Which Formula 1 driver made the most of the Hungarian Grand Prix weekend?
It’s time to give your verdict on which driver did the best with the equipment at their disposal over the last three days.
Review how each driver got on below and vote for who impressed you the most at Hungaroring.
Driver performance summary
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Vote for your driver of the weekend
Which driver do you think did the best job throughout the race weekend?
Who got the most out of their car in qualifying and the race? Who put their team mate in the shade?
Cast your vote below and explain why you chose the driver you picked in the comments.
Who was the best driver of the 2022 Hungarian Grand Prix?
- No opinion (0%)
- Kevin Magnussen (0%)
- Mick Schumacher (0%)
- Nicholas Latifi (1%)
- Alexander Albon (0%)
- Guanyu Zhou (0%)
- Valtteri Bottas (0%)
- Sebastian Vettel (0%)
- Lance Stroll (0%)
- Yuki Tsunoda (0%)
- Pierre Gasly (0%)
- Fernando Alonso (0%)
- Esteban Ocon (1%)
- Daniel Ricciardo (0%)
- Lando Norris (2%)
- Carlos Sainz Jnr (0%)
- Charles Leclerc (2%)
- Sergio Perez (0%)
- Max Verstappen (53%)
- George Russell (8%)
- Lewis Hamilton (33%)
Total Voters: 175
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When this poll is closed the result will be displayed instead of the voting form.
2022 Hungarian Grand Prix
- How many victory chances did Hamilton have in his first winless F1 season?
- Aston Martin expect rivals will copy novel rear wing by Singapore GP
- Transcript: Why Ferrari told Leclerc ‘the hard is worse than expected’ but still used it
- What made Verstappen’s 10th-to-first win in Hungary a rare achievement
- Gasly pleased FIA is considering “different options” for track limits policing in 2023
Debates and polls
- Did the stewards give Verstappen the correct penalties for latest Norris incidents?
- How many feeds do you use to watch Formula 1 live?
- Is Mohammed Ben Sulayem doing a good job for F1 as FIA president?
- Five years on, should F1 scrap, keep or tweak the fastest lap point?
- Should Sainz and Perez have avoided penalties for their Azerbaijan GP crash?
slowmo (@slowmo)
31st July 2022, 23:34
Voted Russell, nailed a stunning lap in qualifying and did the best he could with the strategy and car he had.
André
31st July 2022, 23:41
I’d vote Hamilton. Finished P2 from P7 in the second best car, ahead of his teammate who started from pole. Verstappen did great to win from P10, but his car was a clear step ahead from the Mercs. Max could cruise in management mode once he was in the lead.
Ajaxn
31st July 2022, 23:50
Ordinarily i’d vote Hamilton, but for this race it has to go to Verstappen.
Ok he was on a new engine which was always going to go that bit faster. Even so verstappen had to make it happen on a track which isn’t very easy to overtake on. So yeah for coming from 10th to 1st, and then doing so by some margin, i’d give my vote to Verstappen. Besides which their strategy call had everyone else on the back foot dancing to their tune. (if you can dance on the back foot :)
slowmo (@slowmo)
1st August 2022, 9:32
It’s a tough one because Hamilton and Verstappen clearly didn’t get everything from their car in qualifying albeit not their fault where as Russell really did maximise qualifying above and beyond what that car was capable of imo. It’s irrelevant anyway as most people disagree with my assessment of Russell being the best overall for the weekend which is fine. I think taking qualifying into account I’d still rate it Russell, Verstappen, Hamilton with a mention for Norris.
Sensord4notbeingafanboi (@peartree)
1st August 2022, 12:41
I went for Charles for managing not to explode. It was a typical Lewis weekend, his car is set up for tyres, he looked from lap 10 set for the podium, patient and on the most logical strategy, never jumped the gun, made a couple mistakes but overall he quietly managed to cycle the stints ahead of everyone but Max who had a difficult race but managed to keep everything together.
slowmo (@slowmo)
1st August 2022, 13:19
“I went for Charles for managing not to explode.”
That did give me a chuckle.
PlosslF1 (@f1-ploss)
31st July 2022, 23:46
DOTW- Russell
DOTD- Hamilton
Looking for a new Job on Monday- Binotto
Ajaxn
31st July 2022, 23:53
Russell on a one stop needlessly burn out his tire in his tussell with the Ferrari who was always going to pass him. It was painful to watch him defend his position on the track especially when he knew he was on a one stop strategy, he should have been saving his tires. His failure to do so cost him that 2nd place.
faulty (@faulty)
1st August 2022, 0:26
Spot on. Russel shouldn’t have been passed by Hamilton.
Verstappen first lap in Q3 was dismal, also, he was spun by a gust of wind that Leclerc was able to navigate, so no, there’s no way I’d vote him DOTW.
