Max Verstappen continued his 2023 dominance with the Red Bull ace taking race honours at Silverstone. He is 99 points clear at the top of the Driver’s Championship and it seems there’s not stopping him as the team’s head for the Hungaroring.
Hungarian Grand Prix
Sunday 23 July
Hungaroring
To Win Race Outright
Max Verstappen 1/3
Sergio Perez 11/1
Fernando Alonso 11/1
Lewis Hamilton 14/1
Lando Norris 16/1
Charles LeClerc 20/1
Previous Race
The Verstappen show continued in England with the Red Bull ace claiming his eighth win of the season. While Lando Norris would knock Verstappen off pole at the start of the race, the reigning world champion would reclaim the lead on lap 5 and it was pretty much all she wrote from then on in.
There was a very British feel to the rest of the podium with Lando Norris coming home in second and Lewis Hamilton claiming third.
Norris’ Australian teammate would break the run of British drivers but ensure McLaren enjoyed a great British Grand Prix as he claimed fourth ahead of Mercedes man and home driver, George Russel. The final position in the ‘top 6’ would go to Sergio Perez, who had a rather mediocre Grand Prix.
Loads of Ferrari and Ferrari connected drivers would round out the ‘top 10’ with former Driver Fernando Alonso claiming second, while Charles LeClerc took ninth and Carlos Sainz claimed 10th, Sandwiched between the two current Ferrari drivers in eighth was the Williams of Alexander Albon.
Track
The Hungaroring really is a feat of Soviet ingenuity with the track, which was built near the backend of the Cold War, boasting the fastest construction time of any F1 facility, taking little over eight months to build. The circuit is situated in the city of Mogyorod which is located some 18 kilometres outside of the Hungarian capital of Budapest.
The track consists of fourteen turns and covers a total race distance of 306.63 kilometres. Drivers will battle over 70, 4.381km laps, which feature two DRS Zones situated between turns one and two, and the start/finish straight.
Last season’s race was won by reigning world champion Max Verstappen, while Lewis Hamilton (second) and George Russel (third) rounded out the podium.
While there’s not much rain being currently forecast for Saturday and Sunday, the Hungarian Grand Prix often features late afternoon rain so it would be well worth keeping an eye on the weather for this one.
Value Bet
Podium Finish – Fernando Alonso – Yes
While he didn’t have the best of times out in England, I reckon Alonso will bounce back here. He won his first at only Hungarian Grand Prix two decades ago but did produce a solid recent drive at the venue finishing fourth in 2021.
To Win Race Outright
Max Verstappen
Having broken his duck at Silverstone, there seems there’s no stopping Max Verstappen. The Red Bull man has won six races on the trot in 2023. He also won last year’s Hungarian Grand Prix.
