| 2023 Hungarian Grand Prix | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Race 11 of 22 in the2023 Formula One World Championship
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 Layout of the Hungaroring | |||||
| Race details | |||||
| Date | 23 July 2023 (2023-07-23) | ||||
| Official name | Formula 1 Qatar AirwaysHungarian Grand Prix 2023 | ||||
| Location | Hungaroring Mogyoród, Hungary | ||||
| Course | Permanent racing facility | ||||
| Course length | 4.381 km (2.722 miles) | ||||
| Distance | 70 laps, 306.630 km (190.531 miles) | ||||
| Weather | Sunny | ||||
| Attendance | 303,000[1] | ||||
| Pole position | |||||
| Driver | Mercedes | ||||
| Time | 1:16.609 | ||||
| Fastest lap | |||||
| Driver |  Max Verstappen | Red Bull Racing-Honda RBPT | |||
| Time | 1:20.504 on lap 53 | ||||
| Podium | |||||
| First | Red Bull Racing-Honda RBPT | ||||
| Second | McLaren-Mercedes | ||||
| Third | Red Bull Racing-Honda RBPT | ||||
Lap leaders | |||||
The2023 Hungarian Grand Prix (officially known as theFormula 1 Qatar Airways Hungarian Grand Prix 2023) was aFormula One motor race that was held on 23 July 2023 at theHungaroring circuit inMogyoród,Hungary. It was the eleventh round of the2023 Formula One World Championship.
The race saw the first pole position forLewis Hamilton since the2021 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.Max Verstappen won the race, allowingRed Bull Racing to break the record formost consecutive wins for a constructor, with 12. The race also marked the return ofDaniel Ricciardo as a full time driver, replacingNyck de Vries atAlphaTauri.
The event was held across the weekend of 21–23 July. It was the eleventh round of the2023 Formula One World Championship and the 39th running of theHungarian Grand Prix.[2]
Coming into the weekend,Max Verstappen led the Drivers' Championship by 99 points from teammateSergio Pérez, withFernando Alonso third, a further 19 points behind.Red Bull Racing led the Constructors' Championship, leadingMercedes by 208 points andAston Martin by a further 22 points.[3]
The drivers and teams were the same as the season entry list with the exception ofDaniel Ricciardo, who replacedNyck de Vries atAlphaTauri starting from this Grand Prix.[4][5]
Tyre supplierPirelli brought the C3, C4 and C5 tyre compounds (designated hard, medium, and soft, respectively) for teams to use at the event.[6]
A reduction in allocated tyre sets from the standard 13 to 11 was trialled during this Grand Prix, with the intention of making tyre usage more sustainable. The usage of tyre compounds during qualifying was mandated as hard in Q1, medium in Q2 and soft in Q3, assuming that the weather is dry.[7]
Threefree practice sessions were held for the event, consisted of two one-hour sessions on 21 July, at 13:30 and 18:00 local time (UTC+2), and a one-hour practice session on 22 July at 13:30.[8] The first practice session was red-flagged twice afterSergio Pérez andCarlos Sainz Jr. crashed in changing conditions; Pérez's crash inflicted heavy damage to hisRed Bull Racing RB19, and Sainz was able to recover to the road as the red flag was waved.[9] The first session ended withGeorge Russell fastest ahead ofOscar Piastri andLance Stroll.[10]Charles Leclerc was fastest in the second practice session, withLando Norris andPierre Gasly finishing second and third, respectively.[11] The third session ended withLewis Hamilton fastest, withMax Verstappen and Sergio Pérez finishing second and third, respectively.[12]
Qualifying was held on 22 July 2023, at 16:00 local time (UTC+2).[8]
Hards were used for the first segment, Q1, whereZhou Guanyu was fastest in his Alfa Romeo in front ofMax Verstappen andSergio Pérez. A brief scuffle with traffic towards the end of the first session was detrimental toGeorge Russell, who alongsideKevin Magnussen,Logan Sargeant,Yuki Tsunoda andAlexander Albon were all knocked out.[13] Meanwhile,Valtteri Bottas andLance Stroll were investigated for impeding. No action was taken.[14]