MacLeod (@macleod)
1st August 2022, 9:05
spin in Q3? you mean missing turn 2 of locking his tyre? after that his engine stopped helping.
It was a Clear Max with Lewis second from 10 to 1 is beter then 7 to 2 and overtaking Charles twice.
RomTrain (@romtrain)
1st August 2022, 21:43
not in Q3. His clumsy spin was where he lost the lead in the race.
David (@djarvis)
31st July 2022, 23:51
Was a tough choice between Max and Lewis. Their race pace today was brilliant.
petebaldwin (@)
31st July 2022, 23:54
Very difficult to split Hamilton and Max. Both had tough jobs on their hands due to issues in quali but both did everything almost perfectly to finish 1st and 2nd. Max’s overtakes on the Alpines quickly kept him in contention, the tyre management to make sure he didn’t take too much out when he was trying to undercut and pass Leclerc (twice) etc… Hamilton was just relentlessly fast all race and made his moves stick when they needed to.
Russell did well but even with slightly poorer strategy, he didn’t quite have the same pace in the race that Hamilton could show. He’s in the top 3 though and all 3 of them are well clear from the 4th driver.
Applebook
1st August 2022, 0:31
I love how most voters just conveniently forgot that Max spun like a rookie on fresh tyres and without pressure, giving up the lead. That alone excludes you from “Driver of the Race.” He did not deserve to win this race. Charles did. Charles’ only mistake was listening to his team.
Jim from US (@jimfromus)
1st August 2022, 2:22
Do love how Race Fans posters have historical bias but this track that WAS historically difficult to pass on was very easy to pass on with a fast 2022 car. The 2022 cars can follow closer and the double DRS zone allows the faster car to make the initial pass and then sail away in the 2nd DRS zone. The only remarkable pass of the day was when RIC pounced on the fighting teammates.
Voted RUS has he nailed it in qualifying. Ferrari handed out the trophies today and everyone finished where their cars and strategies put them.
Jelle van der Meer (@)
1st August 2022, 2:31
Russell did great in qualifying but didn’t get all out of the car on race day which is most important. Russell had same tyre strategy as the winner Max and had free air early on in the race so best conditions to make the softs last.
Lewis like Max where impacted by mechanical issues in Q3 causing them to start lower down the grid, made a great start and drove well during the race but also lost valuable time and tyre life with locking up/going off twice.
Voted Max despite his 360 spin because he did by far the best job on Sunday, winning while starting 10th. He also had a great start but was more cautious into turn 1, than after turn 1 still overtook 3 cars during lap 1. He quickly got passed the Alpines without putting too much stress on his tyres. Key in winning was his blistering in and outlaps making the undercut work to great effect while keeping enough tyre life to run the laps needed to make his soft-medium-medium strategy work.
Emma (@emma)
1st August 2022, 5:49
Just to confirm – do you think the couple of lock-ups were a worse mistake than the 360 spin?
Jelle van der Meer (@)
1st August 2022, 6:16
360 spin or going off I think are the same.
Choose Max as he gained 9 places and made 1 mistake while Lewis gained 5 places and made 2 mistakes.
slowmo (@slowmo)
1st August 2022, 9:33
Not a chance is a spin equivalent to a minor lock up. Laughable
RomTrain (@romtrain)
1st August 2022, 21:41
Minor going offs are often not even shown in TV coverage. But your name easily reveals your orange bias.
Gigantor (@kbdavies)
1st August 2022, 3:21
This is hands down Lewis Hamilton. He was ahead of his teammate in both Q1 and Q2, and started 7th due to no fault of his own.
He made no mistakes, drove a mega second stint which saw him almost get into contention for the race win, and he beat his teammate who started on pole without any team orders.
Although Verstappen drove well to win the race from 10th, he was in the equally fastest car, and with a brand new engine. Given how Ferrari messed up their drivers strategies, he finished exactly where he should have finished.
And he also made a mistake that could have ended his race.
Russell did well to secure pole, but all the signs from both Q1 and Q2 say Lewis would have had the upper hand in Q3. Also, his teammate who started 7th beat him on merit.
There are only two drivers in contention for this DOTW, and Lewis Hamilton deserves it more than Max Verstappen.
Jelle van der Meer (@)
1st August 2022, 6:16
Lewis made at least 2 mistakes going off the track twice that was shown on TV
RomTrain (@romtrain)
1st August 2022, 21:39
Ver messed up his first Q3 run, spun in the race and only won due to superior car performance and Ferrari anti-strat. HAM by far extracted more of the maximum of his car.
