1659282797Hungarian Grand Prix – George Russell: “I think we did everything right today. When it was raining at the beginning and I was on softs I was rubbing my hands together. We boxed quite early reacting to Max and the Ferraris but we were compromised when the rain came on the mediums. You can’t pre-empt everything.
“Max and Red Bull are cruising. Max and Charles are on a similar level – felt for Charles and he’s been on the receving end of a lot of bad luck. There’s no doubt we’re making progress.
“Every car is different – the new directive is not going to help him that’s for sure.”
Kieran Jackson31 July 2022 16:53
1659282589Hungarian Grand Prix – Lewis Hamilton: “Really happy to have recovered from seventh. That last stint was pretty special – Max started 10th, spun and still won by 10 seconds so that says something about their car! But we’ve found something and very excited about the second half of the season.
“We all need a break. It’s been a long long year so far for us, so can switch off from tomorrow. Got some special things planned. Training and come back even stronger.”
Kieran Jackson31 July 2022 16:49
1659282036Hungarian Grand Prix – Red Bull boss Christian Horner:“We did a great job today. We switched our strategy on the grid to deal with the ambient conditions, the soft tyre went much further than we thought. The key moment was as soon as Charles went on to the hard tyre, we thought we really had a chance now. Checo let Max get on the back of Charles; Max had a spin, warmed his tyres and then had to do it all again!
“We’ve got a strategy team here and in Milton Keynes, the whole team is fanstastic under pressure. The way the whole team is working is great to see – we had a tough day on Friday, a tough day yesterday. We had a really competitive race, clutch issue with Max which we managed. It was one of his best drives.
“He’s a great racer, loves racing. He relishes it. It’s so pure in him, he loves going wheel-to-wheel. I thought the racing was very good throughout the field today.”
Kieran Jackson31 July 2022 16:40
1659281234Hungarian Grand Prix – Ferrari boss Mattia Binotto: “It will take a few days to analyse. We didn’t have the performance today, the performance of the car was not as expected. It’s difficult to keep the position on track. That’s the first time this season that the times weren’t working quite well.
“We know the hard tyres have some warm-up difficulties but we believed it would’ve been fast enough to have been in the race by the end. But overall it didn’t work as we were expecting because the car wasn’t working as we were expecting.
“The entire team is great, I’m fully supporting them because I chose them.”
Kieran Jackson31 July 2022 16:27
1659281045Hungarian Grand Prix – RACE REPORT: Max Verstappen won the Hungarian Grand Prix after another Ferrari strategy blunder cost Charles Leclerc a probable victory. Verstappen crossed the line 7.8 seconds clear of Lewis Hamilton, following a late surge from the seven-time world champion, with George Russell third. Leclerc finished sixth and now trails Verstappen by 80 points heading into the sport’s summer break.
After overcoming 30 laps of pole man Russell’s resistance to take the lead with a brilliant move around the outside of the Mercedes at Turn 1, Leclerc looked on course to take the chequered flag. But the Monegasque’s afternoon was wrecked – and his championship hopes dealt an almost irreversible blow – when Ferrari elected to put their star driver on the hardest rubber.
From being the fastest man on track, Leclerc suddenly had no speed, and he was gobbled up by Verstappen, who started 10th, at the start of lap 40. Verstappen spun at the penultimate corner on the same lap to allow Leclerc back into the lead.
But such was his lack of pace on a strategy dismissed by tyre supplier Pirelli, Verstappen was back past the Ferrari, racing past his beleaguered rival at the second corner five laps later. From there, Verstappen’s eighth win of his championship defence never appeared in danger with a second title in as many years looking increasingly likely.
The opening half of Sunday’s race was led by Russell after he raced away from his marks 24 hours after claiming the first pole of his career. Carlos Sainz, who started second, nibbled at Russell’s Mercedes gearbox through the opening corner, but Russell displayed great composure to keep the Ferrari man at bay, and he pulled 2.4 seconds clear after just three laps.
Sainz and Leclerc started to claw Russell back in but after the first round of stops, Russell’s lead remained at two seconds. By now, Leclerc was past Sainz and the fastest man in Hungary. A look of resignation appeared on Mercedes boss Toto Wolff’s face, and despite Russell’s stoic resistance, Leclerc got his man on lap 30.
Max Verstappen wins the Hungarian GP as Mercedes earn double podium againVerstappen crossed the line 7.8 seconds clear of Lewis Hamilton, following a late surge from the seven-time world champion, with George Russell third
Kieran Jackson31 July 2022 16:24
1659280729Hungarian Grand Prix – Charles Leclerc: “We need to speak to the team and understand the thought on putting the hards on, I was feeling very strong on the medium. I said on the radio I was very comfortable and go as long as possible because the feeling was good, I don’t know why we took a different decision.
“The pace on my side I was pretty happy but everybody will remember the last bit of the race which was a disaster. I was all over the place with the hards, that’s where we lost this race. We will speak about it inside the team to get better.”
Kieran Jackson31 July 2022 16:18
1659280463Hungarian Grand Prix – Toto Wolff: “George drove a super solid race but he was always in that fight so you are utilising the tyres so it dropped off.
“Lewis was banging in times quicker than the leaders. It wasn’t yet clear if it was a one-stop; Red Bull gambled took a risk and the tyre lives were extended more than we thought.”
Kieran Jackson31 July 2022 16:14
1659280379Hungarian Grand Prix – Carlos Sainz:“We clearly struggled. We’re a bit puzzled as we thought we’d have better race pace, there was something going on with the car and the tyres.
“I don’t know what we could have done better on strategy but when the pace is bad, strategy is difficult when you have pace with no compound. It means you have no flexibility. We were just slow, there was clearly something in the cars and tyres we weren’t doing right!”
Kieran Jackson31 July 2022 16:12
1659279222Hungarian Grand Prix – George Russell:“When it started spitting I thought we were on with the softs. Really struggled towards the end with the warm-ups, but really well done again to the team for a double podium.
“It’s been an intense start to the season, I think the break will do everyone some good and we can come back and fight for some victories!”
Kieran Jackson31 July 2022 15:53
1659279133Hungarian Grand Prix – Lewis Hamilton:“Was definitely struggling at the beginning of the race, I really want to acknowledge my team who have never given up. To have both cars on the podium, it’s an amazing way to go into the break!
“It being cooler seems to work better for us. I was hoping it’d rain at the end so I could challenge Max but we ran out of laps. Two seconds in a row I’m really really happy.”
Kieran Jackson31 July 2022 15:52
