Ocon taking first victory after chaos on opening lap

Esteban Ocon won an incredible Hungarian Grand Prix by beating Sebastian Vettel and Lewis Hamilton to score a top result for Alpine.

The first crash at Turn 1 was the major issue in this race and it was caused by Valtteri Bottas, whose mistake sliding into the back of Lando Norris impacted both Red Bull cars and left Max Verstappen battling back to eventually finish the race in P10.

At the initial start, Hamilton and Verstappen made good getaways on the damp track after rain had fallen steadily in the 30 minutes before the start, which meant all the cars lined up on inters, while Bottas dropped down several places leaving the line.

But worse was to come from the Mercedes driver as he appeared to completely misjudge his braking for the first corner, having been passed by Sergio Perez and Lando Norris, with Bottas locking up and sliding straight into the back of the McLaren.

This had two knock-on effects, with Norris sent shunting into Verstappen’s right-hand side, the Red Bull’s right-front wheel somehow staying on, while Bottas, his left-front broken, continued sliding and clattered into Perez on the far outside, with all four sent into the runoff beyond Turn 1.

Bottas retired there while Verstappen led Norris and Perez away, around the debris of a second Turn 1 shunt that was triggered by the out-of-control Lance Stroll going onto the grass on the inside of the right-hander and then careering into Charles Leclerc, who had been set to move up to second behind Hamilton.

Stroll’s error broke his left-front against the Ferrari, which in turn was knocked wide and hit Daniel Ricciardo, who had been edging up Leclerc’s outside – the McLaren sent spinning to the back of the reduced pack.

The debris field at Turn 1 initially led to a safety car being called, under which Red Bull pitted Verstappen, while Esteban Ocon was the main beneficiary of the chaos as he ran second behind Hamilton and ahead of Sebastian Vettel.

Verstappen lost his right barge board as he exited the pits, just before the race was stopped to allowed the track to be cleared and because Perez, whose car was smoking heavily from the hit from Bottas, had stopped on the short straight between Turns 11 and 12 at the start of the final sector.

The field returned to the pits, where Red Bull worked to fix Verstappen’s car, and McLaren had to retire Norris as a result of the damage sustained his hit from Bottas.

After a near 30-minute delay, Hamilton led Ocon, Vettel, Carlos Sainz, Yuki Tsunoda and Nicholas Latifi back to the grid as the top six for a second standing start, where Verstappen would have lined up P13.

But in near-farcical circumstances, Hamilton was the only driver not to come in at the end of the second formation lap – the race’s third lap of 70 – and he took the standing start alone while all the rest came in to swap their inters for medium slick tyres, as the track had dried under sunny skies during the red flag.

Hamilton duly shot down to Turn 1 solo, where Ocon was remarkably led out of the pitlane by George Russell, who had been eighth under the red flag but jumped up the pitlane queue thanks to Williams position at the end of pitlane.

But as Russell came up towards Hamilton as the mediums proved to be much faster than the inters on the rapidly drying track, he was ordered to give back the positions he had gained in the pitlane, which meant Ocon moved into a clear lead when Hamilton stopped for mediums at the end of lap four – the first full racing lap completed in the race.

Over the next five laps, the Alpine driver built up a 1.4-second gap over Vettel, while Latifi held up the pack behind in third, as Verstappen battled Pierre Gasly and Antonio Giovinazzi on the fringes of the top ten – with Hamilton catching the battle after re-joining in 14th and last after his stop.

Ocon continued to run just ahead of Vettel, with the race lead battle soon becoming a two-driver contest as Latifi continued to fall away.

Back in the pack, Verstappen worked his way ahead of Gasly and then chased Schumacher for 10th place for several laps as his damage meant he could not bring Red Bull’s usual pace advantage to bear, and behind Hamilton was also frustrated by the time it took him to pass Giovinazzi and then Gasly.

On lap 14, Verstappen attacked Schumacher at Turn 1 but had to go wide on the exit, and then the Red Bull went around the outside of the long, downhill left of Turn 2, getting ahead on the exit where the two cars briefly touched as they raced side-on racing towards the fast right of Turn 3.

Five laps later, with Ocon now running just over a second ahead of Vettel up front, Mercedes called Hamilton in from behind Gasly in 11th, switching from the mediums to the hards.

