© Getty Images2024 Hungarian Grand Prix - Race ReportMax Verstappen finished fifth after a late-race clash with Lewis Hamilton, while Checo powered through from a 16th place start to finish in seventh
Max’stoughafternoonsawtheDutchdriverseesawthroughtheleadingpositionsashestruggledwithanundersteeringRB20,andafterstayingoutlaterthanhisrivalsacrossbothhisstints,hewastaskedwithpassingFerrari’sCharlesLeclercandMercedes’LewisHamiltoninthefinalthirdoftheracetoreclaimapodiumposition.
But while Leclerc was swiftly dispatched, Hamilton proved more resilient, and with a handful of laps remaining, Max went for broke into Turn 1. A late lunge on the inside led to a lock-up as Hamilton turned in, and there was contact. Max was bounced rear-wheels upwards and off track but was able to rejoin the race with, seemingly, no damage to the floor. Max lost ground to Leclerc and Hamilton, and cut a frustrated figure as he crossed the line in P5.
At the start, polesitter Lando Norris got away quickest, but on the run to the first corner, his teammate, Oscar Piastri, and Max drew level, and they went three abreast into Turn 1—a squeeze that resulted in Max going wide.
With Norris also battling to stay on track, Piastri snuck through on the inside to take the lead, Max rejoined in second place, and, after tussling with Lewis Hamilton, Norris slotted into third. However, with the incident being investigated, GP told a disgruntled Max that the wisest course of action was to give back the place, and soon after the start, the championship leader handed the place back, heading into Turn 1.
Further back, Checo, starting on hard tyres, lost a place at the start to Mercedes’ George Russell, but when a clutch of rival soft and medium-tyre starters pitted ahead of him in the opening laps, the Mexican pushed through to P11 by the start of lap 10.
Russell was struggling to get past Sauber’s Valtteri Bottas, and that was hampering Checo’s progress, but at the end of lap 16, the Finn at last pitted to shed his starting medium tyres, and the Mercedes and Red Bull drivers were uncorked.
Ahead, Hamilton was the first of the frontrunners to pit, followed by Norris and Piastri. Max stayed on track, however, waiting until lap 21 to make his first stop, and as the first round of tyre changes played out, Piastri returned to P1, three seconds ahead of Norris. Max’s longer stint on his starting mediums had, however, cost him a position, and he found himself in P4, almost five seconds behind Hamilton. The Red Bull driver’s pace soon began to tell, thanks to his fresher rubber, and over the following laps he began to steadily close in.
Powerful Start From Max© Getty Images
Checo, meanwhile, finally shed his opening hard tyres at the end of lap 28. On the quicker medium tyres, he emerged in P14 but swiftly converted that to 11th as he powered past Bottas, Haas’ Kevin Magnussen, and VCARB’s Yuki Tsunoda over the following two laps.
As the halfway point arrived, Max closed up to Hamilton, and at the start of lap 35, he attacked into Turn 1. Hamilton locked up and went wide, giving Max the chance to pass on the outside into Turn 3, but this time it was the Dutchman who went off track on the marbles, and Hamilton held on. At the front, Piastri, too, had suffered a brief off on lap 33, and that allowed Norris to close the gap at the front. Behind them, Checo was still on the move, and on lap 40, the Mexican had hauled his way up to seventh place.
Max, though, was bottled up behind Hamilton, who was carefully using his battery to keep the RB20 at bay. At the end of lap 40, Max was freed when Mercedes pitted Hamilton.
Released into clear air in third place, Max began to eat into the nine-second gap to Norris.
On lap 45, the deficit had dropped to 4.5s and McLaren pitted Norris to cover the charge. The move, which gave Norris pit preference, and an undercut, set up an increasingly techy finish for McLaren as Norris moved ahead of his teammate and questioned the need to cede the position to Piastri.
Max pitted at the end of lap 49, but even though the pit crew delivered a stop of 2.3s to the Dutchman, he emerged in fifth place behind Hamilton and Leclerc and was charged with passing both in the final 20 laps.
Checo Charging Up The Timesheet© Getty images
Checo, too, had made his second stop, and, with another set of mediums onboard, the Mexican was posting fastest laps. And when Russell pitted for a second time, he climbed back to P7.
Max, too, was powering to fastest laps, and on lap 53, he roared into DRS range of Leclerc. The Ferrari driver defended well, but with pace in hand, Max charged past on the inside into Turn 1 at the start of lap 56.
With 10 laps left, Max hauled his way into DRS range of Hamilton for a second time. The Dutchman attacked on lap 62, but Hamilton defended well. Max went for it again on the following lap, but his lunge down the inside was too late. As Hamilton turned in, Max locked up, and there was contact.
Max was pitched into the air and slapped back on track before sliding into the run-off. Hamilton drove off into third place with no apparent damage, and as Max rejoined, Leclerc swept past to demote him to fifth position.
At the front, Norris was involved in increasingly argumentative radio discussions with his pitwall, but eventually, on lap 69, he finally slowed on the pit straight to let Piastri through.
The Australian swept past to take the lead, and two laps later he took the flag to score his maiden F1 victory. Norris completed the 1-2 for McLaren, and Hamilton took the remaining podium place ahead of Leclerc.
That left fifth place for a frustrated Max, who was also summoned to the stewards to review the Hamilton incident. Sainz took sixth place, while another trademark Checo charge brought the team six hugely valuable points at the end of a difficult afternoon. Russell was left with eighth ahead of Tsunoda, and the final point went to Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll.
Orange Army Out In Force© Getty Images
| Rank | Driver | Team | Gap | Points | | 1 | Oscar Piastri | McLaren | – | 25 |
| 2 | Lando Norris | McLaren | +2.141 | 18 |
| 3 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | +14.880 | 15 |
| 4 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | +19.686 | 12 |
| 5 | Max Verstappen | Oracle Red Bull Racing | +21.349 | 10 |
| 6 | Carlos Sainz | Ferrari | +23.073 | 8 |
| 7 | Sergio Pérez | Oracle Red Bull Racing | +39.792 | 6 |
| 8 | George Russell | Mercedes | +42.368 | 4 (+1) |
| 9 | Yuki Tsunoda | Visa Cash App RB | +77.259 | 2 |
| 10 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin | +77.976 | 1 |
