Why Verstappen didn’t get through the midfield the way Red Bull expected: Race data

Max Verstappen started a lowly eighth for the Hungarian Grand prix but it was clear Red Bull expected he would swiftly get up among the front-running drivers.

He lost one place at the start to his former team mate Liam Lawson. But the Racing Bulls driver offered little resistance when Verstappen came by again on the next lap.

Verstappen picked off Lance Stroll shortly afterwards, too. His race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase urged him to press on and pass the two cars ahead of Gabriel Bortoleto and Fernando Alonso.

“Nice job, Max,” Lambiase urged. “Let’s get through these ASAP.”

But Red Bull’s hopes were dashed: Verstappen made no further progress in this stint. While he caught Stroll napping at turn six, Bortoleto was wise to his line of attack and covered the inside line when Verstappen had a look. The Red Bull appeared to have good initial grip early in the stint but faded within a few laps.

Ahead of them, Alonso was backing up a large part of the field. As they slipped back from him, Bortoleto dropped out of DRS range of Alonso, but Verstappen couldn’t get close enough to use his DRS to pass the Sauber. This was a remarkable development given Red Bull were winning races earlier this year while Sauber were struggling to score.

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Alonso had pace in hand, which he revealed when he suddenly increased his pace by over six tenths of a second from lap 15. Bortoleto couldn’t match that and Verstappen was slower still, so he headed for the pits on lap 17 to switch to the harder tyres. This effectively committed the Red Bull driver to a two-stop strategy (though Esteban Ocon pitted three laps earlier and ran to the end).

Those he had been racing with, however, remained patient. Alonso, Bortoleto, Stroll and Lawson all made their sole pit stops between laps 36 and 40.

That propelled Verstappen ahead of them, temporarily as high as fifth. But Red Bull did not want to risk the kind of late tyre degradation Ocon later suffered. They may have also considered the fact Verstappen was under investigation for an incident with Lewis Hamilton, and therefore finishing the race fifth with four cars within five seconds of them might be no better than finishing ninth on the road.

They brought Verstappen in for a second pit stop with 22 laps to go. But although he was well over a second faster than Lawson, and the Racing Bulls driver wasn’t initially close enough to Lance Stroll ahead to use DRS, Verstappen couldn’t repass his former team mate.

So, most unusually, Verstappen finished a place lower than he started and two places lower than he’d been on lap two. It must have been especially satisfying for the driver immediately ahead of him, Lawson, whose career prospects suffered a huge blow when Red Bull dropped him after just two appearances as Verstappen’s team mate at the beginning of the year.

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2025 Hungarian Grand Prix lap chart

The positions of each driver on every lap. Click name to highlight, right-click to reset. Toggle drivers using controls below:

2025 Hungarian Grand Prix race chart

The gaps between each driver on every lap compared to the leader’s average lap time. Very large gaps omitted. Scroll to zoom, drag to pan and right-click to reset. Toggle drivers using controls below:

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2025 Hungarian Grand Prix lap times

All the lap times by the drivers (in seconds, very slow laps excluded). Scroll to zoom, drag to pan and toggle drivers using the control below:

2025 Hungarian Grand Prix fastest laps

Each driver’s fastest lap:

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2025 Hungarian Grand Prix tyre strategies

The tyre strategies for each driver:

2025 Hungarian Grand Prix pit stop times

How long each driver’s pit stops took:

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2025 Hungarian Grand Prix

• 2025 Hungarian Grand Prix weekend F1 driver ratings
• Why Verstappen didn’t get through the midfield the way Red Bull expected: Race data
• Hamilton offers little explanation for struggle to 12th place in Hungary
• Norris doubted one-stop strategy would work ‘for most of the second stint’
• Mekies apologises to Verstappen after he finishes 72 seconds behind in Hungary

Browse all 2025 Hungarian Grand Prix articles