His sensational out lap pace meant he jumped ahead of Verstappen and Ricciardo, who had been running just up the road, when they came in on the next lap to try and cover Hamilton.

Several rivals, including Russell, pitted shortly afterwards, which aided Hamilton’s path up the order, but he continued to lap much faster than the rest – setting a string of fastest laps between the 20th and 30th laps.

Over this part of the race, Ocon came under severe pressure from Vettel before then edging his lead up again, reaching 2.3s by the halfway mark.

With Verstappen stuck behind Ricciardo as they caught the drivers yet to make first green flag stop – including Schumacher again – Hamilton roared clear and passed Latifi shortly after the Williams pitted from third on lap 23.

Hamilton then surged up to Tsunoda, who had undercut past Latifi by stopping a lap earlier, and passed the AlphaTauri around the outside of the fast left of Turn 4 on lap 32.

Once Hamilton was up to fifth, Ferrari then pitted Sainz, who had requested to be left out when Tsunoda and Latifi came in earlier so he could run in clear air, which he used to carve into the large gap behind Vettel.

That ended Hamilton’s charge, just as the focus switched back to the front of the race when Vettel was called in to go from mediums to hards on lap 36.

A 3.3s stop thanks to a slow left rear change meant that when Ocon came in for hards at the end of the next lap, despite Vettel charging on his out lap as he fired the white-walled rubber up to temperature, the Aston could not get alongside the Alpine as it came out of the pits and headed into Turn 1.

Ocon then resumed lapping around a second ahead of Vettel over the next phase of the race, but Sainz and Hamilton – who was soon complaining about the state of his tyres – were soon only six seconds off the lead as they lapped in the low one minute, 21 seconds and the leaders set high one minute, 21 seconds and low one minute, 22 seconds.

Fernando Alonso cycled through to first when the two leaders pitted, but he came in to make the switch to hards at the end of lap 40.

After this, the race settled down for a time as Hamilton was stymied behind Sainz and Ocon remained in control ahead of Vettel – other than a moment at the start of lap 48 where Vettel came close to contact with the Alpine’s rear as Ocon lapped Antonio Giovinazzi at Turn 1.

The lap before this, Mercedes had called Hamilton for a second green flag stop, putting him back onto the mediums and setting up a thrilling charge for the final third of the race, as he had a 22.6 seconds gap to Ocon to close.

The world champion – much like he did here to win against Verstappen in 2019 – set a fierce pace as he re-joined in clear air behind Alonso and seven laps after he came in, he was under ten seconds off the lead and right with the second Alpine.

On the next tour, lap 55, Alonso locked up lapping Kimi Raikkonen at Turn 1, which gave Hamilton the chance to attack around the outside of Turn 2, where Alonso aggressively held the inside line to remain ahead, and also shrugged off Hamilton’s advances at Turn 4 a few moments later.

The battle raged over the next ten laps, with Hamilton attacking in similar circumstances at Turns 2 and 4 on several occasions, frustrated by Alonso’s fierce defence, all the while his former teammate was closing on Sainz and then running in the Ferrari’s dirty air.

On lap 65, though, Alonso’s defence crumbled when he locked his left-front again at Turn 1 and went deep, which allowed Hamilton run alongside on the exit and then blast past using DRS on the run to Turn 2.

Hamilton then immediately caught Sainz, who resisted the Mercedes driver’s first attack, but could not stop Hamilton moving up to third as they raced down the pit straight on lap 67 while lapping Ricciardo.

Alonso’s stout defence meant Hamilton only caught the leaders right at the end, with Ocon ending his race-long charge ahead of Vettel to win by 1.8 seconds, with Hamilton a further 0.8 seconds adrift.

Gasly took sixth behind Sainz and Ocon after being allowed past Tsunoda approaching the final third, with Tsunoda then spinning at Turn 2 late on, which meant he came home well adrift of his teammate.

Latifi and Russell scored Williams’ first points since 2019 with seventh and eighth – the former closing in on Latifi throughout the second stint after being held up by Schumacher after his sole green-flag stop.

