2023 Formula 1 Hungarian Grand Prix highlights

 

Introduction

 

Max Verstappen stormed to victory over Lando Norris and Sergio Perez with another commanding performance in the 2023 Formula 1 Hungarian Grand Prix, giving the reigning double world champion his seventh straight triumph and Red Bull their 12th in a row – beating McLaren’s long-standing record.

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Mario Isola, Motorsport Director, Pirelli:

It was a very interesting weekend which saw a trial of a new tyre allocation format and evaluation, bringing a trio of compounds one step softer than in the past. As for the ATA, first and foremost, it should be pointed out that it will be trialled again at Monza this coming September on a track with completely different characteristics to this one. The data will be analysed very carefully. Apart from that, I’d say the two salient points from this weekend were that yesterday’s qualifying was more unpredictable than usual because it presented the drivers with new challenges: the need to adapt quickly to the change of compound and the fact that having two sets of each compound for the race introduced greater flexibility in terms of strategy.

The fact that all the drivers made two stops in very hot conditions with a track temperature that was 53 degrees at the start, with no high degradation problems, confirms that the three compounds we chose to bring here were the right ones, given that four drivers even used the Soft for their first stint, showing that it was not out of the question to race with it.

Now we come to the final round before the summer break, at Spa-Francorchamps, one of the most fascinating tracks on the calendar, with totally different characteristics to those of the Hungaroring, both in terms of its layout and when it comes to the sort of weather we can expect. Belgium will be the third round of the season to feature the Sprint format, which should ensure an even more exciting show.

How the race was won from the tyre point of view:

Max Verstappen took his ninth win of the season, taking his total number of Formula 1 victories to 44. It was their twelfth consecutive win for Red Bull, a new outright record. Although he missed out on pole position yesterday afternoon by just three thousandths, the reigning world champion still managed to lead across the line for all 70 laps of the race. He made the most of the fact that polesitter Lewis Hamilton did not get the best of starts and also came off best in a thrilling duel with Oscar Piastri in the McLaren. From then on, Verstappen was in dominant form, winning by over 30 seconds from Lando Norris, who secured his second consecutive podium finish. Rounding off the podium trio was Sergio Perez, who staged a great climb up the order from ninth on the grid.

As widely predicted, all the drivers opted for two stops, although there were several permutations. For example, the top two finishers opted to go Medium/Hard/Medium, while Perez started on Hard before twice fitting Mediums. Four drivers started on Softs: Sainz, Gasly, Stroll and Tsunoda. Making the best use of the extra grip afforded by the C5 was Ferrari’s Spanish driver, who crossed the line sixth at the end of the opening lap, having started eleventh. AlphaTauri’s Japanese driver used all three available compounds, while in the Williams, Alex Albon did the most consecutive laps (38) on Hard tyres. Sainz drove the longest stint on Softs (15 laps), while Ricciardo did no fewer than 40 laps on one set of Mediums. The most used compound was the C3 (770 laps, 61.5%), followed by the C4 (448, 35.78%) and the C5 (34, 2.72%).

What’s next?

The Belgian Grand Prix takes place next week at Spa-Francorchamps, one of the historic Formula 1 venues, where tyres are subjected to significant lateral and vertical forces. Pirelli will bring the C2 compound as P Zero White hard, C3 as P Zero Yellow medium and C4 as P Zero Red soft. The Ardennes circuit hosts another F1 Sprint weekend, following on from those in Azerbaijan and Austria. Saturday is given over to the Sprint Shootout and race while qualifying for Sunday’s race takes place on Friday afternoon.

