Hamilton reaction.
Here’s Giles Richards’ race report:
Updated
Summing up
Well that was a frequently breathtaking race, with a horribly messy start, some compelling battles and a debutant winner in the hugely likeable Esteban Ocon. The title race has been well and truly shaken up again with Lewis Hamilton regaining the lead from Max Verstappen on another nightmare afternoon for Red Bull. The Briton leads the world championship standings by six points as we head into the summer break, and there’s all to look forward to when racing resumes. Thanks for your attention, emails and tweets. Bye.
Vettel speaks: “I’m probably a little bit disappointed, I felt I was a little bit faster for the majority of the race but couldn’t get close enough and he stayed on track, a great result for us but you’re aways looking at the win rather than second.
Of the mayhem at the start he adds: “A very very bad start but it turns out that it was the best place to be. I took it easy and took the inside line which was clean. We are very close with Esteban in terms of pace. I tried to push him into a mistake but like I said he did well to defend like he did.
Hamilton’s up next: “Huge congrats to the Alpine team and Esteban whose been a shining star for some time and I’m really happy for him,” says the reigning champion. “Generally had an amazing crowd this weekend and thank you for all being here. Today was definitely tough – we always make it difficult for ourselves – and amazing to think we were the only ones on the grid at the start. I gave everything I had and had nothing left at the end.”
On the issue of that curious second start, he says: “The team said rain was coming so I saw everyone diving into the pits but we stayed – we came here this weekend not knowing how it would go and considering he start today I’ll take it.”
And here’s Ocon, the winner: “What a moment. It feels so good. We had some difficult moments that we overcame together with the team but what can I say? It’s fantastic. The teamwork all round – it’s been a fantastic day. Just a big thankyou for the trust everyone is putting into me. We are back where we belong so that’s fantastic. Sebastian put me under big pressure. As for his teammate, Alonso: “He is awesome to work with, Fernando, we are working together pushing the team to improve, he’s a fantastic guy and I’m really enjoying the collaboration. I wish everyone was here to celebrate.”
Updated
All associated with Ocon and Alpine are just bounding about the pit line, lapping it all up. You need uncertainty and upsets like this. The crowd respond raucously.
How they finished
1 Esteban Ocon
2 Sebastian Vettel
3Lewis Hamilton
4Carlos Sainz Jnr
5Fernando Alonso
6Pierre GaslyG
7 Yuki Tsunoda
8 Nicholas Latifi
9 George Russell
10Max Verstappen
“Ah man I tried I tried I tried the whole race,” laments runner-up Vettel over the radio. “Following is so difficult.” Further back, this is also Latifi’s best ever grand prix performance.
Verstappen has finished 10th, mustering a single point.
Updated
Ocon celebrates a first-ever F1 win and is roaring uncontrollably, as he has every right to do. As Gasly does indeed set a fastest lap of 1.18.3, snatching a point from Hamilton.
Esteban Ocon wins the Hungarian Grand Prix!
What a performance by the Frenchman. A brilliantly composed drive. Vettel comes second, Hamilton third.
Updated
Lap 69/70. Alpine’s mechanics are now so nervous they can’t watch and are packing up, apparently, as their man Ocon closes in on a remarkable victory. He leads Vettel by 1.4sec. Gasly pits perhaps in a hope for a stab at the fastest lap.
Lap 68/70. Hamilton also has the fastest lap at the moment, which would land him seven points and the championship leads. Ocon leads Vettel by 1.4sec with only two laps remaining.
Lap 67/70. Another cheer as Hamilton reels in Sainz, moving wide to take him. He’s third! But Ocon and Vettel look unassailable in the top two. But this has been a terrific drive from Hamilton after all the weirdness and chaos at the start.
Lap 66/70. Hamilton attacks Sainz, he’s in touching distance on turn two but Sainz has enough of a lead to hold him off. That podium is calling for the Briton. Ocon leads by 1.6sec.
Lap 65/70. Hamilton passes Alonso at last as the Spaniard locks up. He’s now fourth and has Sainz in his sights. Huge is the roar from the crowd that yesterday booed him. Vettel gets a bit closer on Ocon but not quite within striking range.
