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Formula 1
Hungarian GP
F1 Hungarian GP Live Commentary and Updates - Race
Minute-by-minute updates for the 2023 Formula 1 Hungarian Grand Prix
Lewis Hamilton starts from a record-breaking ninth pole position at the Hungarian GP, having beaten Max Verstappen by 0.003s in a dramatic qualifying on Saturday.
It is an all-McLaren second row with Lando Norris third and Oscar Piastri fourth to cement the team’s drastic improvements in recent rounds, while Zhou Guanyu recorded the best qualifying result of his F1 career in fifth.
Further back Sergio Perez will attack from ninth place, while Carlos Sainz in 11th and George Russell in 18th will also be aiming to climb the order after a disappointing qualifying.
Daniel Ricciardo makes his F1 race return starting 13th for AlphaTauri, after replacing Nyck de Vries for the rest of the season coming into this weekend.
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By dint of cutting short his stint on the hard tyres, Ricciardo has moved up to 13th but may soon be nearing he end of his medium tyres' life. Tsunoda really appeared to struggle on his hard tyre stint and now runs P16 after his stop, but could sticking with it pay dividends further down the road?
Pit stop
Hamilton pits for mediums and comes out in fifth place, behind Norris, Perez and Piastri.
Piastri has been shown the black and white flag for track limits at Turn 4, so he's got to be super careful for the rest of the race to avoid a penalty.
Penalty
Leclerc has been give a five-second penalty for speeding in the pitlane. He is currently sixth and the penalty would drop him behind Sainz.
The benefits of stopping later are paying dividends now for Bottas, who has closed in on Albon for 11th position. If he does get by the Williams, it's a yawning gap to Stroll ahead though.
Perez, with DRS, with a classic Turn 1 to Turn 2 overtake on Piastri. The young Australian doesn't give it up and is ushered on to the grass on the Turn 2 exit, so he has to yield. Perez up to fourth.
Pit stop
Russell now pits for a second time, ditching his mediums. He rejoins eighth on another set of mediums, comfortably ahead of Alonso.
Leclerc has leapfrogged Ferrari team-mate Sainz in the pitstop sequence but he is under investigation for speeding in the pitlane. Uh oh.
Replays show Alonso's stop was hindered by a stubborn left-rear that wanted another go. He's now eight seconds back from Sainz.
Pit stop
Norris does pit at the end of the next lap, ditching the hards for mediums with a 2.1s pitstop, to put him back out comfortably ahead of Piastri and Perez.
Pit stop
Alonso has made his second stop for another set of hards, releasing Russell. The Aston driver rejoins just ahead of Stroll, whose tyres already have a few miles on their clock.
Pit stop
Ferrari tells Leclerc to pit next time around, but ahead of him Norris and Hamilton don't pit to cover off the undercut by Perez.
Tsunoda has yet to make his second stop, and his hold on tenth is brief as Stroll zaps by into Turn 1.
This one will be settled in the pits. Piastri and Perez pit together, as Hamilton stays out, at the end of lap 42. It is a rapid 1.9s pitstop by Red Bull to allow Perez to close right on to the rear wing of the McLaren.
After running a longer second stint, Bottas pits and rejoins behind Stroll and Albon. That trio look like they're the players in contention for the final point as things stand.
On lap 42, Perez makes his first proposition to Hamilton, looking for a way around the outside at Turn 2, but the Mercedes driver shuts the door into Turn 3.
The Perez vs Hamilton battle is interrupted by Leclerc having a strategy argument with his race engineer over team radio. Some light relief, unless you favour the red cars.
Ricciardo is the latest to move ahead of Magnussen, who is floundering on these hard tyres. Russell meanwhile has halved the gap to Alonso, which now stands at three seconds.
Pit stop
Hulkenberg and Zhou pit together, rejoining either side of Sargeant in 16th and 18th. Points appear a long shot for the pair who qualified inside the top 10 yesterday.
Perez has reeled in Hamilton and is within DRS range. This is only a matter of time, in truth.
Checking in on the leader, Verstappen's advantage is up to 14.4s at the end of lap 38. He is in a totally different race to the rest, really.
Magnussen must feel like he's dragging an anchor behind his Haas as Albon becomes the latest driver to blast past using DRS into Turn 1. That's P15 now for the Williams driver.
Russell is steadily chipping away the gap to Alonso in eighth. It's now 6.2s as the Mercedes driver reaps the shorter-term gains of his medium tyres.
Magnussen's Haas is easy prey for Stroll who moves down the inside into 14th at Turn 1.
Quote
"Gap seven seconds. Podium is on," Perez is told over team radio. That makes his target very clear.
Pit stop
As Stroll comes in for his second stop, Russell blasts by his one-time team-mate Bottas into Turn 1 to assume ninth place. Stroll rejoins ahead of Albon in 15th.
Perez is still gaining on Hamilton in the fight for fourth place, with the gap down to 2.4s. But both are closing in on the McLaren pair ahead who aren't having a good stint on the hards.
Verstappen is checking out at the front, as his lead grows to 9.8s over Norris on lap 34. We've seen how this one usually plays out.
Pit stop
Albon had risen to 11th after making that early stop, but his hard tyres have taken enough punishment after a little over 20 laps and he comes in too for another hard set. That's another place gained for Russell, who sets the fastest lap on his medium tyres to chase down Bottas.
Now Russell claims 12th from Tsunoda with a copy and paste move into Turn 1. Fair to say the AlphaTauri driver didn't fight that one too hard.
Hamilton hasn't been able to live with the pace of the top three so far and is nine seconds behind Piastri. Worse news is to follow for the Brit with Perez 4.4s back having taken seven-tenths of a second out of the gap on the last lap.
Hulkenberg is the first victim of Russell's new tyres as the Mercedes man moves into 13th at Turn 1. Meanwhile Ricciardo has made a second stop for another set of medium tyres.
Verstappen, remember him, still leads by 6.8s from Norris, who in turn has a 4.4s advantage over Piastri.
As we typed the message about Alonso not exactly cruising up to Stroll, the Canadian does move aside. He braked a couple of hundred metres early for Turn 1 to make life rather easy for Alonso, who moves up to eighth.
Pit stop
Russell pits at the end of lap 28 as his hards cry enough. The Mercedes driver takes fresh mediums and comes out in 14th place just behind Hulkenberg.
Perhaps unsurprisingly given the additional age of his tyres, Stroll isn't able to live with the Ferraris ahead on fresher boots but Alonso isn't having an easy time of getting to within DRS range of the Canadian to make that promised overtake.
Perez, with the aid of DRS, fresher and a softer compound tyre, gets by Russell at Turn 2 to take fifth place. The Mexican isn't hanging around today.
After losing that time in the pits, Leclerc has latched onto Sainz's tail now and looks a threat to the Spaniard's seventh place.
Perez eases Sainz aside up the inside into Turn 1 to take sixth place.
While that was going on Russell waved by Hamilton, as the two Mercs are on different strategies, with Russell really pushing out his stint on the hards.
By: Autosport Staff
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