Russell also had to resist Verstappen’s attentions at the end as the Red Bull ended up just 1.1 seconds behind in P10, after he had been pitted with 30 laps to run in a successful bid to get ahead of Ricciardo, who had been holding station ahead since their unsuccessful attempt to stop Hamilton’s undercut.

Verstappen passed Ricciardo with a bold move around the outside of Turn 4 with ten laps remaining and set about closing on Russell to the finish.

Raikkonen – who was given a ten seconds time penalty for being released into Nikita Mazepin’s path when the field piled into the pits on the second formation lap, with the ensuing contact breaking the Haas’s right-front suspension and making him the race’s only other retirement in addition to those eliminated as a result of the Turn 1 chaos – also passed Ricciardo late-on to finish P11.

Schumacher came home P13 ahead of Giovinazzi, who was also penalised ten seconds, this for speeding in the pitlane – the Italian’s gamble to stop for slicks on the first formation lap not paying off because of the red flag.

So a crazy race with so many cars wiping out on the opening lap at Turn 1. This gave the opportunity for Alpine to win and Esteban Ocon resisted the pressure from Sebastian Vettel to take his first victory. Fernando Alonso did the perfect job in playing the team game by holding off Lewis Hamilton too.

Hungarian Grand Prix, race results:

1 Esteban Ocon Alpine-Renault 2:04:43.199
2 Sebastian Vettel Aston Martin-Mercedes +1.859s
3 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes +2.736s
4 Carlos Sainz Jr. Ferrari +15.018s
5 Fernando Alonso Alpine-Renault +15.651s
6 Pierre Gasly AlphaTauri-Honda +63.614s
7 Yuki Tsunoda AlphaTauri-Honda +75.803s
8 Nicholas Latifi Williams-Mercedes +77.910s
9 George Russell Williams-Mercedes +79.094s
10 Max Verstappen Red Bull-Honda +80.244s
11 Kimi Raikkonen Alfa Romeo-Ferrari +1 lap
12 Daniel Ricciardo McLaren-Mercedes +1 lap
13 Mick Schumacher Haas-Ferrari +1 lap
14 Antonio Giovinazzi Alfa Romeo-Ferrari +1 lap
– Nikita Mazepin Haas-Ferrari DNF
– Lando Norris McLaren-Mercedes DNF
– Sergio Perez Red Bull-Honda DNF
– Lance Stroll Aston Martin-Mercedes DNF
– Charles Leclerc Ferrari DNF
– Valtteri Bottas Mercedes DNF

7 thoughts to “Ocon taking first victory after chaos on opening lap”

  1. Hungarian Grand Prix race review as reported by Formula1.com.

    Alpine’s Esteban Ocon has claimed his maiden Formula 1 victory in what was without doubt one of the most thrilling Hungarian Grands Prix of all time, ahead of Aston Martin’s Sebastian Vettel – while Lewis Hamilton recovered from being last at one point to claim P3, as Max Verstappen could only take 10th after Lap 1 contact in a crash that triggered a red flag.

    A wild and wet start to the Hungarian Grand Prix saw five drivers eliminated on the first lap, as Valtteri Bottas locked up and wiped out Lando Norris and Sergio Perez – as well as hitting Verstappen – while Lance Stroll also locked up and hit Charles Leclerc, who spun around Daniel Ricciardo, with Bottas, Perez, Norris, Stroll and Leclerc all forced into retirement as the race was red flagged.

    Polesitter Hamilton had made it through unscathed, but Mercedes misjudged track conditions at the race restart, keeping Hamilton out for the standing start on intermediates as the entire rest of the field pitted for mediums, Hamilton forced to pit a lap later and dropping to the back of the pack.

    That allowed Ocon to take a lead that he’d hold for almost all the 70 laps at the Hungaroring, holding off the race-long advances of Vettel to take his first single seater win since 2015, as Vettel secured his second P2 of the season after a fine drive.

    A fantastic comeback from Hamilton saw him make what was effectively a two-stop race work to recover from P14 to third by the chequered flag, while Verstappen could only take P10, with damage from that Lap 1 collision hobbling his recovery, and allowing Hamilton to take the lead in the title race heading into the summer break.

    Carlos Sainz had held P3 for much of the race but was forced to succumb to Hamilton three laps from the end, as he took fourth for Ferrari, ahead of Fernando Alonso in P5 to cap an incredible day for Alpine.

