After what can only be described as a chaotic, fascinating and brilliant 2021 Hungarian Grand Prix, F1 fans got to see a bit of everything. The race was two hours of non stop action from literally the first corner to the last, and featured a safety car, red flag, penalties, a surprise winner, epic duels we don’t often see, a double Williams points finish and, arguably most surprising of all, a Haas keeping a Red Bull and Mercedes behind it for multiple laps. There is a lot to unpack, so let’s get on with it.
Alpine holds Oc-on for shock maiden win…
Let’s get the formalities out of the way first. Esteban Ocon may have got his first win in Formula 1,but the assist has to go to his teammate Fernando Alonso. The driver who turned forty this past week held up Lewis Hamilton so well for multiple laps, he prevented the brit from winning this race. By the end of the race, Hamilton was only a little over two seconds behind the race leader. Any more laps, Ocon might not have held onto his lead. It is no surprise, therefore, that fans recognised the importance of the Spaniard in Sunday’s shock result and voted him the ‘driver of the day’. That being said, all plaudits have to go to the Frenchman. Opportunistic at the start and mature throughout, the twenty-four year old held it together illustrating experience well beyond his years in the sport. His second podium and first win in Formula 1 confirming what most fans can already sense, Ocon has a long future in the sport, possibly at Mercedes alongside George Russell, further down the line.
Sebastian Vettel does it again! Carlos Sainz almost does…
Sebastian Vettel would have bitten your hand off if you had offered him second place prior to lights out on Sunday. That being said, there was an air and tone of disappointment, and a sense of a missed opportunity at a rare race win. The German could find no way by the Alpine ahead, despite getting close a few times and being within DRS range for the majority of the race. At another track, who knows if Seb would have ended up winning this race. But like the aforementioned Ocon, he will be grateful to Alonso for making sure he finsiehf ahead of Lewis Hamilton by lap 70. A second podium of the season is a welcome one for Aston Martin, as they look to build on these foundations. A subsequent disqualification means the P2 finish appears in vain, unless a successful appeal is lodged in due course. It was also a day of mixed emotions for the Ferrari of Carlos Sainz. By far the most vocal driver over team radio, the Spaniard was wise to team tactics and strategies and almost claimed a podium himself. With three laps to go, the lace of the Mercedes was too much, although he did to well to hold onto fourth place with Alonso pressuring him right until the chequered flag. As predicted by Wheel2wheel Reports in our predictions article, Sainz had a strong race and showed us all what he has to offer. Perhaps without Charles Leclerc around him, the pressure was lifted slightly. An imminent promotion to a podium place awaits if Vettel’s DSQ stands, so it appears a second podium finish without the podium celebrations, for Sainz.
Contrasting fortunes at Mercedes…
It feels as if Valtteri Bottas crashing into Lando Norris happened an eternity ago. It certainly doesn’t feel like the same race, but this is where the chaos started. The poor start by Valtteri not only ended his race prematurely, but ended Lando Norris’ hopes of another podium and heavily compromised Red Bull’s chances of points on Sunday, something we’ll discuss later on in this article. Whereas Valtteri had a terrible 300 metres, his British teammate started comparably well, until the red flag restart saw Hamilton, and Hamilton alone, start from the grid, whilst everyone else changed tyres. A mistake from a team that should really have known better, this effectively was the reason Lewis wasn’t on the top step for the ninth time at this circuit. Despite all this, it was a good day for the constructor, with Lewis regaining top spot in the driver’s standings and the team knocking Red Bull off their perch in what was an excellent recovery drive. In fact, his effort was so immense it seemed to take the wind out of his sails on the podium and also turned some of the jeers from Saturday into cheers. Verstappen has no such luck with a recovery drive, however. Speaking of the “Charging Bulls”…
Disaster again for Red Bull. If only they had wings!
One point in two races. Nobody could have foreseen this drop off in points scored. Red Bull looked incredibly strong over the triple header to the point where Max and his constructor were running away with their respective championships. In the space of two races, they have lost the lead in both. Now of course, to what extent this is their doing, is questionable. For consecutive races, a Silver Arrow has ended one of their driver’s races and, this week, serverely hampered another. As we head to Spa, a rested Verstappen, a revitalised Perez and a fully fixed Red Bull car should certainly be in a lot better shape to win, especially with a five-place penalty to come for Bottas’ Mercedes. Neither title race is over, in fact rarely in recent times has it been closer. Lewis is notoriously strong in the second half of Formula 1 seasons, so let’s see how this pans out.
Williams score double points…
Any other race week, this would have been the major headline. Williams capitalised on the race drama ahead of them to earn a doubke points finish. The race was so bonkers, Nicolas Latifi ran in the podium places for over a dozen laps, and George Russell was temporarily in second. They ended up in P8 and P9 respectively and whilst this may seem like a fall away, it is a brilliant result for the team who fins themselves even above Alfa Romeo in the constructors standings. Anything can happen in Formula 1 but you would also imagine this confirms their place above the ‘pointless’ Haas team, despite a strong showing by Mick Schumacher from the Hungaroring on Sunday. Both Williams drivers break their long standing ducks and that should hopefully lift some pressure going forward, particularly on Geigre Russell who looked destined to remain pointless forever (for Williams at least). Finally, Alpha Tauri will be equally happy with how their race turned out, with the even picking up the fastest lap point on the final lap of a race that illustrated the best talents of both their drivers.
WHEEL2WHEEL REPORTS 