier Verstappen who was battling Hamilton for P3, tried to pass the Mercedes driver, but locked up and almost crashed with Hamilton. He recovered, but will be facing a penalty after the race.
On the team radio, Oscar sounded very subdued on the radio for his first win.
Exciting race and the 7th different winner of the season.
Does Zak brown get another tattoo? He has gotten tattoos each time one his drivers gets a win (first with Ricciardo, then with Norris).
Current Constructors Standings: Red Bull 389; McLaren 338; Ferrari 322; Mercedes 241
Current Drivers Standings: Verstappen 265; Norris 189; LeClerc 162; Sainz 154; Piastri 149
A quick note that these numbers could change if Verstappen gets penalized for his contact with Hamilton at the end of the race. Perez falls to 7th behind Hamilton, and my guess is that he will be behind Russell after Spa. How does RB stay with Perez when he will be in P8 at the summer break?
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