    Pierre Gasly was sixth for AlphaTauri, ahead of team mate Yuki Tsunoda – while in a day of heart-warming stories, Williams claimed their first points since the 2019 German Grand Prix, Nicholas Latifi having enjoyed an awesome Lap 1 before taking P8 ahead of George Russell in P9, with Verstappen rounding out the order, at the end of one of the most epic Grands Prix in recent memory.

    Much was made after qualifying of how the tyre strategies of the Mercedes and Red Bulls might play out at the start, with both polesitter Lewis Hamilton and P2 man Valtteri Bottas set to start on the durable mediums, while behind Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez were set to go on the fast-starting, but less robust, softs.

    Ultimately, that was all rendered moot by rainclouds that moved in over the Hungaroring in the build-up to the race, forcing the whole field to switch to intermediate tyres to start – and making for a thrilling beginning to the race.

    Hamilton led the pack into Turn 1, but Lando Norris from P6 on the grid made a fantastic getaway, making his way past Bottas’ Mercedes on the drag down to the first corner. The Finn, though, locked up as he tried to get his W12 slowed down, running into the back of Norris, who then cannoned into Verstappen’s second-placed Red Bull, as Bottas slid into Perez’s sister Red Bull, with Pierre Gasly having to take avoiding action.

    Further back, Lance Stroll took to the inside grass at Turn 1, but couldn’t avoid running into Charles Leclerc’s Ferrari, who then spun around Daniel Ricciardo’s McLaren – with Bottas, Leclerc, Stroll, Perez and Norris all forced to retire as first a Safety Car then a full red flag was pulled, and with Bottas later handed a five-place grid drop for Belgium.

    The start hadn’t worked out for those drivers, but it made for an incredible top 10 at the Lap 4 restart (which took place 25 minutes after the red flag was flown): Hamilton from Ocon, Vettel, Sainz (who’d started P15), Tsunoda (who’d started P16), Williams’ Latifi in sixth, Alpine’s Alonso P7, the second Williams of Russell in P8, Alfa Romeo’s Kimi Raikkonen P9 while Mick Schumacher found himself 10th for Haas.

    Verstappen was now P13, having been forced to pit after his contact with Bottas – and with major damage to his right-hand barge board – with Gasly P11 and Ricciardo P12.

    Hamilton led the field round on the warm-up lap – but warm was the word, the track having dried dramatically in the intervening time. Hamilton opted not to pit ahead of the restart, but the other 14 drivers still in the race all stopped for mediums.

    That created the bizarre sight of Hamilton alone on the grid as the five lights went out, as the rest of the field changed tyres and waited at the end of the pit lane. But it soon dawned on Hamilton and Mercedes that they’d made a huge mistake, as the field charged after the inter-shod seven-time champion at a rate of knots on the practically dry track.

    That field was led by Russell, who’d jumped to P2 in the pits, but was then ordered to give the places back and fell back to P7. So as Hamilton dejectedly pitted at the end of Lap 4, it was Ocon who took over the lead from Vettel and Latifi, the Williams driver up to an incredible P3, ahead of Tsunoda in P4 and Sainz P5, as Hamilton rejoined 14th and last.

    Nikita Mazepin, meanwhile, had retired after making contact with Raikkonen in the pits, for which Raikkonen was handed a 10-second penalty.

    Verstappen was past Gasly for P11 on Lap 7, while Hamilton took Giovinazzi for P13 three laps later, but the going through the backmarkers was slower than either of the title rivals would have liked.

    Mercedes decided to roll the dice with Hamilton, pulling him in for hard tyres on Lap 19. Red Bull covered the move a lap later with Verstappen, but the undercut from Hamilton meant that Verstappen emerged behind his rival, and stuck behind Ricciardo’s McLaren to boot in P12.

    Hamilton was told by Mercedes to put the hammer down, and quickly saw off Schumacher and Latifi to work his was up to P7 by Lap 28 of 70, while four laps later, he passed Tsunoda for P5 with a sublime move around the outside of Turn 4.

