Tag: Sports

Charles Leclerc will start Sunday’s Belgian Grand Prix from pole position; Max Verstappen topped Qualifying but starts sixth after a grid-penalty; Lewis Hamilton starts third for Mercedes; watch the race live on Sky Sports F1 at 2pm on Sunday, with build-up from 12:30pm

Pole-sitter Charles Leclerc says Ferrari have a “good chance of a great result” in Sunday’s Belgian Grand Prix but admits he is “not confident” of holding off the Red Bulls behind him.

Leclerc inherited pole position after finishing second in Friday’s Qualifying because Max Verstappen, who topped the timesheet, incurred a five-place grid penalty after exceeding his gearbox part allowance for the season.

Having taken victory in Saturday’s Sprint to extend his world championship lead to 118 points, Verstappen will start as favourite on Sunday despite his position of sixth on the grid.

Leclerc, who has endured a tough first half of the season after being Verstappen’s nearest challenger last year, is looking for a first win and just a third podium of his campaign.

Asked about his chances of victory, Leclerc said: “Not confident, especially with two Red Bull guys right behind.

“I think they’ve got a much better race car than we have.

“It’s great to be starting first and I think it gives us a good chance to have a great result, but to say that we’ll target the win, I think is probably a bit too optimistic.

“If there’s an opportunity for whatever reason, as always I’ll try to get it, but I believe it’s going to be difficult to try to keep those guys behind.”

Verstappen confident of repeating 2022 heroics

Verstappen is seeking to become just the second driver in F1 history to win eight successive races, while Red Bull can claim a record-extending 13th consecutive Grand Prix triumph.

It was around this point last season where Verstappen began to exhibit a dominance that he has almost totally maintained since, with a statement win coming at Spa last year as he won with ease from 14th on the grid.

While the Dutchman has never won from sixth on the grid, he is unsurprisingly confident of changing that.

Verstappen said. “Last year we started 14th and I think this year the car is better, so I’m still targeting to win the race for sure.”

Reflecting on his Sprint victory, Verstappen added: “The car was quick. We knew already over one lap that we were not bad, but also it seemed like in the race we were quite good on keeping the tyres alive. So hopefully we can do the same tomorrow if it’s dry.

“But tomorrow of course I’m starting a bit further back. I need to be careful to not have any damage on the car.

“As soon as I just have a clean lap one, I think from there onwards we can move forward.”

Hamilton hoping to ‘fight’ Leclerc, Perez

Lewis Hamilton, who has displayed encouraging pace in his upgraded Mercedes throughout the weekend, was another beneficiary of Verstappen’s demotion and will start from third behind the other Red Bull of Sergio Perez.

While the near-constantly changing conditions at Spa have made it difficult to assess the true dry pace of any team, Hamilton has been highly competitive.

The seven-time world champion finished fourth in the Sprint after overtaking Perez, but was later demoted to seventh by a five-second penalty for causing a collision with the Mexican.

Like Leclerc, Hamilton isn’t optimistic about keeping Verstappen behind him, the 38-year-old is hopeful of taking the “fight” to the two cars starting in front of him, along with holding off McLaren duo Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris.

“Our pace has generally been decent,” Hamilton said.

“Third tomorrow, I’ve got a Ferrari and Perez ahead so I’m hoping I’ll be able to fight those guys.

“At some point Max will come sailing by and I’ll just try to keep the McLarens behind.”

Belgian GP provisional starting grid

1) Charles Leclerc, Ferrari
2) Sergio Perez, Red Bull
3) Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes
4) Carlos Sainz, Ferrari
5) Oscar Piastri, McLaren
6) Max Verstappen, Red Bull
7) Lando Norris, McLaren
8) George Russell, Mercedes
9) Fernando Alonso, Aston Martin
10) Lance Stroll, Aston Martin

Sky Sports F1’s live Belgian GP schedule

Sunday July 30
7.25am: Formula 3 Feature Race
8.55am: Formula 2 Feature Race
12.30pm: Grand Prix Sunday – Belgian GP build-up
2pm: THE BELGIAN GRAND PRIX
4pm: Chequered Flag – Belgian GP reaction
5pm: Ted’s Notebook

Watch all sessions of the Sprint weekend at Spa live on Sky Sports F1. Stream the Belgian GP and more with NOW.

