Lewis Hamilton managed to beat Verstappen only on Saturday in Hungary. A good start was what he needed on Sunday, at least to delay the uncertainty of the race at the Hungaroring circuit in Budapest. Lewis had a decent start but not as optimal as his teammate on the front row. Trying to resist, he lost two positions to the advantage of Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris, risking an attack even from the Ferrari cars of Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz, who had am amazing start from P11.
From that point on, Max Verstappen had no more worries in the Hungarian Grand Prix. Contrary to qualifying, his Red Bull was dominant in the race. The engineers approached the updates with total confidence, despite a balance that wasn’t so perfect with empty fuel tanks.
In reality, the engineers confirmed a front wing with less downforce, counting on the expectation of a greater overall load on the rear to protect the tires and extend their life. Mission accomplished. Sergio Perez recovered the podium even more easily than expected, thanks to a very positive degradation curve compared to other cars that started to struggle early with the temperatures. Lewis Hamilton was on track for a podium but was hindered by his false start and a bad strategy. The expected opponents for Lewis were the McLarens more than Max Verstappen or the Ferrari cars.
Andrea Stella emphasized: “We were looking for confirmation after the signals from Silverstone and Zeltweg, and the confirmations have arrived. Now we also need to make progress in slow corners.”
McLaren exceeded expectations, but achieving a double podium was very difficult. The team confirmed that Oscar Piastri had sustained damage under the floor due to excursions on the curbs. His MCL60 lost significant downforce points, which justifies the drop in pace in the final part, but Oscar had already been caught by the Mexican driver.
Among the chasers, only Lando Norris defended well against Checo’s comeback, providing a convincing performance for all 70 laps, taking the spotlight from what had been Aston Martin’s role with Fernando Alonso until Montreal. Nevertheless, nothing has changed between the first and second forces; we find ourselves evaluating an average gap of 6 tenths per lap between Max and the first pursuer – whoever that may be.
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The Dutchman has shown a stunning potential, setting the fastest lap in 1.20.504, while Lewis Hamilton, under similar conditions, recorded a time 1.1 seconds slower. An even more significant fact is that on the penultimate lap, Max Verstappen clocked the second-best time of the race with 1.21.180 after 18 laps on the medium tires.
This indicates that from Jeddah onwards, they can manage an advantage that translates into a superior tire usage, without having to reveal all their cards in terms of speed.
Is Red Bull’s Super DRS still effective?
After qualifying, it was not unnoticed that Lewis Hamilton hinted at a reduced effectiveness of the controversial super DRS on the RB19. Mercedes and Red Bull achieved the same top speeds, 4 km/h more for Ferrari, and 3 km/h for Aston Martin. However, the Hungaroring is not the best place to evaluate the efficiency percentages, as there are no long straights, and speeds remain contained.
The data doesn’t show abnormal differences from 2022. Red Bull could potentially demonstrate its strength again in the long activation stretches present at Spa-Francorchamps, provided they don’t choose to race with a heavier main plane there.
Ferrari continues to struggle internally
There is never a clean race for Scuderia Ferrari this season. Carlos Sainz couldn’t have done better at the start, making good use of the soft tires and quickly catching up to Charles Leclerc. Everything seemed to produce something positive. However, the performance on the medium compound wasn’t ideal, so much so that Charles Leclerc did more or less the same stint as Carlos Sainz on the soft tires. Carlos, due to a poor feeling with the medium tires, didn’t even consider using them. However, the C4 tire proved to be rather interesting for the other top teams.
Brutally, the SF-23 has lost 6 tenths from McLaren in the last month. It has gone from being a qualifying car without consistency to a more consistent car but with overall less performance. The battle against porpoising seems to have been won, and the developments have brought an increase in downforce, although not yet so decisive compared to their competitors.
In Austria, the characteristics helped the execution of updates. The development plan was corrected, not being able to revolutionize the chassis and concepts. The work was based on financially sustainable attempts to widen the usage window for the same SF-23. Most technical offices have been converging towards the philosophy of the elusive RB19 for some time, so why didn’t Ferrari leave more room and options to start profound changes in case of a disappointing car (i.e., a more conventional chassis)?
We know that last year, the changes to the aerodynamic regulations came very late. In Maranello, they only realized during testing that they needed to react and explore new paths, based on a concept that had to and will have to change. This is not an easy task without disturbing the budget for project 676. Attempts have been made, which may have sacrificed performance in some races because the understanding is still defined as partial. The utmost attention is to ensure that performance, especially on certain track layouts, doesn’t flatten downwards.
The expectations for Budapest were admittedly different; nevertheless, it is now clear that the SF-23 does well when racing on straight lines and during significant braking. Less so when curves require prolonged support. The car is now more predictable, but the performance on the tires is positive only if the mechanical compromises in terms of setup are not extreme. Unlike the inherent deficit of aerodynamic load, efficiency remains high and is the only parameter superior to direct competitors, very similar to the RB19.
For Spa-Francorchamps, the Maranello team will not introduce new parts; they need to erase the mistakes.
It was precisely on the long Belgian circuit that Max Verstappen’s clear dominance began last year. It is a complete layout, rewarding hybrid efficiency and bottom-generated load, typically having little wing onboard, as explained by Italian journalist and F1 tech expert Giuliano Duchessa for formu1a.uno.
It is not realistic to expect different outcomes in terms of supremacy; nevertheless, Ferrari has the required capabilities to seek a better compromise, even reflecting on its performance from a year ago when it was evident that the F1-75 was no longer the same. The achievable goal should be to struggle less internally and fight more with McLaren and Mercedes.
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