Post-Race Driver Comments 2022 Hungarian F1 GP

Jul.31 - Things couldn't get much better for Red Bull driver Max Verstappen during the 2022 Hungarian F1 Grand Prix today. The Dutchman had to start from P10 after a disappointing qualifying session yesterday when the Honda power unit failed in the back of the RB18. Before the race Verstappen hoped to finish near the podium in Hungary, but he did much better and was able to win the race with a comfortable lead!

Race winner Max Verstappen and second placed Lewis Hamilton shake hands in parc ferme after the 2022 F1 Grand Prix (Photo by Dan Mullan/Getty Images)

We all thought Charles Leclerc would get the victory with the very fast Ferrari starting from P2. But a wrong tyre strategy  and bad pitstop made his race a small disaster, as he was leading the race half way the race. Again a strategic blunder by the Ferrari team caused him to end up as 6th!

Mercedes again had a very good day at the office. It must be disappointing for George Russell to not be able to convert his maiden pole in a maiden F1 victory. Nevertheless because Lewis Hamilton who started on P7, was flying again today. A good strategy for him and a strong drive of Russell got both drivers again on the podium for the second time in a row.

The Mercedes team has been struggling this season, but race wise is very effective and almost flawless in race strategies. They scored the most points this season because the other teams and drivers suffered from mistakes. Mercedes now is only 30 points behind Ferrari in the 2022 F1 constructors' championship.

This is what the drivers had to say about their 2022 Hungarian F1 Grand Prix experience today.

Red Bull Racing Honda

Max Verstappen #1 - Winner (started P10)

Max Verstappen

“It feels crazy to have won the race today from P10, especially on a track like this where it’s very hard to pass. We made all the right calls today, there were some good undercuts and overall we did a great job today as a Team.

This was definitely one of my best races, despite the little 360-degree spin! I’m very happy with the lead that we have, but of course we have to keep pushing and win more races.”

Sergio Pérez #11 - 5th (started P11)

Sergio Pérez

“It is good to go into the summer break strongly. After qualifying it was looking like it could have been a poor weekend for us but we recovered some good points, and it was great fun to have the Mercedes and Ferraris racing up there with us. It was quite a tricky race, particularly towards the end, when the conditions changed and especially during the virtual safety car which meant everyone got cold tyres.

Overall, we were a little unlucky with the VSC because we were potentially going to get Carlos and George and I felt we would have got a lot closer to them towards the end. I felt a lot stronger in the final stint and with a few more laps I think I could have been on the podium with Max. It was a great race though and very fun at times. It was a fantastic recovery for the Team today and it was great to see Max get the win.”

Red Bull Racing Team Principal Christian Horner

Christian Horner

“It was a fantastic race today. Everyone put in a top performance. Max was exceptional, even adding a little spin to his race as if coming back from 10th wasn’t hard enough. Equally, Checo had a brilliant race and I believe if it hadn’t been for the VSC he would have podiumed. Strategy played a big part in our victory.

We were due to start on the hard tyre but switched things up as a result of the ambient conditions. This win gives us a healthy lead going into the break but there are still areas to improve on. Ferrari are still quick, Mercedes are coming back as you saw today. There is plenty more still to come.”

Mercedes AMG Petronas Motorsport

Lewis Hamilton #44 - 2nd (started P7)

Lewis Hamilton

"I was struggling at the beginning of the race and wasn't sure whether I'd be able to catch up so I'm happy I was able to recover from P7. I had a good start, which was crucial and, bit by bit, I felt more comfortable with the balance of the car. The cooler temperatures in qualifying and the race seemed to work well for us. We made a massive step from Friday and I'm very grateful for it. If the DRS had been working yesterday, we could have been in the run for the win.

I want to acknowledge my team, who have continued to push and have never given up through this tough year that we've had so far. It's very special for us to have both cars on the podium today, although how the race unfolded was unlucky for George. It's an amazing way to go into the break, knowing we're clearly closing the gap and have more performance. Hopefully, we'll bring some more into the second part of the season and start fighting with the guys in the front."

George Russell #63 - 3rd (started P1)

George Russell

"I had a really strong start, and it was a first good stint. We pitted quite early on both stints and tried to keep the tyres out until the end, as well as pushing as fast as possible at the same time. Towards the end on the mediums when the rain started to come down, I struggled and lost temperature.