Lando Norris was outqualified by McLaren team-mate Oscar Piastri, but was happy to be seventh on Friday after damaging his floor in Q1; watch the Belgian GP Sprint Shootout at 11am on Saturday live on Sky Sports F1, followed by the Sprint at 3:30pm

Lando Norris has revealed he “completely destroyed his floor” in Q1 with his trip through the gravel, so was relieved to qualify seventh for the Belgian Grand Prix.

Norris went wide at Turn 16 in Q1 and his engineer initially reported front wing damage. However, the McLaren driver also damaged his floor as he found a way to reach Q2, then Q3.

The 23-year-old is looking to make it a hat-trick of podiums on Sunday at Spa-Francorchamps, after finishing second at Silverstone and the Hungaroring.

“I’m really happy. Frustrated I went off in Q1 and completely destroyed the floor, so I’m happy to have made it to Q3 and only a couple of tenths off what Oscar did,” Norris told Sky Sports F1.

“I think he did a good job, his middle sector was very strong. We’re very poor in the straights, so there’s wins and losses. I’m happy, it could have been a lot worse, I could have been out in Q1, so I’ll take P7.

“The whole thing [floor damage]. It can be repaired, I hope. Normally you can repair it. Tape is not going to help, we tried to tape it. [The mechanics] did a good job on getting as much as they can fixed but too much to be competitive today.

“I don’t think we’re bad. If we had a car that was together and I didn’t make a mistake in Q1, I think we could have had a slightly better day. We weren’t miles off the guys ahead but I’m happy I got what I did out of it. It’s frustrating because it was pretty close between us and some of the others, but hopefully tomorrow we can turn it into a better result.”

Team-mate Oscar Piastri qualified sixth and added: “I felt very comfortable when the conditions were really tricky like that. I think in some ways the track drying up and becoming closer to normal was a hindrance for me.

“I’ve not done a dry lap around here in an F1 car, so for braking points and stuff like that when offline is wet you never want to brake too late and that’s where I left quite a bit on the table, unfortunately.”

Hamilton: We have to understand one second loss in middle sector

Lewis Hamilton qualified fourth, but will start third on Sunday due to Max Verstappen’s five-grid place penalty for a fifth gearbox.

Mercedes elected to send their cars out early in each segment of Qualifying and Hamilton says it was a “big guessing game” as the track dried up.

“It was definitely very hectic because it was consistently drying up. It was very slippery at the beginning, difficult to see,” said Hamilton.

“I was just maximising because you know every lap is going to be faster than the next lap. That’s why we were at the end of the pit lane early each session. The team did a great job in getting us out and quick turnarounds. I was head down, just maximining as much as I could.

“At the end, still a good chunk off Max – pretty impressive. But I’m really happy with the result I’ve got.”

Asked whether he can find more performance on Saturday, he added: “I have no idea. We will find out. It didn’t feel bad today. Generally, it has felt decent. It’s just the middle sector we are losing a second, so I have got to study it to figure out where that is, if there is any way with the package we have, whether we can close that.

“We obviously need to work on making some improvements. I will give it everything I’ve got tomorrow and hopefully the next Qualifying will be as good.”

Russell confused by Qualifying struggles

George Russell was on the backfoot for the majority of Qualifying at Spa and ended up eighth, 0.718s behind Hamilton and 1.6s adrift of Verstappen.

Russell used a bigger rear wing than Hamilton, which appeared to be the wrong choice as he lost a lot of time on the straights as the track dried out.

“It was a dynamic session but just been off the pace to be honest. I struggled in that session, I don’t really know why. I normally love those transitional sessions but with that we were nowhere,” he said.

“A bit to try and review and understand. We know qualifying isn’t everything around here but definitely would’ve liked to be higher up the order.

“You’d always love to do more laps to understand the car. It didn’t feel too bad, just slow overall so a bit to try and understand. P8 is not a horrendous place to start on Sunday but definitely would’ve liked to be higher up the order.”

