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sports Monday 1 august 2022

Spin and win: Verstappen rallies to eighth win of F1 season

(AP) — Formula One He later explained that he
champion Max Verstap- thought it was the wrong
pen overcame a spin and call.
his worst starting spot of the “I made it clear that I want-
season to win the Hungar- ed to keep (the medium
ian Grand Prix on Sunday. tire) as long as possible, but
His eighth win of the season we pitted very early for the
pushed Verstappen’s lead hard, which we need to un-
to 80 points over Charles derstand why. I think stop-
Leclerc as F1 heads into its ping for the hard was the
midseason break. turning point,” Leclerc said.
Even though his advan- “Before thinking about the
tage keeps increasing, championship, to be hon-
Verstappen is not thinking est, as a team we need to
ahead. understand what we need
“It’s of course a great to do to get better. Be-
lead,” he said. “But if you cause otherwise it’s going
want to fight for champi- to be really difficult.”
onships, you can’t afford Moments later, Verstappen
many mistakes.” lost grip and spun on track,
Mercedes placed both its allowing Sainz to take the
cars on the podium for the Red Bull driver Max Verstappen of the Netherlands, center, stands on the podium with second lead from Hamilton. Leclerc
second straight race; sev- placed Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton of Britain, left, and third placed Mercedes driver George passed Verstappen, only
en-time F1 champion Lewis Russell of Britain during the Dutch national anthem after he won the Hungarian Formula One Grand to lose position soon after
Hamilton carved his way Prix at the Hungaroring racetrack in Mogyorod, near Budapest, Hungary, Sunday, July 31, 2022. because Verstappen had
from seventh to a second- Associated Press faster tires.q
place finish, teammate
and pole-sitter George
Russell was third.
Carlos Sainz Jr. finished
fourth in another disastrous
day for Ferrari. Leclerc was
sixth, one spot behind Ser-
gio Perez of Red Bull.
Verstappen’s eighth win of
the season was the 28th of
the Dutchman’s career.
“Who would have thought
when we woke up today
we’d get this result? Amaz-
ing,” Verstappen told his
team, letting out a laugh.
“I was battling a lot of guys
and it was a lot of fun out
there. That was a crazy
race but (we) stayed calm
and we won.”
He qualified a season-worst
10th because of a loss of
power on Saturday, then in
Sunday’s race Verstappen
did a 360-degree spin.
“Unbelievable Max, that
is right up there with your
best,” Red Bull team prin-
cipal Christian Horner re-
plied. “Fantastic.”
Russell, who started from
the pole for the first time in
his career, led 30 laps un-
til Leclerc passed him on
the outside as dark clouds
rolled over the Hungaror-
ing circuit and a light rain
began to fall.
With Leclerc leading, Ver-
stappen undercut for
quicker tires. Ferrari made
a mistake in choosing the
more durable hard tires
for Leclerc. “These tires are
(expletive),” Leclerc said.