Cloudy. Dry. Air +18С, track +26…23С
Racing in Hungary is often hot and boring. But rare rain at this time of year completely changes the course of the weekend. The narrow non-passing path becomes unexpectedly interesting and the balance of power changes with the weather. And it so happened that the second year of the weekend on the Hungaroring turned out to be rainy.
On Friday it was usually warm – and Ferrari racers dominated the training. Saturday morning it rained, it got colder – and Mercedes got tires in qualifying – Russell won the first pole of his career and Red Bull rolled back – Perez didn’t go to the qualifying final and Verstappen was tenth – on the decisive lap, the engine lost power , power plant had to be replaced, but there was no penalty.
The working range of modern cars and tires is so narrow that even a small change in conditions sometimes has a greater effect than updating the car. The day of the race was cool and windy – and the Red Bull cars have already been added.
Pierre Gasly qualified 19th – and the team decided to replace his car’s power plant. At the same time, the conditions of the closed park were violated, so the Frenchman started from the pit lane. Russell and Sainz started the race from the front row of the grid, Leclerc and Norris from the second and a pair of Alpine riders Ocon and Alonso from the third.
Pirelli brought the “middle” trio of compositions on stage – C2, C3 and C4 marked as Hard, Medium and Soft. In the race Russell, Norris, Ricciardo, Verstappen, Perez, Stroll, Tsunoda, Albon, Vettel and Gasly started on Soft, the rest on Medium.
Russell kept the lead at the start. Hamilton ahead of Ocon and Alonso. Verstappen for Riccardo. Bottas rolled back.
In the second corner, Elbon hit Vettel’s car, the race directorate announced a virtual safety car mode to clear the wreckage. The stewards left the incident without consequences.
Top ten in round 2: Russell – Sainz – Leclerc – Norris – Hamilton – Ocon – Alonso – Verstappen – Perez – Magnussen.
In the 3rd round, a restart was announced. Positions have not changed.
On lap 5, Verstappen overtook Alonso for seventh.
In lap 7, Verstappen was ahead of Ocon and Perez over Alonso. Magnussen was shown a black and orange flag – the car was damaged and he drove into the pits to replace the nose cone.
On lap 9, Pérez overtook Ocon for seventh.
Hamilton put pressure on Norris, Verstappen drove from back to front – they were in a close group, but on lap 12 first overtook Lewis and then Max Lando.
On lap 13, Perez passed Norris in sixth.
Verstappen complained about a problem with the engine, the team replied that the sensor was faulty.
On lap 14, Tsunoda switched tires.
Top ten in round 15: Russell – Sainz – Leclerc – Hamilton – Verstappen – Perez – Norris – Ocon – Alonso – Riccardo.
On lap 15 Norris and Stroll made a pit stop, on lap 16 Ricciardo and Vettel, on lap 17 Russell, Verstappen and Gasly, on lap 18 Sainz, on lap 19 Pérez and Latifi, on 20 – Hamilton.
On lap 20, Verstappen overtook Alonso for fifth.
On lap 21, Bottas and Norris caught up with Zhou. Perez defeated Schumacher. Leclerc switched tires and returned to the track behind Russell but ahead of Sainz.
On lap 22, Alonso, Schumacher and Albon switched tires, but on lap 24 it was Okon.
On lap 24 Alonso attacked Ocon and they both missed Ricciardo.
On the 27th lap, Bottas changed tires, on the 28th – Zhou.
Top ten in round 28: Russell – Leclerc – Sainz – Verstappen – Hamilton – Perez – Norris – Ricciardo – Ocon – Stroll.
On lap 30, Stroll overtook Okon for ninth.
Leclerc closed the gap on Russell, attacked for a few laps and took the lead on lap 31.
On lap 32 Vettel overtook Alonso for 11th place.
On the 34th lap Tsunoda changed tires, at the exit of the chicane he turned around, he kept driving.
On lap 37 Magnussen made a pit stop.
On lap 38 Vettel overtook Okon for 10th.
On lap 38 Verstappen switched tires, on lap 39 Leclerc and Russell. Charles was the only one in the leading group to get slow tires Hard. George returned to the track behind Max.
On lap 41, Verstappen Leclerc was leading the battle for third on fresh Mediums, but in Turn 13 he turned around – and Charles returned.