It was challenging to manage the tyres, so there's lots to look into and see where we could've done better. Amazing job by the team, pole position yesterday and double podium today. We're making progress and I'm proud of the work everybody has put into it. We will come back to the second half of the season with a reset, refocussed and will try to fight for some victories."

Scuderia Ferrari

Carlos Sainz #55 - 4th (started P2)

Carlos Sainz

“Today was a tough day for the whole team. We expected to have a strong pace for the race, but it’s clear that with these lower temperatures and track conditions we were simply not fast enough to fight.

There are some things to look at and learn from today. We will regroup, analyse and come back stronger after the summer break.”

Charles Leclerc #16 - 6th (started P3)

Charles Leclerc

"It’s a shame we didn’t bring home a better result, because the car felt good and we had a strong pace on Medium tyres today. Unfortunately, the Hards just did not work in these conditions.

We now need to see what we could have done better, recharge our batteries over the break and be ready to fight in the second part of the season."

McLaren F1 Team

Lando Norris #4 - 7th (started P4)

Lando Norris

"P7, happy with that. After yesterday, of course we’d all wished for a bit more, but we just didn’t have the pace today with the quicker cars behind. We just did an extremely good job yesterday. I'm happy with it, it's the maximum we could do today with the cars ahead.

Tough in places but seventh was the best we could have done for the points today, and we were ahead of our rivals.”

Daniel Ricciardo #3 - 15th (started P9)

Daniel Ricciardo

“Unfortunately, there were more lows than highs. The launch felt good but then I dropped a bit after that and I was almost middle braking into Turn One. I felt like I was in a decent spot but I remember an Alpine coming up high on the exit of Turn One and I ran out of room, so I had to get out of that, otherwise I was going to lose a wing. I lost momentum through Two and got done around the outside of Turn Two as well. So, it was a bit of a mess on the first lap.

Then the Soft really fell apart and I didn’t have anything on that tyre. The Medium, it was a little bit better. I was able to make a nice double-move on the Alpines, which was fun. I managed to hold off Stroll for a bit on the Medium and then, when we came out on the Hard, and he came out on a Soft, we simply had no grip. I tried to avoid contact but I couldn’t and unfortunately hit him, spun him around and got a penalty and then that was it. The Hard didn’t work for us, I could just never really get it working. I'm looking forward to the break, of course, and will try to come back with a little more speed in the second half of the year.”

Alpine F1 Team

Fernando Alonso #14 - 8th (started P6)

Fernando Alonso

“It was hard racing today and we are pleased to come away with a double points finish. We managed to avoid cars at a busy Turn 1 on lap one and we lost some positions. After that, we concentrated mostly on our race pace and we wanted to make the one-stop strategy work on the Hard tyres.

We didn’t have two Medium compounds to choose from for the race and instead we maximised our tyre choice for Saturday’s Qualifying. Our pace yesterday made us feel quite optimistic for today and we were anticipating a better result. All in all, we are still ahead of McLaren heading into the summer break, so it’s a strong team result. We just need to keep scoring points like we did today and hopefully this consistency will be our strength in the battle for fourth position in the Constructors."

Esteban Ocon #31 - 9th (started P5)

Esteban Ocon

“We can be happy to score points with both cars today and that’s always a positive especially as we go into the season break. I don’t think we quite maximised our potential during the race and we’ll discuss as a team what we can do to improve. The one-stop was challenging today but we made it work to score points and I had to defend hard from Seb [Vettel] on the last lap.

Overall, we’re still heading into the break in fourth in the Constructors’ Championship and we’ll be hungry to extend our lead in a few weeks’ time. I’m proud of the team for the improvements in performance over the last couple of months and we’ll aim to continue this upwards trajectory when the season returns after the well-deserved rest.”

Aston Martin Cognizant F1 Team

Sebastian Vettel #5 - 10th (started P18)

Sebastian Vettel

“We had to fight hard for a point today and we came close to a second point when I was chasing down Esteban [Ocon] in the final laps. The team switched cars because I had a better opportunity to catch Esteban, but obviously the Virtual Safety Car hurt us and we ran out of time. I was very close on the final lap, but I needed just one more corner to make a move.

Overall, it was a fun race with lots of fights and overtakes. The middle stint was a bit difficult, but the balance was better for the third stint on the Mediums. The race pace was competitive, once again, so improving our Saturday performance needs to be a focus for the second half of the year.”