Sky Sports F1’s live Belgian GP schedule

Saturday July 29
8.55am: Formula 3 Sprint Race
10.30am: Belgian GP Sprint Shootout build-up
11am: Belgian GP Sprint Shootout
12.40pm: Formula 2 Sprint Race
2.30pm: Belgian GP Sprint build-up
3.30pm: BELGIAN GP SPRINT
5pm: Ted’s Sprint Notebook

Sunday July 30
7.25am: Formula 3 Feature Race
8.55am: Formula 2 Feature Race
12.30pm: Grand Prix Sunday – Belgian GP build-up
2pm: THE BELGIAN GRAND PRIX
4pm: Chequered Flag – Belgian GP reaction
5pm: Ted’s Notebook

Watch all sessions of the Sprint weekend at Spa live on Sky Sports F1. Stream the Belgian GP and more with NOW.

Max Verstappen has brushed off his “emotional” team radio row with race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase during Belgian GP Qualifying, saying the pair always resolve their issues.

The world championship leader delivered a remarkable, expletive-laden rant on team radio after finishing 10th in the second part of qualifying, scraping through to the pole shootout only after Pierre Gasly was unable to improve enough to knock out the Red Bull as the last driver to cross the line.

Verstappen was clearly frustrated to be left so close to a shock early exit, venting his anger at his run plan…

Verstappen: “We should have just ******* pushed two laps in a row like I said.”

Lambiase: “But you are through Max.”

Verstappen: “I don’t give a f*** mate if I’m through in P10. It’s just s*** execution.”

Lambiase: “OK and then when the track was two seconds quicker for your final lap and you didn’t have any energy left, how would that have gone down? But you tell me what you want to do in Q3 and we will do it. Sets, fuel, run plan.”

Verstappen would later apologise on team radio after sealing P1 in Q3. He will start Sunday’s race from P6 as he serves a five-place grid penalty for exceeding his gearbox allowance, with Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc on pole.

Reflecting on the incident in the post-qualifying press conference, Verstappen said: “That happens sometimes, most of it is normally always blocked off.

“I think we can both be quite vocal or emotional, but we always solve it afterwards, so it’s all good.

“Honestly’ there’s no need for me to comment on that here, I will discuss it [run plans] with him.”

Verstappen: Red Bull ‘got lucky’

Heavy rain at Spa abated shortly before qualifying got under way following a 10-minute delay, meaning that by the second part of qualifying dry tyres were useable as the track dried out.

Verstappen found himself in the drop zone as the final laps played out and a poor middle sector saw him only improve to ninth in the timesheet. He would then be the next driver in danger when Leclerc lifted himself out of the elimination zone.

Gasly could not find enough time to knock out Verstappen, who then stormed to the fastest time in Q3, beating Leclerc by 0.820s.

“Q3 was good, the rest was all a bit hectic just trying to follow the track,” Verstappen said.

“It seemed quite difficult out there. At the end the most important is Q3 and we could really put it together. Really happy with that.

“It was slippery, you don’t want to risk too much but I was almost knocked out in Q2 so we were quite lucky there.

“That shows that it’s never that straightforward with these kind of things. Most of the time you get it right but sometimes you might miss out and we were lucky today.”

Leclerc pleased with improvement after driving style change

Following Verstappen’s grid drop, Leclerc will start from pole position on Sunday for the first time since April’s Azerbaijan GP.

The Ferrari driver was happy with his improved performance in the changing conditions, having suffered an early exit in similar conditions during qualifying at the Canadian GP and been only sixth in the damp Sprint Shootout during the Austrian GP weekend.

“I have quite an aggressive driving style and in those conditions it just didn’t work for me,” Leclerc said.

“I was making too many mistakes and difficult to build from a solid base, so I changed a little bit the approach and it seems to be better.

“It’s very difficult to give details, because it’s very slight changes in terms of driving style, but that makes a big difference at the end.

“As I said, I have a very aggressive driving style whether it’s in full wet or full dry, which pays off in those two conditions, but whenever I’m in between with slick tyres then it doesn’t really pay off.

“I tried different directions also with tools, so the way the car is set up and the way I can change it from one corner to the other, and this gave me much more confidence straight away, and the lap time came better.”

Given the gap he was behind Verstappen in the final times, Leclerc is not convinced he will be able to convert pole to a first win of the season.

Asked if he can hold position on Sunday, Leclerc replied: “”Let’s be realistic, I don’t think so.

