This past weekend saw the Hungarian Grand Prix, and it was a fairly eventful race, with changes at the front and back of the field. And of course, there was controversy on Saturday courtesy of the FIA. Meanwhile, Antonelli keeps consolidating his lead at Mercedes.
What happened, Goguma? How did it end?
The first and most obvious story was the victory of current world champion Lando Norris, who hadn’t won in quite a while. Right behind him was Verstappen, who as usual seems to have pulled off a miracle with this car. In Saturday’s qualifying, Verstappen spun and complained a lot about the car. He doesn’t seem comfortable there; I’m not so sure he’ll still be with the team next year, but we’ll see.
Right behind, Antonelli keeps striking gold. He did exactly what he needed to: finish ahead of his championship rivals. I see this kid as a future world champion. It’s early to say this, but he’s showing surprising maturity for his age.
What about Ferrari?
Relatively poor. They had a very fast car but couldn’t get past fourth and fifth for Leclerc and Hamilton respectively. The race was disappointing because a lot was expected from them. Hamilton got stuck behind Verstappen at the start, and when he finally gained the position in the pits, he let it slip again after an incredible overtake by Verstappen from way back. Nobody really saw that coming.
How did McLaren end up winning?
They brought upgrades and they seem to have worked. It could have been a McLaren one-two if not for Piastri’s reliability issues. But before that, he had a coming-together with Carlos Sainz while lapping him; apparently the Spaniard didn’t see him, or the blue flags didn’t work, but either way they made contact and broke Piastri’s front wing. Because of this, Carlos got a penalty, and rightly so. In fact, he was lucky, since it could have been much harsher.
How did the Spaniards do?
For Sainz, pretty badly, since Williams seems to have taken a step back from where they were at the start of the season. They used to fight for points, now they finish practically last. They need upgrades and improvements.
But the good news comes from Aston Martin, who took a step forward with their latest aerodynamic upgrade package, finishing 13th with Stroll and 14th with Alonso. Much better than recent races, where they finished at the very back. New engine upgrades are expected for Zandvoort; we’ll see how that goes.
So what was Saturday’s scandal you mentioned?
Saturday’s qualifying saw an Austria 2.0 moment, but this time it was Antonelli who ran into a yellow flag. In this case, Antonelli, being no fool, pulled a “Russell”: he lifted off the throttle slightly to try to show he had respected the yellow flag. But this time he got hit with a three-place grid penalty.
Honestly, I think the penalty is fair. That’s not respecting a yellow flag, and the situation was dangerous. What I think was wrong was Austria, where Russell should have been penalized much more clearly, and a bad precedent was set. Unfair to Antonelli, but deserved all the same. I hope the FIA doesn’t allow these situations again, but the inconsistency remains a circus. And that wasn’t the only penalty story from Saturday.
Were there more penalties on Saturday, Goguma?
There was another penalty, this time with less controversy. Hamilton didn’t see Piastri coming on a fast lap and stayed in the racing line. A textbook case of impeding. Three-place grid penalty for the Brit. But in my opinion, it was a mistake by Hamilton’s race engineer, who should have warned him that a car was coming through at speed. Another fair penalty, and once again, Ferrari doing Ferrari things.
And Russell? Why is he so far behind? Don’t forget him, Goguma!
Okay, okay, I haven’t forgotten. The problem is simply that he’s slower than his teammate. Everything bad seems to happen to him, from reliability issues to lack of performance. It’s really strange, and it seems even Mercedes isn’t quite sure where the problem lies. He’s now more than 50 points behind his teammate, so he really needs to step up. I see it as tough for him, but he now has three weeks of summer break to refocus, and Mercedes has time to review the car.
After this race, Antonelli comes out of Hungary strengthened in the championship, with a 50-point lead over Hamilton and 59 over Russell. For the sake of the show, I hope that gap narrows.
So, did you all watch the race? What do you think about Aston Martin? Is the championship already decided? Let me know in the comments or on social media.
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