On lap 43 Schumacher, Perez and Norris made a pit stop.
On lap 45, Verstappen overtook Leclerc again and drove away immediately.
On lap 47, Ricciardo, Stroll, Vettel, Gasly and Sainz made a pit stop.
Stroll attacked Riccardo, the cars collided and Lance turned but on the second attempt the Canadian took the lead and Daniel was given a five second penalty. Vettel overtook Zhou.
On lap 52 Hamilton switched tires. Vettel passed Ricciardo for 12th place.
On lap 53, Zhou and Tsunoda made a pit stop.
On lap 54 Russell overtook Leclerc for second.
Top ten in round 55: Verstappen – Russell – Leclerc – Sainz – Hamilton – Perez – Norris – Alonso – Ocon – Bottas.
Leclerc’s hard tires didn’t work at all – and he was called to the pits for Soft – he returned to the track in sixth.
On lap 56, Gasly overtook Ricciardo for 13th.
Latifi switched tires on lap 58.
Hamilton quickly closed the gap on Sainz and on lap 63 he took the lead in the battle for third place.
On lap 65 Hamilton overtook Russell for second.
On lap 67 Vettel overtook Stroll for tenth.
On lap 68, Bottas retired from the track due to power plant problems. The race directorate announced the virtual safety car mode, the car was quickly evacuated.
On lap 69 Magnussen switched tires.
—
Max Verstappen won the Hungarian Grand Prix with his 28th career win and eighth of the season. Lewis Hamilton finished second, George Russell – third – exactly the same was the podium in the last stage in France.
In anticipation of a major summer holiday, the battle will continue in four weeks’ time during the Belgian Grand Prix in Spa.
Race results
| pilot | Team | Time | Speed | Piet |
| 1. Mr Verstappen | Red Bull | 2 | ||
| 2. L. Hamilton | Mercedes | +7.834 | 2 | |
| 3. D. Russell | Mercedes | +12,337 | 2 | |
| 4. K. Sainz | Ferrari | +14.579 | 2 | |
| 5. C.Perez | Red Bull | +15.688 | 2 | |
| 6. Sh.Lecler | Ferrari | +16.047 | 3 | |
| 7. L. Norris | McLaren | +78,300 | 2 | |
| 8. F. Alonso | alpine | +1 circle | a | |
| 9. E. Okon | alpine | +1 circle | a | |
| 10. S. Vettel | Aston Martin | +1 circle | 2 | |
| 11. L. Walk | Aston Martin | +1 circle | 2 | |
| 12. P. Gasly | AlphaTauri | +1 circle | 2 | |
| 13. G. Zhou’ | Alfa Romeo | +1 circle | 2 | |
| 14. M. Schumacher | hare | +1 circle | 2 | |
| 15. D. Riccardo | McLaren | +1 circle | 2 | |
| 16. K. Magnussen | hare | +1 circle | 3 | |
| 17. A. Albon | Williams | +1 circle | 3 | |
| 18. N. Latifi | Williams | +1 circle | 3 | |
| 19. Y. Tsunoda | AlphaTauri | +2 laps | 3 | |
| 20. V. Bottas | Alfa Romeo | +4 circles | a |
best lap: Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) – 1:21.386 (lap 57)
Championship position : Individual
Championship position : Constructors’ Championship
| Team | Engine | Glasses | |
| = | 1 Red Bull Racing | Red Bull powertrains | 431 |
| = | 2 Scuderia Ferrari | Ferrari | 334 |
| = | 3. Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team | Mercedes | 304 |
| = | 4 Alpine F1 Team | Renault | 99 |
| = | 5 McLaren Racing | Mercedes | 95 |
| = | 6. Alfa Romeo F1 Team ORLEN | Ferrari | 51 |
| = | 7 Haas F1 Team | Ferrari | 34 |
| = | 8 Scuderia Alpha Tauri | Red Bull powertrains | 27 |
| = | 9. Aston Martin Aramco Cognizant F1 Team | Mercedes | twenty |
| = | 10 Williams Racing | Mercedes | 3 |
Source: F1 News
I’m Todderic Kirkman, a journalist and author for athletistic. I specialize in covering all news related to sports, ranging from basketball to football and everything in between. With over 10 years of experience in the industry, I have become an invaluable asset to my team. My ambition is to bring the most up-to-date information on sports topics around the world.
