Max Verstappen (Formula1.com)
Yet again, a Max Verstappen victory dented any remaining chances of a title challenge. Despite starting from 10th on the grid, the phenomenal Dutchman drove superbly to claim his 8th victory of the 2022 season and put himself 80 points clear of his closest championship rival, Ferrari's Charles Leclerc.
The final race before the summer break saw Mercedes' George Russell pick up a stunning pole position to signify the possible rebirth of the Mercedes AMG team. Either way, it was Red Bull who took home the spoils in Budapest.
Another F1 race means another edition of the F1 power rankings, courtesy of Sincere Sports. As usual, I added all the drivers' scores together to find the top 10 drivers for this particular race and on a season-long basis.
If you've forgotten, we take machinery entirely out of the equation and simply judge the drivers based on how well they did with the equipment they possessed.
Let's begin!
Lewis Hamilton (F1i.com)
1. Max Verstappen, Red Bull
Race Position: 1st
Score: 9.4
What a race for Max Verstappen. While the weekend as a whole may not have been perfect per se, Verstappen was utterly dominant on Sunday. So dominant, in fact, that he spun 360 degrees while defending against Charles Leclerc and still managed to lead Lewis Hamilton at the flag by over 8 seconds.
This weekend looked like Ferrari's to lose. Verstappen wasn't pleased with his Friday pace and a mixture of issues in Q3 caused him to start from a disappointing P10. Hoping for a podium would have been optimistic.
But Verstappen blew past any expectations. A masterclass in racecraft and impeccable strategy from the Red Bull pit wall gave Verstappen a chance for victory and he ran away with it. Despite the spin, a new power unit and a minor reliability problem in the middle of the race, Verstappen ran away with the 25 points.
2. Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes
Race Position: 2nd
Score: 9.2
Here's a stat for you. Lewis Hamilton has more podiums in his last 5 races than Charles Leclerc does all season. Hamilton has been proving why he is one of the greatest drivers of all-time recently, with 5 consecutive podium finishes. Now that Mercedes seem to have a car that can truly compete for pole positions and wins, I'm intrigued to see what this version of Hamilton could do.
Hamilton likely would have been in contention for pole position if a DRS failure didn't force him to abandon his lap. Like Verstappen, Hamilton had to start in a disappointing position on Sunday; for the Briton, P7 was his Q3 result.
Despite that, Hamilton blew past the Alpines at the start of the race and kept his head down. He led the race for a few laps before pitting for soft tyres near the end of the race. Hamilton furiously made his way from P5 to P2 to pick up 18 points plus the fastest lap.
3. George Russell, Mercedes
Race Position: 3rd
Score: 8.6
Considering pole positions have been exclusively interchanged between the Red Bull and Ferrari drivers this season, seeing George Russell seize pole from Carlos Sainz in Hungary was one of the most stunning sights of the season.
Unfortunately, the Briton wasn't able to turn it into his first career victory, but it was still a performance worthy of a high score. One day, Russell will stand on the highest step of the podium. Drives like these show what he can do.
T4. Carlos Sainz, Ferrari
Race Position: 4th
Score: 8.0
Unlike his teammate, Carlos Sainz didn't get screwed over by a poor strategy call. He simply didn't have an answer to the pace of Max Verstappen and the Mercedes drivers. Sainz looked like he had pole position locked up after pipping Leclerc's time in the late stages of Q3 before Russell's sensational lap relegated the Spaniard to P2.
Sainz thought he would be able to take the lead early in the race, but a longer pit stop and a failed undercut strategy doomed him to a somewhat disappointing P4 at the flag.
T4. Lando Norris, McLaren
Race Position: 7th
Score: 8.0
In the midst of an exciting battle between McLaren and Alpine, Norris secured a really strong P7 result in Hungary. Earning "best of the rest" honours is all Norris has been hoping for this season, so he achieved his goal this weekend.
The McLaren looked much quicker than it has recently in the Friday practice sessions. Even still, F1 fans were surprised with Norris' brilliant Q3 lap left him on P4 for Sunday's race. With the two Red Bulls charging up the field, it would have been tough to keep that place, so Norris' score didn't get dinged for falling to P7.
6. Charles Leclerc, Ferrari
Race Position: 6th
Score: 7.8
Once again, Leclerc came away from a race weekend frustrated. An ordinary qualifying lap by his standards left him behind his teammate and Mercedes' George Russell, but Leclerc had the best race pace of that trio for the first half of Sunday's GP.
An overcut on his teammate left him in P2 before he made a brilliant overtake under braking into Turn 1 to seize the lead of the race. It looked like Leclerc was well on his way to victory. But then, Ferrari made yet another strange call to pit Leclerc onto hard tyres, which had not been working well in Hungary.
