GOOD AFTERNOON! Hello and welcome to Eurosport's live text coverage of this afternoon's Hungarian Grand Prix at the Hungaroring here just outside Budapest. We should have an exciting race on our hands today after yesterday's qualifying session shook up the grid order. George Russell starts on pole for the first time in his career, with his Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton back down in P7, and Championship leader Max Verstappen starting from P10. We are hearing that once again there are bands of heavy rain moving towards the circuit from the north, so if more wet conditions are to be expected today, it could really shake things up.
Formula 1 | Hungarian Grand Prix
Hungaroring | 31.07.2022
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Updated 31/07/2022 at 15:07 GMT
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Full report to follow shortly. Thanks for joining our coverage!
70/70
LAP 70/70 - VERSTAPPEN WINS IN HUNGARY
What a victory for Verstappen, who started in P10! With some rain falling in the last few laps, Hamilton was able to drop the gap by a couple of seconds but it was too little to late. Hamilton finishes in P2, and Russell rounds off the podium.
68/70
LAP 68/70 - BOTTAS PULLS OVER ON SIDE OF TRACK!
The Alfa Romeo has an issue and pulls over just at the start of the final sector. This means a Virtual Safety Car will need to be deployed, which may work into Lewis Hamilton's favour as he looks to close the gap to Verstappen.
65/70
LAP 65/70 - HAMILTON GETS PAST RUSSELL!
Lewis Hamilton does the switchback into turn 2, and gets past Russell and is up into P2! He has five laps to make up the ten seconds to Verstappen out in front.
63/70
LAP 63/70 - HAMILTON GETS PAST SAINZ
Hamilton makes the most of DRS and gets past Sainz down the main straight. The Briton is up into P3!
61/70
LAP 61/70 - BINOTTO HAS HAD ENOUGH
Ferrari team principal Mattia Binotto has stormed off from the pit wall back to the motor home, as his the prospect for a podium for his drivers now look very slim.
Hamilton is now less than a second behind Sainz, and has DRS. It will be a matter of when rather than if here.
57/70
LAP 57/70 - HAMILTON IS QUICKEST ON CIRCUIT
Lewis Hamilton is on a charge. Currently on the soft tyres, the Briton is lapping 1.4 seconds faster than Carlos Sainz ahead of him in 3rd. If he catches the Ferrari, another double podium could be on the cards for Mercedes!
55/70
LAP 55/70 - LECLERC PITS AGAIN
Leclerc boxes again from P3, this time for the soft tyres. The harder compound experiment has not worked, and once again, Ferrari will face questions about their strategy. He emerges back out in P6, behind both Hamilton and Perez.
53/70
LAP 53/70 - VERSTAPPEN LEADS!
Max Verstappen finally has the lead of this race! Lewis Hamilton pits from the lead and fits the softer compound tyres for the last part of this race, and emerges back out in P5.
What a win this would be for the Dutchman if he can hold on with his medium compound tyres.
52/70
LAP 52/70 - RUSSELL HUNTING DOWN LECLERC
Leclerc is still struggling with those harder tyres, and Russell is hunting him down for P2. The gap now stands at five tenths of a second.
50/70
LAP 50/70 - RICCIARDO RECEIVES TIME PENALTY
Daniel Ricciardo receives a five second time penalty after contact with Lance Stroll into turn two, causing the Aston Martin to spin out and lose valuable time in his battle to get into the points. The Canadian is not happy over the team radio, complaining that he left Ricciardo with a lot of room on the inside.
47/70
LAP 47/70 - SAINZ PITS!
Carlos Sainz pits from the lead to cover off a potential undercut from Lewis Hamilton, but Ferrari make another slow stop! The jack gets caught under the floor of the car! The stop total is 4.6 seconds, and that may cost the Spaniard. He emerges back out in P5.
Hamilton will need to pit again, as he has only used the medium compound. The chances are that Hamilton will go onto the soft tyres for the last 15 laps of this race.
45/70
LAP 45/70 - VERSTAPPEN GETS BACK PAST LECLERC
And then, it was as you were. Three laps after Verstappen's spin, he's back past Leclerc into turn two, as Leclerc looks like a sitting duck with the harder tyres, meaning the Ferrari driver simply cannot defend the move! Verstappen is now up to P3, behind Sainz and Hamilton.
42/70
LAP 42/70 - VERSTAPPEN SPINS INTO PENULTIMATE CORNER!
What a moment! Verstappen almost bins it into the second to last corner, and has a spin! That means Leclerc gets back in front of him!
The Red Bull driver quickly recovers from it, and is back defending Perez and Russell down the main straight! A rare mistake from the Dutchman!
41/70
LAP 41/70 - VERSTAPPEN OVERTAKES LECLERC!
Verstappen has punished Ferrari's call to fit the harder compound onto Leclerc, as he uses DRS to get past him into the inside of turn 1! Leclerc is understandably fuming on the team radio.
40/70
LAP 40/70 - LECLERC IS NOW ON HARDS!
In response to Red Bull, both Leclerc and Russell box the following lap. However, Ferrari make a very bold call and fit a set of harder compound tyres onto Leclerc's car. That is despite the problems that the Alpine drivers had getting the tyres up to temperature!
Russell also emerges back out behind Verstappen, so the Red Bull driver now has the undercut.
38/70
LAP 38/70 - NORRIS REPORTS SLIPPERY CONDITIONS
Lando Norris has been on the radio to his engineer to report the track has become more slippery. Is it due to the spots of rain?
Meanwhile, instead of waiting for any potential shower, Verstappen boxes for a new set of mediums and emerges back out in P6. He wants to get the undercut on Russell perhaps?
35/70
LAP 35/70 - SAINZ CLOSING DOWN ON RUSSELL
Sainz has closed the gap to Russell down to around a second, and will soon have DRS. There has also been a few drops of rain on the circuit, and it seems to be making the track a little slippery by the chicane.
Yuki Tsunoda has a spin there, but manages to get the car going again, then a lap later, Sebastian Vettel is forced to take the escape road into the corner. It may be down to the track conditions, or the fact the harder tyres are not heating up.
31/70
LAP 31/70 - LECLERC TAKES THE LEAD!
That is a key moment in this race! Leclerc finally makes the move on Russell into turn one! He dives down the outside, with the help of DRS, and then has the inside line going into turn two. A brilliant move, and Leclerc can now kick on and try to pull out a gap.
30/70
LAP 30/70 - IT'S HEATING UP!
Leclerc comes again on Russell at the start of lap 30, trying to get past Russell three times before turn 4.
He initially tries to go around the outside into turn one, but Russell defends. Leclerc looks like he has the overtake completed into turn 3, but Russell once again covers him off.
Then, Leclerc tries to get him around the outside up the hill into turn 4, but Russell shuts the door! The cars were very close to contact there but Russell remains out in front!