    Verstappen was unable to make such progress with his hobbled Red Bull, the Dutchman stuck in a train behind Schumacher, Russell and Ricciardo. Up at the front, meanwhile, leader Ocon was doing a sterling job to hold off the advances of Vettel, the gap between the Alpine and Aston Martin yo-yoing between 0.3s and 2.0s throughout the opening stint.

    After a breathless beginning to the Hungarian Grand Prix, by the halfway point on Lap 35 the order was Ocon from Vettel from Alonso – the front three yet to carry out their first major pit stops – with Sainz fourth having done his stop, ahead of Hamilton, Tsunoda, Latifi, Gasly, Russell and Ricciardo, with Verstappen 11th and 35 seconds behind Hamilton, Schumacher having been demoted to P12.

    Second-placed man Vettel was pulled in by Aston on Lap 36 for hard tyres but was stopped for 3.3s and emerged P3. Leader Ocon pitted a lap later, his stop exactly a second faster, as he retained his net lead over Vettel in a crucial moment for the Alpine team. Down the order, Verstappen was pulled in for new mediums on Lap 40, but sounded listless on team radio as he complained of being able to do nothing with his “broken” Red Bull, as he emerged P12 before quickly passing Kimi Raikkonen for 11th.

    Having climbed to P4, meanwhile, Hamilton made his second stop proper on Lap 47 for mediums, dropping to fifth before being instructed by engineer Pete Bonnington to give it “hammer time all the way” to the end of the race, while Toto Wolff even took to the radio to assure his driver that he could still win this race.

    Nine laps to go, and the order was still Ocon from Vettel, Sainz, Alonso and Hamilton – Hamilton having tried and failed on successive laps to pass the Spaniard in a titanic battle between the pair. Behind, the AlphaTauris of Gasly and Tsunoda were sixth and seventh, ahead of the Williams pairing of Latifi and Russell – both cars running in the points in P8 and P9 – while Verstappen had finally made it up to 10th after passing Ricciardo.

    Hamilton’s assails on Alonso ultimately yielded P4 on Lap 65 after Alonso locked up at Turn 1, while the Mercedes driver was past Sainz two laps later, as he moved up into a podium position that had looked very unlikely at points on Sunday afternoon.

    He would go no further than third, however, with emotional scenes as Ocon burst across the line for his first single seater victory since the first round of the 2015 GP3 season, the Frenchman running through the pit lane after stopping out on track, before being held touchingly held aloft in parc ferme by team mate Alonso – who by holding up Hamilton for so many laps may have played a crucial part in allowing Ocon that maiden triumph.

    Vettel finished a frustrated second, having been unable to get close enough all race to launch a proper move on Ocon for the lead. Hamilton’s impressive recovery drive allowed him to move to the head of the drivers’ standings, meanwhile, with a six-point lead over Verstappen heading into the break.

    Sainz was annoyed to not take his second podium of the year, as he finished ahead of Alonso, with the AlphaTauri pair of Gasly and Tsunoda sixth and seventh, Gasly having been allowed past the Japanese driver on Lap 49.

    It was a fantastic day for Williams too, who having failed to score since Hockenheim 2019 claimed a double points finish, despite neither driver having made it out of Q1 on Saturday – Latifi the driver who finished eighth ahead of Russell, as the pair scored their respective first ever points for the Grove team, and Latifi his first points in F1.

    And then came Verstappen, who had been powerless to do better than P10 following his Lap 1 contact – although he at least had Gasly to thank for claiming fastest lap to prevent Hamilton outscoring him more – as Raikkonen, Ricciardo, Schumacher and Antonio Giovinazzi rounded out the order.

    So, there were dramatic movements in both the drivers’ and constructors’ standings in Hungary – Mercedes too taking a 10-point lead from Red Bull going into the summer break. But the day belonged to Esteban Ocon, who took an assured first win of his career, three years after being out of a drive in F1 completely.

  2. Alpine’s Esteban Ocon credits his teammate Fernando Alonso for role in shock Hungary Formula 1 race victory. Motorsport.com has the full story.

    Esteban Ocon paid tribute to Fernando Alonso for his role in helping him take a shock maiden Formula 1 victory for Alpine in Sunday’s Hungarian Grand Prix.

    Ocon scored a surprise win for Alpine in a chaotic Hungarian Grand Prix, benefitting from the first-lap chaos before pitting for slicks instead of taking the standing start.