2023 Formula 1 Hungarian Grand Prix Race Results

Pos	No	Driver	Country	Team	Time	Points	Overall
1.	1	Max Verstappen	Netherlands	Red Bull Racing	1:38:08.634	26	281
2.	4	Lando Norris	Great Britain	Mclaren Racing	+33.731s	18	42
3.	11	Sergio Perez	Mexico	Red Bull Racing	+37.603s	15	171
4.	44	Lewis Hamilton	Great Britain	Mercedes-AMG Petronas	+39.134s	12	133
5.	81	Oscar Piastri	Australia	McLaren Racing	+62.572s	10	27
6.	63	George Russell	Great Britain	Mercedes-AMG Petronas	+65.825s	8	90
7.	16	Charles Leclerc	Monaco	Scuderia Ferrari	+70.317s	6	80
8.	55	Carlos Sainz	Spain	Scuderia Ferrari	+71.073s	4	87
9.	14	Fernando Alonso	Spain	Aston Martin F1 Team	+75.709s	2	139
10.	18	Lance Stroll	Canada	Aston Martin F1 Team	+1 lap	1	45
11.	45	Alexander Albon	Thailand	Williams Racing	+1 lap	0	11
12.	77	Valtteri Bottas	Finland	Alfa Romeo F1 Team	+1 lap	0	5
13.	3	Daniel Ricciardo	Australia	Scuderia AlphaTauri	+1 lap	0
14.	27	Nico Hulkenberg	Germany	Haas F1 Team	+1 lap	0	9
15.	22	Yuki Tsunoda	Japan	Scuderia AlphaTauri	+1 lap	0	2
16.	24	Zhou Guanyu	China	Alfa Romeo F1 Team	+1 lap	0	4
17.	20	Kevin Magnussen	Denmark	Haas F1 Team	+1 lap	0	2
18.	2	Logan Sargeant	USA	Williams Racing	DNF	0	0
19.	10	Pierre Gasly	France	Alpine F1 Team	DNF	0	16
20.	31	Esteban Ocon	France	Alpine F1 Team	DNF	0	31
21.	21	Nyck De Vries	Netherlands	Scuderia AlphaTauri	DNS	0	0

2023 Constructor Standings

Pos	Picture	Team	Points
1.		Red Bull Racing	860
2.		Mercedes-AMG F1 Team	409
3.		Scuderia Ferrari	406
4.		McLaren Racing	302
5.		Aston Martin F1 Team	280
6.		Alpine F1 Team	120
7.		Williams Racing	28
8.		Scuderia AlphaTauri	25
8.		Alfa Romeo Racing	16
10.		Haas F1 Team	12

Here are the team-by-team highlights:

Red Bull Racing

 

Max Verstappen got the jump on Lewis Hamilton off the start line and pulled away to easily win the 2023 Formula 1 Hungarian Grand Prix – a historic 12th consecutive Oracle Red Bull Racing F1 victory – as teammate Sergio Pérez fought hard to rise up and bank a podium place in third.

Dutchman Verstappen took advantage of a slow Hamilton start to beat him to the first corner on the inside and began to increase his lead at the front lap by lap en route to his ninth win of the 2023 Formula One World Championship season and a superb seventh triumph in a row.

Max Verstappen, Driver, Red Bull Racing

The start was very important to me. I wanted to get a good first stint, which meant I could look after my tyres well and extend it compared to the others. The car felt really good today, and the balance was right with the increase in temperature. We struggled over one lap all weekend in qualifying, but I think it was the right call for the race. If I had a choice between the two, I would pick my race performance every time, but we will always make changes and keep trying to improve the car. I think people forget a little bit that winning 12 races in a row is extremely hard, but I hope it doesn’t stop there. We have to keep going, and I will always try to challenge myself. I had a lot of fun out there today, and I was smiling in the car. It was one of those days where everything went perfectly. Well, almost perfect. I think I will ask McLaren to pay for a new trophy for me! We need to review the footage like VAR to see who broke it because I heard Lando blaming me.

Sergio Pérez, Driver, Red Bull Racing:

Today was a good one, and getting to the podium was great. We raced initially on the hard compound, which was quite tricky, especially on lap one, but it ended up going well for a long time, and we got some good pace before going on the Mediums. The race today was not only very demanding physically but also mentally. I had to focus on looking after the tyres. It was really hot, and I ended up actually losing 3kg in weight. It was a good result, and now I need to find consistency. When the pressure is on you, and you can deliver, it makes you feel proud of what you are doing, so we need to keep going forward and pushing. I am focusing on myself and making sure I deliver to the maximum. It is great to be given driver of the day, but sadly that doesn’t get you any points! Finally, the record of 12 wins in a row is quite incredible. I am really proud of The Team: they have made history, and it is quite something to have been a part of that.

