Max Verstappen credited Red Bull’s “reactive” approach to strategy for his victory in a “crazy” Hungarian Grand Prix.
The reigning world champion came through from 10th on the grid to claim the win in Budapest, the lowest starting position he has won from in Formula 1.
And Verstappen clearly enjoyed every moment of it, as he opened up a massive 80-point lead in the Drivers’ Championship.
“It was a crazy race and of course very happy that we won it,” he said in parc ferme. “I was battling a lot of guys so it was a lot of fun out there.”
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With the Hungaroring historically a difficult circuit to overtake from, Verstappen admitted victory wasn’t on his mind before the start.
“I was of course hoping that I could get close to a podium, but [it was] very tricky conditions out there,” he said.
“I think we had a really good strategy. We were really reactive and always pitting at the right time. I think we had some good out laps, and then at the end, even with a 360, we won the race.”
As Max noted, there was a brief scare as he spun exiting Turn 13 shortly after making his first overtake on Charles Leclerc.
“I was struggling a bit with the shifts and the clutch,” he explained later. “We had to change a few things around to not basically burn the clutch and that cost a bit of performance.
“I think that caught me out of that corner,” he suggested. “But luckily I could do a 360, so I lost one spot.”
Just Max pulling a 360° mid-race ?#HungarianGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/eWVDOf407Y
— Formula 1 (@F1) July 31, 2022
With Red Bull starting 10th and 11th, Verstappen also revealed the team almost fell into the trap that Ferrari did with Leclerc during the race.
“I went to the grid on soft tyres and I was already struggling for grip, so I was like: ‘no way we’re gonna start on the hard,” he explained.
“It’s also credit to the team because we, of course, plan the strategy around the hard tyre, and then we are like okay, we’re switching it to a soft.
“I’m very happy that we did because the hard tyre it was really, really tough and you could see that with Charles, he was sliding around a lot.”