    It meant he moved into the lead of the race when Lewis Hamilton pitted one lap later to make the switch, before holding his nerve to keep Sebastian Vettel at bay through the remainder of the race.

    Ocon took victory by 1.8 seconds, aided by teammate Alonso, whose efforts to keep the recovering Hamilton back for 10 laps stalled the Mercedes driver’s charge after he was running three seconds per lap faster than the leaders at points.

    Hamilton eventually cleared Alonso for fourth place before passing Carlos Sainz Jr two laps later, but could not make up any more places, eventually crossing the line 2.7 seconds down on Ocon in third.

    It marked the first victory for the Enstone-based team since Alonso won the Japanese Grand Prix at Fuji in 2008, and the first for a Renault-powered car since 2018.

    Speaking after the race, Ocon paid tribute to the team and made note of Alonso’s assistance in helping him win the race as he soaked up a standing ovation from the grandstands.

    “What a moment, what a moment!” Ocon said.

    “It feels so good. It’s the first victory obviously since the Renault group came back into Formula 1. We had some difficult moments this season that we overcame together with the team. We’ve come back to a fantastic place in Silverstone.

    “And today, what can I say? it’s fantastic. Congrats to Fernando as well, because I think the win is also thanks to him with the fights that he did. It’s teamwork, all that. I think it’s been a fantastic day.”

    Alonso waited to meet Ocon in parc ferme before congratulating him, with Ocon saying they had formed a “sharp duo” together.

    “We are working together, we are pushing the team to try and improve and get closer to the pack in front,” Ocon said.

    “Everyone told me a lot of things about Fernando before I came, but, everything is wrong. I can tell you he is a fantastic guy inside working, and I’m really enjoying the collaboration we have together.”

    The result marked Ocon’s second F1 podium after his second-place finish in last year’s Sakhir Grand Prix, and came after a tricky run of form that had seen him suffer Q1 knockouts and go four races without scoring any points.

    Ocon thanked the Alpine team for the trust it has placed in him and for helping through “difficult moments”.

    “When you are out in Q1, when you are P17, you don’t know where you are exactly, but the team kept the big trust,” Ocon said.

    “We’re back where we belong, so that’s fantastic. Seb was mega quick the whole race, put me under big pressure. But yeah, we managed to hold him off so that was a great effort.”

  3. Valtteri Bottas has received a five-place grid penalty for causing the Turn 1 crash involving four cars in Sunday’s Formula 1 Hungarian Grand Prix.

    Bottas slid into the rear of McLaren’s Lando Norris under braking in damp conditions at the first corner, losing control of his Mercedes.

    This sent Norris into the path of Max Verstappen’s Red Bull car, while Bottas careered into Verstappen’s teammate, Sergio Perez.

    The collision eliminated Bottas and Perez from the race immediately before the race was red flagged due to the amount of debris left strewn across the circuit.

    Norris was able to get his McLaren car back to the pits under the red flag, but the team found the damage on his car was terminal, meaning he too retired from the race.

    Norris said in the media pen that Bottas had apologised for the incident, and anticipated a penalty as the stewards moved to investigate the incident.

    In a bulletin issued before the end of Sunday’s grand prix, the stewards announced that Bottas would receive a five-place grid drop for the next round in Belgium after the summer break for “causing an avoidable collision”.

    As well as the five-place grid penalty, Bottas also received two points on his FIA superlicence, taking him up to four for the 12-month period.

    “Immediately after the start, in the braking zone to Turn 1, car 77 collided with the rear of car 4,” the report from the stewards read.

    “The stewards took into consideration the track conditions, however the driver of car 77 was fully to blame for the collision.”

    Norris was left disappointed with Bottas’ error, saying that he had expected better when racing the leading drivers.

    “You expect a little bit more from when you’re racing those top guys at the front of the field,” Norris said.

    “But also they don’t race that often, they’re quite on their own, and not in the pack getting in dirty air and things as much as we are.

    “So maybe they just don’t experience it, and they need to learn that a little bit more.”

    Source: Motorsport.com

  4. Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc leads criticism of ‘bowling game’ after Turn 1 crashes. Motorsport.com has the details.

