The 2024 season is shaping up in a very unique way: on the one hand, we see dominance in the individual competition, on the other hand, every individual race for Max Verstappen seems like a test against the backdrop of more rivals. Hungary should not have been an exception: in qualifying, Max could not boast an excellent result, so the front row was entirely in the hands of the McLaren drivers and Lando Norris won pole position again. However, the start was critical on the track called “Monaco without walls”…
Controversial start for Verstappen and bad start for Norris
And this start turned out to be quite eventful: Norris ran unsuccessfully into the first corner, failed to block Oscar Piastri and let Max Verstappen take the lead. It is true that the Dutchman was ahead of Lando off the track. A few laps later, Verstappen was convinced to give the position back to Norris, so Lando regained second place and soon overtook Verstappen by more than a second.
By lap ten, the field had stretched out considerably, with some of the back-row drivers already pitting to get rid of their softs, and some, like Ricciardo, even deciding to swap the mediums for the hards.
The first of the leading group to pit on lap 16 was Lewis Hamilton, changing into hard gear. Both McLarens also visited the pits for a couple of laps, while Red Bull and Ferrari decided to extend the first segment a little. By lap 25, all the leaders were in the pits. Verstappen lost his position to Lewis Hamilton due to a long pit stop, and Sainz, after his stop, was completely trapped behind the group of Tsunoda, Perez and Russell, who started strongly.
Piastri remained in the lead of the race after the pit stops, with a three-second advantage over Norris, the same amount that separates Lando himself from Lewis Hamilton. Verstappen gradually gained time on Lewis Hamilton in the second leg, although he finished behind the Briton. By mid-race, Max had overtaken Hamilton, however, after exchanging errors in the first overtaking attempt, the drivers stayed with their own.
This fight never led to an exchange of positions. On lap 40, Hamilton and Leclerc, who had closed in on him and Max, rushed into the pits for a second stop. Red Bull did not react to this stop, thus condemning Verstappen to lose track position compared to his rivals.
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Norris made a pit stop on lap 45, but with Piastri in the team they had to pit for two laps. And Oscar returned to the track behind his teammate. At the same time, Piastri was warned by radio that Norris would give him his place back, and this strategy is related to McLaren’s desire not to expose Lando to Hamilton’s attacks.
After his pit stop, Verstappen found himself seven seconds behind the group of Hamilton and Leclerc, but he immediately set the fastest lap of the race and was quick to chase down his rivals. On lap 55, Verstappen managed to catch up with Leclerc and was quick to attack the Monegasque driver. However, it is no coincidence that Hungary is called Monaco without walls: the Dutchman was unable to overtake immediately. After several attempts, Verstappen finally took the lead.
On lap 63 of the race, Verstappen finally overtook Hamilton, but on the attack at the first corner they made contact, Max was damaged, went off the track and also lost position to Charles Leclerc.
McLaren later attempted to persuade Norris to give the position back to Piastri after the botched pit stop timing, to which the Briton replied that the team should have properly timed the stops. On lap 68 of the race, Norris was finally convinced to let Piastri take the lead. Three laps before the finish, Lando slowed to a crawl on the start line and let Oscar drive ahead.
Norris did not attack Piastri, staying outside the DRS zone. Oscar took the first victory of his career, which was marred by strange decisions by the team. Norris finished second and Hamilton completed the podium. Leclerc finished fourth, Verstappen held on to the end in fifth position. Sainz, Perez, Russell, Tsunoda with an unconventional tactic with a pit stop and Stroll completed the top ten.
The penultimate leg of the summer break was controversial, but the “Big Circus” is heading to Belgium in two weeks, where it will have its own intrigues and its own heroes.
What a race day in Hungary was like:
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Norris gave the victory on team orders, Verstappen made a big mistake in the fight. Hungarian GP – LIVE