“Red Bull are too quick, even if Max has a five-place grid penalty I expect him to catch up, we have Checo right next to us which will be also very difficult to keep behind.

“It’s going to be difficult, if there is an opportunity I will try to keep it as always, but it looks difficult on paper.”

Perez seals best starting position since Miami

Lining up alongside Leclerc on the front row will be Sergio Perez in the other Red Bull after the Mexican secured his best starting position for a Grand Prix since the Miami race at the beginning of May.

“We are in a good position for Sunday,” Perez said.

“It’s always good to be up here and have a good place for the race, but all that matters is what we do on Sundays, so my main objective is to get as high up as possible on Sunday.”

Sky Sports F1’s live Belgian GP schedule

Saturday July 29
8.55am: Formula 3 Sprint Race
10.30am: Belgian GP Sprint Shootout build-up
11am: Belgian GP Sprint Shootout
12.40pm: Formula 2 Sprint Race
2.30pm: Belgian GP Sprint build-up
3.30pm: BELGIAN GP SPRINT
5pm: Ted’s Sprint Notebook

Sunday July 30
7.25am: Formula 3 Feature Race
8.55am: Formula 2 Feature Race
12.30pm: Grand Prix Sunday – Belgian GP build-up
2pm: THE BELGIAN GRAND PRIX
4pm: Chequered Flag – Belgian GP reaction
5pm: Ted’s Notebook

Watch all sessions of the Sprint weekend at Spa live on Sky Sports F1. Stream the Belgian GP and more with NOW.

2022 was the first season in Lewis Hamilton’s career in which he failed to win a race; the Mercedes driver claimed his first pole since December 2021 at last weekend’s Hungarian GP; It’s a Sprint weekend! Watch Belgian GP Qualifying at 4pm on Friday live on Sky Sports F1

Lewis Hamilton said changes to Mercedes’ 2023 car are helping him rediscover his full “potential” as he addressed whether self-doubt has impacted him amid the team’s recent struggles.

The 2022 season was the first in Hamilton’s career in which he failed to win a race, as Mercedes were caught out by the introduction of new design regulations and left to watch Red Bull and Max Verstappen dominate.

Hamilton was also beaten by his team-mate over the course of a full season for just the third time in his career, while George Russell also claimed Mercedes’ only win of the campaign in his first year with the Silver Arrows.

Despite Mercedes remaining off Red Bull’s stunning pace in 2023, Hamilton has produced a strong run of form, which was capped with a first pole position since December 2021 at last weekend’s Hungarian Grand Prix.

Asked whether he had experienced any doubts about being able to recapture his best form during the lean run, Hamilton said: “I think that’s a bit of a personal question and I probably don’t want to go too much into that.

“Last year was difficult with the car we’ve had, and particularly just not finding myself gelling with the car that we had built, and therefore just not being able to live at the potential that I know I’m able to compete at.

“When you’re hindered with the balance, and that’s similar for so many drivers.”

After Mercedes started 2023 in similarly poor form to the preceding campaign, Hamilton publicly criticised his team for failing to heed his guidance on development direction.

Major changes followed as James Allison returned as technical director in place of Mike Elliott, while the team abandoned the zero-sidepod concept they had pursued since the start of 2022.

There have been positive results for Hamilton following the introduction of major upgrades to the W14, with the Brit finishing in the top four in five of the six Grands Prix since.

“The goal is to steer the direction of the development so that you can eventually show your potential and what you’re capable of,” Hamilton said on Thursday ahead of this weekend’s Belgian Grand Prix.

“Through really hard work I think we’re starting to get there, and I think you’ve started to see that, particularly from Monaco onwards, I’ve had much more consistent performances, and then the pole position we had in the last race, really felt very reminiscent of the olden days for me.

“So that gives me hope that we are going in the right direction, hopefully the same for our team.”

‘Hungary pole was overwhelming and emotional’

Hamilton says the record-extending 104th pole of his career, which came in dramatic circumstances as he edged Verstappen by three thousandths of a second, was “overwhelming” and “emotional” for him.

“On the Saturday night, I think it was overwhelming, it was very emotional. It was an emotional feeling to finally be back there,” he said.

