2023 Hungarian GP: Post Race Analysis

If you went into the race expecting a follow the leader, no passing typical Hungarian GP type race, then you would have found this race to be quite enjoyable. Loads of passing up and down the grid, and technically even a pass for the lead.

Red Bull sets a record for 12 consecutive race wins, ties the record with the 1988 McLaren MP4/4 for 11 straight wins in a single season. Max grabbed the lead in turn 1 and didn't look back. Cruised to a 30+ second victory. It's hard to believe that car is barely the best in quali, but easily half a second faster than everyone in race trim. Incredible. Perez had a fantastic drive from 9th place, making some aggressive passes on track. Though didn't have enough in the tank to charge up to Lando and was being caught by Lewis in the end.

McLaren had another superb race. Lando was brilliant, especially at end. Putting in faster laps than Perez to comfortably come home 2nd. Piastri also had a great race, though didn't quite have the same pace as Norris. It may have seemed strange that the team pitted him after Lando, but it was needed to cover from Hamilton. In the end it was the right call as Lando was obviously faster.

Mercedes have to pretty happy, though they may have expected more. It seems like they opted for a qualifying biased setup, which is quite common in Hungary since it's so difficult to pass. Hamilton was managing some temperature issues and couldn't extract the full potential for the first half of the race. In the closing laps on medium tires and low fuel, the car came alive. Too little too late. Russell had an outstanding recovery drive. Starting in 18th, he was a pitbull in the race, raging through the field. Nearly tipped Leclerc on track, but still gets 6th.

Ferrari can't seem to do a race without at least once mistake. They probably should have let Sainz through on the softs and if needed swapped later, but okay I get it. Leclerc was the outright faster driver and unfortunately had a very slow pitstop which hurt his race. He had a bit of a rant on the radio and a stern reply from his engineer, but was still given pitstop priority later in the race. Unfortunately Charles commits his own mistake and takes a costly 5 second penalty. Sainz after a fantastic start on softs was then in charge of calling his own strategy. The team is in shambles.

Aston Martin now at the bottom end of points, just a few races after being on the podium all season long. How sad. Their upgrade is a complete failure, the team is making more and more mistakes. The feel good story of the season is turning into a bit of a horror story. Alonso still did the best he could, but couldn't even take the fight to the self imploding Ferrari's. Lance did score the final point which has to be considered a good job since he couldn't seem to score many points when the car was second best.

Williams nearly grabbed a point with Alex Albon. Where did he come from? Most of the race sitting around 15th or so, and next thing you know he was one retirement away from points. Great job. Logan's side of the garage decided to retire the car because he wasn't going to improve.

Alfa Romeo have to be kicking themselves for missing out on a huge opportunity. Another team that likely prioritized the setup for qualifying. Bottas drove pretty good and was up near the points most of the race, but to finish behind a Williams. Not good enough. Zhou had the spotlights on him for his 5th place qualifying, just to throw it all away in the first second of the race. Not sure what happened, but it's like he forget to select a gear. Tumbled down and couldn't recover. Brutal.

AlphaTauri never looked to be in points contention, but their race wasn't horrible. A nice welcome back for Danny Ric, out qualified his teammate, got collected in the turn 1 crash and managed to battle back to 13th. Pretty darn good job. What happened to Tsunoda though? He was up around 11th to 13th for so long, then suddenly he was near the bottom.

Haas had another awful race. Oddly the car looked competitive with full fuel, but as the race went on the car got worse and worse. Perhaps it was just poor management from the team? Who knows. 15th and 17th is how they finished.

Alpine have had bad days before, but to lose both cars in the first corner of the race? Yikes. At least the mechanics could start packing up early.

Driver of the Day: Up until about lap 63 it was for sure going to be Perez. Then Russell came alive with a stunning pass on Sainz and got right on the rear wing of Leclerc. Going from 18th to 6th on a track that is notoriously hard to pass, and in a car that wasn't all that amazing with heavier fuel loads. George Russell deserves driver of the day.