CHRISTIAN HORNER – CEO and Team Principal, Red Bull Racing

I remember, as a boy, watching Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost race with McLaren-Honda, and they achieved 11 consecutive victories. I knew then what an incredible achievement that was. To think that we have bettered that is a testament to the exceptional talent and dedication of the team, from the race track here in Budapest and back at the factory in Milton Keynes. It’s a historic moment and one that means so much. We certainly don’t take this for granted. Checo drove a great race today. It was a statement drive, showing everyone exactly what he’s capable of, and a race like this will give him a huge amount of confidence going into the next race. Max was typically phenomenal once again. He’s at one with himself and the car. He has total confidence and trust in the team. What we’re witnessing with him at the moment is a sportsman at the very top of his game. It truly is exceptional.

Red Bull Racing Honda best pictures:

Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team

 

Lewis Hamilton finished fourth, and George Russell sixth in the 2023 Formula 1 Hungarian Grand Prix.

That result sees the Team extend the gap over third in the Constructors’ Championship to 39 points ahead of the final race before the summer break.

Lewis Hamilton

My initial getaway wasn’t the worst I’ve ever had, but it wasn’t as good as the others. I ran wide and also got done by the McLarens. After that, I didn’t have the pace to keep up with those ahead. The balance of the car didn’t feel great in the first stint, and I had a lot of understeer, snap oversteer, and problems with through-corner balance. As the stints progressed, the car started to become more driveable, and the final stint was much better. The pace we had at the end was very strong, and if we had had that throughout, we would have had a much better day.

Nevertheless, I’m going to take the positives from this weekend. It was an amazing effort from the Team to take pole position. We still have a lot of work to do to beat Red Bull in a Grand Prix, but we will keep pushing.

George Russell

P6 was beyond our expectations for today. It was definitely a good recovery. We thought we would be P11 in a typical race and P7 if we maximised everything. I’m happy with how it went. The car was really quick, and this place is one of my favourite circuits. As a Team, we usually go well here, so I had a feeling we would be quick.

Of course, it is disappointing as we didn’t deliver yesterday. We could have been right up there, and if we had two cars up front, the dynamic changed completely. Nevertheless, we’ve extended the gap over P3 in the Constructors’ Championship, so we will take it. There are a lot of positives to come out of this weekend, and we have learned a lot. We will go again at Spa next week.

Toto Wolff, Team Principal & CEO

I think we had the second-quickest car today, but the result doesn’t show it. If you look at the lap time profile and George’s progress, there was an opportunity for more, but we didn’t monetise it. That is obviously disappointing. In the final stint, Lewis reeled in over 10 seconds to those ahead, and we finished just 1.5 seconds shy of the podium. I think if we had executed our race slightly differently, we would have had that margin. We need to analyse and see what we could have done.

We were far off a pole position at the start of the year and started to comprehend the car more. Having said that, Max looked tranquil up front, and we’re not here to race for second-best. Getting to the front is the objective, and of course, that was far off today.

Andrew Shovlin, Trackside Engineering Director

Starting from P1 and not even making the podium is always going to be disappointing. We never believed we had the pace to beat Verstappen, but we could have been second had more gone our way. The opening lap wasn’t great for Lewis, dropping to fourth, but our pace seemed to get better as the race went on. It looked like we’d be a distant fourth at one point, but he did a good job closing Perez and Norris down in the final stint. It was frustrating that we couldn’t get on the back of them sooner.

Our expectations with George were to make it into the points. For him to come sixth is a very good result. We were nursing engine temperatures, which cost both cars a lot of race time, as the ambient temperature was slightly higher than expected. We’ve made small gains to Ferrari and Aston Martin in the Constructors’ Championship, which is some consolation. Overall though, we leave here thinking we could have done a much better job as a Team.

