Hungarian GP 2022 - Race: Masterclass win by Verstappen, Ferrari is the team's own enemy
Max Verstappen won, starting from P10, to take his 8th victory of the 2022 season, followed by Lewis Hamilton in P2, the Brit's 6th podium of the season, and George Russell in P3.
Race Start: George Russell was able to keep the lead of the race, with Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc following. Lando Norris kept P4, while Lewis Hamilton managed to overtake both Alpines to find himself up to P5, starting from P7.
Lap 1: An Albon vs Vettel battle left some debris on the track, calling for a VSC.
Lap 5: Race resumed, with Max Verstappen making a move on Fernando Alonso for P7, getting past Ocon, a lap later for P6.
Lap 12: Both Hamilton and Verstappen overtook Norris, taking P4 and P5, respectively.
Lap 17: Russell came into the pits for his first pit stop of the day, rejoining at P6.
Lap 18: Ferrari called Sainz into the pits, returning to the track behind Russell, with Leclerc pitting 4 laps later.
Lap 28: Leclerc closed in on Russell, going on in a battle that lasted for 3 laps, when Leclerc performed an outstanding move on Russell for the lead.
Lap 35: Frontrunners at that time: LEC, RUS, SAI, VER, HAM.
Lap 40: Ferrari called Leclerc again in the pits, switching to a fresh set of hards, with Russell doing so as well, switching to mediums.
Lap 41: In a bold move down the main straight, after pitting as well, Max Verstappen managed to overtake Charles Leclerc to take provisional lead.
Lap 42: Verstappen spun, with Leclerc getting back in front, but that didn't last for long, as Verstappen overtook him again at T1, 3 laps later.
Lap 50: Order: HAM*, VER, LEC, RUS, SAI ( * = yet to stop for a second time)
Lap 51: Daniel Ricciardo has received a 5-sec penalty for causing a collision with Stroll.
Lap 55: After being passed by Russell, a few laps earlier, Leclerc went back into the pits to complete his third stop of the day. His F1-75 never worked well on the hard tyre, so the Monegasque switched to softs.
Lap 56: Lewis Hamilton stopped for a second time, putting on a soft set of tyres, returning to the track behind Sainz and moving faster than everyone else.
Lap 63: Hamilton took over P3 off Sainz, in a move down the start-finish straight.
Lap 65: Russell lost P2 from his teammate, due to different strategies, as Hamilton was flying behind him on the soft tyre.
Lap 68: Valtteri Bottas reported power loss, and parked his Alfa Romeo at the side of the track.
Lap 70: With rain starting to fall, Max Verstappen took his 8th win of the season, getting the fans' vote as DOTD.
Max Verstappen took a surprising win in, followed by the two Mercedes, with Lewis Hamilton in P2, ahead of George Russell in P3.
It was a rough afternoon for Ferrari, as their strategy -once again- didn't work at all, with Carlos Sainz finishing in P4 and Charles Leclerc in P6, split by Sergio Perez in P5.
Lando Norris was the best of the race, keeping McLaren's fight with Alpine alive, finishing 7th, ahead of both Fernando Alonso in P8 and Esteban Ocon in P9.
Completing the top 10, it was Sebastian Vettel who took over P10.
Full Race Classification:
