Hello there, fellow speed enthusiasts! 👋
Hot off the press, in today’s issue we’ll be covering the action packed weekend in Hungaroring and the amazing Spa-Francorchamps circuit where we’ll be racing next weekend.
Hungary was a wild ride from start to finish, with Hamilton catching everyone off guard and getting that long awaited pole position.
The new qualifying format looks promising and we’ve had some surprising results after the quali session, which by the way wasn’t the closest one in F1 history.
In the race, Verstappen pulled off a mind-blowing comeback and claimed a spectacular victory, smashing one of Formula 1’s longest-standing records! Talk about history in the making!
And guess what? The competition is fiercer than ever with teams improving left and right. The field as never been tighter!
In today’s email:
Speedy Race Review – Lowdown on all the Hungarian GP action that’ll make you feel like you’re on the track
In-depth education: Brief History of the Belgian GP
Fast Lane News – A rapid rundown of all the latest buzz in the world of Formula 1
The Belgian GP – A brief glimpse to prepare you for the upcoming race this week.
Lights out, and away we go!
Speedy Race Review
Speedy Race Review📈Here’s the global race pace after the Hungarian GP
🔵 RB > ⚫️ Mer = 🟠 McL > 🔴 Ferrari > 🟢 Aston
Driver performance by teams
- Aston had no pace
- The Haas is a tire-shredder
🤯 Qualifying in Hungary equalled the closest top 10 in F1 history
The new qualifying format in Hungary was a real game-changer!
Drivers had to rock hard tires in Q1, medium tires in Q2, and soft tires in Q3. It was all about leveling the playing field and putting on a show.
Guess what? Lewis Hamilton snagged pole position by a mere 0.003 seconds ahead of Max Verstappen, and it was his first time on Pole since 2021.
The Briton now holds a smashing 9 pole positions at the Hungaroring, breaking the record for most poles at a single circuit!
McLaren was on fire too – Norris and Piastri securing third and fourth place.
But the real jaw-droppers were Alfa Romeo, with Zhou taking an impressive fifth place, and Bottas landing in seventh.
Distance at Max Throttle in Qualifying.
It was a close call between Hamilton and Hulkenberg, who finished tenth, with just a tiny 0.577 seconds difference separating them.
That’s exactly the same as the qualifying record set during the Brazilian GP when Barrichello, the pole sitter, had an equal margin to tenth-placed Fernando Alonso.
It’s incredible how history repeats itself in Formula 1 – Read More
🏆 Verstappen Dominates and Red Bull Breaks Record with 12 Consecutive Wins
In the race, things went very different than the quali sessions!
Hamilton totally botched his start, with Verstappen seizing the opportunity and zooming into the lead right at the first corner.
From that point on, the Dutchman was on fire, totally owning the race from start to finish, and man, he had a whopping 33-second lead over Norris, who came in second place!
He accomplished a remarkable feat, becoming only the fifth driver in Formula 1 history to secure seven consecutive Grand Prix wins, following the footsteps of Alberto Ascari, Michael Schumacher, Sebastian Vettel, and Nico Rosberg.
🎖 The two-time world champion thus achieved his 44th F1 win, securing Red Bull’s 12th consecutive win, including the final race of 2022.
Red Bull outlined McLaren’s record from 1988 and are totally on track for the most dominant season in Formula 1 history!
But this record wasn’t the only thing that was broken.
🥲 Norris broke Max’s $45,000 trophy in celebration as he smashed his champagne bottle onto the podium! – Read More
🟠 McLaren again proved to be Red Bull’s closest challengers
McLaren started the season pretty bad, no sugarcoating it. But then, things turned around big time once they hit Austria.
They brought in some killer improvement packages for their MCL60, and boy, did it show – Silverstone can vouch for that!
Hungary was supposed to be a real struggle for them being a technical track with lots of slow corners that doesn’t exactly suit their car.
But they blew everyone’s minds and against all odds, those Brits managed to keep ahead of the likes of Mercedes, Ferrari, and Aston Martin.
In qualifying, Norris and Piastri pulled off some serious magic, locking down the third and fourth spots, respectively.
When the race kicked off, Piastri even snatched second place and Norris secured third.
Norris undercut Piastri to finish second without problems, while the Australian was fifth, showing off some sweet race pace.
With Norris bagging two podiums in a row, it’s a clear sign that McLaren’s in the fight and ain’t backing down! – Read More
👊 Great comeback by Russell and Pérez
Sergio Pérez finally made it back to Q3 in Hungary, although the Mexican could only finish ninth, which is still a poor result for a Red Bull.
Nevertheless, Checo showcased an impressive comeback during the Sunday race.
He skillfully overtook Hamilton, Piastri, Alonso, and Russell on the track, ultimately achieving an admirable third position.
In this way, Pérez finally got a good result after several very bad races, and was named driver of the day, calming the doubts about his performance.
It was an intense race from start to finish. It was very hot inside the car, I lost three kilos in the race. Now we have to keep the pace. This is one of my worst circuits, so to be close is good.
Sergio Perez
George Russell, on the other hand, could only finish eighteenth in qualifying.
In the race, the Briton was impressive, and moved up to sixth position, demonstrating the great pace of the Mercedes, which seems to be the third team behind Red Bull and McLaren. – Read More
🤦♂️ Self-sabotage by Ferrari?
