Hungary gave us one last Grand Prix Sunday before the summer break, and what a race it was. The Hungaroring brought wheel-to-wheel racing and plenty of drama throughout the 70-lap classic.<\/p>\n
On the track, Lando Norris<\/a> returned to the top step of a Grand Prix podium for the first time as a World Champion. Max Verstappen<\/a> managed a brilliant final stint on soft tyres to take second ahead of a charging Kimi Antonelli<\/a>, who extended his title lead over Lewis Hamilton<\/a> and George Russell<\/a>. Oscar Piastri<\/a>‘s tangle with Carlos Sainz<\/a>, followed by gearbox failure scuppered any hopes of a podium.<\/p>\n However, those weren\u2019t the only stories from the Hungarian weekend \u2013 here are some moments you may have missed…<\/p>\n Hungary for love<\/p>\n Budapest can be an ideal getaway for couples thanks to its gorgeous landmarks and stunning scenery, and there will be plenty of proposals there for that very reason. But one couple had somewhere else in mind \u2013 the Haas<\/a> garage at the Hungaroring.<\/p>\n Esteban Ocon<\/a> was overjoyed to witness the couple’s special moment as the pair got engaged in front of the VF-26 \u2013 congratulations to them, we are sure their had a memorable weekend.<\/p>\n Hungary loves Hamilton<\/p>\n The Hungaroring is a favourite of Hamilton’s thanks to his nine pole positions and eight wins, and to mark the 40th anniversary of the Hungarian Grand Prix, there’s now a corner named after him.<\/p>\n Turn 2 is now known as \u2018Hamilton\u2019, with other corners named after legends like Ayrton Senna<\/a>, Nigel Mansell<\/a>, Jean Alesi, Michael Schumacher<\/a> and Nelson Piquet<\/a>.<\/p>\n The Briton was also asked to make a handprint in concrete which will be installed in the runoff area \u2014 a lovely touch and a permanent legacy for the seven-time World Champion in Hungary.<\/p>\n World Cup debrief<\/p>\n Shortly after last week’s Belgian Grand Prix, some drivers were in a rush to leave Spa and find their nearest screen to catch the World Cup final, with the stakes being high for three drivers in particular. Franco Colapinto<\/a>, Sainz and Fernando Alonso<\/a> had skin in the game between Argentina and Spain, and it was the Spaniards who were left celebrating on Sunday evening.<\/p>\n The first Thursday press conference in Hungary could have created some drama, with the three of them together just a few days after the game, but everyone was well-behaved \u2013 as you’d expect.<\/p>\n Andrea who?<\/p>\n Antonelli has been testing the grid with his pranks and practical jokes all season long, so it was about time a driver got their own back on the Italian. The Haas and Mercedes<\/a> social media teams came together with tasks for their young drivers. On the fan stage, Antonelli had to refer to Ollie Bearman<\/a> as ‘Bear’, while Bearman had to call Antonelli ‘Andrea’.<\/p>\n The Briton stuck to his task well, throwing the Mercedes man completely off, before playing it off as if he had always called the 19-year-old ‘Andrea’ ever since their F2 days. Just look at the confusion on Antonelli’s face…<\/p>\n Presidential photography<\/p>\n The president of the Czech Republic, Petr Pavel, is a big fan of motorsport, and while it wasn’t a surprise to see him in the paddock, it wasn’t a regular visit from a head of state.<\/p>\n Pavel also has a huge passion for photography, so he arrived at the Hungaroring armed with FIA accreditation and a camera, spending the Grand Prix weekend as an official photographer. A pretty awesome way to get up close to the action.<\/p>\n The Mercedes Gambit<\/p>\n It’s always nice to see teams enjoying some downtime during the season. Mercedes took the opportunity to have a sit-down dinner to let off some steam during their title campaign, featuring drivers, engineers, team bosses, mechanics and more.<\/p>\n By the looks on everyone’s faces, it was a very enjoyable evening for the Brackley outfit.<\/p>\n Antonelli and Russell also took their title fight to a different sport, namely chess, as the pair battled it out on their flight to Budapest.<\/p>\n This time, it was the Briton who came out on top after a lengthy battle \u2013 a good omen for the 28-year-old?<\/p>\n Special Safety Car<\/p>\n Mercedes has been providing F1 Safety Cars for the past 30 years, and at Hungary this weekend, Bernd Maylander had a new one to drive, featuring a special livery, too.<\/p>\n The Mercedes-AMG GT 63 PRO 4MATIC+ is the 14th Mercedes Safety Car, and with over 600 horsepower under the watchful eye of Maylander, the grid has never been in better hands. Even Antonelli and Russell had to catch a glimpse on Thursday to check it out.<\/p>\n Albon’s achievement<\/p>\n Did you spot the only special helmet for the Hungarian race weekend? Albon marked his 100th race<\/a> with Williams<\/a> with another awesome design to celebrate a centenary with the British team.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Hungary gave us one last Grand Prix Sunday before the summer break, and what a race it was.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":829900,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[441],"tags":[49,48,578,576,577,82],"class_list":["post-829899","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-formula-1","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-f1","tag-formula-1","tag-formula1","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/829899","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=829899"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/829899\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/829900"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=829899"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=829899"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=829899"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}