Mercedes-AMG F1 Team best pictures:

Aston Martin Formula One Team

 

Fernando and Lance reached the chequered flag in the points in the 2023 Formula 1 Hungarian Grand Prix, the 11th consecutive points-scoring race of 2023.

High temperatures and high tyre wear meant this would always be a multi-stop race. Fernando qualified eighth but finished ninth. He began the race on a used set of Medium tyres, pitting for a used set of Hards on Lap 20 and a new set of Hards on Lap 43.

Lance meanwhile carried out a solid recovery from P14 to P10, collecting the final point on offer. He began the race on a new set of Soft compounds, making his way into the top 10 on the first lap before pitting for used Hards on Lap 25 and for another set of used Hards 10 laps later.

Despite being outscored by rivals in Hungary, Aston Martin F1 Team retain P3 in the Constructors’ Championship, heading to Belgium.

Fernando Alonso

I think three points for us was the maximum we could achieve [as a team] today. We had a bit of a lonely race with no threats behind us, but we were unable to make significant ground-up on our competitors ahead of us. It was also a hot and demanding race, and we all had to manage the tyres throughout.

There have been a lot of surprises in the last few race weekends, but we need to try our best to get back to fighting at the front of the pack. We will analyse everything and look to bounce back at Spa next week.

Lance Stroll

I think P10 was the best we could have done today. I had a good first lap, and I was happy with the move around the outside of [Valtteri] Bottas, but after that, the pace just wasn’t up there.

As a team, I think we have some work to do to try and understand what we can do better. The car is quick, but there’s more pace to unlock and that has to be our priority as the season continues. We’ll take these learnings into Spa next week, where, as always, we’ll be pushing hard.

Mike Krack, Team Principal:

Getting two cars home inside the points was the maximum today. It was a quiet and uneventful race, and the results were in pace order as we finished behind our direct competitors. Both Lance and Fernando performed very well, but we are missing the performance to challenge higher up. Lance did particularly well to finish just behind Fernando from his initial grid position.

Today is a reality check. We need to keep our heads down, keep working hard, and push through the developments to get back to where we were in earlier in the season.

Aston Martin Cognizant F1 Team best pictures:

Scuderia Ferrari

 

Scuderia Ferrari leaves Hungary having secured seventh place with Charles Leclerc and eighth with Carlos Sainz. The race itself did not produce any great drama, although for Leclerc, there were some unforeseen incidents in the pit lane.

First part. Charles was on used Mediums for a start and got ahead of Guanyu Zhou for fifth place, while Carlos got away really well on new Softs, passing no fewer than five cars to tuck in behind his team-mate. The SF-23s had good pace in the first stint, matching the McLarens and Lewis Hamilton’s Mercedes, but at his first pit stop to switch to Hard tyres, Charles’ race got complicated: a wheel gun did not work, and he lost around seven seconds, dropping several places. Charles soon made up ground, closing on Carlos so that they were sixth and seventh, and their pace on this compound was also consistent. Leclerc came in for his second stop on lap 43, taking on another set of Hards, but he exceeded the pit lane speed limit on his way in, for which he was given a five-second penalty to add to his total race time. Carlos tried to extend his stint, but he and the team decided to come in for another set of Hard tyres on the next lap. In the closing stages, the SF-23 lost pace and Russell, with fresher tyres on his Mercedes, was able to pass Sainz for seventh and then got to within under five seconds of Leclerc, thus taking sixth place without having to pass him on track.

One more before the break. The championship is back in action immediately next week on the very different Spa-Francorchamps circuit for the Belgian Grand Prix, the final round before the summer break.

Carlos Sainz #55

We had a good start, making up five places on the first lap and a very good first stint with the Softs, managing to stretch the tyre life. Unfortunately, with the Hard compound and longer stints to do, we struggled with rear degradation and didn’t have the pace of the front runners, which is our main weakness at the moment.

We were expecting more on this track, and we need to look into our main areas of improvement.

