Round 12 of the 2023 season took us to the Hungaroring in Budapest, Hungary. This weekend had some unique twists in store for us! A familiar face returned to the grid, a victory celebration ended in literal shards of porcelain, and a certain French driver pairing faced disappointment. Curious to know who shined at the top of the class and who had to take a ride on the struggle bus during the 2023 Hungarian Grand Prix? Well, you’re in the right place!
Top of the class:
Lando Norris – Qualifying: 3rd | Race: 2nd
At the start of the weekend, Lando tried to downplay expectations after what was a brilliant weekend in Silverstone. Clearly uncertain of whether the MCL60 would feel as at-home here, but he certainly proved himself wrong!
Saturday’s qualifying was nothing short of impressive. And while he didn’t get the best start on Sunday, losing out on teammate Piastri, Norris quickly recovered and executed a flawless race. Thanks to a well-thought-out strategy, he climbed back to P2, and with sheer determination, he held onto it with his hammering pace.
He did end up smashing Max Verstappen’s trophy to pieces when it was time to spray Champagne, which was most possibly one of the only things we can truly fault him for all weekend, but it’s nothing a tube of superglue can’t fix!
Red Bull Racing
Max Verstappen – Qualifying: 2nd | Race: 1st
Sergio Perez – Qualifying: 9th | Race: 3rd
On Saturday, he missed pole position by an unbelievably tiny margin of 0.003 seconds – just a hair’s breadth away from the top spot. It’s the closest battle for pole since the nail-biting showdown between Sebastian Vettel and Fernando Alonso in the 2010 German Grand Prix.
When Sunday rolled around, he took charge and vanished into the distance once more, leaving everyone else in his dust. By finishing over half a minute ahead of the competition, Verstappen put a swift end to any whispers of Red Bull losing their competitive edge which slowly but surely started to creep in on Saturday.
Teammate Sergio Perez finally broke free from his qualifying struggles, clawing his way back into the top 10. While P9 isn’t exactly a jaw-dropping achievement in such a rocket ship of a car, it’s much improved from his previous Saturday outings.
On Sunday, he made up for it with what Christian Horner coined a ‘statement drive’, finishing P3 and being crowned driver of the day by fans. It’s a podium for now, but the heat is on for Perez, especially with rumours swirling about potential driver swaps and the sudden changes to the line-up at sister-team Alpha Tauri. Let’s see if he can turn up the heat even more and deliver another strong performance in Belgium!
Then for honourable mentions…
The first honourable mention of the day goes to our honey badger! Okay, 13th place in both qualifying and the race may not be the champagne-popping moment we all hoped for, but given Alpha Tauri’s recent form and that chaotic first-corner incident, it’s actually a decent result. Whilst a direct comparison would be unfair due to their different circumstances and the distinct lack of points for both sides of the garage, it has to be said that Daniel outperformed Yuki Tsunoda this time around.
The second honourable mention of the day goes to Lewis Hamilton. Sure, his Sunday didn’t go as planned, but his pole position on Saturday was truly something to marvel at. Max Verstappen is practically an unbeatable force, but Lewis managed to beat him by a mere 0.003 seconds. It just goes to show that every millisecond counts and he sure enjoyed taking his first pole since Jeddah 2021.
Struggle Bus:
Alpine Esteban Ocon – Qualifying: 12th | Race: DNF
Pierre Gasly – Qualifying: 15th | Race: DNF
Sunday was a tough day in the office for Alpine. Both drivers had decent getaways at lights out, with Pierre being the better of the two, expertly shooting past competitors to end up alongside Esteban in Turn 1, but the chaos that followed was like a game of dominoes gone wrong. Guanyu Zhou’s little mishap set off a chain reaction that led to both Alpine drivers having to call it quits, and let’s be honest, they can’t be blamed for that tangled mess. But that doesn’t take away that Alpine had to retire both cars, which is definitely struggle bus-worthy.
Factor in that they had to deal with a double DNF for the second race in a row, and it’s clear as day that things aren’t going the way they want. Whilst a month ago Mclaren catching up to them points-wise seemed far-fetched, now the opposite seems to be the case, as Alpine will be desperately hoping to catch up to the Woking team once more.
Zhou Guanyu – Qualifying: 5th | Race: 16th
After an excellent career-best qualifying for Zhou, hopes were high, but these were quickly dashed as he fumbled the start on Sunday. An extremely slow getaway made him keen to make up for lost places in turn one with some late braking, Unfortunately, this led to a chain reaction of collisions involving Daniel Ricciardo, Pierre Gasly, and Esteban Ocon.
For that little stunt, he was awarded a five-second penalty, which basically meant that the rest of the race was a write-off. Pity, because he might’ve been able to go for 9th or 10th and bring home some points at the least.
The dishonourable mentions of the week go to…
Aston Martin and Ferrari respectively. At the beginning of the season, they teased us with their potential, giving us hope that they could take on the charging bulls. But instead of catching up, they are slowly drifting away and dropping down the pack.
Get ready for the next chapter of this story as the F1 circus makes a swift leap across Europe to Spa-Francorchamps for the Belgian Grand Prix! Teams will most likely already be frantically rebuilding for the upcoming sprint weekend. No time to rest – not even for fans, as action starts on Friday with qualifying! Will Max Verstappen keep that main character energy, or is Lando Norris his new rival in the making? Be sure to tune in and find out!
