Hungary Grand Prix

A few days on from the GP in Belgium, the only F1 news has been Ferrari renewing Fred Vasseur as team principal. [BBC]

Qualifying

Qualifying session 1 (Q1)
PIA 1:15.211
Chequered flag; bottom 5 are LEC, LAW, ALB, BEA, OCO
ALB P17
OCO P15, pushing HUL down to P16
BEA P10, OCO P16
LEC P5, GAS P16
LAW P14, TSU P16
Back of the grid: TSU, GAS, OCO, HUL, ALB

Qualifying session 2
NOR 1:14.890
Chequered flag; bottom 5 are ANT, BEA, HAM, SAI, COL
COL P14
SAI P14
Middle of the grid: ANT, BEA, HAM, SAI, COL
ANT’s lap time was deleted so he’s P15 (instead of P11)

Top 10 shootout is between NOR, PIA, STR, RUS, ALO, LEC, HAD, VER, LAW, BOR

Qualifying session 3
ALO 1:16.025
NOR 1:15.494
PIA 1:15.398
RUS P3
VER P5
STR P3
ALO P2
LEC 1:15.372
HAD P7
Chequered flag; order is LEC, PIA, ALO, NOR, STR, RUS, HAD, VER, LAW, BOR
NOR P3
PIA P2
LAW P7
BOR P7
RUS P4
VER P8
Front of the grid: LEC, PIA, NOR, RUS, ALO, STR, BOR, VER, LAW, HAD

Provisional grid: LEC, PIA, NOR, RUS, ALO, STR, BOR, VER, LAW, HAD, BEA, HAM, SAI, COL, ANT, TSU, GAS, OCO, HUL, ALB
In post-Quali interviews, HAM said “I drove terribly. It is what it is”; “I’m just useless”, it’s “nothing to do with the car”.

Race

Pit lane is open; drivers can make their way to the grid
Grid: LEC, PIA, NOR, RUS, ALO, STR, BOR, VER, LAW, HAD, BEA, HAM, SAI, COL, ANT, TSU, GAS, OCO, HUL, ALB
TSU’s Red Bull was given a few power unit updates while in parc ferme, so he’ll have to start from the pit lane

Air temperature 22°C; track 34°C; humidity 56% – there’s bit of a headwind into Turn 1
LEC leads everyone away on the formation lap
Top 11 are all starting on medium compound tyres; HAM and GAS on hards; SAI, HUL and ALB on softs
Prediction is for everyone to 2-stop but with a small rain shower possibly arriving mid-race that might mix it up

01/70: LEC leads into Turn 1
RUS has taken P3 from NOR
ALO past NOR too
ALB and HUL making good starts with their soft tyres – up to P16 and P17 respectively

02: LEC, PIA, RUS, ALO, NOR, BOR, STR, LAW, VER, BEA, HAD, SAI, ANT, HAM, OCO, ALB, HUL, COL, GAS, TSU
DRS enabled

03: NOR uses DRS on the main straight to pass ALO for P4
VER dives inside STR to steal P7

04: LEC is over 1.5sec clear of PIA
BOR noted for moving before the start – that’s usually an automatic penalty

05/70: LEC, PIA, RUS, NOR, ALO, BOR, VER, STR, LAW, BEA, HAD, SAI, ANT, HAM, OCO, ALB, HUL, GAS, COL, TSU

06: LEC’s lead now over 2.5sec
HUL also under investigation for a false start

07: Radio from HAD sounds like he’s hurt his hand, hit by some gravel

08: There’s a long DRS train behind STR, all the way down to TSU
No further investigation for BOR

09: Radio for PIA saying they’re hearing other teams talking about 1-stopping
Looks like HUL pitted for medium tyres; he’s now P20

10/70: LEC, PIA, RUS, NOR, ALO, BOR, VER, STR, LAW, BEA, HAD, SAI, ANT, HAM, OCO, ALB, GAS, COL, TSU
NOR has DRS to help attack RUS

12: HUL is given 5sec penalty for false start

13: RUS pushes and NOR loses DRS

14: COL pits; switches from mediums to hard tyres

15/70: LEC, PIA, RUS, NOR, ALO, BOR, VER, STR, LAW, BEA
OCO and ALB pit; OCO replaces mediums with hards; ALB goes from softs to mediums; ALB comes out ahead

16: SAI pits; hards go on; rejoins P17

17: Radio for NOR suggesting a line through turn 2; he says his problem is the last three turns
Radio for PIA telling him to “use the pace”

18: VER pits from P7; hards; P16
Radio for NOR, “Plan A minus 5 (laps)”; “My tyres are gone”

19: PIA pits from P2; hards; P5

20/70: LEC pits from P1; hards; P3
RUS pits; hards; P6
HUL takes P15 from TSU
LEC locks up on his new tyres
RUS inside BOR for P5

21: NOR, ALO, LEC, PIA, RUS, BOR, STR, LAW, BEA, HAD
VER takes P15 from teammate TSU
LEC takes P2 from ALO
TSU pits

22: ANT pits; hards; P19
VER takes P13 from HUL; HUL cuts the chicane to avoid hitting VER’s rear

23: HAM all over HAD’s tail

24: VER looking inside GAS but the Alpine defends P12
VER attacks again; takes P12

25/70: NOR, LEC, PIA, ALO, RUS, BOR, STR, LAW, BEA, HAD, HAM, VER, GAS, HUL*, SAI, ALB, OCO, COL, ANT, TSU (*HUL has 5sec penalty to be applied)
RUS looking for a way around ALO

26: RUS past ALO before Turn 1 for P4
VER looking to pass HAM
Radio from HAM, “Bit of a sitting duck”