Charles Leclerc #16

I was quite happy with my pace in the first stint, as we were managing things really well and keeping up with the cars ahead. Then we lost time on our first pit stop, which put us on the back foot, and I had to push to recover some positions. The penalty we got after the second stop was another thing that made things more difficult, so all in all, it wasn’t a great day.

I’m looking forward to Spa and hope that we can finish the first half of the season on a high there.

Frédéric Vasseur, Team Principal

Our result is rather poor today. It was a complicated race with Charles, chiefly because he lost around seven seconds at the pit stop, which was a massive delay because of an issue with a wheel gun. This also put him in traffic, and then there was also the 5-second pit lane speeding penalty.

With Carlos, we took the risk of starting him on Softs, and it was a good move in the early stages, as he made up places. But we knew it would be quite tricky for him as he would have to do a lot of tyre management, switching earlier to the Hard compound. However, starting eleventh and finishing where he did, ahead of Alonso, I’d say, was not too bad a result.

I have the feeling that we are not that far off the pace in terms of performance, but we did not put everything together over the whole weekend. We showed we had the potential on Friday but did not build on it for Saturday or today in the race. Now we really need to focus on Belgium because it is always important to go into the summer break with a good result, find more pace and minimise mistakes.

Scuderia Ferrari best pictures:

McLaren Racing

 

Hear from McLaren Formula 1 driver Lando Norris, Oscar Piastri, and Team Principal Andrea Stella after the 2023 Formula 1 Hungarian Grand Prix.

Oscar gets a great start and pounces into P2, with Verstappen taking the lead. The field spreads as everyone settles into a pattern with gaps of 2s to the car in front. Lando pits for Hard tyres. Oscar pits the following lap for the same tyre. Oscar comes out behind Lando after the stops. They run in P4 and P5, with Verstappen, Pérez, and Alonso yet to pit in front.

The drivers ahead of Lando and Oscar pit, promoting them to P2 and P3. The second round of pit stops commenced. Oscar pits for Mediums, with Pérez following closely behind. Lando pits for Mediums. Pérez overtakes Oscar for P3 and closes the gap to Lando. Oscar struggles with tyre degradation, and Hamilton overtakes him for P4. Lando holds off pressure from Pérez and crosses the finish line in P2, with Oscar in P5.

Lando Norris

Tough race. Not an easy one, especially with Pérez catching, but he didn’t have the pace to catch up in the end, so I’m happy. I had to fight for a little bit at the beginning after Turn One, but another podium for us, for McLaren, it’s an amazing result.

I think we’re very happy with our progress, going from where we were four, five races ago to fighting for poles and podiums; we’ll take it for now and work hard to continue improving throughout the season. We’ve shown great teamwork; everyone back in the factory did an amazing job, and we’ll now look to take these recent performances to Belgium.

Oscar Piastri

P5. Some positives to take from that race. I think the big takeaway for me was working on tyre management. I struggled quite a lot in the second and third stint following some floor damage. So, yeah, a lot to learn from that one, but still ending up with P5, with my challenges, is a very good result.

Obviously, a great day for the team again, with everyone at the track and back at the factory. We have made decent steps forward in the last few races. The conditions this weekend have been a good test for us. To still be up there is a big confidence boost, and we can look to take that momentum to Spa next week.

Andrea Stella

Following on from Silverstone, another strong result for our team, with Lando on the podium again and Oscar finishing P5.

On Oscar’s side, the first stint was very strong. In the second stint, we need to look at the impact of some car damage on performance and interaction with the tyres because we seem to have lost the ability to sustain tyre life over the stint.

On Lando’s side, it was a very strong race, especially the final stint in which he kept consistency in his tyres with Pérez chasing hard, and he was able to bring home another trophy with another P2 finish.

It was important to gain this confirmation that the improvements to our car work in hot conditions and work on tracks with low-speed corners. My thanks again to all the people at McLaren who have laboured so hard to bring these upgrades trackside. I hope they are enjoying the moment – but only today: tomorrow, we refocus and get ready for the Sprint weekend at Spa.

