F1 Hungarian Grand Prix 2023: Max Verstappen wins as Daniel Ricciardo returns

Only two weeks after a late safety car handed his deserved Silverstone podium to Lewis Hamilton, Piastri once again came agonisingly close to bagging a trophy in his debut season.

The 22-year-old wowed fans at the Hungaroring when he threw his McLaren down the inside at the opening turn and jumped from fourth to second in the blink of an eye.

He settled comfortably just off the pace of eventual race-winner Max Verstappen for the first 19 laps, until a controversial strategy call flipped the script.

McLaren chose to pit Lando Norris - who was running behind in third place - a lap earlier than Piastri.

Norris produced a scintillating out-lap to beat his teammate out of the pits and Piastri was suddenly relegated to P3.

The Aussie was later rounded up by the uber-fast Red Bull of Sergio Perez, before Hamilton flew past with 13 laps to run.

“First stint was good. Second and third stint were pretty average,” a measured Piastri told Sky Sports F1.

“Just lacking a lot of pace, not too sure why at the moment I just struggled a lot with the tyres.

“Happy to hang onto P5 … we’ll have a look at what I could have done better. Obviously the car is capable of more than that so I’ll have a look at what I can do better to protect the tyres and learn.

“It wasn’t ideal to come out behind Lando but when you finish 30 seconds behind him clearly it didn’t make much difference.

“Overall still a good day for the team.”

Piastri has another 11 races to fight for a podium in his debut season. If he does manage to crack the top three, he will become the first rookie since Lance Stroll in 2017 to achieve the feat.

Meanwhile it was business as usual for Verstappen, who cut a frustrated figure after being out-qualified by Hamilton a day earlier but quickly put that disappointment behind him.

The reigning world champion took control of the race at the first turn and never looked back, opening up an eventual 33-second gap to Lando Norris at the chequered flag with Perez crossing for third.

It was the largest winning margin since Hamilton’s 53-second demolition job at the 2021 Russian Grand Prix.

Verstappen’s brilliant Budapest drive made it seven consecutive race victories and 12 in a row for Red Bull, breaking the all-time Formula One record previously held by McLaren since 1988.

“For the team 12 wins in a row is incredible,” said Verstappen, who marked his ninth win of the season in Budapest.

“Hopefully we can keep this momentum going for a long time.

“A day like today is just perfect.”

Red Bull now holds a monster 229-point advantage over second-placed Mercedes in the Constructors’ Championship, while Verstappen is nigh-unassailable 110 points clear of teammate Perez in the Drivers’ standings.

Red Bull boss Christian Horner hailed the team’s record-breaking season and heaped praise on the shoulders of Verstappen, who edged ever-closer to a third-straight world championship.

“What we’re witnessing from him at the moment is a sportsman absolutely at the top of his game,” Horner said.

“Yesterday (qualifying) was disastrous as far as he was concerned, but it just pushes him on.

“Max is a very modest guy. Sometimes he is uncomfortable with all the plaudits that are given to him, but he deserves all the credit in the world for how he is driving at the moment.”

The race began in hot conditions with an air temperature of 30 degrees and the track at 54, factors sure to affect tyre performance.

Verstappen wore an ice-packed vest on the grid under a parasol.

Hamilton made a strong initial start, but was swamped at Turn One, Verstappen squeezing through on the inside and both McLarens taking advantage to push him down to fourth.

Gifted the lead, Verstappen took control as Hamilton, so delighted by his record 104th pole position, apologised. “It’s a long race,” Mercedes reminded him.

On a busy opening lap Russell, from 18th on the grid, moved up to 13th as the two Alpines collided and retired, Zhou Guanyu having pushed the returning Daniel Ricciardo into Esteban Ocon who hit his teammate Pierre Gasly. The Chinese driver was given a five-second penalty.

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Red Bull pitted Verstappen for hard tyres on lap 23 without him losing his lead. Perez, in the mood, passed Piastri forcefully at Turn Two on lap 48 as Leclerc was penalized for speeding in the pit-lane before Hamilton made a second stop for mediums.

He re-joined fifth, close to a minute behind Verstappen who led imperiously ahead of Norris, Perez and Piastri with 20 laps remaining, the Dutchman afforded a luxurious 2.6 seconds stop on lap 51 before clocking the fastest lap as he surged to the flag.

Piastri finished fifth, more than a minute behind Verstappen, while Ricciardo was 13th.

Originally published as F1 Hungarian Grand Prix 2023: Max Verstappen wins as Daniel Ricciardo returns