Round 12 F1 GFT AI Driver Rankings: Verstappen Wins the Hungarian GP, Norris P2 again for McLaren

23 July 2023
By Bob Francis, Managing Editor
Go Full Throttle Racing News

HUNGARORING, BUDAPEST, HUNGARY — Red Bull Racing and current F1 World Champion Max Verstappen won his 7th straight Grand Prix and the 12th in a row for Red Bull Racing. In the 11 races so far in 2023, Red Bull has won every single race (Verstappen 9 and Perez 2). It could be that Red Bull has won all 12 races of the 2023 season, but Round 6 scheduled for May 21 at Emilia, Italy was cancelled due to the torrential rains that swept through Italy in the days leading up to the event.

Max Verstappen stormed to victory over Lando Norris and Sergio Perez with another commanding performance in the Hungarian Grand Prix, giving the reigning double world champion his seventh straight triumph and the Red Bull their 12th in a row (Image Credit: formula1.com)

GFT F1 AI Driver Rankings — LANDO!
After his 2nd consecutive 2nd place finish McLaren’s Lando Norris has moved past the Mercedes and Ferrari drivers as the challenger to Max Verstappen’s dominance over the entire F1 grid. Norris teammate Oscar Piastri also delivering for McLaren finishing 4th at Silverstone and 5th Sunday in Hungary.

Formula 1 GFT AI Driver Rankings after Round 12 after the Hungarian GP at Hungaroring (Budapest) on July 23, 2023 (Image: GFT Digital / gofullthrottle.net)

Welcome Back Daniel Ricciardo!
Daniel Ricciardo took 13th for Alpha Tauri after getting caught up in the Lap 1 melee, with Hulkenberg, Tsunoda, Zhou and Magnussen, to earn a very respectable finish in his first race back on the grid.

Sergio Perez was the other big winner in Hungary. After many weeks of disappointing performances, Perez fought from a P9 start to grab the 3rd step on the podium. A reassuring finish for the Mexican driver who desperately needed to get his season back on track.

Verstappen took control of the race by extending his first stint while rivals pitted (Image Credit: formula1.com)

WINNER’S QUOTE

“For the team, 12 wins in a row is just incredible,” said race-winner Verstappen. “What we’ve been doing for the last two years has been unbelievable. Hopefully we can keep this momentum going for a long time.

“Also, just to work with the whole team is very enjoyable. It’s always good to look into [what happened in qualifying] yesterday, for example, to keep pushing, always wanting to do better, but days like this are just perfect.”

Verstappen, who qualified 2nd, out accelerated pole sitter Hamilton, to take the lead on Lap 1 in Hungary. (Image Credit: formula1.com)

Up next

The next stop on the 2023 F1 calendar will be Spa-Francorchamps for the Belgian Grand Prix weekend, which takes place from July 28 to 30.