Hungarian win one of the best for Verstappen as he extends lead even further

Max Verstappen raced to one of his best career victories on Sunday with a stunning win at the Hungarian Grand Prix.

Starting 10th after engine issues in qualifying, few predicted the Dutchman could take his Red Bull car to his eighth win of the season, especially at a circuit where it is notoriously tough to pass.

But the strategists on the pit-wall for the Tilbrook team helped Verstappen exploit his pace advantage on the medium tyres while championship rival Charles Leclerc had to overcome a poor call from the Ferrari team to put him on the harder compound tyre.

It did not all go Verstappen’s way though, spinning out of the penultimate corner, having just passed Leclerc, and forced to make the move again a few laps later on his relentless charge to his 28th career win, extending his championship lead over the Ferrari driver ot 80 points - more than three unanswered race wins.

“It feels crazy to have won the race today from P10, especially on a track like this where it’s very hard to pass,” said Verstappen afterwards. “We made all the right calls today, there were some good undercuts and overall we did a great job today as a team.

“This was definitely one of my best races, despite the little 360-degree spin! I’m very happy with the lead that we have, but of course we have to keep pushing and win more races.”

Sergio Perez’s drop off in form recently recovered somewhat in the race as he claimed fifth place, despite a poor showing in qualifying saw him miss out on Q3 to start 11th.

He said: “After qualifying it was looking like it could have been a poor weekend for us but we recovered some good points, and it was great fun to have the Mercedes and Ferraris racing up there with us. It was quite a tricky race, particularly towards the end, when the conditions changed.

“It was a great race though and very fun at times. It was a fantastic recovery for the Team today and it was great to see Max get the win.”