2024 Hungary Thoughts
THE BIG PICTURE: Team orders have been in F1 forever. We have no problem with them. We don't blame the drivers, we blame the team. McLaren had no reason to cover Hamilton, as Norris came out ahead by five seconds. Even if they pitted him a lap later, he would lose what one, maybe two, seconds. The whole scenario was ridiculous for the team to worry about it.
EVENT: The construction crews are already on site. The facilities for spectators, competitors, and VIPs will be completely rebuilt for next year, enhancing what was becoming an aging venue.
TRACK: Still difficult to pass. Maybe some of that construction money can also be used to make some changes to the track.
QUALIFYING: McLaren gets their first front row in 12 years, Verstappen gave it all he had, the mixed conditions played havoc with every session as Mercedes totally misread Q1 for Russell, and to no one's surprise Perez crashed (yet again), failing to make it out of Q1 (yet again).
RACE: The action wasn't on the track. It was on the radios. With Mclaren melting down over the possibility of Norris ignoring team orders and Verstappen having a complete childish meltdown, the drama was all audio.
START: Piastri gets a great start muscling his way past his teammate, Verstappen goes off course to pass Norris who has to then force his way back around Hamilton, Sainz losses five spots, and Magnussen gains five spots.
PIASTRI: It was only a matter of time for Oscar. Now just imagine if he had ended up being an Alpine driver...
NORRIS: Ultimately, he knew what the long game was.
MCLAREN: This was all due to their ability to continuously trip over their own dicks with their strategy.
HAMILTON: Now that Lewis is fighting for key positions again, he's not about to make it easy for anyone to pass, least of all his archenemy. Congrats on your 200th podium.
RUSSELL: The terrible mistake by his team in qualifying made it a tough day on Sunday. But George recovered the best he could.
LECLERC: Almost a silent fourth.
SAINZ: With an equally silent sixth.
VERSTAPPEN: We don't care what Christian Horner said. It sure seemed to us his race engineer was giving the smackdown to Max, calling him "childish" for all the world to hear.
PEREZ: To be fair to Sergio, outside of his qualifying crash, his times all weekend were within the expected range of Verstappen's. And Perez did do a good job this time getting back into the points from the back of the grid.
RED BULL: Good luck dealing with Max at Belgium...
RICCIARDO: Was probably the faster RB driver over the weekend, but the strategy they gave him was horrible.
ALBON: Changing strategies midstream, after he used up his tires, totally ruined Alex's race.
SARGEANT: To be fair, this was a very strong weekend for Logan. But obviously, too little, too late.
ALPINE: Back to another forgettable weekend.
SAUBER: Still zero points.
F2: This time, Italian Andrea Kimi Antonelli won the feature race. At first, a safety car ruined his strategy. But then a second SC saved his strategy. In the sprint race, Dutchman Richard Verschoor took the checker but was later disqualified for a too thin plank. Indian Kush Maini inherited the win.
F3: Italian Nikita Bedrin grabbed the lead on the first lap and then held off furious challenges to win the sprint race. Bulgarian Nikola Tsolov won his first feature race which finished under yellow.
WORD OF THE WEEKEND: Meltdown.
STAT OF THE WEEKEND: 7 -- The number of different winners this year, with five different winners in the last six races.
HISTORICAL STAT OF THE WEEKEND: This is the sixth time a driver got his first F1 win at the Hungaroring. They are Damon Hill (1993), Fernando Alonso (2003), Jenson Button (2006), Heikki Kovalainen (2008), Esteban Ocon (2021), and now Oscar Piastri. Fernando's win was the first for a Spaniard, and Kovalianen became the 100th different winner in F1. Hungary is also where Michael Schmacher in 2001 tied the then record career win mark of 51 held by Alain Prost.
TWEET OF THE WEEKEND: From @xdna44: Max Crashtappen the dive bomber back at it again.. his engineer has had enough of him : "Childish Max, just Childish"
Lewis vs Max
QUOTE OF THE WEEKEND: F1 TV commentator David Coulthard said it best, "You're forgetting the fundamental thing that makes a racing driver. They are selfish."
QUOTE OF THE WEEKEND RUNNERUP: McLaren kept ratcheting up their pleas to Lando Norris, "Remember every single Sunday morning meeting we have."
SCHEDULE: Spa is usually exciting enough just because it's Spa. But now there are so many storylines heading into the weekend.
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