The Austrian Grand Prix represented the halfway point of the 2022 Formula 1 season. But the Hungarian GP retaining its pre-summer break spot and the mental reset it offers was why Max Verstappen’s engineer, Gianpiero Lambiase, told him as he crossed the finish line last Sunday: “what a drive – what a way to finish the first half of the year”.
That call came after the Red Bull driver had pulled off something of a shock win, which says more about the previous overtaking challenge at the Hungaroring for a driver that had started 10th – as was the case for Verstappen. Nevertheless, both he and Red Bull were brilliant last Sunday to claim an eighth win of the campaign from that grid spot.
The same could not be said of Ferrari. Charles Leclerc had made up for his unusually sub-par qualifying performance on Sunday, where George Russell took advantage to claim a maiden pole on the back of some unusual Mercedes experiments to finally unlock more of the W13’s potential, by getting into what looked like a race-winning position just before half distance.
PLUS: Why Ferrari had the Hungary strategy shocker that helped Verstappen to an unlikely win
But then his team’s call to run mediums for the first two stints badly backfired as the hards he was given at his second stop meant another would be required and Leclerc would finish sixth. That was behind team-mate Carlos Sainz, who ended up fourth having started second on another startlingly poor day for Ferrari that ended with Verstappen’s already very strong championship position being further reinforced.
But there was plenty more to delve into in Hungary, as we explain here.
1. Verstappen and Red Bull really show their class to take shock victory
Verstappen is embraced by Red Bull boss Christian Horner after recovering strongly from qualifying a lowly 10th
Photo by: Red Bull Content Pool
The 2022 rule changes may have made racing much better even on the tight and twisty Hungaroring (more on that later), but a driver would never choose to start a race at this venue from 10th – especially with the chance that weather won’t intervene.
As the rain just about stayed away at the Budapest track last Sunday other than drizzle falling at various points and with no safety car to bunch the pack up, that Verstappen and Red Bull came away victorious from that grid spot was mightily impressive.
The team spotted Verstappen’s struggles for grip on the laps to the grid in the coolest conditions of the weekend…
Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at Autosport.com – Formula 1 – Stories…