The 2023 Hungarian Grand Prix Thread

[cmlean]

This is the place to discuss everything related to the 12th round of the 2023 season taking place in Budapest between the 21st and 23rd of July.

The event timetable for the Hungarian Grand Prix.

Friday
1st Practice 30:00 local time - 11:30 GMT
2nd Practice 17:00 local time - 15:00 GMT

Saturday
Practice 12:30 local time - 10:30 GMT
Qualifying 16:00 local time - 14:00 GMT

Sunday
Race 15:00 local time - 13:00 GMT

[cmlean]

Da return of Da Ric.
It will be interesting to see if Daniel Ricciardo can extract anything more from the AlphaTauri following the sacking of Nyck DeVries. It wasn't unexpected as De Vries hasn't lived up to the expectations and, after 10 races, hadn't scored a point in the WDC.
The return to form of McLaren at the British Grand Prix was startling. It will be interesting to see if they can keep the momentum going at this circuit.
Ferrari still seem to be struggling over the race distance. Qualifying doesn't seem to be a major problem however strategy and tyre wear seem to be holding them back.
Mercedes are sort of there. George Russell did everything right and still managed to get beaten by Lewis Hamilton with a late race safety car upsetting the expected results.
To see how Sergio Perez reacts to that Aussie being back on the grid and threatening his position in the main team. His qualifying in the last few races has been abysmal.
That's about it. Bring on the weekend!

[cmlean]

FP 1 Results

Code: Select all

Pos	Time		Driver		  Team
1	1:38.795	George Russell	  Mercedes
2	1:39.154	Oscar Piastri	  McLaren
3	1:40.013	Lance Stroll	  Aston Martin
4	1:40.277	Lando Norris	  McLaren
5	1:40.687	Fernando Alonso	  Aston Martin
6	1:41.032	Valtteri Bottas	  Alfa Romeo
7	1:41.142	Charles Leclerc	  Ferrari
8	1:41.363	Zhou Guanyu	  Alfa Romeo
9	1:41.416	Logan Sargeant	  Williams
10	1:42.706	Nico Hulkenberg	  Haas
11	1:42.906	Kevin Magnussen	  Haas
12	1:45.575	Yuki Tsunoda	  AlphaTauri
13	1:47.403	Alexander Albon	  Williams
14	No Time		Daniel Ricciardo  AlphaTauri
15	No Time		Carlos Sainz	  Ferrari
16	No Time		Sergio Perez	  Red Bull Racing
17	No Time		Esteban Ocon	  Alpine
18	No Time		Pierre Gasly	  Alpine
19	No Time		Max Verstappen	  Red Bull Racing
20	No Time		Lewis Hamilton	  Mercedes

[cmlean]

What a horrible session. The conditions throughout varied from rain to a slightly drying track.
The first of the main combatants to be caught out was Sergio Perez who dipped a tyre onto the grass entering turn 4 and hit the barriers. His session was then over as the red flags were brought out and the car significantly damaged.
The session restarted and not long after, Carlos Sainz lost his Ferrari exiting turn 3. Luckily for him, he slightly touched the barrier however, attempting to return to the track, ended stuck on a kerb.
Yuki Tsunoda also clipped a barrier damaging his front wing.

[cmlean]

FP2 Results

Code: Select all

Pos	Time		Driver		  Team
1	1:17.686	Charles Leclerc	  Ferrari
2	1:17.701	Lando Norris	  McLaren
3	1:17.918	Pierre Gasly	  Alpine
4	1:17.934	Yuki Tsunoda	  AlphaTauri
5	1:18.045	Esteban Ocon	  Alpine
6	1:18.058	Nico Hulkenberg	  Haas
7	1:18.085	Valtteri Bottas	  Alfa Romeo
8	1:18.105	Fernando Alonso	  Aston Martin
9	1:18.108	Zhou Guanyu	  Alfa Romeo
10	1:18.182	Carlos Sainz	  Ferrari
11	1:18.279	Max Verstappen	  Red Bull Racing
12	1:18.319	Lance Stroll	  Aston Martin
13	1:18.377	Alexander Albon	  Williams
14	1:18.385	Daniel Ricciardo  AlphaTauri
15	1:18.504	Kevin Magnussen	  Haas
16	1:18.746	Lewis Hamilton	  Mercedes
17	1:18.836	Logan Sargeant	  Williams
18	1:18.978	Sergio Perez	  Red Bull Racing
19	1:19.117	Oscar Piastri	  McLaren
20	1:19.175	George Russell	  Mercedes

[cmlean]

Sergio Perez's day has gone from bad to worse. A massive lock up entering turn 1 has destroyed one set of his soft tyres. Each car is given 4 sets for the weekend and this will seriously impact his run schedule.
Oscar Piastri damaged the floor of his McLaren and spent a lot of the session having it repaired.

One difference for this weekend is qualifying.
Session 1, qualifying will be on the hard compound.
Session 2, qualifying will be on the medium compound.
Session 3, qualifying will be on the soft compound.

