Ataraxia
What better way to end a week than with a Grand Prix? Especially when it brings us some good surprises.
For this new Grand Prix, we find ourselves in Hungary, and after quite a few surprises during the free practice and qualifying sessions, including two major crashes, the race begins with a beautiful McLaren one-two. Norris took pole position during qualifying, closely followed by his teammate Oscar Piastri.
But after a well-managed start by the young Australian, Oscar Piastri took the lead at the first corner, overtaking his teammate Lando Norris just seconds after the start.
Meanwhile, right behind the McLarens, the blue threat of Max Verstappen looms dangerously close to the two race leaders. Just centimeters from the McLaren battle, Verstappen chooses to go off-track and overtakes Lando Norris, who drops from first to third in a single corner. Verstappen’s team decides to give the place back to Lando before the stewards can launch an investigation into the incident.
The Grand Prix doesn’t have much memorable action for several laps, but it gets really interesting towards the end of the race.
From lap 50, the race intensifies. McLaren decides to bring Lando Norris in for an undercut to maintain both drivers’ positions against the threat of Lewis Hamilton. Oscar comes in two laps after his teammate to change tires as well.
The McLaren team asks Norris to give the place back to Oscar a few laps later, but even by lap 61, Lando has not yielded despite repeated requests from the engineers and the team. Oscar finally takes the lead on lap 68. Notably, Lando’s engineer told him over the radio that they were pushing him to give up the place to “protect” him and that he had already proven himself. On lap 67, engineers also told Norris that if he “wants to win a championship, he will need Piastri and the team.” We saw a podium where the two teammates did not interact much during the champagne shower. The atmosphere at McLaren does not seem very positive.
Another major event is the contact between Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen. Max had been trying to overtake Lewis for several laps. Lewis, being very defensive, did not let Max pass. In a corner, Max, being on the inside, forces his way but does not turn, while Lewis, planning his turn, starts to turn. The Red Bull gets pushed from behind and lands a bit further without severely damaging the car. Max called over the radio, and his engineer can be heard saying he was being “childish” and that they “won’t have radio battles with other teams.” Could this be the result of the team’s frustration with Max’s behavior?
Despite this incident, Lewis finishes the Grand Prix in 3rd place, while Max finishes in 5th.
It’s also a good Grand Prix for Ferrari, who finish 4th (Leclerc) and 6th (Sainz).
Russell gets the fastest lap and finishes in 8th place.
A bad surprise for Pierre Gasly and Alpine, who had to stop his race due to a hydraulic problem and did not finish the Grand Prix.
Finally, looking ahead to the next Grand Prix, which is also likely to be full of surprises because Max Verstappen and his team are reportedly planning an internal combustion engine (ICE) change for the Dutchman, which could cost him 10 places on the starting grid at Spa.
No significant changes for the rest of the standings, a Grand Prix that went well without any safety car. We provide the final standings below.