Leclerc's drop-off in pace was incredible and it pushed him from P1 all the way down to P4. Hoping to salvage something from the race, Leclerc pitted again onto softs. However, unlike Hamilton and Sainz, Leclerc wasn't lighting up the time sheets on the soft tyres. That left him in P6. He is now 80 points behind Verstappen for the lead of the Driver's Championship, a near insurmountable deficit.
7. Fernando Alonso, Alpine
Race Position: 8th
Score: 7.7
Though his P6 quali result wasn't as surprising as the subsequent announcement of his transfer to Aston Martin at the end of the season, Alonso still had a great lap in Q3. He was a little frustrated to be a place behind his teammate, though.
Alonso's race could have been much more successful if not for a few factors. For one, Esteban Ocon got his elbows up against Alonso on a few occasions. That defense provoked Alonso and held him up. Another reason was that Alpine committed to the unadvisable one-stop strategy, a call that made points seem like a difficult achievement for the veteran.
Either way, Alonso was the lead Alpine at the flag as the French team kept their advantage over McLaren in the Constructors' Championship.
8. Esteban Ocon, Alpine
Race Position: 9th
Score: 7.5
Ocon had an impressive P5 result in qualifying, setting a faster time than Fernando Alonso. We know that Hungary is a happy hunting ground for the Frenchman, so perhaps it was no surprise to see him so far up the grid.
Unfortunately for Ocon, he was also pitted onto the hard tyres, which essentially ruined his chances of keeping P5. Ocon had worse pace on the hards than Alonso, which is why he drops behind his teammate in the power rankings.
9. Sergio Perez, Red Bull
Race Position: 5th
Score: 7.0
Perez had a brutal qualifying session that sparked bad memories of his one-lap woes from 2021. Admittedly, there were strange circumstances around his exit, including a reversed decision on track limits and traffic from Kevin Magnussen, but it was still on Checo that he couldn’t set a fast enough time.
Perez did a good job of fighting his way back through the pack on Sunday, albeit he wasn’t as dynamic as Max Verstappen. 5th place isn’t the worst result in the world, but it doesn’t seem like Checo is in the title fight anymore.
10. Pierre Gasly, AlphaTauri
Race Position: 12th
Score: 6.9
There weren’t too many incredibly impressive drives, so Pierre Gasly sneaks into the top 10. AlphaTauri have been absolutely brutal over the past month, evidenced by the awful qualifying result that both drivers endured.
Thus, P12 is actually a fairly decent drive, especially considering Gasly started from the pit lane after taking a swath of new engine components. Hopefully, this boosts his confidence for the rest of the season.
JUST MISSED
The only retirement of the race, Valtteri Bottas had strong pace around the Hungaroring. He ended his Q3 drought with an impressive P8 on Saturday. Unfortunately for the Finn, Alfa Romeo committed to the one-stop strategy, which was clearly the worst option during Sunday's race. Though Bottas had better pace on the hard tyres than most, he was running out of the points by the time he pulled over with a technical problem.
Fresh off his retirement announcement, Sebastian Vettel was back in the points for Aston Martin. The four-time world champion had a difficult time on Friday and Saturday, as his Q1 elimination wore down his spirits. However, the German commenced an impressive comeback on Sunday, climbing up the field for a solid P10 finish, gathering 1 point for Aston in the Constructors' Championship.
THE OVERALL STANDINGS
Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc (F1i.com)
Once again, all 10 drivers from last week's overall leaderboard are present here. It appears as if the season-long standings are stabilizing, as there is a fair margin between 10th placed Valtteri Bottas and 11th placed Kevin Magnussen. I wouldn't be stunned if this top 10 remained after the summer break.
In other news, Max Verstappen held onto the top spot after a very impressive race performance. The margin between him and Leclerc increased by 0.1 after the Hungarian GP. Further down the order, Sergio Perez's middling race week dropped him pretty significantly. He is now tied for P6, a far cry from his P3 on the leaderboard following the Azerbaijan GP.
Other than that, there aren't too many changes here.
1. Max Verstappen, Red Bull
Last GP: 1st
Season Average: 8.8
2. Charles Leclerc, Ferrari
Last GP: 2nd
Season Average: 8.6
3. George Russell, Mercedes
Last GP: 3rd
Season Average: 7.9
4. Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes
Last GP: T-4th
Season Average: 7.8
5. Carlos Sainz, Ferrari
Last GP: T-4th
Season Average: 7.7
T6. Sergio Perez, Red Bull
Last GP: T-4th
Season Average: 7.6
T6. Fernando Alonso, Alpine
Last GP: 7th
Season Average: 7.6
8. Lando Norris, McLaren
Last GP: 8th
Season Average: 7.4
9. Esteban Ocon, Alpine
Last GP: 9th
Season Average: 7.3
10. Valtteri Bottas, Alfa Romeo
Last GP: 10th
Season Average: 7.1
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