McLaren Racing best pictures:

Alpine F1 Team

 

BWT Alpine F1 Team suffered an unfortunate double retirement for both Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly in the 2023 Formula 1 Hungarian Grand Prix after an unavoidable Turn 1 collision on the opening lap of the race.

After a strong start off the line, Pierre looked to make a move on the outside of Turn 1 as he pressed towards the top ten. With a slow start, Alfa Romeo’s Guanyu Zhou clipped the Alpha Tauri of Daniel Ricciardo under braking, who in turn hit Esteban. The Frenchman was shunted, momentarily going airborne, before making contact with Pierre on the outside.

Both cars were severely damaged, with Pierre retiring at the end of the first lap and Esteban at the end of the second.

The team looks ahead to next weekend’s Belgian Grand Prix at Spa-Francorchamps.

Esteban Ocon:

There is not much to say from today. It’s a very frustrating end to the weekend being involved in a racing incident with a few cars at Turn 1 on the first lap. There was not much we could do, and the result was both cars had to retire with significant damage. Fortunately, I’m OK. Right now, our focus is on regrouping and coming back stronger, as we have another race next weekend in Belgium. We must move on quickly with the aim of heading into the summer break on a good note.

Pierre Gasly:

It’s extremely frustrating for the entire team to have a double retirement, especially in such circumstances early in the race. I was the unfortunate victim of a crash between a handful of cars, and I just had nowhere to go and no chance of avoiding the incident. It’s disappointing after making a good start off the line, where I gained a couple of positions. As a team, we have to move on quickly and have an immediate opportunity in Spa next weekend to ensure we enter the summer break with points.

Otmar Szafnauer, Team Principal

We’re all very disappointed by today’s race, with both our cars on the receiving end of an unfortunate lap one, turn one incident. There was a concertina effect with one car hitting another, leading to our two cars coming together in an unavoidable circumstance. Right now, it’s a bitter feeling for all of us, a tough one to take, but we must keep our heads down and bounce back. We have another race next weekend in Spa, the final one before the summer break, where we will work for better fortune and a stronger team result.

Alpine F1 Team best pictures:

Williams Racing

 

P11 is quite a surprising result. It was quite a defensive race which we like to do. We got track position, and we were okay; we came into this circuit knowing it wouldn’t suit us, and we qualified where the pace of the car was. Clean air is so important around here; even though I pitted early, once I had clean air, I had a lot of laps to bed the tyre in slowly, so once I came out and undercut the other cars, I had some grip left and could manage them behind me. We’ve highlighted the areas our car struggles with by coming here, so when the car doesn’t feel great, it’s still raceable. To finish P11 and almost make Q2 yesterday, it’s a very good sign, so if we can fix these issues, then we’ll be in a good place across various circuits.

Logan Sargeant

Honestly, I was pretty happy with how the race was going. I think we got a little bit unlucky with strategy; we had a slow first pitstop which cost us quite a lot, but, all in all, the pace was pretty good considering it’s a track which should have been quite bad for us. For Alex to knock on the door of points should give us a nice appetite for Spa, where we should be strong.

Dave Robson, Head of Vehicle Performance

Today was exciting, and both drivers were able to mount a very strong recovery from yesterday. Both followed aggressive strategies that allowed us to be on the attack, and whilst it made for a difficult final stint, both dealt with it very well and showed good pace whilst also managing their tyres. Although we didn’t score any points, Alex finishing in 11th place was a very strong result at a circuit that we expected wasn’t ideally suited to FW45.

We have held on to 7th place in the Championship and collected another 11th place finish in the process. It was a shame that Logan didn’t finish the race, but with a spin a few laps before the end, we opted to retire the car rather than risk further damage. Until then, he had another strong day, and he could continue his good form into Spa. We now head to Spa for the final race before the summer shutdown. It is another sprint event, which will be very interesting given the weather and general nature of the Spa. The car will be in quite a different configuration than it was this weekend, and we hope that, as a result, it will work well in Belgium. The strong result today was due to some excellent teamwork at the track and in the factory. We put together a good strategy, and although it asked many of the drivers, they delivered strongly.