    Ferrari Formula 1 driver Charles Leclerc called the Turn 1 incidents in Hungary a “bowling game” after being taken out of the race by Lance Stroll in damp conditions.

    Two major incidents at the first corner led to the Hungarian Grand Prix being red-flagged on Lap 3 due to debris strewn across the track.

    An initial crash saw Valtteri Bottas run into the rear of McLaren’s Lando Norris, sending the British driver’s car into the path of Max Verstappen.

    Bottas’ car hit Sergio Perez, resulting in retirements for Norris and Perez. A second incident occurred moments later when Stroll tried to pass Leclerc up the inside at Turn 1 from a long way back, only to hit the Ferrari driver, who in turn sent Daniel Ricciardo into a spin.

    Leclerc spun at the next corner and retired from the race, while Stroll was also eliminated. The stewards confirmed they would be investigating what happened in both incidents.

    Leclerc took to Twitter shortly after the incident to vent his frustration about what happened, calling it a “bowling game”.

    Norris was able to get his car back to the pits under the red flag, but McLaren found the damage was too great to keep him in the race.

    “[I have] not much to say,” Norris said on Sky Sports after the collision.

    “Just annoyed I guess. Lap 1, I don’t know why that has to happen, why risk doing those kind of stupid things. But nothing I can do though. Not a lot to stay.”

    Norris added that he hoped the stewards would use “common sense” about what to do, noting that he had previously been penalised for “not even doing anything wrong on other tracks”.

    Red Bull driver Perez called the Turn 1 incident “unbelievable” after making a good start on the intermediates in slippery conditions.

    “It’s such a shame, I was already up to third place,” Perez said.

    “I outbraked the McLaren and thought I was well ahead, and unfortunately Bottas did a big mistake and just ruined our race.

    “I don’t know what else to say. It was all over. The engine is damaged. He went all the way into the radiator.”

    Just 14 cars remain in the Hungarian Grand Prix after eight laps following a retirement for Nikita Mazepin, who was hit by Kimi Raikkonen in the pits when drivers pitted to fit slick tyres.

  5. McLaren’s Lando Norris was not impressed by the opening lap chaos. Norris would ‘expect more racing the top guys’ after Bottas crash. Motorsport.com has the news story.

    Lando Norris says he would “expect a little bit more” when racing leading Formula 1 drivers after being taken out in a first-lap crash with Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas.

    Norris made a great start from sixth place on the grid in damp conditions to move ahead of Bottas on the run down to Turn 1 after the entire field started on intermediate tyres.

    But a mistake by Bottas saw the Finn career into the back of Norris’s McLaren, sending the orange car into the path of Max Verstappen in the Red Bull.

    The incident eliminated Bottas at Turn 1, and while Norris was able to haul his McLaren car back to the pits, it was found to have terminal damage that forced him to retire from the race.

    Asked by Motorsport.com in the paddock at the Hungaroring how hard it was to judge the braking point in the damp conditions, Norris said that while it was “not easy”, he expected better from leading F1 drivers.

    “All of us are in Formula 1 for a reason, because we’re good drivers and we know where to brake, where to judge braking zones and so on, especially when it’s wet, especially on the first lap of the race,” Norris said.

    “But obviously some misjudged it completely. That’s the annoying thing, you expect a little bit more from when you’re racing those top guys at the front of the field.

    “But also they don’t race that often, they’re quite on their own, and not in the pack getting in dirty air and things as much as we are.

    “So maybe they just don’t experience it, and they need to learn that a little bit more.”

    Norris revealed that Bottas had apologised to him for the incident, but was confident the Mercedes driver would receive a penalty. The stewards have already announced they will investigate the Turn 1 collisions.

    “He said sorry,” Norris said. “Of course it doesn’t change anything now, which is the bad bit of it. But of course he should get a penalty.

    “I got a penalty against Perez [in Austria] when a bit of air pushed him off the track, and I get completely taken out of the race, crash into Max, it’s a big incident.

    “It’s a lot more dangerous than some guy going into some gravel. And of course, it’s a lot more dangerous driving doing that than what I’ve done.

    “Yeah, he deserves one of course.”

  6. Aston Martin’s Sebastian Vettel “disappointed” to finish second behind faultless Esteban Ocon. Motorsport.com has the details.