Lap 64/70. Vettel meanwhile stays on Ocon’s tail, looking for a mistake or opening that still isn’t forthcoming. It’s 1 Ocon 2 Vettel 3 Sainz 4 Alonso 5 Hamilton
Lap 63/70. Alonso’s traction holds off another sustained Hamilton assault – they might even have touched – as this battle’s intensity ratchets up another notch. Could have been risky, definitely is compelling. “He just moved over on me man, come on!” complains Hamilton.
Lap 62/70. Bottas has been given a five grid-place penalty at the start of the next race as a result of the incident at the start of the race.
Lap 61/70. None of this is affecting Ocon, who remains largely untroubled in first place. Vettel has nine laps to make a move. The gap is around 0.9sec.
Lap 60/70. Verstappen gets some joy at last, passing Ricciardo to move into 10th, as Hamilton once again can’t get close enough to Alonso.
Lap 59/70. There’s bright-ish sunshine at the Hungaroring now as Hamilton attacks Alonso again through the first two turns, but yet again he’s denied.
Lap 58/70. Verstappen fails again with a move on Ricciardo, and Hamilton remains stuck behind Alonso after a less eventful lap than the previous three. Ocon leads by 1.3sec
Lap 57/70. Here’s how they stand: 1 Ocon 2 Vettel 3 Sainz 4 Alonso 5 Hamilton 6 Gasly 7 Tsunoda 8 Latifi 9 Russell 10 Ricciardo 11 Verstappen 12 Raikkonen 13 Schumacher 14 Giovanazzi
Updated
Lap 56/70. Hamilton is foiled again on turn three and four by Alonso, the Spaniard anticipating and defending with all his nous and experience.
Updated
Lap 55/70. Hamilton tries another move on Alonso on turn one, but no dice once more. It’s a great battle but presently a frustrating one for the world champion.
Lap 54/70. Hamilton tries to get past Alonso through two turns but the Spaniard holds him off brilliantly. The Briton stays fifth, 10 seconds off the lead held by Ocon.
Lap 53/70. Verstappen has 0.3sec to make on Ricciardo, who’s been stuck in 10th behind Russell for ages. A measure of the task ahead of the Dutchman - not a lot of movement back there. Ocon leads by 1.2sec from Vettel out front.
Lap 51/70. Verstappen moves up to 11th, overhauling Raikkonen. A top-10 place will still be useful for him, even if he’s nowhere near the leaders. Hamilton closes the gap on Alonso to around six seconds.
Lap 50/70. Vettel is closing on Ocon, taking advantage of DRS to get right up to his rear, but Ocon maintains a lead of around 0.6 sec. Hamilton is around 11 seconds off the lead in fifth. Sainz is third, Alonso fourth.
Updated
Lap 48/70. Vettel almost passes Ocon as he seeks to take advantage of lapping Raikkonen, but Ocon holds his nerve. This has been quite the show of composure from the race leader.
Lap 47/70. Hamilton pits, changing to a shiny set of mediums. He comes out in fifth. Game on! “Hammer time all the way,” he’s told.
Updated
Lap 46/70. Here’s how the points currently look, and it’s not good reading for Red Bull: 1 Ocon 2 Vettel 3 Sainz 4 Hamilton 5 Alonso ^ Tsunoda 7 Gasly 8 Latifi 9 Russell 10 Ricciardo
Lap 45/70. Ocon is managing this very well, despite Vettel’s best efforts but this circuit isn’t offering him sufficient overtaking opportunities as things stand.
Lap 44/70. A rare lull in the movings and shakings in the past couple of laps. Ocon leads by around a second and Hamilton is now only around six seconds behind the leader. He tells his team that he feels in the groove, and he is.
Lap 43/70. Ocon leads by around 1.3sec, with Sainz a further four seconds back and Hamilton around another one second behind. Hamilton will fancy that podium now.
Lap 41/70. Verstappen pits for another change of tyres. He’s got to find something from somewhere, because at the moment he’s listing in 12th. He’s heading for a nil-points afternoon. Red Bull ditto
Updated
Lap 40/70. Alonso is expecting to pit now in fact. In he comes, and out he emerges, in fifth, which means we’re back as we were at the front, with Ocon leading from Vettel and Sainz in third. Lewis Hamilton is now fourth.
Lap 39/70. Will Vettel’s clumsy changeover cost him? He’s trying to make a move on Ocon but the Alpine is just a little too far ahead of him. The wily old veteran Alonso still leads but is expecting to pit soon.