Williams F1 Team best pictures:

Haas F1 Team

 

MoneyGram Haas F1 Team drivers Nico Hulkenberg and Kevin Magnussen finished 14th and 17th at the Hungarian Grand Prix, held Sunday at the Hungaroring – Round 12 of the 2023 FIA Formula 1 World Championship.

MoneyGram Haas F1 Team maintains eighth position in the Constructors’ Championship on 11 points.

Kevin Magnussen

I’m not feeling very good about the results. It’s a disappointing day for us. I had no pace on the hard tire. We had two long stints on the hards – probably should’ve been on a three-stop. We always try and learn something from each race – we’re going to try and do something different for Belgium. It’s important at this point to be patient and wait for some upgrades. We have to keep our heads cool and move on to the next one.

Nico Hulkenberg

Not good enough in the race, which wasn’t news, really. We knew and expected this. Though I think we looked better today than we have in the past few races on Sunday, I’m not too disappointed – given this is one of the toughest of the season regarding non-stop corners, and there isn’t much rest for the tires or the driver. We weren’t too far behind drivers that were in the points, so maybe it was actually a bit better than what I was expecting going into today.

Guenther Steiner, Team Principal:

Going into the race, we knew that we’d be struggling with the heat with our tire degradation issues. I mean, it was a tough race, but I think we got the best from it that we could. At the moment, this is what it is for us. We can’t do anything else but keep working on the car and trying to resolve our problems. A lot of other people are picking up the pace – at the moment, we can’t, but we’re working on it.

Haas F1 Team best pictures:

Alfa Romeo Racing Stake

 

Alfa Romeo F1 Team Stake went from the high of yesterday’s strong qualifying performance to the challenge of a difficult race at the 2023 Formula 1 Hungarian Grand Prix, as the team didn’t get to build up on the solid performances shown on Saturday. Zhou Guanyu, starting in fifth position, suffered an issue with the brake system strategy, which caused a fail-safe on the engine side and severely compromised the start of his race, losing key positions on the opening lap and receiving a five-second penalty for an unfortunate collision with Daniel Ricciardo, before finishing 16th. The events also affected team-mate Valtteri Bottas, who lost ground as he avoided Zhou in front, and fought hard to climb back through the grid, eventually finishing in 12th place.

A tough Sunday at the Hungaroring for Alfa Romeo F1 Team Stake: the team will now regroup and analyse today’s events as it heads to Spa-Francorchamps for the second and final leg of this back-to-back and the last race before Formula One heads into the summer break.

Valtteri Bottas (car number 77):

We had a good chance to turn a strong qualifying into points, but, unfortunately, our race got compromised on lap one, just after the start. Zhou, who was in front of me, had issues with the brake system strategy, so I had to move around him, losing momentum. On top of that, all the cars starting on soft tyres passed us quickly. Overall, our pace was not quite as good as yesterday, and it didn’t really allow us to climb back through the field. There’s a positive we will take with us to Belgium. We unlocked something more from our package on Saturday, so definitely, the potential was there, and we will aim to build on that. Of course, Spa will be a completely different track, but we will work hard this week to find the right configuration to further progress and kick back immediately.

Zhou Guanyu (car number 24):

The elation from yesterday’s result turned on its head, and there is no denying today has been very disappointing. We are yet to gather all the information about what exactly went on at the start: I was on full throttle, and then all of a sudden, something went wrong, and I had to do the entire procedure again just in order to do a proper start. We will be investigating this right away to avoid repetitions in the future. Having said that, our race was pretty much over after this moment: we were at the back of the grid, with not many chances to climb back. As a positive to take away from this weekend, it felt good to execute such a solid qualifying performance yesterday, with both cars in Q3, as a confirmation that the upgrades we brought in Silverstone are moving us in the right direction, and there is further potential to unlock. Hopefully, moving forward, we’ll be more competitive throughout the whole weekend. We’ll carry this momentum onto Spa, aiming to quickly bounce back and build up on the momentum we had on Saturday.

