British Grand Prix Recap
Two weeks ago we watched the F1 drivers take on the much-awaited race at the Silverstone Circuit in Great Britain.
Let’s dive into a recap of the British Grand Prix.
With new surprises on the podium and another P1 finish for Red Bull with Max Verstappen, this race left fans wondering what’s to come.
McLaren’s Lando Norris had a brilliant performance landing himself on the podium in P2, followed by multiple-championship winner Lewis Hamilton in P3. Norris was voted in as Salesforce’s ‘Driver of the Day.’
Oscar Piastri of McLaren had a fantastic race as well, finishing in P4 not far behind his fellow teammate.
Ferrari, who seemed to once consistently produce good results, was not so fortunate this time with both drivers finishing in P9 for Charles Leclerc and P10 for Carlos Sainz.
Along with his 43rd career win, Verstappen also took home the fastest lap of the race at 1:30.275.
It wouldn’t be a complete recap, however, without the mentioning of a fan-favorite driver returning to the F1 racing group, who will be replacing Nyck Devries in Alpha Tauri.
Scudiera AlphaTauri tweeted: “Daniel is back! @danielricciardo, on loan from @redbullracing, will be racing for us for the remainder of the #F1 season, starting from the Hungarian GP.”
With the results from the British GP in mind, the Hungarian GP will be yet another exciting race, I’m sure.
2023 Hungarian Grand Prix
The Hungarian Grand Prix was the hottest race of the year.
It was an exceptional race, once again, for Max Verstappen who dominated Budapest, making this his 44th career win.
Saturday’s qualifiers led Lewis Hamilton of Mercedes to take the Pole position for Sunday’s race.
Verstappen, Lando Norris (McLaren), Oscar Piastri (McLaren), and Zhou Guanyu (Alfa Romeo) started the race in P2, P3, P4, and P5.
The Race
The first lap of the Hungaroring Track was no easy task, and it was proven true on Sunday.
Verstappen grabbed the lead away from Hamilton in Turn 1, right after the chequered flag. Piastri, seeing the opportunity, went deep on the inside line entering into second position ahead of Hamilton.
Further back, in an attempt to gain ground, Guanyu tagged the back of Daniel Ricciardo’s (Alpha Tauri) car, which consequently hit Esteban Ocon (Alpine), who then hit his teammate Pierre Gasly (Alpine). This became a significant mistake for the Alpine team with both drivers having to pull into their pit lanes.
With their damage and driving off the track, both had to retire from the race. This marks Alpine’s second DNF (Did Not Finish) for both drivers in the same race.
Although Alpine DNF, Alfa Romeo also suffered losses as Guanyu was given a 5-second time penalty for his actions.
In Lap 6, Sergio Perez (Red Bull) is sent to the outside as he tries to move behind Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin); he uses his DRS twice to try and surpass the driver on the outside, but Alonso upheld great defence and blocked the driver from moving up a position.
Two laps later, Perez was finally successful in getting inside and passing Alonso, who put up a good defensive fight but lost his position.
After unsuccessfully trying to gain back his starting grid position, in lap 18, Norris tries to pursue a back-to-back podium finish. As he pit stops for new hard tyres, the pressure for Mercedes is high.
Pitting after him, Piastri was undercut by fellow teammate Norris, who ran alongside him at Turn 1 and overtook his position.
In lap 27, Perez passes Sainz and moves to P6. He then passes George Russell (Mercedes) on the next lap, heaving better traction going downhill. This proved to be brilliant driving, as the cars seemed to make close contact but thankfully for both, ran short. Perez is then in P5.
In lap 42, Alonso and Russell tussle for P8 whilst Perez is back in his offensive strategy. He tries to pass Hamilton for P4, but Hamilton hogs the inside line in the DRS zone, emphasising his skills in defence.
After two laps, Leclerc received a 5-second time penalty from the stewards for speeding in the pit lane on his way to a pitstop, which was fortunately quick at just 2.2 seconds.
Perez attacks Piastri in lap 47, who hogs the apex in defence. However, going the long way around in overtaking, with his DRS and better traction on the track, Perez overtakes and moves to P4. This was an aggressive move on the outside, with Piastri not budging to let it go.
Hamilton then pits to remove old hard tyres, allowing Norris to snatch the second position.
At this point, Piastri (P4) has Hamilton (P5) who is known to adore this race track, heading behind him. Using DRS, Hamilton takes the inside pass and disappears down the road. This was a calculated move, considering the cars had the same power unit- an easy shift to P4 for Hamilton.
Finally, in the last few laps before crossing the finish line, Logan Seargent (Williams), whilst under pressure due to Tsunoda’s aggressive chase, mishandled a wrong turn and hit a throttle.
Perhaps it was a lack of concentration, but nonetheless, his tyres gave out and he turned on himself mid-track. This mistake allowed Tsunoda and Guanyu to pass ahead of him.
Race Results
Once again, Verstappen took home P1 in this weekend’s race at the Hungarian Grand Prix. In Lap 70, the Dutchman gained his seventh victory in a row this season. This made Formula 1 history, as it gave Red Bull their 12th win in a row, taking the consecutive win record away from McLaren.
For the team, 12 wins in a row is just incredible. What we’ve been doing for the last two years has been unbelievable. Hopefully we can keep this momentum going for a long time.
Max Verstappen, Red Bull
Half a minute later, Norris took home his second podium finish of the season and eighth of his career.
After their performance in Bahrain, no one expected McLaren to make such a big comeback, taking in two podium finishes in a row.
Sergio Perez finished behind him in P3 for another podium finish for Red Bull. An outstanding performance from Perez who from P9 raced his way to P3, chased by Hamilton.
Verstappen again had the fastest lap, giving him an extra point for an even larger lead.
After the podium, Hamilton and Piastri, who is now being discovered as ‘Rookie of the Year’, came in at P4 and P5, respectively. Piastri proved to be a significant driver in this race, which surprised many.
We only could have dreamed of that at the start of the season… fighting a Red Bull and in Lando’s case, Beating a Red Bull. So the team have made a monumental step forward, I think these conditions were probably the ultimate test for us: super hot, quite a low-speed circuit, which was by far our biggest weakness at the start of the season. To still be up there, on a track like this in conditions like these, is a massive confidence boost and I think we can be confident everywhere we go now.
Oscar Piastri, McLaren
Again, there was not much movement from the Ferrari team who finished in P7 and P8.
Russell had a good sprint, moving from P18 to P6, and gaining 12 positions in the 70 laps.
Sergio Perez was voted in for Salesforce ‘Driver of the Day’ with 20.7% of the votes. Land Norris came in at a close second with 20.4%.
Standings
Max Verstappen keeps his steady lead with 281 points. His Red Bull teammate Perez is in second position with 171 points, and third, Fernando Alonso with 139.
Lewis Hamilton, George Russell, Carlos Sainz, and Charles Leclerc follow behind in P4, five, six, and seven respectively.
What’s Next?
With yet another win set in stone for Max Verstappen, it is evident he owns this year’s F1.
The full results of the Hungarian Grand Prix are on the official Formula 1 Website.
The next race is the 2023 Belgian Grand Prix at the Spa-Francorchamps on Sunday, July 30.
Feature Image Credit: F1
Aspiring Journalist
Fourth-year Journalism Student and Sports Editor of BRIG Newspaper at Stirling University
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