Max Verstappen has won his seventh successive grand prix in a masterclass performance at the Hungarian Grand Prix.
The victory was Red Bull Racing’s 12th in a row, eclipsing the previous record set by McLaren in 1988.
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Verstappen started second on the grid alongside pole-getter Lewis Hamilton but wasted no time snatching the lead into the first turn. The Dutchman was daring on the brakes into the hairpin, defying a Hamilton squeeze to emerge from the apex with first place.
Hamilton was then mugged by Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris, starting fourth and third respectively. The McLaren drivers gave chase to Verstappen, but neither got close enough to contemplate a move, and once the RB19’s tires were up to temperature, the title leader began building a healthy margin.
He was guaranteed to hold the lead after his first stop by a cascade of undercut attempts behind him, but his buffer was large enough to hold first place outright at the second-stop window, and he crossed the line with a dominant 33-second advantage.
“We had a really good start,” he said. “From there onwards I could do my race, and today my car was really quick.
“I think over one lap this weekend was a bit of a struggle, but it was probably a good thing for today. The car was good on any tire, we could look after the tire wear — that’s why we could create such a big gap.
“For the team 12 wins in a row is just incredible. What we’ve been going through the last few years is unbelievable. Hopefully we can keep this momentum going for a long time.”
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Piastri led the field behind Verstappen in the first stint but lost the spot to an undercut from teammate Norris, who McLaren had been worried was vulnerable to an undercut from Hamilton behind.
McLaren attempted to return the undercut favor to the Australian at the second stop, but he got caught behind the slower Carlos Sainz on old tires on his out-lap, neutralizing the advantage and freeing Norris to collect a second-straight second-place finish.
“Another podium for [me] and for McLaren is amazing,” he said. “At the minute I think we’re very happy with the progress we made to from where we were four or five races ago … to fight for poles and fighting for podiums.”
Sergio Perez finished a hard-charging third, up from ninth, in a welcome return to competitiveness.
Perez started on the hard tire and ran long before his first stop before two flat-out second stints on mediums that hauled him up the order. He was fourth after his final stop directly behind Piastri, who he dispatched rapidly for third before charting a course for Norris in second.
The gap was eight seconds with 14 laps to go, but despite strong early progress, his challenge ran out of puff, and he crossed the line third, 3.8s behind Norris for only his second podium finish since May’s Miami Grand Prix.
“It was a great strategy by the team, and we managed to have an excellent result,” he said. “I think this sort of performance, these sorts of days, do help [with my confidence]. From now on I just look forward to basically being on the podium every single weekend, so let’s keep it up.”
Hamilton was a disappointed fourth thanks largely to his poor first lap and a long uncompetitive middle stint on the hard tire. His pace on mediums in the final stint was better, however, and he used a seven-lap tire offset to scythe past Piastri and briefly threaten Perez for third, though he ran out of laps to make a move, crossing the line 1.5 seconds short of a pass.
Piastri finished fourth ahead of George Russell, who completed a mammoth comeback from 18th on the grid thanks to a long opening stint on the hard tire.
Leclerc was demoted from sixth to seventh with a five-second penalty for speeding in the pit lane, placing him just ahead of teammate Carlos Sainz in eighth.
Aston Martin teammates Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll completed the final points-paying places in ninth and 10th.
A major first-lap collision decided much of the bottom 10.
Zhou Guanyu, who started a career-best fifth, appeared to trigger anti-stall at launch, and in his haste to make up ground he went too hot into the first turn and rear-ended Daniel Ricciardo.
Ricciardo ricocheted into Esteban Ocon on his right-hand side, who lost control of his car and struck teammate Pierre Gasly.
Both Alpine cars retired, while Ricciardo and Zhou tumbled down the order, the Chinese driver penalized five seconds for causing the incident.
Alex Albon finished 11th ahead of Valtteri Bottas and the struck Ricciardo. The Australian had gambled his race on a super-long final stint of 40 laps on the medium tire. The early pit stop got him into clear air to get his head down and manage his race pace, which saw him rise from last to 13th, more than 15s ahead of top-10 start Nico Hulkenberg and teammate Yuki Tsunoda.
Zhou finished 16th ahead of Kevin Magnussen and Logan Sargeant, who retired with two laps remaining after a late spin.
RESULTS:
| POS | DRIVER | TIME | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1h38:08.634s | ||
| 2 | +33.731s | ||
| 3 | +37.603s | ||
| 4 | +39.134s | ||
| 5 | +62.572s | ||
| 6 | +65.825s | ||
| 7 | +70.317s | ||
| 8 | +71.073s | ||
| 9 | +75.709s | ||
| 10 | +1 lap | ||
| 11 | +1 lap | ||
| 12 | +1 lap | ||
| 13 | +1 lap | ||
| 14 | +1 lap | ||
| 15 | +1 lap | ||
| 16 | +1 lap | ||
| 17 | +1 lap | ||
| 18 | DNF | ||
| NC | DNF | ||
| NC | DNF |
Note – Verstappen scored an additional point for setting the fastest lap of the race. Leclerc received a five-second time penalty for speeding in the pit lane.
