Max Verstappen Dominates, Mercedes Shines, Ferrari Flops

When even a 360 degree spin on the track doesn't come in the way of the driver taking the chequered flag, it is proof of being in the presence of greatness. Max Verstappen had an uphill climb at the Hungarian Grand Prix. It was made easier not only by a brilliant pit strategy by his team, and supreme race driving skills on his part, but also because his nearest rival was having another "Ferrari moment" as 2022 has now come to be known.

Count on the Ferrari team in 2022 to see a gift horse in the mouth and shunt it away. Even with Red Bull on the backfoot with Max first suffering a power issue during qualifying on Saturday and then having to start 10th on the grid on Sunday, Ferrari found themselves in the middle of a 'fist fight'. They came away bruised and battered, not because of a knock out punch from their opponents, but because they have developed an uncanny knack this season to fall on their face, with victory in sight.

Starting from the unusual position of mid-field, the Dutchman who is currently the leader in the world drivers championship, played the patient game. He made precise moves, and found himself challenging the front of the pack by the seventh lap, seeing off both the Alpines of Estebon Ocon as well as Fernando Alonso.

On the tail of seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton, Verstappen might still have had some work to do. But he was aided greatly in the elbows out fight with Ferrari throwing it away with some bizarre pit strategy that even the drivers could not explain away, in shock as they were.

It speaks to Red Bull's rather attuned strategy, that although they thought they would start on hard tires to beat the mid field, and outlast some of the teams at the front, early experience of knowing it was not going to be easy made them change it, from a one pit stop move to a two stop soft-mediums approach.

Ferrari, despite knowing that the hard tires were going to be their bugbear on a track like Hungaroring, where the weather over the weekend shifted from scorching heat to cool on track and in the air, found themselves making similar blunders. These have cost them a much closer competition, if not the championship itself. It is now hurting their reputations as well as the reputations of the drivers for not putting their foot down enough.

Mercedes had mixed results on Saturday, with George Russell pulling off a tremendous lap, stealing the pole from Carlos Sainz. Still it was Ferrari two and three on the grid with the Red Bulls starting significantly behind. Ferrari had the upper hand in pace to put some distance between themselves and their rivals before the summer break.

From the outset, even without his usual aggressive push, Verstappen seemed unstoppable. Although not quite challenging the front yet, he stayed in focus. He even stretched his second stint, and kept a close watch on the field ahead, significantly making up places. Ferrari, on the other hand, seemed to react to Verstappen when he stopped on lap 16 and again on lap 39 but with dramatically opposite results.

Sainz never seemed to have enough of a chance to do anything about the undercut that Verstappen stood to gain by the early pit stop. Similarly, Leclerc lost the race on lap 40, one after Verstappen. The team chose to put him on hard tires, knowing well that these were much slower to warm up on the track, and that the Monegasque driver would have next to no traction. All that Leclerc gained by staying on a longer stint before the first pit stop was lost by the time of the second pit stop. The blundered decision was carried out in full knowledge.

Russell, who managed to keep the Ferraris back for a bit, had a race of mixed fortunes, at times watching the Ferrari pace come into business and then watch as Verstappen pulled off moves on one driver after another as he soon gained lead of the field. Max even needed to overtake Leclerc twice after that pit stop on lap 39. But that was only because as soon as he had the lead, he suffered a 360 spin on track but managed to stay on track and even challenge Leclerc for the lead again by lap 45.

Such was the Ferrari struggle that the rest of the field moved ahead, with Lewis Hamilton also having a better run, even going up ahead of Russell to finish in second place. Meanwhile, Leclerc and Sainz could only hold frantic discussions over the pit radio, questioning the logic of going on hard tires, and wondering if the rest of the field was suffering a similar experience.

Ferrari's season of botched strategies

Unfortunately for Ferrari, they have singled themselves out for being notorious for botched strategies this season, and the one at Hungaroring will go down as a howler. Ferrari, who had the pace, never seemed to have an understanding of track temperatures or how their tires were reacting. And even when they did, they did not feel they had a choice with the soft tires, until much later. By which time Leclerc had pitted for a third time and finished in fifth position, which would not have been bad if he did not look good for the top place on the podium yet again.

Meanwhile, Verstappen showed off his supremacy on track. He found another gear of playing the wait and watch game, as well as pulling off suave overtaking moves on a track not known for being an easy one for that. He also acknowledged the pit strategy crew behind the scenes for keeping it calm and easy.

It was later revealed by Christian Horner, the Red Bull principal, that Verstappen not only suffered a power issue on track during qualifying, but had a broken component part. The broken part was discovered and replaced ahead of the race, but could have complicated the result in the event of the car breaking down on track.

The Red Bull driver input for a shift from the original plan of hard tires to soft tires at the start seemed like an ingenuous plan. This given how Ferrari sat on knowledge but did not have the courage to come up with another plan. It was rather strange, given that the Ferrari pit radio had often talked about Plan D and Plan E to drivers, in the course of the race previously in the season.

If Hamilton seemed exultant, he had reason to be so, A DRS issue also botched his qualifying and put him significantly behind his younger Brit teammate who scored his first Formula 1 pole of his career. But Ferrari's tumbles down the field allowed seventh on the grid Hamilton to not only keep good pace but also, take advantage of the opportunity to close the gap to the leader.

That Russell suffered similarly on tires towards the end of the race is another matter to finish 3rd is something that will need tending to by Mercedes. Along with the concern that they might have been the unintended beneficiary in the battle at the top.

For Verstappen, there was only one plan. It was to play to his strengths, which is to drive his heart out. He did just that, with a lot more acumen and maturity than he has been credited for. He pulled off a race worthy of a champion and now heads into the summer break with a bit more cushion between him and the rest of the pack. It is undoubtedly the team from Maranello that will be doing more of the sweating, behind the scenes.