The race was red-flagged after two laps behind the safety-car because of torrential rain, and the drivers awarded half points, but most pundits felt the race should have been excluded from the championship.
It is probably the most important pole position Verstappen has secured, because as it transpired, it guaranteed him an easy victory. But he is unlikely to have things easy this time around, as Leclerc and his teammate Carlos Sainz will be anxious to kick start the second half of the season with a victory.
The problem for Ferrari is that at most circuits, Verstappen's Red Bull is often the quickest car, not so much in qualifying, but in race trim. To come from 10th on the grid to win the race in Hungary is testament to that race pace.
Also, no driver has ever lost a championship after winning eight grand prix in one season and even by finishing second in the remaining nine races, and in the unlikely scenario of Leclerc winning all those races, mathematically Verstappen would still take his second title. As Sainz commented recently, Ferrari's title hopes depend on Red Bull faltering, and apart from two DNFs in the first three races, Verstappen has enjoyed reliability since.
Former F1 driver Marcus Ericsson, the winner of this year's Indy 500, has made a few comments about the situation at Ferrari, as well as the 'silly season' amongst drivers.
"They've been so fast all year. And still, they are managing to be 80 points off the lead of the championship, and they seem to consistently mess it up, right?" Ericsson noted.
"If it's not strategy, it's the car breaking down, or Charles crashing. There's always something, it feels like, and it's just so crazy when they have such a good car, and they don't seem able to capitalise on it."
Ericsson referenced the last race in Hungary to back up what he was saying, where Sainz and Leclerc started second and third on the grid and ended up fourth and sixth respectively.
"They had a really, really strong position in the race. They had Red Bull not optimising their qualifying, starting from bad starting positions. Ferrari had a golden opportunity to claw back some points in the championship, and still, they managed to finish behind and Max wins the race," Ericsson added.
"I think the problem, from a driver perspective, and I think we've seen it quite a few times this year, is that both Charles and Carlos are doubting the decisions that the pit wall is doing during a race. Obviously, the trust that you need to have as a driver with your team, it seems to be lacking a bit between Ferrari and their drivers and, over a season, that's not good."
Although Ericsson is now driving in the Indycar series in the States, he obviously keeps a close eye on what is happening in F1, because when the news broke of Fernando Alonso moving to Aston Martin in 2023 as Sebastian Vettel's replacement, Ericsson took to Twitter with predictions that suggest he has some inside information.
"After Alonso's 'middle finger to Alpine' switch, this is how the rest of the F1 silly season will play out," he tweeted.
"Alpine-Ocon, Gasly; Alpha Tauri-Schumacher, Tsunoda; McLaren-Norris, Piastri; Haas-Magnussen, Ricciardo; Williams-Albon, de Vries.
"It's called silly season for a reason!"
So far Ericsson's prediction of Alpine test driver Oscar Piastri replacing Daniel Ricciardo at McLaren is the only one that seems correct. And even that may be subject to McLaren paying out Ricciardo something like $21 million to end his contract. Alpine says they have a contract with Piastri, who claims to have a McLaren contract, as does Ricciardo, so the Contract Recognition Board may be busy.
But if Ericsson is as well informed as he hints, Gasly moving to Alpine to join his fellow Frenchman Esteban Ocon would mean the end of his Red Bull association. The only problem is it was just recently confirmed that Gasly was staying at Alpha Tauri for one more year, so that scenario would require another contract to be broken.
It is common knowledge that Vettel wanted Mick Schumacher to replace him at Aston Martin, but Alonso's announcement prevented that happening, and it seems unlikely Mick could end up at Alpha Tauri, allowing Ricciardo to join Haas. A more likely scenario is Ricciardo accepting a payout and release from McLaren so he can rejoin the team he left two years ago, which was Renault, now known as Alpine.
As for de Vries joining Williams, that seems feasible given Mercedes boss Toto Wolff has said they have no drive available for de Vries and the team would not stand in their test driver's way if he can secure a drive elsewhere. Nicholas Latifi is not expected to retain his Williams drive, and de Vries was seen exiting the Williams motorhome at the French GP, so that deal may already be done.
However, it is the battle up front that retains the major interest, as teams prepare over the summer break for the resumption of racing, in which Lewis Hamilton thinks Mercedes can be a factor.
"We're in a position here where we're starting to understand the car a little bit more, we've got more consistency coming up, we're seeing more consistency," Hamilton says.
"It's given us much more of an enjoyable drive. We still lack performance in some of those areas but we've slowly getting there. But it's like small chips, just constantly just chipping away at it. Unfortunately, you can't take big leaps at the moment. But who knows? Maybe one big leap will come at some stage and we'll be right there."
Verstappen was asked if Ferrari's poor performances were helping him to the title.
"Well, I think everyone always tries to do their best and sometimes that's a bit harder to achieve," Verstappen replied. "I find that difficult to comment because nobody does things on purpose and everyone wants of course to try and get the best result out of it."
He was also asked if he was concerned about a Mercedes threat in the remaining races.
"No, it's good that they are competitive," he responded. "Because then they can steal some more points off Ferrari. So, I'm happy. They'll do very well."
Former driver and now Sky Germany commentator Ralf Schumacher also sees the positives for Verstappen with a Mercedes revival.
"Even if Mercedes starts to take Verstappen's points at the front, nothing can happen to him as long as he is in front of Ferrari," Schumacher surmised. "That is why it is very unlikely, especially if Ferrari is ruining it for themselves with the pit stops and tyres.
"A lot is still going to happen. Engines still have to be replaced so Max will have to start again from behind. On the other hand, that's no problem if it happens on a track that suits him."
Verstappen demonstrated in Hungary just how good he is, and Alpha Tauri boss Franz Tost says he recognised the young Dutchman's talent the first time he saw him drive.
"I met Max for the first time with his father at the Nurburgring," Tost recalled. "He was still driving karts at the time. The next time was at the Norisring in Formula 3. In the rain, he drove in a league of his own, as if he was the only one who had discovered a dry line. He immediately reminded me of Michael Schumacher.
"You could see what a mega talent Max was. After all, we took some criticism when we entrusted him with Toro Rosso at the age of 17, someone who didn't even have a driving licence. He also did his first training session at Suzuka, one of the most difficult circuits of all. But Max did it all with aplomb."
Nine F1 seasons later, Verstappen has the experience and maturity to go with the mega talent, not to mention 28 grand prix wins in 154 starts, 70 podiums and one world championship.
Even if Ferrari eliminate the mistakes and harness the car's speed, and Mercedes return to the winner's circle, it will take a miracle to stop Verstappen from repeating as champion. Mind you, it took a miracle to give Verstappen the championship in Abu Dhabi last season, so Ferrari won't be giving up on that count alone.
Sources: F1.com.; Autosport; Red Bull Racing.