2024 F1 Hungarian GP: Top 5 Key Takeaways

The 2024 F1 Hungarian GP was an eventful race for the action on track and on the team radio. It started with Max Verstappen jumping Lando Norris by pulling off the overtake by going off track.

Then there was the team radio saga between McLaren and Lando Norris, while on the other side of the track, Lewis Hamilton was putting on a defensive masterclass against Max Verstappen.

Eventually, Oscar Piastri won his first F1 race. Lando Norris finished P2 and Lewis Hamilton in P3. In a Hungarian GP where there was just far too much action on and off the track, what did we learn? Let's take a look.

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2024 F1 Hungarian GP: What did we learn?

#5 Sergio Perez just had his second last race as a Red Bull driver

Sergio Perez made a decent recovery in a manner where he has the performance under him, but not only that, he also had a result to show for it. The Red Bull driver finished the race in P7 after starting outside the top-15.

Nevertheless, McLaren still outscored Red Bull at the Hungarian GP, and Perez was not even a factor at the front. The crash in qualifying was seemingly the final nail in the coffin for Perez, and a P7 is not going to rescue him whatsoever.

#4 Lewis Hamilton was brilliance personified

The Hungarian GP saw Hamilton as brilliance personified. The Mercedes driver was just perfect in the manner in which he attacked early in the race to perform the undercut.

Later in the race, it was the defense from him against Verstappen that turned the tide and secured his podium. After a rough start to the season, Hamilton has regained confidence and is back in front of George Russell in the championship standings.

#3 Ferrari cost Charles Leclerc a podium

Why Ferrari would put Charles Leclerc on the same lap as Lewis Hamilton when he had a 7 lap delta is a question whose answer we just won't get.

There's however one answer actually true, and it's the fact that Charles Leclerc lost a podium at the Hungarian GP because the team had put him on a compromised strategy.

He ran a longer first stint, which helped open up a few options for him strategy-wise. From that point, how it made sense to pit the driver for mediums when even Lewis pitted for hards was just unexplainable. The Hungarian GP just showed that Ferrari are still a few steps away from being what they want to be.

#2 McLaren can't stop stepping on its feet

One has to question Randy Singh, the McLaren strategy man, about why he thought it made sense to give Lando Norris the benefit of undercutting and putting the race result in jeopardy.

The team needs to be more prepared for these things in the future because McLaren, of all teams, can't afford friction between the two drivers and another compromised result.

The Hungarian GP was the maximum point for McLaren, and while these things need to be worked on, this result would make the team happy, as it should be the case.

#1 Max Verstappen and Red Bull need to accept reality

Arguably the most important thing that came out of the Hungarian GP was the fact that Max Verstappen and Red Bull have still not accepted the reality that the team is no longer the dominant force it used to be.

The Hungarian GP saw the Red Bull driver completely unhinged on team radio, and yes, a part of it was a result of the car not being in a window he would have preferred.

The reality of the situation is that Red Bull will not be a dominant force, at least for some time now. If during that time, he goes off the rails and goes on a rampage on the team radio, then that's not going to help anyone.

An approach of maximizing every weekend is what is needed, and that's important because otherwise, the whole thing goes off the rails.