Each team is allocated 3 sets of hard, 4 sets of medium and 4 sets of soft compound tyres for the weekend.
The compounds are C3, hard, C4 and C5, soft.

Tyre management will be critical.

[cmlean]

FP3 Results

Code: Select all

Pos	Time		Driver		  Team
1	1:17.811	Lewis Hamilton	  Mercedes
2	1:18.061	Max Verstappen	  Red Bull Racing
3	1:18.067	Sergio Perez	  Red Bull Racing
4	1:18.077	Nico Hulkenberg	  Haas
5	1:18.082	Lando Norris	  McLaren
6	1:18.119	George Russell	  Mercedes
7	1:18.190	Charles Leclerc	  Ferrari
8	1:18.234	Carlos Sainz	  Ferrari
9	1:18.350	Fernando Alonso	  Aston Martin
10	1:18.489	Valtteri Bottas	  Alfa Romeo
11	1:18.536	Lance Stroll	  Aston Martin
12	1:18.544	Zhou Guanyu	  Alfa Romeo
13	1:18.592	Alexander Albon	  Williams
14	1:18.598	Oscar Piastri	  McLaren
15	1:18.649	Kevin Magnussen	  Haas
16	1:18.776	Pierre Gasly	  Alpine
17	1:18.814	Logan Sargeant	  Williams
18	1:18.828	Daniel Ricciardo  AlphaTauri
19	1:18.979	Esteban Ocon	  Alpine
20	1:19.156	Yuki Tsunoda	  AlphaTauri

[cmlean]

Qualifying

Code: Select all

Pos	Time		Driver		  Team
1	1:16.609	Lewis Hamilton	  Mercedes
2	1:16.612	Max Verstappen	  Red Bull Racing
3	1:16.694	Lando Norris	  McLaren
4	1:16.905	Oscar Piastri	  McLaren
5	1:16.971	Zhou Guanyu	  Alfa Romeo
6	1:16.992	Charles Leclerc	  Ferrari
7	1:17.034	Valtteri Bottas	  Alfa Romeo
8	1:17.035	Fernando Alonso	  Aston Martin
9	1:17.045	Sergio Perez	  Red Bull Racing
10	1:17.186	Nico Hulkenberg	  Haas
________________________________________________________
11	1:17.703	Carlos Sainz	  Ferrari
12	1:17.841	Esteban Ocon	  Alpine
13	1:18.002	Daniel Ricciardo  AlphaTauri
14	1:18.144	Lance Stroll	  Aston Martin
15	1:18.217	Pierre Gasly	  Alpine
________________________________________________________
16	1:18.917	Alexander Albon	  Williams
17	1:18.919	Yuki Tsunoda	  AlphaTauri
18	1:19.027	George Russell	  Mercedes
19	1:19.206	Kevin Magnussen	  Haas
20	1:19.248	Logan Sargeant	  Williams

[cmlean]

The change in the qualifying format seemed to have the desired result. Unfortunately for George Russell, he was the first of the top six to fall by failing to make it out of Q1.
Daniel Ricciardo stepped back to where he left off by pushing his AlphaTauri into Q2 and out qualifying his team mate. Not bad for your first time out in a new team.
The change of format saw 7 teams make it through into Q3 setting up an exciting final couple of minutes with Lewis Hamilton crossing the line last and fastest.

[cmlean]

Race

Code: Select all

Pos	Driver		  Team
1	Max Verstappen	  Red Bull Racing
2	Lando Norris	  McLaren
3	Sergio Perez	  Red Bull Racing
4	Lewis Hamilton	  Mercedes
5	Oscar Piastri	  McLaren
6	George Russell	  Mercedes
7	Charles Leclerc	  Ferrari
8	Carlos Sainz	  Ferrari
9	Fernando Alonso	  Aston Martin
10	Lance Stroll	  Aston Martin
11	Alexander Albon	  Williams
12	Valtteri Bottas	  Alfa Romeo
13	Daniel Ricciardo  AlphaTauri
14	Nico Hulkenberg	  Haas
15	Yuki Tsunoda	  AlphaTauri
16	Zhou Guanyu	  Alfa Romeo
17	Kevin Magnussen	  Haas
DNF	Logan Sargeant	  Williams
DNF	Esteban Ocon	  Alpine
DNF	Pierre Gasly	  Alpine

Next: Round of Belgium '23
Date: 28th-30th July 2023

[cmlean]

Well, what a great finish. Maybe not at the front but watching Lewis Hamilton charge through the field in the final tyre stint. He was back to his best. That as well as George Russell's run from 18th on the grid to position 6 and Sergio Perez's efforts from grid position 9 to end his grand prix in position 4.
The incident in turn 1 off the start ruined many drivers race. Both Alpines were out immediately with Daniel Ricciardo hit in the rear forcing him into the incident. He resumed as last car running but a great drive with good strategy allowed him back to position 13.