"It doesn't look like he did a whole lot wrong" - Max Verstappen's 360 at 2022 F1 Hungarian GP shows he knows 'where the car is'

Former driver Jolyon Palmer recently analyzed Max Verstappen's 360-degree spin at the 2022 F1 Hungarian GP for F1 TV. The Dutchman managed to stop his Red Bull RB18 from stalling towards the end of the race with a clever application of throttle and stellar clutch control.

Max Verstappen started the race in Hungary in P10, with slim chances of making it onto the podium. After his rivals Ferrari botched their strategic calls, however, the Dutchman found himself in a position to win the race.

His championship rival Charles Leclerc was pitted for hard compound tires by his team, giving the reigning world champion the lead in the race. Verstappen, however, got a little 'throttle happy' at the exit of Turn 13, putting his Red Bull in a spin. The 24-year-old managed to recover beautifully from the spin, pinning the throttle down and effectively performing a pirouette.

As per Jolyon Palmer's technical analysis for F1 TV, Max Verstappen's spin was 'weird' and unusual. Palmer elaborated:

"It doesn't look like he did a lot wrong. He went slow on the gas and all of a sudden he loses the rear. Max completely counters to recover and then does a pirouette with a lot of throttle. Weird spin, but Max recovered great. We see him doing 360 spins like this quite often in a race. He knows well where the car is and always knows how to get the car back on the track as quickly as possible."

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Max Verstappen explained why he slowed down in the last lap in Hungary

Max Verstappen revealed he had to reduce his speed with rain forecast towards the end of the 2022 F1 Hungarian GP. The Red Bull driver felt the conditions were tricky with the medium tires had it rained in the last few laps.

Having a sizeable lead over Lewis Hamilton in the race, the Dutchman knew he could afford to slow down to avoid any last lap errors in the intermittent conditions.

Upon being asked by Sportskeeda if the medium tires were a concern with rain forecasted in the closing stages of the race, the Dutchman replied:

“Yeah, they told me on the radio that there might be a bit of rain coming, and then of course, with the tyres dropping, and you know, temperatures in general, that always makes it a bit more tricky. And then we got the VSC as well, so you lose even more tyre time so that last lap was yeah, it was driven really slowly, just to make sure that you wouldn’t spin.”

Reluctant to spin in the race once more, the Dutchman had to manage his tires and drive slowly to avoid any last-minute drama. The driver won the race despite having started P10 on the grid in what was one of his best-ever drives in the sport.