Esteban Ocon pulled out a surprise victory in the 2021 Hungarian Gran Prix this morning at the Hungaroring, with Sebastian Vettel finishing P2. Lewis Hamilton muscled his way from P14 to P3, following his win at the Silverstone Grand Prix.
The Hungarian Grand Prix met some rain before the race this morning, forcing teams to choose wet weather tires. Some drivers ran intermediate compounds, while Antonio Giovinazzi took the gamble to start on wet compounds after the formation lap. He then started the race from the pit lane.
The race began with absolute carnage. Valtteri Bottas locked up his front tires coming into the first corner, smashing into the back of Lando Norris who had come around Bottas on the inside before the corner. The Mercedes sent the McLaren into the side of Max Verstappen, and Lance Stroll behind tried to avoid the accident but shredded the side of Charles Leclerc's Ferrari.
After the dust settled, Bottas, Leclerc, Stroll, and Sergio Perez retired, while stewards red-flagged the race and cars returned to pit lane. During the red flag, Norris received news his car had sustained too much damage and had to retire. The incident landed Ocon in P2 and Vettel in P3.
Hamilton by Himself On At The Restart
The track dried out by the end of the formation lap before the restart, and every car except Hamilton's pitted for slick tires. The Mercedes started by itself while every other car started from the pit lane. George Russell was the first out of the pit lane, starting P2. The FIA determined Russell undercut several cars and was ordered to drop back to P7. Nikita Mazepin suffered some contact with Kimi Raikkonen in the pit lane, which broke his front suspension and retired his car. Russell dropping back meant Ocon led the field from Vettel, from Nicholas Latifi in the Williams.
After Hamilton pitted for slicks, he emerged onto the track in P14. Lap 14 saw Verstappen and Mick Schumacher battling wheel to wheel for P10, with the damaged Red Bull struggling for grip. The cars made contact between wheels but continued, and Verstappen took P10. Verstappen pitted for medium compounds on Lap 22 but came out behind Hamilton and Daniel Ricciardo in P12. Russell down in P10 chased down Schumacher and under DRS took the Haas on the outside of Turn 3 and into Turn 4 for P9. After pit stops on Lap 37, both Alpines lead the field, with Vettel mounting a challenge on Ocon for P2.
Fernando Alonso pitted, relinquishing the lead to teammate Ocon, and rejoining down in P5. By Lap 47 Hamilton had worked his way up into P4 with one pit stop left, which he did on Lap 48 and came out behind Alonso in P5. Lap 55 saw Hamilton and Alonso battling through several corners for P4, Alonso delivering superb defense from the much faster Mercedes. He kept the Mercedes at bay until Lap 65 when Hamilton finally passed the Alpine under DRS when Alonso locked up into Turn 1.
Hamilton mounted a charge and took P3 from Carlos Sainz on Lap 67, but was ultimately too far from Ocon to challenge for the lead. Ocon held onto the lead and crossed the finish line for his first victory in Formula 1, from Vettel and Hamilton in P2 and P3. Down the field, George Russell finished P9 for Williams.
The Summer break follows the Hungarian Grand Prix, with the Belgian Grand Prix marking the return to racing on August 29, 2021.