2022 F1 Hungarian GP: Winners and Losers

The 2022 F1 Hungarian GP featured another masterclass from Max Verstappen as the Red Bull driver made his way through the field after starting P10 to win the race. This was another example of what can be achieved if the team and the driver are in sync with each other (Red Bull) and what can happen if the team is just not reliable when it comes to strategy (Ferrari).

While Verstappen will head into the summer break happy with life and the first half of the season, Charles Leclerc will have serious questions to be answered, not just with his position in the championship but his paddock future as well.

Having said that, there was more to the Hungaroring race than the Verstappen versus Leclerc show. Multiple teams and drivers would be pleased with how their race went. Who are they? Well, let's find out as we take a look at the winners and losers of the 2022 F1 Hungarian GP.

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Winners and Losers of 2022 F1 Hungarian GP

Winner

Max Verstappen

While there shouldn't be any doubts whatsoever about the talents of the Red Bull driver, if they were, they would surely get banished after the 2022 F1 Hungarian GP. The win at Hungaroring might go down as one of the best of Max Verstappen's career. It's not as if he had a monumental advantage in terms of race pace and it's not as if this race was won from pole. Instead, Verstappen started the race in P10 with a Red Bull that was just as good in the long runs as the Mercedes and maybe a tad slower than Ferrari.

Yet, Verstappen made the overtakes when they needed to be made and he followed the strategy that was laid out for him to the dot. So when push came to shove, he found Charles Leclerc a sitting duck as he cruised past him on medium tires. With an 80 points lead after the 2022 F1 Hungarian GP, the championship is as one-sided as it could be right now.

Loser

Charles Leclerc

Any F1 writer would be getting a sense of deja vu these days when he/she writes, "Charles Leclerc should have been the rightful winner of this race". Such, however, is the tragedy of Leclerc's season right now.

The driver compensated for his average starting position at the 2022 F1 Hungarian GP with a strong race pace and was pulling away from the group with a clear pace advantage. It all changed when Ferrari thought pitting Leclerc for the hard tires, ones that somewhat destroyed Alpine's race, was the right thing to do. The rest, as they say, is history, as Leclerc finished the race in P6 with the gap to Verstappen increasing to 80 points in the championship.

Winner

Mercedes

A weekend where Mercedes struggled on Friday turned out to be the one where the team scored its first pole position of the season and would then end up finishing the race with a double podium. Mercedes, however, is still missing the last couple of tenths to Red Bull and Ferrari in terms of pace.

Ferrari's habit of imploding when things are going its way has helped Mercedes in the last few races. Concurrently, it does appear that when those last couple of tenths are finally unlocked by the team (maybe with the new floor configuration?), it would be challenging Max Verstappen for race wins consistently.

Loser

Ferrari

"We're not aiming for a win here, we're aiming for a "1-2" finish." This was the statement made by Mattia Binotto before the 2022 F1 Hungarian GP. It's starting to become more and more clear that Charles Leclerc is capable of challenging for the title. It's also starting to become more and more clear that Ferrari lacks self-awareness when it comes to identifying its strengths and its weaknesses.

This was another race where the team compromised Charles Leclerc, its lead driver and the only hope for the title. To make things worse, this was another race where the team emphatically came out in the media and admitted it would not give either of the drivers preferential treatment for the championship. The 2022 F1 Hungarian GP was just another chapter in the long list of monumental strategic failures from the team since a certain German legend left the team in 2006.

Winner

Sebastian Vettel

In the eyes of many, the rather ridiculous last-second move by Lance Stroll in front of Sebastian Vettel at the 2022 F1 French GP was the final nail in the coffin when it came to the German announcing his retirement. Even though it's hard to give any credence to that, it was obvious when you saw how Vettel was hounding his teammate in the latter stages of the race.

The German legend was not giving this one up. With just a handful of laps left in the race, Vettel pulled off the move over his teammate, and scored a point for the team after starting the 2022 F1 Hungarian GP in P10. Vettel is certainly not over the hill by any means if we take a closer look at things.

Loser

Sergio Perez

There have been suggestions that Sergio Perez is driving a different car compared to Max Verstappen. While it's hard to believe that the team has already worked on the floor and introduced it to the car, the gap is still too big. Throughout the 2022 F1 Hungarian GP, Sergio Perez was rather invisible from the screens as he was often left out of the action. The Mexican might be riding on that win in Monaco but it's about time he started performing at the level he was doing earlier in the season.