F1 2022 season - Michael Masi sacked

First topic message reminder :

Otmar Szafnauer has left Aston Martin, widely expected, after Martin Whitmarsh joined the team.

Verstappen gets Ocon
Perez gets Alonso.

Red Bull 6 and 7 after 9 laps...
Verstappen still has a chance to win here

Hamilton and Verstappen pass Norris

Perez gets Norris as well

Poor pit stops for Russell and Sainz

Verstappen jumps Hamilton in the pit stops

LeClerc gets the jump on Sainz by doing the overcut

Russell is a dirty driver. Weaving like an idiot.

Magnificent move by LeClerc takes the lead.

Valiant defense but fairly inevitably LeClerc takes P1. Needs a favour from Sainz now with Max start in p4

Raining now

Sainz and Verstappen closing on Russell as the rain falls

RB trying the undercut on Sainz

Verstappen jumps Russell

LeClerc on the hards - brainless

Perez yields to Verstappen

Started on the mediums didn't he? So had to use hards or softs to finish the race

Verstappen takes LeClerc

If it starts hammering down Max is in the box seat. Still needs to stop again though

GSC wrote:Started on the mediums didn't he? So had to use hards or softs to finish the race

Yeah sorry my mistake

Until he's not

Verstappen spins

Well he's probably committed to another stop if he's killed the tyres now

Verstappen powers passed again. Unreal speed

Charles just has to stay in touch for the final phase of this race

Slow stop puts Sainz 12.5 seconds behind Max on a better tyre with 21 laps to go. Mercedes still keeping Lewis out before he does the same

Ricciardo t-bones Stroll. Sorry Danny but times up.

Shaping up for a Sainz Verstappen finale. Lewis has the best tyres but they might have let this gap out a bit too far. He needs Sainz to get stuck in traffic (you'd think Ferrari would let him past LeClerc but it is Ferrari)

Russell clears LeClerc...

LeClerc third stop

Well LeClerc is pitted anyway because it was likely p5 anyway on the hards

Merc need George to do his best Bottas impression

Hamilton clears Sainz

Mercedes bizarrely don’t tell Russell to let Hamilton through

Gotta move Russell out the way surely. Can flip positions at the end if necessary

Hamilton gets Russell 11seconds behind Verstappen

LeClerc struggling to even get near Perez...

VSC Bottas stops on track

Probably ends the race

Verstappen wins the Hungarian GP - masterclass from the World Champion
Hamilton
Russell
Sainz
Perez
LeClerc
Norris
Alonso
Ocon
Vettel

Verstappen starting 10th yet extends his championship lead to 80pts...

Last year Max saw his massive lead eroded in the last 2 races before the summer break. This year it gets extended

It's going to take something special to reel him in.

(Another) disaster day from Ferrari. LeClerc on the Sainz/Hamilton strategy would've won easily. The hards just had no grip at all. The expected pace advantage didn't really show up

About as good as it could've gone for Mercedes. hindsight to say they should've pitted Lewis rather than George in the first stint to prevent the Max overcut. But they just don't have the pace to run at the front on equal footing.

Max even had time to spin and hurt his tyres

More surprising twists and another unexpected result.

Red Bull today showed how far superior they are to Ferrari in the strategy department - helped by some rapid driving from Verstappen. Two factors combined that helped completely turn the race in RB's favour.

Ferrari sabotaging their own race again - what the hell were they thinking putting Charles on hard tyres, when Haas and Alpine already tried it and it didn't work? Should have put softs on at the first stop so they could switch back to mediums for the last stint. Third pit for softs, the race was already gone...

Didn't really do Sainz any favours either by putting him on softs that early. Yes he's good at managing his tyres, but even he'd struggle to make them last nearly 20 laps.

Mercedes showing a bit of ingenuity for once, bringing Lewis in pretty late for soft tyres. Russell doing enough on his old mediums to give them another 2-3 finish. If they keep this up they could overhaul Ferrari.

xxxx

GSC wrote:Max even had time to spin and hurt his tyres

Not to mention sorting out his gearbox slippage.

Once again showing that when you're racing Red Bull, you're not just battling the drivers...you're also going up against a pretty formidable brains trust in the engineering & strategy department.

ps without the DRS issue in Q3 Hamilton would have been starting the race higher up ... then of course without the engine related issue so would have Verstappen.

The top 3 laughing at Ferrari putting LeClerc on the hards in the cooldown room...Not only beating the Horses but humiliating us....

Verstappen could finish second in all remaining 9 races and still win the championship...He's not really designed to be passive though...
After the summer break two home races for Verstappen - Belgium and Netherlands...Joy...

Overall a pretty interesting race, if not exactly action packed. Would have liked the rain to arrive a few laps earlier to really shake things up. But still good to see the teams' differing strategies play out.