Hungary: post-race analysis 2021

Well, the race was red due to very unforeseen circumstances.

The forecast was dry, the reality was wet. Everyone started on intermediates. Come the first corner, Bottas, who had left the handbrake on at the start and been passed by Norris and Vettel, locked up and struck the Briton whose car hit Verstappen hard and multiple others got caught up in it. A short way further back, Stroll went in too fast (having passed Vettel at the start) and tried to get out of the way on the inside, on the grass, but ended up taking out Leclerc and compounding the incident.

Hamilton, leading, was unaffected. Verstappen could continue but his floor was a jagged ruin. Bottas was out. Midfield big hitters Norris, Leclerc, Perez were all out.

And who was behind Hamilton? Ocon and Vettel. Bizarre.

The damage brought out yet another red flag (they’re in fashion in 2021, it seems). Red Bull couldn’t really patch up Verstappen’s damage but did what little they could.

Eventually we had a second formation lap and then the strangest thing I’ve perhaps ever seen in F1. Everyone came in to swap inters for slicks and start from the pit lane. Except Hamilton. Who started from the grid, on inters, by himself.

He immediately pitted and was last.

Ocon inherited the leader, Vettel right behind him. The Aston Martin looked significantly faster but the Hungaroring is a bugger for overtaking.

Hamilton set about doing what Hamilton does, carving his way through the field. He did so, getting all the way up to the mid-points positions behind Sainz, then pitted on lap 48 of 70 for new mediums. Ricciardo and Verstappen had attempted to pit to avoid being undercut by the Briton earlier, which had trapped the Dutchman (nursing a damaged car) behind the Aussie for most of the race. In retrospect, perhaps an unwise strategic move.

Hamilton was eating up those ahead of him, seconds a lap faster than the cars he was passing. Until he encountered some chap called Fernando Alonso. The Spaniard’s Alpine was clearly slowly, but a mile. Yet somehow he fended off the charging Briton. And did so for lap after lap, protecting not only his own place but that of his race-leading team mate too. It was quite possible the best driving anyone’s done all year, a phenomenal display of defensive prowess. Ultimately, Alonso overcooked it into turn 1 and locked the brakes, but in the end, he’d done enough. Hamilton managed to pass Sainz to get himself on the podium, but Ocon’s assured calm delivered him (and Alpine) a first race win. Vettel couldn’t get past (he would’ve if his team hadn’t cocked up his pit stop and added a needless second of waiting) but 2^nd still isn’t bad for Aston Martin.

Sainz drove very well to retain 4^th against a resurgent Alonso, making this a mixed day for Ferrari, who score good points when their main rivals McLaren (Ricciardo 12^th, Norris DNF) scored nothing. After a poor qualifying error, the younger Spaniard redeemed himself, while the elder reminded the audience that he’s still rather good at this driving lark.

Solid day for AlphaTauri too who had Gasly 6^th and Tsunoda 7^th, while even more surprising was not one but two Williams in the points with Latifi 8^th and Russell 9^th. They’ve been threatening to score all season and it was great to see them achieve it on merit. The final point was snaffled by Verstappen who got the most meagre crumb of comfort after once again being collateral damage in another driver’s mistake.

Mazepin had the weirdest of retirements, after an Alfa Romeo unsafe release saw Raikkonen destroy the front right of the Russian’s Haas.

Hamilton 192
Verstappen 186

In two race weekends, Verstappen’s misfortune (which he also had in Baku) has seen him go from being over a race win ahead to a six point deficit. This is far from over, but Hamilton must be unable to believe his luck. That said, Mercedes did screw up the restart. Even so, but for Alonso’s incredible driving they would’ve won and taken an extra 10 points.

Mercedes 300
Red Bull 290
McLaren 163
Ferrari 160
Alpine 75
Aston Martin 66
AlphaTauri 64
Williams 6
Alfa Romeo 2
Haas 0

At the sharp end, much the same has happened as per the drivers. In the battle for best of the rest, Ferrari have closed right up on McLaren. Ricciardo, whom I rate highly and expected to be a great team mate for Norris, is looking like the weakest link. The Alpine win sees them overtake both AlphaTauri and Aston Martin, but 11 points cover all three who are almost in their own mini-league. And the delightful Williams double points result puts them in a well-deserved 8^th.

Bottas has a 5 place grid penalty for the next race. I think that’s harsh as it was turn 1, in the wet, and he clearly wasn’t doing it on purpose as Bottas himself had a DNF.

Next race is Belgium, in four weeks.

Morris Dancer