Conclusions from the Hungarian Grand Prix

Max Verstappen continued his march towards a second successive Formula 1 title with his eighth victory of the 2022 season at the Hungarian Grand Prix as Ferrari suffered another disastrous day. Ever get the feeling you’ve seen this all before? Here are our conclusions from Budapest…

And to think this was supposed to be one of Red Bull’s weaker races of the season…

The Hungaroring had seemed perfectly suited to the strengths of the wonderfully agile, high-downforce Ferrari F1-75, the circuit lacking the long straights for the full force of Red Bull’s straight-line speed advantage to be felt.

Ferrari’s chances only increased further when the Red Bulls hit trouble in qualifying, Sergio Perez (still seemingly half-asleep after securing his contract extension) falling in Q2 and Verstappen suffering a loss of power in Q3.

Let it not go unnoticed that Max Verstappen is now leading after starting P10, without Safety Car intervention, and even having time for a spin in between.#HungarianGP #F1

— PlanetF1 (@Planet_F1) July 31, 2022

Yet despite their problems on Saturday, Red Bull could be encouraged that even then – on a Ferrari track and with their main competition out of contention – Ferrari were still making it difficult for themselves, Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz somehow pipped to pole position by George Russell’s Mercedes.

Tenth on the grid and with a healthy points lead to preserve, Verstappen entered the race hoping to get somewhere near the podium places.

But as the opposition fell before him – Russell and Sainz fading and Leclerc, invariably the real threat, sent down a hard-tyred cul de sac by the Ferrari pit wall – he found himself leading by almost 10 seconds in the closing laps even after a mid-race spin at the