“I called my dad, had a great conversation with my dad. Then after that, I stayed until late, just preparing for the next day.”

A nightmare start, which saw Hamilton overtaken by Verstappen, along with McLaren duo Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris, scuppered his hopes of pulling off an unlikely victory.

Hamilton said: “I was told from the team, ‘look, we’re not fighting for the win here because they’re just too quick, unfortunately.’

“You can’t beat a car that’s over half a second faster per lap in race pace, and from practice that’s how it was.

“So in my mind I was trying to figure out how to pull a rabbit out the hat and prove them wrong, obviously.

“And then sitting on the grid, it felt right, it felt back to where I’d been for a long time in my career, so it felt great to be up there, to be leading the formation lap.

“It didn’t go how I planned, but stuff happens… Live to fight another day.”

Sky Sports F1’s live Belgian GP schedule

Thursday July 27
2pm: Drivers’ Press Conference

Friday July 28
8.55am: Formula 3 Practice
10am: Formula 2 Practice
12pm: Belgian GP Practice One (session starts 12.30pm)
1.55pm: Formula 3 Qualifying
2.50pm: Formula 2 Qualifying
3.35pm: Belgian GP Qualifying build-up
4pm: Belgian GP Qualifying
6pm: Ted’s Qualifying Notebook

Saturday July 29
8.55am: Formula 3 Sprint Race
10.30am: Belgian GP Sprint Shootout build-up
11am: Belgian GP Sprint Shootout
12.40pm: Formula 2 Sprint Race
2.30pm: Belgian GP Sprint build-up
3.30pm: BELGIAN GP SPRINT
5pm: Ted’s Sprint Notebook

Sunday July 30
7.25am: Formula 3 Feature Race
8.55am: Formula 2 Feature Race
12.30pm: Grand Prix Sunday – Belgian GP build-up
2pm: THE BELGIAN GRAND PRIX
4pm: Chequered Flag – Belgian GP reaction
5pm: Ted’s Notebook

Next up is the Belgian GP, the final race before F1’s summer break – watch all sessions of the Sprint weekend live on Sky Sports F1 from July 28-30. Stream the Belgian GP and more with NOW.

Lewis Hamilton feels he has a “fighting chance” of ending Max Verstappen’s winning streak in Sunday’s Hungarian GP with F1 records on the line for the Mercedes driver and Red Bull.

Hamilton produced a brilliant final lap in qualifying to snatch pole away from Verstappen by just 0.003s. In doing so, the seven-time world champion became the first F1 driver to claim nine pole positions at a single track, while it was his 104th overall and first since the 2021 Saudi Arabian GP.

Hamilton has not tasted victory in F1 since that December 2021 race, but a win on Sunday would also see the 38-year-old become the first driver to win a single Grand Prix nine times.

Meanwhile Red Bull are seeking to become the first F1 team to win 12 consecutive races, having equalled McLaren’s 35-year-old record of 11 last time out at Silverstone.

Assessing his chances of ending his victory drought, Hamilton said: “We tend to have decent race pace. Max’s race pace [in Friday practice] was I think quite extraordinary, I think they were quite a bit quicker than us.

“But if there’s a way to hold position, then maybe there’s a fighting chance for us, but just even being up there in the top three, we’re going to have a great race – that’s for sure.

“I’m as keen [to win] as I was when I won my first GP in 2007 in Montreal.”

Hamilton added to Sky Sports F1: “They (Red Bull) have slowed down quite a bit from the beginning of the year. Look at DRS, they don’t have the advantage they used to have – where did that go?

“They had an upgrade so we would have expected them to take a nice step, we heard it was around two tenths or something like that.

“For them to not extract that for Qualifying is interesting. But I think in the race they are still the quickest. They will be very hard to beat.”

Verstappen: It doesn’t matter where we start

Verstappen had initially looked set to claim a sixth successive pole position as he topped Q3 after the first runs but was unable to improve on his next lap which opened the door for Hamilton.

The Dutchman was unhappy with the balance of his car throughout qualifying but remains confident of extending his and Red Bull’s winning streak if he feels more comfortable on Sunday, saying it does not matter where he is starting from.

“Normally when Mercedes are quick on a Saturday, they are also strong on a Sunday because their car is normally also good on tyres,” said Verstappen, who won last year’s Hungarian GP after starting 10th.

