Max Verstappen dominated 2023 Hungarian Grand Prix as Red Bull cruised to a record 12th consecutive F1 win.
Verstappen made a fast start to snatch the lead from pole-sitter Lewis Hamilton on the inside of Turn 1, from which he calmly sprinted away to his ninth win of the season and in the process set a new F1 record of 12 consecutive wins by a single constructor for Red Bull dating back to 2022 Abu Dhabi GP.
McLaren’s Lando Norris meanwhile undercut his teammate – Oscar Piastri during the first pit stop phase, as Piastri eventually finished fifth after finding himself passed by Sergio Perez and Lewis Hamilton on Laps 47 and 57 respectively.
George Russell recovered from 18th on the grid to sixth, as Charles Leclerc, Carlos Sainz, Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll rounded out the top ten.
In the drivers’ standings, Verstappen extended his title lead over Perez to 110 points whilst Alonso stayed third but his gap over Hamilton was reduced to just six points in their duel over third place in the championship.
At lights out, Hamilton made a clean start but Verstappen had the inside line into the opening corner and nudged the seven-time champion wide to seize the lead, with Piastri sneaking through followed by Norris as Hamilton slipped to fourth.
Sainz meanwhile opted to start on the soft tyre after he only qualified 11th and immediately improved to sixth off the line amidst chaos as Guanyu Zhou made a slow getaway from fifth, with the Chinese driver ultimately tangling with Yuki Tsunoda which caused Alpine’s Pierre Gasly and Esteban Ocon to suffer a race-ending collision at Turn 1.
Zhou subsequently was handed a five-second time penalty for his incident with Tsunoda which eliminated both Alpine drivers.
Up front, Verstappen built a gap to Piastri as several drivers went into tyre management mode but Williams’ Alex Albon triggered a flurry of pit stops amongst those outside of the top ten who started on mediums, as he made his first stop on Lap 9.
Hamilton meanwhile was the first driver in the top four to pit at the end of Lap 16 which led McLaren to pit Norris first ahead of Piastri in an attempt to cover off Hamilton, only for Norris to unintentionally undercut Piastri in the process as Verstappen waited until Lap 24 to make his stop as he kept his lead.
Perez meanwhile had worked his way up to second when he made his stop on Lap 25 for mediums which dropped him to seventh, from which he quickly cleared Sainz and Russell into Turn 1 on Laps 27 and 28 respectively to climb to fifth.
Tyre degradation however forced everyone to play the long game in their respective battles mid-race as Russell pitted on Lap 29 and slipped from sixth to 14th, from which he recovered to ninth in the following six laps.
Perez meanwhile reeled in Hamilton but the Brit fended him off on Lap 42 which led Red Bull to pit the Mexican at the end of that lap in an attempt to undercut Hamilton, just as Piastri pitted with the Australian staying in front despite making a slower pit stop.
Leclerc, Norris and Sainz followed suit in the following two laps with Norris staying ahead of Piastri and Perez in third, whilst Leclerc re-joined seventh but undercut Sainz as the Ferrari drivers sat behind Russell.
Perez eventually passed Piastri on Lap 47 with a sweeping outside move around Turn 1 although he defended hard through Turn 2, during which he nudged Piastri wide over the outside kerb on the exit which caused the Australian to kick up a pile of dust.
Hamilton meanwhile extended his hard tyre stint until he pitted at the end of Lap 50 for medium tyres, which he maximised to full effect as he cleared Piastri for fourth into Turn 1 on Lap 57.
Further ahead, Perez was in aggressive mode amidst recent struggles and speculation over his future as he reeled in Norris in the closing laps, but ultimately settled for third ahead of Hamilton and Piastri.
F1 now heads to Spa Francorchamps, Belgium next weekend for the last round prior to the summer break, with Verstappen and Red Bull still in firm control of the championship.
| Position | Driver | Team | Laps | Time |
| 1 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | 70 | 1h 38m 08.634 |
| 2 | Lando Norris | McLaren | 70 | + 33.731 |
| 3 | Sergio Perez | Red Bull | 70 | + 37.603 |
| 4 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 70 | + 39.194 |
| 5 | Oscar Piastri | McLaren | 70 | + 62.572 |
| 6 | George Russell | Mercedes | 70 | + 65.825 |
| 7 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | 70 | + 70.317 |
| 8 | Carlos Sainz | Ferrari | 70 | + 71.073 |
| 9 | Fernando Alonso | Aston Martin | 70 | + 75.709 |
| 10 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin | 69 | + 1 Lap |
| 11 | Alex Albon | Williams | 69 | + 1 Lap |
| 12 | Valtteri Bottas | Alfa Romeo | 69 | + 1 Lap |
| 13 | Daniel Ricciardo | AlphaTauri | 69 | + 1 Lap |
| 14 | Nico Hulkenberg | Haas | 69 | + 1 Lap |
| 15 | Yuki Tsunoda | AlphaTauri | 69 | + 1 Lap |
| 16 | Guanyu Zhou | Alfa Romeo | 69 | + 1 Lap |
| 17 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas | 69 | + 1 Lap |
| 18 | Logan Sargeant | Williams | 68 | + 2 Laps |
| RET | Esteban Ocon | Alpine | 2 | Collision |
| RET | Pierre Gasly | Alpine | 1 | Collision |