Formula 1 2021 Hungarian Grand Prix was held at the Hungaroring in Magyorod, a historical city in Budapest. This was the 11th round of the 2021 Formula 1 season and the last race before a four-week summer break. Hungaroring has produced a few of the classics in the history of the F1, and the race on Sunday will undoubtedly be ranked at the top of the list.
Epic Win by Ocon at the F1 Hungarian Grand Prix 2021
Max Verstappen needed a much smoother weekend after the team failed to score a single point during the British GP weekend. The weekend didn't start good, and the car struggled with balance issues. Mercedes locked out the front row of the grid on Saturday, and Max was third.
The race started on wet tracks, and Bottas, who started second after a poor start, crashed into the back of Lando Norris and triggered a chain reaction of crashes. At the end of the race, Esteban Ocon won the race ahead of Vettel and Hamilton. Vettel was later disqualified after FIA couldn't extract the minimum fuel sample from the car. Lewis was promoted to 2nd ahead of Sainz.
Pre-Race Preparations Thursday
The weather conditions looked mix with a threat of rain on Saturday and the race on Sunday. McLaren was the only team that brought some updates to the car originally planned for the Belgian Grand Prix. They are in a good battle with Ferrari to keep third place in the championship. Pirelli brought the middle range tyre compounds for the race in Budapest. C2 (White) was the hard tyre, C3 (Yellow) was the medium tyre, and the soft tyre was C4 (Red).
Friday Practice – Ocon showed surprising pace even in FP1 of the 2021 F1 Hungarian GP
Mercedes showed good pace from the start of practice on Friday and continued to improve the car throughout the day. Red Bull had a difficult day and could not find the right balance of downforce at the front and rear of the car. Bottas finished the FP2 session fastest ahead of Lewis and Max Verstappen. Esteban Ocon was fourth behind the top two teams, surprising his midfield rivals with his pace.
Perez was fifth quickest in FP2 ahead of Gasly, who was in his usual spot and looked quick. Fernando was seventh ahead of Vettel, Norris, and Stroll. Ferrari and McLaren had a below-average practice session and were on the back foot going into the qualifying on Saturday.
Saturday Practice – Lewis maintains lead after FP3
Red Bull did improve from overnight changes, but Lewis was still the fastest man at the end of FP3. Max was in P2 and was less than a tenth behind Lewis and ahead of Bottas. Sainz and Leclerc were 4th and 5th in standings at the end of FP3 and back to where they should have been on Friday. Lando Norris was 6th fastest and quite close behind their main rival Ferrari. Perez was again struggling compared to his teammate and was 7th quickest ahead of Ricciardo, Alonso and Stroll.
Qualifying – Hamilton grabs 101st pole at the Hungarian GP
George Russell, often called Mr Saturday, failed to reach Q2 for the first time during the 2021 F1 season. His teammate Latifi also was unable to qualify for Q2. Mick Schumacher didn't take part in qualifying after crashing heavily during the FP3 session. Mazepin and Tsunoda were the other two to get knocked out as well.
Mercedes was the only team to progress into the Q3 session using medium tyres and will have a strategic advantage on Sunday. Red Bull tried but didn't have enough speed to do what Mercedes did. Sainz was the biggest loser after crashing into the barrier while going through the final corner. Ricciardo, Stroll, Raikkonen and Giovinazzi joined Sainz as well.
Lewis Hamilton delivered a stunning lap that was good for pole position at the end of the first round of runs. Bottas was second ahead of Verstappen. Lewis was out ahead of both the Red Bulls on the final run, controlling the out-lap pace. As a result, Perez failed to start the final run and even though Lewis didn't improve, Max's final effort was four-tenths short of Lewis's pole position time. This was Lewis Hamilton's 101st pole position. Perez was fourth ahead of Gasly, Norris, Leclerc, Ocon, Alonso and Vettel.
Sunday Race – Ocon & Alpine celebrate maiden F1 win, thanks to amazing defence by teammate Alonso
The whole field opted for intermediate tyres for the start of the race. It was raining with light intensity, and Lewis made a good start. Behind, Verstappen and Norris made great starts and were ahead of Bottas.
Bottas miscalculated the braking point and rammed into the back of the McLaren of Lando Norris. Behind Lance, Stroll did the same and smashed into the side of Leclerc. Leclerc, Perez, Stroll and Bottas were out of the race at turn 1. Norris, Max, and Ricciardo had significant damage to their cars. Red flag was deployed, and Bottas was given a 5-place grid drop for the Belgian Grand Prix.
The race restarted on lap 4, and the order was Lewis ahead of Ocon, Vettel, Sainz, Tsunoda, Latifi, Alonso, Russell, Kimi, and Mick.
Formula 1 witnessed a bizarre scene when, on the second restart, everyone except Lewis dived into pits to change from Inters to dry tyres. Lewis was the only one who started from the grid box, and everybody joined behind him. He dived into the pits and changed to medium tyres, and rejoined at the back of the grid. Max and Lewis were on the charge and started to move up towards the point-scoring positions. But both found it hard, Max with a damaged car and Lewis with a complete car.
Lewis pitted on lap 19 to undercut Ricciardo and Max. He switched to hard tyres and was ahead of the pair when they pitted the next lap. Lewis was flying and was up to P5 on lap 32 of 70. On the other hand, Max was stuck behind Ricciardo and lost a lot of ground to Lewis.
At the front, Ocon did a great job of keeping Vettel behind him. The leaders stayed out until lap 35 for their first pitstops. Vettel was in on lap 36 and did a slow 3.3 sec stop. Ocon pitted the next lap and, with a second quicker pitstop, managed to keep the net lead of the race.
Alonso led the race for a couple of laps and then pitted. Lewis pitted for fresh mediums on lap 48 and dropped from P4 to P5 behind Alonso. Lewis was nearly 3 sec faster than Fernando, but a great display of defensive driving kept Lewis behind for ten laps. That 10-lap defence was a critical point that allowed Ocon to win the race. Had Lewis passed Alonso quickly, a race win would have been possible since he finished only 1 sec behind Vettel in third place.
Ocon won the race from Vettel and Hamilton. Vettel parked the car on track, and FIA picked it for a fuel sample. The sample was less than the minimum quantity resulting in disqualification, promoting Sainz to 3rd ahead of Alonso, Gasly, Tsunoda, Latifi, Russell, Max, and Kimi.
Sit tight for the F1 2021 Belgian GP – after the summer break!
F1 teams are forced into a four-week break by the FIA. Factories stay shut during this period. F1 will return with a start of the second triple-header of the season in Belgium at Spa Francorchamps.