On Sunday, Red Bull driver Max Verstappen took home his eighth win in just 13 races this year after starting from P10 on the grid at the Hungarian Grand Prix. Despite a 360-degree spin mid-race which cost him a place, Verstappen kept his composure, delivering one of his top performances to date as he matched the team’s best-ever recovery win.
The Dutchman continues to widen the gap in driver standings, now sitting at 258 points, 80 points ahead of Charles Leclerc at 178 who was a strong contender for the Formula 1 Championship at the beginning of the season.
“I was of course hoping I could get close to the podium, but very tricky conditions out there. But we had a really good strategy, we were really reactive and always pitting at the right at time, I think we had some good out-laps and at the end even with 360, we won the race!” Verstappen commented. “It was very good, I was battling a lot of guys, so it was a lot of fun out there… a crazy race and of course very happy that we won it.”
Ferrari has been under the spotlight recently for its questionable race strategy, and after converting second and third place on the grid to fourth and six place finishes, Leclerc publicly expressed his qualms.
“Obviously, a race like this is frustrating and we need to get better as a whole, it’s always felt like there’s something going on whether it’s reliability, mistakes or whatever. We need to be better at putting a weekend together and we’ll try and use the few days that we have to reset and analyse where we need to be better,” Leclerc said after the race.
Mercedes on the hand leaves the weekend encouraged and motivated after Lewis Hamilton finished second and George Russell finished third after claiming the first pole of his career.
“This is the first time we’ve been able to fight and battle with a Ferrari. That’s huge for us. The Red Bulls probably still are ahead. The fact that Max started 10th and spun and still was 10 seconds ahead says enough about their car,” said Hamilton. “But I think we still have made huge progress and huge steps. And so to have this consistency and two double podiums in these last two races gives us great hope and a huge push for the second half.”
Red Bull now leads by 97 points in the constructors’ championship heading into the summer break. The action will on August 26-28 for the Belgian Grand Prix.
Wow what a day! It was a crazy race, but we stayed calm and won! This feels absolutely amazing ?
The car was great and today we adapted to the circumstances really good, so our strategy worked out perfectly. Mega job team @redbullracing ?#HungarianGP pic.twitter.com/YwYTty5QXW
— Max Verstappen (@Max33Verstappen) July 31, 2022
Signing off for the summer in style ?? #HungarianGP ?? pic.twitter.com/RykgSxf9hW
— Oracle Red Bull Racing (@redbullracing) July 31, 2022
In other news, NBA Legend Bill Russell passes away at 88-years-old.
Tagged: Sports