28: Radio for NOR, “considering 1-stop, it’ll be 40 laps on hard tyres”; “yeah, why not”

29: Radio from LEC, “We are going to lose this race” (he’s over 1.5sec clear of PIA); some cryptic comments about “these things”
VER looks inside HAM; HAM runs wide (was he pushed?); VER takes P11

30/70: NOR, LEC, PIA, RUS, ALO, BOR, STR, LAW, BEA, HAD

31: LEC is closing on NOR, and maintaining the gap over PIA
BEA pits; hards; P20
VER takes P9 from HAD

32: NOR pits from P1; hards; P4 – that was a quick stop, 1.9sec
Incident involving HAM and VER has been noted

33: GAS pits; hards replaced with mediums; P20

34: HAD pits; hards; P19

35/70: LEC, PIA, RUS, NOR, ALO, BOR, STR, LAW, VER, HAM, HUL*, SAI, ALB, OCO, COL, ANT, TSU, BEA, HAD, GAS
Half distance

36: COL pits; hards; P20

37: STR pits; hards; P12, just ahead of ALB
NOR dips a tyre in the gravel trap

38: TSU pits for his 2nd stop; hards; P19

39: ALB pits, 2nd stop; hards; P18

40/70: LEC, PIA, RUS, NOR, ALO, BOR, LAW, VER, HAM, HUL
ALO pits; hards; P8

41: LEC pits from P1; 2nd stop; hards; P4
BOR pits; hards; P8
LAW pits; hards; P12
Incident involving VER and HAM will be investigated after the race

42: Radio for VER telling him they’re thinking about leaving him out to the end; “It’s not going to be easy”

43: HUL pits; serves his penalty; mediums; P19, right behind NOR
HAM pits from P7 (1st stop); mediums; P16

44: RUS pits from P2; 2nd stop; hards; P4
HAD takes P12 from OCO

45/70: PIA, NOR, LEC, RUS, VER, ALO, BOR, STR, LAW, SAI, ANT, HAD, OCO, BEA, GAS, HAM, ALB, TSU, HUL, COL
Everyone has pitted once; LEC, RUS and the bottom 4 have all stopped twice

46: PIA pits from P1; hards; P3

47: PIA is 5sec behind LEC
LEC kicks up a little dirt as he runs a fraction wide

48: NOR about to lap ALB (P17)… and passes the Williams
Radio from BEA concerned that the car is broken

49: PIA has taken over 2sec out of the gap
VER pits from P5; hards; P9 just ahead of ANT
BEA pits; retires
HAM inside GAS for P14

50/70: NOR, LEC, PIA, RUS, ALO, BOR, STR, LAW, VER, ANT
PIA has DRS behind LEC

51: PIA easily past LEC for P2

52: HAM takes P12 from SAI
BOR closing on ALO, who is his manager

53: SAI pits; mediums; P18
Radio from LEC telling his team they should have listened to him

54: PIA is about 0.5sec/lap faster than NOR, and is 6sec behind his teammate, but NOR is dealing with lapping a lot of midfielders

55/70: NOR, PIA, LEC, RUS, ALO, BOR, STR, LAW, VER, ANT, HAD, HAM, OCO, GAS, ALB, HUL, SAI, TSU, COL; out: BEA
There’s mention of a few drops of rain

56: NOR and PIA both post personal fastest laps; gap is 5.5sec

57: RUS closing on LEC; just over 1.5sec behind the Ferrari

58: Incident involving HUL and TSU under investigation … no further action
RUS has DRS behind LEC

59: NOR’s lead down to 3.9sec
RUS right on LEC’s rear wing

60/70: NOR, PIA, LEC, RUS, ALO, BOR, STR, LAW, VER, ANT, HAD, HAM, OCO, GAS, ALB, SAI, HUL, TSU, COL
NOR leads by 3.3sec

61: RUS looks inside LEC but the Ferrari defends P3
Radio from RUS annoyed, claiming LEC moved under braking

62: RUS goes inside, LEC can’t defend this time; there might even be a penalty for LEC moving under braking

63: NOR’s lead under 2sec now as NOR closes on HAM (P12) to lap him

64: Radio from RUS reporting spots of rain
HAM gets the first blue flag to warn him to let NOR through

65/70: NOR, PIA, RUS, LEC, ALO, BOR, STR, LAW, VER, ANT, HAD, HAM, OCO, GAS, HUL, SAI, ALB, TSU, COL; out: BEA
HUL passes GAS for P14, and SAI follows through for P15
ALB now takes P16 from GAS
NOR has lapped HAM; next is HAD

66: PIA has DRS to help him attack NOR
HAD lets both McLarens lap him; next is ANT (P10) but NOR probably won’t catch him before the end

67: PIA using DRS to keep him on NOR’s tail
Without any more backmarkers, NOR won’t get DRS to help defend P1
GAS given 10sec penalty for causing a collision

68: NOR defends through Turn 1

69: PIA makes a late dive into Turn 1, locks up and got very close to NOR’s rear wing
Radio for PIA reminding him “how we go racing”, i.e. keep it clean
LEC gets a 5sec penalty for driving erratically

70/70: NOR stays ahead through Turn 1 – there’s really only one possible place for PIA to attack

NOR takes the chequered flag – that’s McLaren’s 200th F1 win!

Provisional result: NOR, PIA, RUS, LEC*, ALO, BOR, STR, LAW, VER, ANT; HAD, HAM, HUL, SAI, ALB, OCO, GAS*, TSU, COL
DNF: BEA
Penalties:
LEC’s 5sec penalty doesn’t change his position
GAS’s 10sec penalty drops him to P19
No further action after investigating TSU for forcing HUL off the track, or for VER’s move on HAM.

There’s a three week gap now until the Netherlands GP on August 30-31.

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