Jere (@jerejj)
1st August 2022, 7:28
DOTW considering both QLF & race: RUS
DOTD: VER with an honorable mention to HAM
TFLB (@tflb)
1st August 2022, 9:24
Had to go with Verstappen, obviously his first lap in Q3 wasn’t great before his engine issues, and the spin in the race was potentially very costly, but you can’t argue with a convincing win from 10th on the grid. Hamilton and Russell also good, and Sainz deserves a mention too – he’s getting a lot of flak as he always seems to online, but looked better than Leclerc and only lost position due to a slow stop – and had another slow stop later as well. Either of the Ferraris could have won the race really, but the team’s strategy and execution brains had other ideas…
Sensord4notbeingafanboi (@peartree)
1st August 2022, 12:45
Sainz jnr was as usual a good .2 to .4 slower on race trim, as usual, he was that much slower than Max as teammates, Hulk, Lando by the end of their time together and Charles. Sainz jnr is not quick enough to drive for a top 3 team, perhaps not even a midfield team.
SjaakFoo (@sjaakfoo)
1st August 2022, 11:44
It’s honestly a coin toss between Lewis and Max. Max came from further back and was ahead on track, so I voted for him, but just as easily could have been Lewis. Both were phenomenal and once again showed why they are a level beyond the rest of the grid.
Little slip-ups like Max’s spin and a couple of off’s for Lewis aren’t much of anything. There was constant drizzles around the track, it had rained heavily all weekend so the track surface was very slippery to begin with, so the fact that you could see that not just with them, but with other drivers up and down the grid only makes sense. And in the end, they still finished first and second over anyone else, so that just emphasises how much stronger they were.
roadrunner (@roadrunner)
1st August 2022, 12:52
Difficult one. Hamilton drove brilliantly from 7th to 2nd made no (real) mistakes, passed his teammate who was on the arguably better strategy and was the only driver to make the soft tyre really work at the end of the race.
But on the other hand we had Verstappen who started even further behind and lead the race after just 40 laps. Plus he called the tyre strategy at the reconnaissance lap to the grip.
On the other hand he messed up what proved to be his one and only lap in Q3 and spon in the race.
Coinflip, but I went for Hamilton in the end because I hadn’t voted for him so far this season.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
1st August 2022, 19:00
I went for hamilton as well (and that’s 2 consecutive for someone labelled as anti-hamilton in the past!), there were imo 3 candidates, russell for the excellent quali, hamilton and verstappen for the excellent race, but verstappen made more significant mistakes, both in quali and the race, he had an issue on the 2nd quali run but he still had the 1st, and he had what in my mind was the clear best car here, russell also did a great defensive work but that ended up using his tyres a lot, and hamilton from what I understood had a drs fault in quali; leclerc could’ve had a great race too with a proper strategy.
Moi
1st August 2022, 19:23
Max was the clear standout driver. Hamilton also very strong, and with some people never voting for Max regardless of how well he drove I can see how he got a lot of votes.
That said I don’t see how Russel could still get so many votes after being outdriven by Hamilton so completely during the race.
Leclerc showed no leadership imo, and this is why he is not on the level of Max and Hamilton (yet). And failing to get F-lap on new reds and low fuel is beyond me; Max or Hamilton would have fought for that point.
Jelle van der Meer (@)
1st August 2022, 19:28
+1 agree, nicely worded
JB22
1st August 2022, 20:19
1. GOATstappen
2. Leclerc
3. Norris
4. Fraudmilton
5. Alonso
6. Russell
7. Vettel
8. Sainz
9. Schumacher
10. Stroll
PlosslF1 (@f1-ploss)
1st August 2022, 20:59
Lol, Leclerc second…Did you actually watch the race?
JB22
1st August 2022, 21:10
Leclerc would have won, but Ferrari is incompetent sadly.
RomTrain (@romtrain)
1st August 2022, 21:35
orange biased fan with spelling problems. Crashtappen did a nice race with the far superior car, and only made one clumsy mistake, still enough to win from P10 by a big margin. Lets see what ban of flexifloors will bring to his car advantage.
JB22
1st August 2022, 21:52
The Orange cult is better than CultLH in my books, just like how GOATstappen is a superior driver compared to Fraudmilton.
RomTrain (@romtrain)
1st August 2022, 23:09
how childish
sethje (@seth-space)
1st August 2022, 21:47
Easy one this race.. Verstappen.
Did excellent in Q1 and Q2 and suffered mechanical problems in Q3.
The 360 during the race was restored before i hurt him, so hardly a mistake and probably caused by the clutch problems he encountered.
Nice second place for a decent hamilton.
RomTrain (@romtrain)
2nd August 2022, 8:14
He suffered a mistake in Q3 first place. Only the 2nd shot was hindered by a technical problem. Same for HAM, who still managed P7, cause he didnt make a mistake in his first run.
Illusive (@illusive)
2nd August 2022, 19:23
Max is the only right answer.