    Sebastian Vettel was “disappointed” to lose out on a first Aston Martin Formula 1 win at the Hungarian Grand Prix, after being stuck all race behind first-time winner Esteban Ocon.

    After carnage at the wet start took out several contenders and polesitter Lewis Hamilton made a wrong decision not to come in for slicks at the restart, the Mercedes driver released Alpine’s Ocon and Vettel into an unlikely fight for victory.

    Vettel hounded the Frenchman lap after lap, dipping in and out of DRS range behind the Alpine, in what seemed to be a faster Aston Martin.

    But on the twisty Hungaroring the German, who is chasing a first win for his new team after taking a podium in Baku, could never get close enough to attack Ocon’s lead and had to settle for second place in the wake of the first-time winner.

    Vettel credited Ocon’s flawless performance to take a maiden win but was left disappointed as he couldn’t convert his faster pace into a win.

    “I’m a little bit disappointed because I felt I was a little bit faster the majority of the race,” Vettel said. “But Esteban didn’t do a single mistake and I didn’t really get close enough. It is not an easy track to overtake, so I really pushed very, very hard but he stayed on track and well deserved for him to celebrate his first victory.

    “Obviously, it’s a great result for us but when it is that close for sure you are always looking at the win rather than the second.”

    Vettel said he was trying to pressure 24-year-old Ocon, who had never led a grand prix before Sunday, but found it impossible to stay close enough through the downforce dependent second half of the Budapest circuit.

    “I think we are very close with Esteban in terms of pace and I pushed so hard, I tried to push him into a mistake,” the four-time world champion explained. “It’s so difficult in the middle sector, the final part of it, to stay close enough. Otherwise, I think I could have tried something but like I said he did well to defend the way he did and not running into a mistake.”

    Vettel, who is one of four drivers summoned by the stewards for not following the pre-race ceremony procedures, said he was fortunate to have a “very bad” start as that allowed him to stay clear of the chaos ahead of him.

    “l had a very, very bad start, but it turned out to be the best place to be,” he added. “So, obviously there was a lot of stuff going on ahead of me and I took it easy and took the inside line.

    “I was clean and found myself basically in the front of the pack, so that definitely made our race today.”

  7. Aston Martin’s Sebastian Vettel has lost his second-place finish and been disqualified from the results of the Hungarian Grand Prix after race officials were unable to take the required fuel sample from his car following the race.

    Under the technical regulations, competitors must ensure that a 1.0 litre sample of fuel may be taken from the car at any time during the event – however it was only possible to take 0.3 litres from Vettel’s Aston Martin after Sunday’s race.

    The decision means that Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton inherits second place, with Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz classified as the final podium finisher in third.

    The rest of the top 10 behind Vettel also inherit a place each, with Alfa Romeo’s Kimi Raikkonen promoted from P11 into the final points paying position of P10.

    The result also means Hamilton extends his title lead over Max Verstappen by a further two points after picking up 18 points to Verstappen’s two.

    The stewards’ verdict in full

    “The Stewards heard from the team representative.

    “After the race it was not possible to take a 1.0 litre sample of fuel from car 5.

    “The team was given several opportunities to attempt to remove the required amount of fuel from the tank, however it was only possible to pump 0.3 litres out.

    “During the hearing in presence of the FIA Technical Delegate and the FIA Technical Director the team principal of Aston Martin stated that there must be 1,44 litres left in the tank, but they are not able to get it out. This figure is calculated using the FFM or injector model.

    “Given this situation, car No. 5 is not in compliance with the requirements of Art. 6.6 FIA Technical Regulations. According to Art. 6.6.2 competitors must ensure that a 1.0 litre sample of fuel may be taken from the car at any time. The procedure was followed however the 1.0 litre sample of fuel was unable to be taken.

    “The Stewards determine to apply the standard penalty for technical infringements. Therefore they took into account, that it shall be no defence to claim that no performance advantage was obtained.

    “Competitors are reminded that they have the right to appeal certain decisions of the Stewards, in accordance with Article 15 of the FIA International Sporting Code and Article 10.1.1 of the FIA Judicial and Disciplinary Rules, within the applicable time limits.”

    Source: Formula1.com

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