Verstappen closes another legendary record for Red Bull at the Hungaroring

Halfway through the World Cup, with a couple of bizarre regulation changes included, Red Bull's abuse of power remains as valid as the first day. If people get bored, it's not a problem for Max Verstappen, who won at the Hungaroring with a 33-second advantage over Lando Norris, escorted to the podium by his teammate Sergio Pérez, ninth on the grid. Irrefutable facts against which Lewis Hamilton, author of pole position, but fourth at the finish line after a disastrous race, could not fight. Neither Carlos Sainz and Fernando Alonso have the resources to interfere among the best. As the championship rolls, the only question is whether Red Bull will leave some crumbs for the rest.

Sainz, eighth at the finish line, had enough to survive Ferrari's mistakes. Alonso, ninth, couldn't even give us a ponytail of genius. Relegated to that middle zone where he had suffered so much in Alpine, the Asturian was dragged by the anodyne. No rhythm in his Aston Martin, clearly behind McLaren and Mercedes, on Sunday it was a mere formality to bring some points to the garage. Two for him and one for Lance Stroll. This baggage, which at the beginning of the course could be interpreted as acceptable, now seems scarce.

From another dimension, beyond space-time, Red Bull must be evaluated, which at the Hungaroring broke another legendary record: 12 consecutive victories, one more than McLaren in 1988.. Verstappen's ninth in 11 races. And the sixth podium for Pérez, capable of resisting Hamilton's last attacks despite the weakness of his tires. This tyranny can be glossed in a thousand ways, but none will do true justice to what Christian Horner and Adrian Newey have achieved.

alpine drama

Not so long ago, Mercedes was in a similar situation, but now any breath shakes its structure. Like this outing in Hungary, when Hamilton focused on defending against Verstappen, forgetting what was happening a little further on with the McLarens.. There he left his privileged pole to fall off the cliff to fourth place. The Alpine drama, with an incident between Pierre Gasly and Esteban Ocon, triggered the double French abandonment, a drama comparable to the Australian GP.

Bad fate for the heirs of Renault, given that the greatest share of responsibility had to be attributed to Guanyu Zhou, stuck in the starting blocks and overrevving against Daniel Ricciardo, who ended up taking Otmar Szafnauer's men ahead. The commissioners immediately acted against the Chinese driver, although his five-second penalty, the minimum contemplated by the regulations, must be qualified as insufficient.

In contrast to such calamity, Sainz's start-up on the soft tires was magnificent. From eleventh to sixth place, in the wake of Charles Leclerc, untouchable by the Maranello staff. To Carlos's courage we must add Alonso's mettle, who did enough to hold Sergio Pérez before Red Bull, assisted by his DRS, snatched seventh place from him at the end of the straight.

“Have you turned off the engine?”

When Sainz looked at the Mexican in the mirrors, he already told his engineers that he would go in immediately to renew his shoes.. Actually, they should have put him in the pits much sooner to mount the new hard ones. Even with the strategic error, the man from Madrid, once again eleventh ahead of Stroll, at least was not exposed to the blunder of the red mechanics with Leclerc. The left rear wheel got stuck and the Monegasque stop was going to take 9.4 seconds.

Although to the chagrin, the one from Hamilton, who was trying the undercut against Norris when he suddenly found himself nine seconds behind. The classic It's hammer time, the rallying cry of its engineer, coincided with a debacle for the seven-time champion, unable to warm up his hard tires. His caustic question must have stung in the Mercedes garage: “Have you turned off the engine?” Not to keep quiet, Pete Bonnington responded that they were losing too much time on the straightaway and through Turns 10 and 14.

Leclerc, ahead of Sainz, on Sunday at the Hungaroring. AFP

With the McLaren without resources before an unapproachable Verstappen, it was necessary to dive into the fine print so as not to get too bored. On lap 47, Pérez sent Piastri unceremoniously into the grass. The FIA, as usual in recent races, left Checo unpunished, but showed the Australian a black and white flag for going over the white line in turn 4. Meanwhile, Leclerc added another notch to his fateful Sunday by exceeding the speed limits in the pitlane, penalized with five seconds. As the plans did not fit that way, Cedric Vasseur ordered an undercut for the Monegasque to recover the position against Sainz.

With 18 laps to go, Verstappen completed the last procedure in the pits to rejoin the asphalt with 12 seconds on Norris. With the yellow compound, without traffic or other trifles, the two-time world champion stopped the clock in 1:20.504, almost three seconds better than McLaren's records. A quick turn to melt logic. With 46ºC on the asphalt and with the new Pirelli compounds, let no one dare challenge the next world champion either.