“But from our side, if you have the pace, it honestly doesn’t really matter where you start, if it’s P10 or P2.

“I’m happy that I start P2 because it’s definitely a lot easier in the beginning of the race to stay out of trouble normally.

“If the car feels good, if we have good balance, good tyre deg, then we have a chance of course to win.

“I don’t expect it to be a very straightforward race. I expect us to be quick, but around here it’s not easy to pass, especially when you are quite closely matched in pace.”

What will happen into Turn One?

Mercedes’ struggles for outright pace since F1’s technical revolution at the start of last year means Sunday will be the first time Hamilton and Verstappen line up together on the front row of the grid since their 2021 world championship decider in Abu Dhabi.

Hamilton and Verstappen’s on-track battles have on several occasions resulted in contact between the pair which adds greater intrigue to the first lap at a circuit where overtaking can be difficult.

“It will come down to the start and we know there’s a bit of history between those two. As long as they make it through the first couple of turns, we should have a good motor race,” Red Bull team principal Christian Horner told Sky Sports F1.

“Track position here is a bit like Monaco without the barriers. Once you have track position it’s hard to overtake here so it comes down to strategy.”

Mercedes boss Toto Wolff said of the upcoming opening lap battle: “I think [it will be] good fun. None of them has something to risk or to lose.

“They will be for sure racing each other at the beginning and it’s great. Lewis I’m sure will give it everything he has to put up a great fight.

“But we also need to stay realistic. [Red Bull] were just in a league of their own on the long runs [Saturday] morning and also [Friday].

“But it’s motor racing, everything can be different [on Sunday]. Maybe we have a car and a driver in the best state of mind to fight against them, and the McLarens who were strong at Silverstone.”

Norris ready to capitalise on any slip-ups

Waiting to pounce on any errors or aggro from Hamilton and Verstappen will be the McLaren pair of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri who line up third and fourth on the grid respectively.

McLaren’s upgraded MCL60 has continued to show good form at the Hungaroring despite Norris’ fears heading into the weekend that the team would be unable to be as competitive as they were at Silverstone where he finished P2 and Piastri P4.

Norris admits it will be a stern test to get past the Mercedes and Red Bull but is ready to capitalise on any mistakes.

“Mercedes are very good starters, Lewis included, so to get them off the line is going to be a challenge,” Norris said.

“I think they’re consistently one of the best started on the grid, so to get a jump on him is going to be difficult.

“If Max can do what he did at Silverstone, that would be wonderful. It changes every weekend, I just need to focus on getting a good start myself, focus on my own job, and we’ll see from there.

“Mercedes are always good in the long run. With them, it’s going to be tricky and with Max as well, I think he just wasn’t the happiest today. So if he gets in a better rhythm, he might just return to his usual form and make everyone look silly a bit.

“But we’re in a good place with good pace today. I think the long run pace is pretty strong, so if I can get a couple of positions off the line, then that’s ideal.”

Sky Sports F1’s live Hungarian GP schedule

Sunday July 23
7:20am: F3 Feature Race
9am: F2 Feature Race
11am: Porsche Supercup
12:30pm: Grand Prix Sunday – Hungarian GP build-up
1:30pm: F1 Juniors: Hungarian Grand Prix (Sky Sports Mix and Sky Showcase)
2pm: The HUNGARIAN GRAND PRIX
4pm: Chequered Flag: British GP reaction
5pm: Ted’s Notebook

Daniel Ricciardo’s return and first F1 Juniors broadcast headline the Hungarian Grand Prix! Watch all the action live on Sky Sports F1 this weekend. Stream the Hungarian GP and more with NOW for £21 a month.

Red Bull are in a league of their own in Formula 1 2023, winning race after race as their rivals fight just to get within touching distance of a dominant Max Verstappen.

Verstappen has won the last six F1 events, leading 248 consecutive laps from the latter stages of the Miami Grand Prix in May to the middle of the Austrian Grand Prix in July.

Red Bull now have the opportunity at Sunday’s Hungarian Grand Prix to set a new record of 12 consecutive victories after equalling McLaren’s mark of 11 wins on the spin, which has stood since 1988, with the Dutchman’s success at Silverstone. McLaren failed to win only one race that season, something which would be extraordinary if Red Bull can do the same in 2023.

