2024 Hungarian GP

Hungarian GP: Lewis Secures 200^th Grand Prix Podium

Hard-fought race in Budapest: Lewis secures the team's fifth podium finish in a row, George fights his way up to P8.

The penultimate Grand Prix before the F1 summer break once again delivered a great race that was exciting right up to the chequered flag.

The team experienced a disappointing qualifying session at the Hungaroring. In slightly damp conditions, Lewis and George qualified 5th and 17th on the grid.

Lewis started the race on the Medium tyres, George on the Hard tyres. The top six all started the race on Medium tyres, only two other drivers besides George opted for the Hard compound: Sergio Perez directly in front of him and Pierre Gasly behind him.

Both drivers made up a position at the start and improved to P4 and P16 respectively. Lewis got off the line very well and made up a position on Charles Leclerc (Ferrari). He then almost benefited from a three-way battle between Lando Norris, Oscar Piastri and Max Verstappen, who battled each other in Turn 1. In the end, Lewis lined up behind the trio in P4 and concentrated on managing his set of Medium tyres.

Over the course of the first stint, Max Verstappen (Red Bull) fell further and further behind the two McLaren drivers, meaning that Lewis got closer and closer to him but was unable to overtake. As the pace in the field was relatively similar, there was no pit stop window for Lewis either. George, meanwhile, was stuck behind Valtteri Bottas in P9.

On lap 17, Lewis and the team decided to try an undercut against Verstappen. Lewis came in for his first stop, switched to the Hard tyres and was only just behind Piastri and Norris after the two McLarens had stopped. Verstappen, on the other hand, extended his stint to create a tyre offset over Lewis.

Verstappen made his second stop 20 laps before the end of the race and rejoined the track in P5 behind Leclerc with nine laps fresher tyres than the Ferrari driver and Lewis.

In the meantime, George pitted on lap 55 to collect new Hard tyres. He returned to the track 10 seconds behind Perez in P8. The Mexican was on six laps older Medium tyres.

On lap 57, Verstappen managed to get past Leclerc. He then set off in pursuit of Lewis, who was just under two seconds ahead of him. Verstappen caught up with Lewis and fought a thrilling duel with him over several laps. With seven laps to go, he attacked in Turn 1, locked the tyres and touched Lewis' car.

Fortunately, Lewis' car survived the contact without any major damage and he was able to collect his 200^th podium finish in a Grand Prix.

George gave everything he had to catch Perez in P7, but in the end was unable to get close enough to him to launch an attack before the end of the race. He finished the Hungarian GP in P8 and also set the fastest race lap. The 100^th for the team since its return to the sport in 2010.

The race ended with a McLaren one-two victory for Oscar Piastri ahead of Lando Norris. All in all it was podium positions 600-602 for Mercedes power in F1, and the first all-Mercedes-powered podium since the 2021 Italian Grand Prix.

There is not much time to recover after the heat of the Hungarian GP. In just one week, the action continues with the tenth round of the 2024 Formula 1 season, the Belgian Grand Prix at Spa-Francorchamps, which is the last race before the summer shutdown.

Lewis Hamilton

Firstly, a huge congratulations to McLaren on the one-two and Oscar (Piastri) on his maiden victory. They were incredibly strong today and deserved the result. Oscar has been doing a fantastic job ever since he got into F1, been very consistent, and it was only a matter of time before he got a win.

The team has done a great job to continue making progress with our car. We knew we didn’t have the speed of Oscar or Lando (Norris) today, but we were able to secure the final spot on the podium. It was a challenge at times to keep Verstappen behind whilst also making the tyres last. Our battle at the end was a little hair-raising but that’s motor racing. I’m really happy to be back on the podium and for another solid points haul. We now head to Spa looking to finish the first half of the season on a high.

Toto Wolff, Team Principal & CEO

Claiming a podium finish, our fifth race in a row doing so, feels good. The McLarens were very strong today and out of reach for us in these hot conditions. Congratulations to them and Oscar; they deserved today’s victory. We were able to maximise the result with Lewis though and that is encouraging. To see Lewis get his 200^th podium in F1, and his 151^st with our team, was great.

Yesterday’s setback with George meant he had to fight through the field. In the end, it was a good recovery from where he started. It was a challenging race for him with plenty of traffic in his pit window throughout much of the afternoon. Without that, he may have been able to claim one more position, but it was still a solid effort. We now head to Spa where the conditions will likely be cooler and hopefully that will suit us a little more.

2024 Hungarian GP Result