Alessandro Alunni Bravi, Team Representative:

After yesterday’s strong performance in qualifying, we are, of course, disappointed not to convert good starting positions with both cars into a double-points finish; occasions like this can’t be missed, so we will need to properly go through what went wrong today. Zhou’s car suffered an issue with the brake system strategy during the starting procedure, and that ended up jeopardising not just his race but both of our drivers’. Zhou lost 11 positions right before the first corner and subsequently hit Ricciardo while braking, for which he received a five-second penalty that was executed during his first pit stop. Valtteri had to avoid Zhou at the start, thus losing important positions he didn’t manage to recover. All of this resulted in both cars being outside the top ten from the start: we tried to recover with an aggressive strategy, changing earlier from Medium to Hard tyres and attempting to undercut those in front of us, but eventually didn’t have enough pace to climb back into the top ten. Today’s result is upsetting for the team, but there is at least one major positive from the weekend: our overall performance improved from the previous races, and we must carry it with us as we head to Spa next week for the final race before the summer break.

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Scuderia AlphaTauri

 

Mexican Pérez got his season back on track after his sixth place at Silverstone to extend the drivers’ gap in second overall with Scuderia AlphaTauri’s Daniel Ricciardo 13th on his return to competitive track action and Japanese teammate Yuki Tsunoda 15th.

Daniel Ricciardo

The whole weekend has been good, and to come back, I really feel all the things I’ve missed in the last 12 months, I can’t ask for more on the first weekend, and it gives me confidence. I got hit in turn 1 and dropped to the tail of the pack. After that, we got stuck in traffic, but once we got some clear air, I could settle into a rhythm and from then on, I was happy. Our pace wasn’t bad. Maybe we could’ve been in the points today, I don’t know, but our strategy was good. We were just a bit unlucky. On the other hand, the contact at the start could’ve ended my race, so I’m grateful the car was still ok, and I was able to do 70 laps to learn as much as possible. I’ll learn from the mistakes I made to get better and better, and I made little mental notes, which I will share with the team. Overall though, there are a lot of things to be happy about.

Yuki Tsunoda

We chose to start the race on the soft compound tyre today to gain as many positions as possible early in the race. The start was good, and I managed to make up quite a few places, so I’m happy with my performance. I had pace and was managing my tyres well today, especially on the soft compound, but unfortunately, it didn’t quite work out, so together with the team, we’ll look at it. It’s a shame because the pace was there. Overall, I’m frustrated with myself because I didn’t put it all together and extract the maximum out of my performance every day. It’s been a week of learning, and what I learnt today I will use in the future to maximise our performance.

CLAUDIO BALESTRI – Chief Engineer Vehicle Performance

For today’s race, we decided to split the cars in terms of starting compounds. As for Yuki, we decided to go aggressive and use the softest compound, while for Daniel, we opted for the medium tyre. At the start, Yuki gained many positions and got close to the top 10, but Daniel was hit by Zhou, finding himself in P18 at the end of lap one after the two Alpines retired. After 10 laps, the cars that had started on the soft tyres pitted, so we did the same with Yuki, fitting the hard tyres to go long for the second stint. Unfortunately, the pitstop was longer than normal, and we lost some positions, ending up behind Albon, who was on the same compound. Daniel was on a different strategy, completing a longer first stint, after which we decided to fit a set of hard tyres on lap 18, the best compound to be flexible for the remainder of the race. In the second part of the race, with both drivers on the hard compound, we decided to extend Yuki’s stint while cutting Daniel’s short to have free air for the last stint on medium tyres. This paid off because Daniel was able to be fast and consistent, and this was enough to regain the positions lost in the first lap, finishing the race in P13. Yuki was fitted with medium tyres in his last stint, but this wasn’t sufficient to move him up, and he finished in P15, just two-tenths behind Hulkenberg. We’ll focus on the next race, where we believe we’ll be in the position to fight for points.

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