Carlos Sainz had a spectacular start, gaining four positions in the first lap and moving up from eleventh in just 600 meters.
Carlos Sainz made a blistering start 💪#HungarianGP @ScuderiaFerrari pic.twitter.com/dWyaHwJrpq
— Formula 1 (@F1) July 23, 2023
The Spaniard found himself trailing behind his teammate Leclerc, who had medium tires while Sainz was on softs.
They had different strategies and it would make sense to let Sainz pass, right? Nope, it didn’t happen!
They stuck to their different strategies, and Sainz had to deal with it. Tough luck!
Ferrari’s first big fiasco came with Leclerc’s slow stop, 9.4 seconds that made him lose the position to Sainz. From then on, both drivers with hard tyres remained very close.
Then, on lap 43, the team told Leclerc to pit first, and he pulled off a perfect undercut on Sainz, overtaking him after the pit stop.
I guess they made him stop earlier to compensate for his bad stop. I don’t care if I’m seventh or eighth, I just don’t care if my car is a second faster.
I think you are looking at it in a conspiratorial way and that’s not the case. He had a slow stop and they wanted to compensate for it. For the team it’s the same to finish seventh and eighth as it is to finish eighth and seventh.
Carlos Sainz
Even though Leclerc got slapped with a 5-second penalty for speeding in the pit lane, he managed to build enough of a lead over Sainz, who was already out of contention.
They finished in seventh and eighth respectively, but they were not that bad on the Hard compound. It was the Medium that damaged their race (in addition to the problems in the pit).
On the 🟡 Mediums:
Red Bull > Mercedes > McL > Ferrari = Aston
On the ⚪️ Hards:
Red Bull > McL = Mercedes > Ferrari=Aston
👎 Biggest losers: Aston Martin and Alpine
Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll had a bit of a tough time, crossing the finish line in the ninth and tenth spots.
Aston Martin kicked off the season as a strong contender, but is starting to fall behind McLaren, Mercedes, and Ferrari.
It looks like the other teams have been making some serious upgrades, and those new Pirelli tires might have hit Aston Martin harder than the others, putting them in a bit of a rut.
But the season’s far from over, and they still have a chance to reclaim the top spot.
For now, they’re banking on a major package of improvements that they hope to roll out for the Dutch GP. Fingers crossed it’ll give them the boost they need to turn things around!
Hungary wasn’t kind to Alpine either – they had a tough break! Gasly and Ocon got tangled up in the first corner chaos, and bam, both had to call it a day and retire from the race.
Ocon’s seat even split in two! Alpine is the reigning champs of accidents in 2023, having spent a whopping 3 million bucks on repairs this season.
It’s like they’ve got a bad luck magnet or something! – Read More (ES)
A torrid start and a premature end for both Alpine drivers 💥😖#HungarianGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/MWpV1CcH7N
— Formula 1 (@F1) July 23, 2023
👏 Ricciardo’s first race on his return to F1 with AlphaTauri
Daniel Ricciardo returned to Formula 1 this weekend after replacing Nyck de Vries at Alpha Tauri.
The Aussie had a solid weekend, outperforming Yuki Tsunoda in both qualifying and the race, finishing thirteenth in both sessions.
Things got a bit crazy at the start with that accident in the first corner, but the Honey Badger didn’t let that faze him.
He showed his skills and managed to fight his way back to his original position. The dude’s still got it!
Now, the big question on everyone’s mind: Can he make his way back to Red Bull if he keeps up this performance? – Read More
History of the Belgian GP
History of the Belgian GP
The Spa-Francorchamps circuit is one of the oldest out there, dating all the way back to 1921.
Originally, it was mainly for motorcycle racing and stretched a whopping 15 kilometers, winding through the villages of Spa-Francorchamps, Burnenville, Malmedy, Masta, Holowell, La Carriere, Stavelot, and Blanchimont on those old secondary roads.
READ THE ARTICLE
Fast Lane News
Fast Lane News🟰 Red Bull backs F1 engine equalisation move. – Read More
🥸 Perez boosted by race-day charge in Hungary but says ‘now I have to find consistency’. – Read More
😱 ‘My seat broke in pieces’ – Ocon reveals the damage caused by Hungary collision that forced him and Gasly to DNF. – Read More
🤨 Hungary masked AlphaTauri F1 weakness that could yet hurt Ricciardo. – Read More
👎 Alonso says Aston Martin fifth fastest F1 team after Hungarian GP. – Read More
📉 ‘Significant deficit’ threatens Red Bull hopes of undefeated F1 2023 campaign. – Read More
📻 Leclerc reveals hidden Ferrari issues behind radio attitude. – Read More
🥵 Wolff rules out controversial tactic to stop Red Bull. – Read More
🫢 Fernando Alonso has had peculiar F1 superstition for 20 years – “I try to avoid that”. – Read More
Belgian GP 2023
Belgian GP 2023🇧🇪 Scheduled 28-30 July
Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps
TLDR;
1️⃣ Circuit length: 7.004 km
2️⃣ Number of laps: 44
3️⃣ Lap record: 1:46.286 Valtteri Bottas (2018)
4️⃣ Corners & DRS: 19 corners with 2 DRS zones
MEME OF THE DAY
MEME OF THE DAY