Lance Stroll #18 - 11th (started P14)

Lance Stroll

“I think I drove a strong race today. Into the final stint, Sebastian was on the Medium and I was on the Soft – I did not have another Medium left, and he could make that tyre last a little bit longer. The Soft was the wrong tyre in the circumstances, sadly, but these things happen in racing. I had fun racing into the top 10.

When I came up to pass Daniel [Ricciardo], I gave him room on the inside at Turn Two, but I think he was struggling for grip on the Hard tyre and went a bit too deep. That is how it goes sometimes. We seem to have better pace on Sundays than we do on Saturdays, so we need to look at that. But there are plenty of positives to take away from today.”

Scuderia AlphaTauri Honda

Pierre Gasly #10 - 12th (started P20)

Pierre Gasly

“I must say I’m happy with today. Starting from the pitlane is never easy and we managed to recover to 12th position. There were some changes made to the set-up of the car for the pitlane start, which showed a bit more pace and allowed us to make some good moves.

The most important thing is that we use the upcoming three weeks to extract more from our package and finish inside the points consistently. I know the team and what we are capable of achieving, and with these new cars being difficult, we need time to understand how to get the best out of it.”

Yuki Tsunoda #22 - 19th (started P16)

Yuki Tsunoda

“It’s been a really difficult day, it didn’t feel like I had much of a race. I struggled with the car throughout, as I had absolutely no grip at all out there. I was finding it so difficult to keep it on the track and made a small mistake which meant I spun.

This weekend has not been an easy one, we need to go away and look at all the data to understand why the upgrades we have are not paying off in the way we thought they would. We’ll have a reset now over the summer break and then look to come back stronger for the second half of the season.”

Alfa Romeo Racing Orlen

Zhou Guanyu #24 - 13th (started P12)

Zhou Guanyu

“Conditions today weren’t a threat per se, they were a bit mixed, especially a little more slippery on the last few laps, but overall okay. I think our plan today didn’t really pay off, we struggled on lap one and on the first few laps losing ground to other cars, and as going for one stop didn’t work out, we had to do an extra one which put me on the back of the field. It was quite frustrating, as it compromised my chances.

Besides this, I think we had a strong pace today, and we deserved a little more, as in terms of performances we seemed to be back to where we were around Silverstone. I learned a lot so far this season, it’s been both tough and enjoyable, and there’s still much room for improvement. It feels good to have a little break now, and hopefully come back even stronger and push for better results.”

Valtteri Bottas #77 - DNF (started P8)

Valtteri Bottas

“It was tricky again today, a bit like in France, as the hard tires didn’t build up as fast as I was hoping. We tried it, we thought that was going to be the best chance for us, but ultimately it wasn’t. We committed to a one-stop strategy, and it was hard to back out of it.

On top of that, a few laps before the end I had to stop the car because of a technical issue, which was a shame.  I just lost power, we do not know the details yet: obviously it’s unfortunate and we will investigate it with the team, but I still think points seemed quite unlikely. I am looking forward to enjoying the summer break now, to recharge and come back full of energy for the second half of the season.”

Haas F1 Team

Mick Schumacher #47 - 14th (started P15)

Mick Schumacher

“It was again tougher than what we expected it to be. We hoped that the C2 compound would work and it didn’t, so in terms of strategy we maybe gambled on the wrong tire. We had a good start, that’s what we aim for, but unfortunately we couldn’t make it stick so it was P14 at the end.

I think we have a lot to look back at, analyze and understand, so that for Spa we know how the new package works, what we need in terms of set-up and what we need to be quick. I expect this package to work pretty well in Spa and if that’s the case, we’ll know then for sure.”

Kevin Magnussen #20 -  16th (started P13)

Kevin Magnussen

“Our race was compromised massively by having to pit for the black and orange flag. I had slight contact at the start with one of the McLaren’s – I couldn’t avoid it – and it wasn’t that bad, so I was surprised to get the flag.

Then later we couldn’t really switch the hard tire on, so it was good to get off that and do some laps on the medium compound. It was positive from the perspective that we could put the car on track and immediately measure what we were hoping for. It’s just going to be a lot of work to get the lap time out of it and that’s going to come over the next few races – it’s new potential to be unlocked.”

Williams Racing

Alex Albon #23 - 17th (started P17)

Alex Albon

NIcholas Latifi #6 - 18th (started P19)

Nicholas Latifi

✅ Check out 2022 Hungarian F1 Grand Prix results
✅ Check out 2022 F1 Championship Standings

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