Formula 1 Winners & Losers: Hungarian Grand Prix
Photo from Autosport.com
When you get a good starting position at a track deemed “Monaco without the walls,” you assume you’re in good shape for the race.
Leave it to Ferrari to ruin that…
Losers
5. Haas
Haas brought new upgrades this week that turned them into a “junior Ferrari.”
The pace today seemed to suggest otherwise.
4. Daniel Ricciardo
Ricciardo had a good qualifying and was having a good race, but contact with Stroll and a 5 second penalty effectively ruined a good day.
3. Yuki Tusnoda
As mentioned above, Hungary is a hard place to pass.
So when you make a mistake and spin like Yuki did, you end up with a terrible result overall just because of how hard it is to make it up.
2. Esteban Ocon
I really shouldn’t have him this high.
Ocon qualified well and finished 9th. It was a good day.
But when you spend all day pissing off your world champion teammate, you probably deserve some criticism.
Ironic that one year ago was Ocon’s maiden win when the Alpine team spirit was the highest.
Today was…the opposite.
1. Ferrari
I genuinely don’t know what to say at this point.
To have your drivers start 2nd and 3rd and end up not on the podium at all due to abysmal strategy is just pathetic.
The championship is more than over. More than that, Ferrari is in battle with Mercedes’ to finish 2nd.
Just a horrible first half of the year for Ferrari when there should have been so much promise.
Winners
5. Lando Norris
Lando belongs in 5th due to a solid weekend overall.
Good qualifying, good race, good points.
Just a good weekend.
4. Sebastian Vettel
On the weekend the four time world champion announced his retirement, he had a great race to get his Aston Martin one point.
I’ll miss Seb. A lot. And a race like this shows he clearly still has the talent. Just doesn’t have his heart in it anymore.
3. George Russell
I can’t properly describe the noise that came out of my mouth when I saw Russell put it on pole position.
It was unfathomable. And his race was solid too until he lost some pace in his last stint.
Still, a pole and podium are great for Mercedes, who once again have a chance to beat Ferrari in the constructors.
Somehow.
2. Lewis Hamilton
Started 7th. Drove it to 2nd. A phenomenal race that would be worthy of driver of the day in any other circumstance at a track where it’s hard to pass.
1. Max Verstappen
And then Max Verstappen appeared.
An engine issue meant he started the race 10th, and it looked like Leclerc and Ferrari were going to get quite a boost in the championship battle.
And then, somehow, Max worked his way through the field and was primed to win the race.
Then he spun. An uncharacteristic mistake that let Leclerc by him again.
But it didn’t matter. He breezed by him again en route to a win and an 80 point championship lead.
We only just now hit the summer break, but I’m ready to call it.
It’s over. Max Verstappen is the 2022 World Champion.