 

I forgot to add that Mercedes are typically one of, if not the best off the line this year. Somehow Lewis had a terrible start which allowed Max to get a run from the dirty side of the track. Not sure he had enough for 2nd today, but I wonder if a podium could have been possible if he kept the lead through the first stage of the race.

 

If Lewis' start was "terrible" what do you call Zhou's ?!
Definitely wasn't his best, and Max did JUST enough to get a front wheel next to Lewis' rear which gave him the space to stuff it up the inside of turn 1.
Image Unavailable, Please Login
Maybe the "dirty side" effect wasn't so great. Piastri got off the line just as well as Norris from that side also, putting him in prime position to follow Max through.

In any event, even if Lewis had the start of his life Max would have gobbled him up, latest when DRS time started. He's surely wishing that he'd have been able to keep the McLaren's behind, but with their early-race pace advantage they'd likely have also made it past pretty soon.

 

Thanks for the update Chris
I have to be honest, I normally just read over your analysis each week since I am usually home watching the race but since I am on vacation in Portugal this week and can’t watch, your detailed synopsis is a real help
Thank you!

 

Great analysis as per usual.

Alfa seems to be on the Ferrari race Strategy. Not recommended.

 

I agree with post #1 entirely and #5. The whole grid is working hard to improve their positions. Then there is Max. He is so other worldly that he could be knitting a scarf while driving and still probably win. It's fun to guess what Ferrari will mess up next. I'm guessing the biggest gap in organizational structure might be Ferrari and Mercedes. One team has not mastered checkers and the other is playing chess.

 

The whole weekend was a mess. FP 1, 2, and 3. The qualifying tire farce. And the race that was never a race, except about runner ups. The Italian government should not let the Ferrari team back inside the country.

 

With latest modifications, seems like Red Bull decided to sacrifice more Quali pace to improve race pace..
Not a good omen for others if Max lost pole by only 3 milliseconds..

 

I am so sick of Ferrari sucking in F1. When are they going to fire the whole crew, get some competent people involved and start winning races?

 

A team can afford that tactic when they are confident they have a very good car, like Red Bull certainly have.

 

Every time they announced an improvement they delivered.
This race they announced 2 tenths in terms of race pace.
No problem for Max !

 

When management will change its mindset..

 

I thoroughly enjoy the analysis after every race. I can't help but notice that the 2nd grid position at most tracks usually offer a better angle of attack at the 1st turn. It seems, at least before the recent Max domination, that the 2nd place qualifier usually gets the lead!
Thanks for all the well informed comments, RF.

 

It would be miracle if they win a race this year. I actually rate norris a better driver than LEC. I think there is a better chance of Norris being the next WDC if when Max falters.

 

Realistically what can YOU do about it ??
Answer:: abso-friggen-lutely NOTHINIG.

Me I am so sick and tired of engines that don't make noise--heck the Cosworth V8s before the first turbo era were better !!

 

I'm starting to think the same. I do believe Leclerc has some top level pace, but he continues to make costly mistakes. Mind you Carlos puts in his fair sure of mistakes and I don't recall him being prone to errors with other teams. So maybe it's just the pressure of driving a crappy Ferrari that they go beyond the limits too often.

 

There is no question LEC is fast and the real deal. The problem is he has not matured as a driver to know when to take risks. Look at Max.. When he arrived he was a bowling ball. Now he is much smarter except when Hammy is near him then emotions get to him and he falls apart. F1 has a lot of the mental game of golf.

 

I think a conclusion can be reached that the current Mercedes is very fast on low fuel but seems to be a pig with a full fuel load. Look at Lewis' pace in qualifying and in the late stages of the race and compare that with his slipping backwards from his pole position early in the race.

 

It should be noted that the Mercedes had a lot of it's cooling slots closed, making the car more slippery (the gain on a single lap with this is worth a significant amount, several TENTHS). This of course caused the car to overheat somewhat which led to a reduced pace in the race.

 

Analysis - Max won. Others got points or none at all. Next race!

 

I found it to be a surprisingly good race.