Sunday, August 1, 2021 promised to be an exciting day. The Hungarian GP was the chance for Verstappen to take revenge on his great rival Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) who had knocked him off the track two weeks earlier at Silverstone. In addition, the Dutchman had to finish before Hamilton to maintain the lead in the World Cup halfway through the season.
However, after good free practice sessions on Friday and Saturday, Verstappen failed to take pole position in qualifying, as he did in 2019. Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas set the fastest times, while Verstappen (P3) and teammate Sergio Pérez (P4) occupied the second row.

Rain over the Hongaroring

Until then, there had been no blemish in the air. And not a cloud, by the way. The beautiful weather in Hungary with high temperatures was just what team Red Bull Racing needed. A couple of heavy downpours followed on Sunday, which lasted until just before the start of the race. The rain radar predicted even more rain that afternoon and that always makes them very nervous in Formula 1… The tire strategy could in any case go into the trash: the entire field appeared on intermediates at the start.

Hungarian Grand Prix

The lights went out… Applauded by the well-filled orange Max Verstappen grandstand, the Dutchman closed directly behind Hamilton in P2. The race for the World Cup points could begin. Valtteri Bottas apparently thought otherwise. On the wet asphalt he had a bad start from P2. So bad that Lando Norris (McLaren) overtook him on the right, while Pérez (Red Bul Racing) passed him on the left. Once under way, the Finn missed the braking point for the first corner and slammed into Norris' rear wing. The sympathetic Englishman shot forward before losing control of his McLaren and drilling into the right flank of Verstappen's Red Bull. Bottas also had no choice but to steer to the left where he rode on top of Sergio Pérez and came to a stop next to the tarmac. To make matters worse, Lance Stroll (Aston Martin) also braked too late. In his slide, he took the Ferrari of Charles Leclerc with him, who in turn knocked Daniel Ricciardo (McLaren) around. And Hamilton? He rode in the lead without any problems and watched the spectacle in his mirrors. Could it really be that easy today?

Work on the store during red flag

To everyone's relief, Verstappen kept his battered car going. He returned to the track in thirteenth place. The damage to Ricciardo's McLaren was limited and he was also on the road again. However, for Bottas, Pérez, Norris, Leclerc and Stroll, the race had lasted only a few seconds. They were left defeated, surrounded by wreckage.
A red flag followed for all remaining drivers who lined up in the pit lane. It was only then that it became clear how much damage Verstappen had suffered. The entire right flank and floor were damaged. The Red Bull mechanics tore down everything that was loose and taped the frayed edges and cracks with heat-resistant tape. Whatever happened, this race had to and would finish Verstappen!

Never seen before: one car at the start

The elimination of the five drivers provided new opportunities for a number of drivers who normally do not race in the top 10. Such as Yuki Tsunoda, Esteban Ocon, George Russell and Nicholas Latifi. They had managed to avoid the chaos in the first corner well and were now competing for the points. Sebastian Vettel (Aston Martin) also saw opportunities for P3 again.
Now, the reboot. The formation lap first followed from the pit lane. A good time for the drivers to reassess whether the intermediates could already be exchanged for slicks. Then something remarkable happened: the whole field dove into the pit lane for their tire change to slicks, except for the leader, Lewis Hamilton; he stayed outside. And so it happened that the Briton was already on intermediates at the start and drove away after the lights went out. The rest entered the grid from the pit lane and followed the Mercedes. Would Hamilton err on the side of caution? After all, it could still rain. And otherwise he would automatically drive the intermediates to slicks on the dry asphalt. Not even such a bad idea. But no, a lap later he also had to go in for other tires, after which he ended up in the back. From leader to last in one round.

Ocon in the lead in Hungary

After all this confusion, there was one driver who got the pleasant message over the on-board radio: 'Esteban... you are now the leader in this race'. And that remained the young Frenchman until he was flagged off to loud cheers from the crowd. All this time he had managed to hold off Sebastian Vettel. A great performance by Ocon, who also received help from his teammate Fernando Alonso. The experienced Spaniard was comfortably on P4 when the chasing Hamilton popped up in his mirrors. The two drivers have not been friends at all since they drove for McLaren in 2007. Reason enough for the Spaniard to keep Hamilton behind as long as possible. With this, Ocon was not in danger of P1 and he prevented Hamilton from being able to overtake Max Verstappen in the World Cup. After the incident at Silverstone, Alonso, also world champion himself, had made it clear that he was on the side of Verstappen and would prefer to see him become world champion in 2021. After the crash with Norris, and the retirement of Pérez, Verstappen could use all the help in Hungary. So Alonso did what he does best: 20 laps he kept as wide as he could, encouraged from the stands. Still, he couldn't prevent the now heavily frustrated Hamilton from passing him on lap 65. It did earn him the title Driver of the day and many grateful Dutch fans!

Uncontrollable car

The Briton then had little trouble with the next Spaniard, Carlos Sainz (Ferrari) and so Hamilton took P3 behind Sebastian Vettel after the disastrous start of the race. He lost the extra point for the fastest lap to Pierre Gasly (AlphaTauri).
Max struggled the entire race with his almost uncontrollable car. Despite the knocked-out right flank, he still made a few nice overtaking actions. Including one on Daniel Ricciardo, with which the Dutchman finished in P10 and still took a point. Nicholas Latifi and George Russell had a big party for him: team Williams drove in the points for the first time this season! Gasly and Tsunoda also scored points for team AlphaTauri.

Venom is in the tail

And the spectacle was not over at the Hongaroring yet. Hamilton almost passed out during the cup ceremony. The tough race and the aftermath of his corona infection at the end of last year became almost too much for the Briton. Second-finished Sebastian Vettel, on the other hand, felt perfectly at home on the podium and visibly enjoyed his performance. Until half an hour after the ceremony…. Then the FIA ​​announced that there may be too little fuel left in Vettel's Aston Martin: the German was disqualified. As a result, everyone in the top 10 moved up one place. Hamilton is back in first place in the World Cup standings with 195 points. With 187 points, Max is certainly still in line with Mercedes.
After the summer break, the rivals will meet again on August 29 in Belgium at the Spa-Francorchamps circuit. And after that… the GP of the Netherlands at Zandvoort!