It is a record that shows how dominant the RB19 has been, particularly in the hands of Verstappen, and as Sky Sports’ F1 Martin Brundle alludes to – you have to admire what all the engineers and people behind the scenes at Milton Keynes have created, which was the case with Michael Schumacher at Ferrari and Lewis Hamilton at Mercedes.

F1 has a habit, though, of throwing up some chaos just when you are not expecting it. That is why Mercedes were narrowly denied matching McLaren’s feat themselves in 2014, 2015 and 2016 during their most dominant years.

How did Mercedes miss out on consecutive wins record?

Reliability, incidents or clashes between Hamilton and Nico Rosberg were the main reasons Mercedes did not win every race from 2014 to 2016. On two occasions, Mercedes won 10 races in a row, but never the elusive 11.

Their first non-win came at the 2014 Canadian Grand Prix in June as both Silver Arrows drivers had MGU-K failures. Hamilton retired while Rosberg tried to limp home to victory, only for Daniel Ricciardo to come flying by with three laps to go. Ricciardo went on to win two more races that year in Hungary and Belgium.

In 2015, Sebastian Vettel produced a stunning drive in the heat of Malaysia and again took great wins in Hungary and Singapore as Mercedes were vulnerable on the twistier circuits.

A year later, Verstappen capitalised on the famous Hamilton and Rosberg collision in Barcelona to win on his Red Bull debut, while Hamilton’s engine failure in Malaysia handed victory to Ricciardo later that year.

It was often Red Bull that capitalised on Mercedes’ problems during their dominance, so will there be a role reversal in Budapest to stop Red Bull from making history?

Mercedes cautious about Hungary hopes

The Hungaroring is one of Hamilton’s best tracks as he has won there eight times. He took his first Mercedes victory in 2013 in Budapest and thrives in the flowing middle sector, keeping enough tyre performance for the end of the lap when things slow down and more time can be gained.

Mercedes brought a new front wing to Silverstone but it did not provide too much performance as Hamilton was largely on the podium thanks to the timing of the Safety Car for Kevin Magnussen’s stricken Haas.

George Russell took a shock maiden pole position 12 months ago in Budapest, another surprise moment in the history of the Hungaroring, but Toto Wolff is playing down expectations.

“The order is fluctuating almost every weekend. We need to keep adding performance if we are to close the gap to the front and fight for victories,” said Wolff.

“Several teams have made big gains recently. This has brought some into the fight with us, especially McLaren. It has been impressive and gives us encouragement that we can also continue to find gains. We relish that challenge and will bring our own steps in due course.

“The Hungaroring is a circuit that is quite different in nature to Silverstone. It will be interesting to explore how our latest upgrades perform in the long-radius, slow-speed corners.

“We have good memories from Hungary last year, with George’s first pole position in F1 and a double podium for the team. This race also marks a decade since Lewis’ first win with us, so it’s a circuit full of good memories.

“Hopefully we can have another strong showing this time out. We want to build on the positive momentum from Silverstone and take the fight to our rivals.”

Aston Martin should be back on form

Aston Martin were very quiet at Silverstone and Spielberg as Fernando Alonso failed to finish on the podium in back-to-back races for the first time in 2023.

The team had a big upgrade package in Montreal, where Alonso finished second, but perhaps the track characteristics masked an update that simply did not work. It is not uncommon for an F1 team to bring new parts, only for them to not add performance, so it could be the case here with Aston Martin.

One of the AMR23’s strengths is the change of direction and its ability to ride kerbs, so they should fare better in Budapest.

The track temperature is set to be above 40 degrees Celsius this weekend, which will also help Aston Martin since they go well in the heat as it helps fire up the tyres, while the car is able to maintain good tyre wear.

Prior to Monaco, Alonso was asked by Sky Sports F1 whether he could win a race. He answered “I think so yes” and named “Monaco, Budapest and Singapore” as the three most likely tracks. A lot has happened since then of course but, at the very least, expect Aston Martin to be closer to the front.

“We are realists. We have always been, we have never been dreamers,” said team principal Mike Krack. “So we will look at the track, we will look at our car, how to set it up for that.

