Red Bull Motorsports
F1
F1 to 10: Max Verstappen, Sergio Pérez bank solid points in Budapest
Oracle Red Bull Racing scored major points in a scorching-hot Hungarian Grand Prix to kick-start the second half of the Formula One season.
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01
Hungary in exactly 75 words*
Oracle Red Bull Racing duo Max Verstappen (fifth) and Sergio Pérez (seventh) took top-10 finishes from round 13 of the season in Hungary, where Australian Oscar Piastri secured his maiden F1 victory to become the seventh different winner this season in a 1-2 result with team-mate Lando Norris. Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) finished third. Verstappen’s championship lead remains a healthy 76 points with the result, while Pérez surged from 16th on the grid into the points.
* 2024 is the 75th season of the F1 world championship
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The Hungarian GP in six pics
There was no room for error heading into the first corner...
© Getty Images/Red Bull Content Pool
The Dutchman had the measure of the McLarens, but not for long
© Getty Images/Red Bull Content Pool
The Dutch fans turned out in their droves in Budapest
© Getty Images/Red Bull Content Pool
Norris beat Verstappen to pole on Saturday by just 0.046s
© Getty Images/Red Bull Content Pool
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Late clash halts Verstappen’s podium hopes
It was a frustrating visit to Hungary after two straight wins for Max
© Getty Images/Red Bull Content Pool
Verstappen came to Hungary off back-to-back wins in Budapest in 2022 and 2023. Still, the reigning F1 world champion looked to have a bigger battle on his hands than he’s been accustomed to despite qualifying just 0.046s off pole, McLaren’s prodigious pace seeing Norris lead Piastri in a front-row lockout for the team.
The Dutchman passed Norris at Turn 1 off the start but did so while running off track, which saw him hand second position back to the British driver. Verstappen briefly led when both McLarens pitted, but his race became one of fighting for the final podium place with Hamilton, the pair clashing at the first corner with seven laps to go in an incident that saw Verstappen’s RB20 sent briefly skywards.
Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) passed Verstappen as he rejoined the track, and he eventually finished 21.349s behind Piastri at the chequered flag after 70 laps.
Pérez’s weekend looked all but over when he crashed in qualifying on Saturday, a slippery kerb after an early-morning rain shower spitting him into the Turn 8 barriers and leaving him in 16th place on the grid.
The Mexican employed the hard-compound Pirelli tyres for an opening stint that vaulted him to the fringes of the top 10, and took six world championship points away from Budapest to sit seventh in the standings with 124 points.
04
Tsunoda helps RB extend gap
Tsunoda's one-stop strategy kept him inside the top 10
© Getty Images/Red Bull Content Pool
Visa CashApp RB consolidated its hard-earned sixth place in the constructors’ championship with two points for Yuki Tsunoda on Sunday in Hungary. The Japanese driver recovering from a crash in qualifying to finish ninth from 10th on the grid, a one-stop strategy proving to be advantageous.
Haas had scored 20 points to RB’s three in the past two races in Austria and Great Britain, but Tsunoda’s points – and 13th and 15th, respectively, for Nico Hulkenberg and Kevin Magnussen – saw RB’s slim advantage swell to six points.
A promising weekend for Tsunoda’s team-mate Daniel Ricciardo didn’t produce points in Budapest. The Australian falling from ninth on the grid to 11th on the opening lap, and his two-stop strategy leaving him in a midfield stalemate as he finished in 12th.
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The number you need to know
7: Piastri’s win sees him join Verstappen as one of seven different drivers to taste victory this year, the most in a season since 2012 – and with 11 races still to go.
More F1 to watch and read
06
The word from the paddock
We need to work. We know we are lacking compared to McLaren and that’s of course not nice, but at the moment in race pace and qualifying pace, we are behind
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The stats that matter
Drivers' Championship top 5
Position
Driver
Team
Points
Gap
1
Max Verstappen
Oracle Red Bull Racing
265
-
2
Lando Norris
McLaren
189
-76
3
Charles Leclerc
Ferrari
162
-103
4
Carlos Sainz
Ferrari
154
-111
5
Oscar Piastri
McLaren
149
-116
Constructors' Championship top 5
Position
Team
Points
Gap
1
Oracle Red Bull Racing
389
-
2
McLaren
338
-51
3
Ferrari
322
-67
4
Mercedes
241
-148
5
Aston Martin
69
-320
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Away from the track
We know the Monaco Grand Prix as the race adjacent to the water, but what about the ‘real’ Monaco race – the one in the water? The Red Bull Energy Station (and particularly its pool) has hosted many a team celebration in Monaco, but this year, it was used for something completely different…
Take four F1 drivers (Max Verstappen and Sergio Pérez from Oracle Red Bull Racing, plus Yuki Tsunoda and Daniel Ricciardo from Visa Cash App RB), have them build miniature DIY rafts, insert dolls that look a bit (emphasis on ‘bit’) like the drivers themselves and… you can probably guess the rest.
Who won the race? Who got wettest? Who adhered the rules and who downright broke them? Watch the video below to find out.
4 min
DIY Raft Building. What Could Go Wrong?
Max, Checo, Ricciardo and Yuki compete to build rafts to race miniature versions of themselves across the Monaco Red Bull Energy Station pool.
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Where to next, and what do I need to know?
Round 14 (Belgium), July 26-28
Circuit name/location: Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps, Stavelot
Length/laps: 7.004km, 44 laps
Grands Prix held/debut: 56, 1950
Most successful driver: Michael Schumacher (six wins)
Most successful team: Ferrari (14 wins)
2023 race recap: 1st: Max Verstappen (Oracle Red Bull Racing), 2nd: Sergio Pérez (Oracle Red Bull Racing), 3rd: Charles Leclerc (Ferrari)
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Inside the wide world of Red Bull Motorsports
The RB17 hypercar from Red Bull Advanced Technologies is here
© Getty Images/Red Bull Content Pool
It’s a true game-changer; the RB17 hypercar unveiled by Red Bull Advanced Technologies at the Goodwood Festival of Speed in England last weekend. It was a first look that wowed motoring fans at the venerable British event, and was part of a weekend-long celebration of 20 years of Oracle Red Bull Racing.
The incredible track car – effectively a two-seater F1 machine – is the brainchild of Oracle Red Bull Racing's Chief Technical Officer Adrian Newey, the most successful designer in Formula One history, and the team at Red Bull Advanced Technologies.
Why the RB17? It’s an unused F1 chassis name from 2021 when Max Verstappen raced to his first world title in the revamped RB16B from 2020, the RB17 name never being used after the disruption caused by the global pandemic. RB18 was then used by Verstappen and the team to win the drivers’ and constructors’ titles in 2022
Why the RB17 is so incredible? There are too many ways to describe in one paragraph, but this will set you straight…
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