Verstappen wins from 10th on the grid

Max Verstappen made it back-to-back race wins after taking victory at the Hungarian Grand Prix, having started the race from 10th on the grid.

He made his way through the field, while both Mercedes cars were on the podium for the second race in a row, as Lewis Hamilton came home ahead of George Russell.

Drops of rain started to fall just before the start of the race, but it wasn’t enough to wet the track surface, with all drivers starting the race on dry tyres.

There was an early virtual safety car when Alex Albon made contact with an Aston Martin on the opening lap, leaving his front wing shattered across the track.

After a disappointing qualifying for Red Bull, Verstappen and Perez started to make progress through the field, with the championship leader moving up to fifth before reporting a lack of power to his team.

Russell was the first of the front runners to pit, coming in from the lead on lap 17, with Verstappen, now back up to full speed, also stopping.

Ferrari brought Sainz in on the following lap in a bid to overcut the Mercedes, but a slow stop from the Ferrari crew ensured Russell remained ahead.

Leclerc stayed out several laps longer, and managed to rejoin ahead of his teammate when he stopped, and closed in on Russell as he looked to take the lead.

Further down the order, the Alpine’s battled as Esteban Ocon came out of the pits level with teammate Fernando Alonso, but Daniel Ricciardo managed to pass both through the same corner to jump up two places.

Leclerc’s pressure on Russell at the front of the field paid off on lap 31 when he outbraked the Mercedes driver, before quickly opening up a 1.5s lead.

Drops of rain started to fall in the second half of the race, but Verstappen stopped for new medium tyres, forcing Russell and Leclerc to stop on the next lap in a bid to avoid the undercut. Leclerc retained the lead, but changed onto hard tyres, but Russell missed out.

Verstappen quickly closed up to Leclerc and passed the Ferrari with ease, but his advantage was shortlived as he spun a few corners later, dropping him back behind the Ferrari, and leaving Russell right behind the reigning champion.

The Red Bull driver recovered well though, soon reclosing the gap to Leclerc before pulling off another overtake to move up to third, Sainz and Hamilton ahead yet to stop.

A slow stop from the Ferrari team meant Sainz rejoined the track well behind Russell, albeit on much newer tyres, while Hamilton stopped with just 19 laps remaining to rejoin in fifth, but with the newest tyres in the top five.

Despite being on older tyres than Leclerc, Russell closed up to the back of the Ferrari, and looked to find a way ahead with the benefit of DRS. Leclerc defended well to keep the Mercedes behind for a few laps, but Russell eventually found a way through to move back up to second.

After losing out to Russell, Ferrari brought Leclerc into the pits for his third stop of the race, putting him onto the faster soft tyre, but dropping him down to sixth.

Ferrari’s hopes of a podium were dealt a further blow when Hamilton cruised past Sainz with eight laps to go, before the seven-time champion started to look ahead to his teammate. Russell fought to keep Hamilton behind, but Hamilton’s newer tyres made it a straight-forward pass for second.

Valtteri Bottas suffered a mechanical issue just a couple of laps before the end of the race, resulting in a virtual safety car, with the track cleared just before the final lap of the race, while the rain started to fall more heavily.

Provisional classification:

1 Max Verstappen (Red Bull)

2 Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes)

3. George Russell (Mercedes)

4. Carlos Sainz (Ferrari)

5. Sergio Perez (Red Bull)

6. Charles Leclerc (Ferrari)

7. Lando Norris (McLaren)

8. Fernando Alonso (Alpine)

9. Esteban Ocon (Alpine)

10. Sebastian Vettel (Aston Martin)

11. Lance Stroll (Aston Martin)

12. Pierre Gasly (AlphaTauri)

13. Guanyu Zhou (Alfa Romeo)

14. Mick Schumacher (Haas)

15. Daniel Ricciardo (McLaren)

16. Alex Albon (Williams)

17. Kevin Magnussen (Haas)

18. Nicholas Latifi (Williams)

19. Yuki Tsunoda (AlphaTauri)

DNF:

Valtteri Bottas (Alfa Romeo)