“If you look at the characteristic, it should play better into our car than other circuits that we have been to. Qualifying is key, especially in circuits where you struggle more to pass like the one that will come, although it is now a bit easier than it used to be.”

Ferrari form up in the air

It has been over a year since Ferrari last won in F1 and they should have taken victory in Hungary last year had they got their strategy right. Race pace and tyre wear remain a weakness, no matter what Ferrari bring to the car. That is not a simple fix.

The Ferrari operating window is very narrow, which explains a lot of their sudden loss in pace, and they did not seem to enjoy the new Pirelli tyre construction that was introduced at Silverstone.

We should not judge everything on one race of course, but the general sensitiveness of the Ferrari does make you think – will they need a mini reset to understand the new tyres. High tyre pressures were also a factor at the British Grand Prix and Pirelli have allocated more normal tyre pressures this weekend for Hungary.

Do not be surprised to see Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz fighting for pole position on Saturday, only to fall away on Sunday.

McLaren are ‘terrible in slow corners’ claims Norris

What a weekend McLaren had at Silverstone as Lando Norris took second and Oscar Piastri was unfortunate to miss out on the podium in fourth. Their upgrades have definitely paid off and they have more new parts coming to Budapest which is very exciting for the team.

In the high-speed corners, the McLaren was a match for Red Bull, but they were “poor” in the slow-speed turns according to Norris.

“I would say pretty terrible in the slow-speed corners, extremely difficult to drive. I feel if we’re getting excited and I accept that, but we’re going to go to a couple of tracks coming up where I’m sure people are going to be saying ‘what have you done now? Like, how has it got so bad all of a sudden’,” he said.

“So, we’ve improved a lot of things: tyre degradation, there’s always little things you try and do with tyre cooling and blah, blah, blah, but nothing big from that side. It’s just Silverstone allowed us to look after the tyres nicely, keep them in a good condition. Simple as that. So a lot of it is track-specific.

“I don’t want to get too excited. Good things have come from the upgrade but there’s still plenty of things which are a mile away from, say, competing in certain places with a Mercedes and as a whole package competing even with a Red Bull. So a lot more work to be done from both of those areas.”

Although Norris is not expecting the same podium result this Sunday, the new generation F1 cars produce so much downforce that what were slow-speed corners, are now medium or high-speed turns, so McLaren could still be in the hunt.

Red Bull will not have it easy

Without doubt Red Bull are still favourites and a perfectly-executed weekend from Verstappen will see him notch up his seventh consecutive win.

The history of Budapest and the potential of other teams, though, will keep Red Bull on their toes, especially in Qualifying which could be similarly thrilling to Monaco.

Just when you think a sport is becoming too predictable, one moment can make make you stand out of your seat, so do not miss the Hungarian Grand Prix as it is usually never easy for the driver who wins.

Sky Sports F1’s live Hungarian GP schedule

Thursday July 20
2pm: Drivers’ press conference

Friday July 21
8:55am: F3 Practice
10am: F2 Practice
12pm: Hungarian GP Practice One (session starts 12:30pm)
2pm: F3 Qualifying
2:45pm: F2 Qualifying
3:40pm: Hungarian GP Practice Two (session starts 4pm)
5:15pm: The F1 Show

Saturday July 22
8:45am: F3 Sprint
11:15am: Hungarian GP Practice Three (session starts 11:30am)
1:10pm: F2 Sprint
2:15pm: Hungarian GP Qualifying build-up (Sky Showcase)
3pm: HUNGARIAN GP QUALIFYING (Sky Showcase)
5pm: Ted’s Qualifying Notebook

Sunday July 23
7:20am: F3 Feature Race
9am: F2 Feature Race
11am: Porsche Supercup
12:30pm: Grand Prix Sunday – Hungarian GP build-up
1:30pm: F1 Juniors: Hungarian Grand Prix (Sky Sports Mix and Sky Showcase)
2pm: The HUNGARIAN GRAND PRIX
4pm: Chequered Flag: British GP reaction
5pm: Ted’s Notebook

Daniel Ricciardo’s return and first F1 Juniors broadcast headline the Hungarian Grand Prix! Watch all the action live on Sky Sports F1 from July 21-23. Get Sky Sports