Mediums were used for the second segment, Q2.Lando Norris led the session early on withOscar Piastri behind him. Verstappen initially topped the timesheets but his lap was deleted due to track limits.Nico Hülkenberg was sixth as Bottas returned to fourth. Tenth-placedFernando Alonso snuck into the final segment (Q3) by a gap of 0.002 seconds, knocking outCarlos Sainz Jr. Sainz was joined byDaniel Ricciardo,Esteban Ocon, Stroll andPierre Gasly as part of the group all eliminated.[13]
Softs were used for the third and final segment, Q3. This was Pérez's first time in Q3 since theMiami Grand Prix two months ago; he would qualify ninth, ahead of Hülkenberg. Verstappen put his car on provisional pole until Hamilton pushed through to make his first pole position since the2021 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix – and breaking a streak of consecutive Verstappen poles dating back to the Miami Grand Prix. Zhou put up the highest qualifying performance of his career in fifth, with his teammate Bottas in seventh behindCharles Leclerc. Norris and Piastri continued to show theMcLaren MCL60's newfound pace by qualifying third and fourth. Alonso was in eighth.[15][16]
The race was held on 23 July 2023, at 15:00 local time (UTC+2).[8]
At the start,Max Verstappen overtook polesitterLewis Hamilton into turn 1 and led the rest of the 70-lap race comfortably, initially withOscar Piastri behind him. Also in turn 1,Zhou Guanyu, after a poor start, rear-endedDaniel Ricciardo, who was pushed into the back of Ocon. This pushed Ocon into Gasly, with the latter two retiring. This meant Ricciardo was momentarily in last place.[19]
Tyre changes shook up the order, with Pérez ending up second behind Verstappen, who was leading comfortably; Verstappen would come into the pits himself and retain his lead.Charles Leclerc was under attack byLance Stroll andCarlos Sainz Jr., but Stroll fell behind asFernando Alonso moved past him. Pérez stopping meant thatLando Norris was second, and Pérez soon overtook Norris' teammate Piastri for fourth with a small push for Piastri into the grass, which stewards did not investigate. Soon, Hamilton took Piastri's spot but could not catch Pérez.[19][20] Leclerc sped in the pit lane, at a speed of 80.7 km/h (50.1 mph) compared to a limit of 80 km/h (50 mph), and received a five-second penalty.[21]
By the end of the race, Verstappen pulled out a 33-second gap – Verstappen's highest of the season – as Norris continued to defend against Pérez.Logan Sargeant had a spin, resulting in his retirement. Red Bull won the race, breaking the record formost consecutive wins by a constructor, with 12, McLaren had previously held the record since 1988, with 11 consecutive wins. McLaren's Norris took second place with Piastri in fifth. Alonso and Stroll were ninth and tenth, respectively. Second place for Norris marked the first time in his Formula One career that he had claimed back to back podiums and the first time McLaren had achieved consecutive podiums since they achieved back to back wins with Lewis Hamilton andJenson Button at the2012 United States Grand Prix and2012 Brazilian Grand Prix, respectively.[22][23][20][24]
On the podium, Norris accidentally broke Verstappen's trophy – a hand-madeHerend vase valued at about $45,000 – during the celebrations. Norris initially poked fun at the incident, "blaming" Verstappen for it, although he subsequently apologised to Verstappen and his team. Herend produced a replacement trophy at no cost, which was presented to Verstappen in late August with Norris in attendance holding a fake invoice for the trophy.[25][26]
Notes
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Norris smiled when he reckoned it was Verstappen's fault for having left the trophy in a bad place. "Max just placed it too close to the edge," said Norris. "It fell over, I guess. Not my problem. It's his!"
| Previous race: 2023 British Grand Prix | FIA Formula One World Championship 2023 season | Next race: 2023 Belgian Grand Prix |
| Previous race: 2022 Hungarian Grand Prix | Hungarian Grand Prix | Next race: 2024 Hungarian Grand Prix |