Lap 38/70. Ocon pits, and does so smoothly, coming out ahead of Vettel as Alonso now leads. Alonso has yet to stop. Now we’re hitting the business end.
Lap 37/70. Vettel pits and is a bit tardy coming out, emerging in third behind Alonso in second. Ocon is urged to kick ahead. When will he pit?
Lap 36/70. It’s still looking like some form of Ocon-Vettel top two given the former has a gap on fourth-placed Sainz of around half a minute.
Lap 34/70. Phew, right. Placings update, as Ricciardo passes Schumacher and Verstappen follows suit to move to 11th.
It’s 1 Ocon 2 Vettel 3 Alonso 4 Sainz 5 Hamilton 6 Tsunoda 7 Latifi 8 Gasly 9 Russell 10 Ricciardo
Lap 33/70. A tremendous bit of driving from George Russell on the turn gets him round the outside of Schumacher to move up to ninth. This race is not dull.
Lap 32/70. Ocon’s still driving excellently as the pressure builds behind him, he’s 2.3 ahead. And Hamilton overtakes Tsunoda magnificently, failing to take him on the inside and then executing the overtake on the outside. He’s on the charge. Meanwhile Sainz pits and manages to come out ahead of Hamilton
Lap 31/70. Gasly is the first of the top five to pit, and he comes out in eighth, ahead of Mick Schumacher. Which means Hamilton is now sixth.
Lap 30/70. Hamilton is making a move on Tsunoda, with DRS available, but can’t make up the distance at this point. Versatappen continues to be frustrated by Ricciardo, Russell and the dogged Schumacher in front of him.
Updated
Lap 29/70. None of the top five have pitted since racing resumed properly. They line up as 1 Ocon 2 Vettel 3 Sainz 4 Alonso 5 Gasly
“Are we on lap 43 already?” asks Hamilton over the radio to his team. “No, that’s 43 to go,” he’s told. Pressure, there.
Lap 27/70. The problem Vettel has is if he pits now he’s likely to come out behind Alonso, who’s currently fourth, and you can expect Ocon’s teammate to make life difficult for Vettel. Ocon’s lead currently around 1.8sec.
Lap 26/70. Verstappen’s frustrations continue. He’s making no real progress at all back in 12th, while his title pursuer is well placed for vital points. Hamilton’s now up to seventh, overhauling the fading Latifi.
Lap 25/70. Sainz has moved up to third, as Latifi is overhauled by Tsunoda and has now dropped to seventh since going into the pits. But the front two are well clear at the head of the field.
Lap 24/70. Hamilton passes Schumacher again and moves up to eighth. Ocon leads by around a second.
Lap 23/70. Hamilton sets the fastest lap in 1:21 as Sainz now does pit. No sign of such activity from the front two, as Latifi pits. They’re sticking out there for now.
Updated
Lap 22/70. So this is how this race now looks: Ocon leads by 0.9sec from Vettel with Latifi in third. Lewis Hamilton is now up to ninth and Verstappen back in 12th. In fifth, meanwhile, Sainz wants to stay out despite the wishes of his team.
Lap 21/70. No one is pitting up front, but Ricciardo in eighth comes in for a change. And now Verstappen does. But as they emerge from the pit, Hamilton undercuts them and gets in front of both! What a move that could prove to be.
Lap 20/70. Hamilton heeds Hugh Molloy’s advice and pits, coming out in 12th, hoping for that clear run.
Lap 19/70. “Plan A plus five” Ocon is told. Hamilton meanwhile still toils behind Gasly in 11th.
Updated
Lap 18/70. Vettel has won here twice in the past of course, and scents a breakthrough. He’s within a second of Ocon now and will fancy his chances.
Lap 17/70. “With Latifi holding the entire field up, Hamilton should pit now,” roars Hugh Molloy. “He can then actually use his pace to catch up then let everyone else pit and go behind. PIT NOW!”
Lap 16/70. Hamilton has also reeled in Schumacher to move up to 11th. His title rival Verstappen is two places in front of him. Hamilton has expressed his frustration at his overtaking difficulty to his team on the radio.
Lap 15/70. Ocon is still driving with impressive composure out front with Vettel looking busy behind him. The lead is now 0.9sec. Raikkonen goes into the pits.
Lap 14/70. Verstapppen takes on Schumacher on turn one, but the German holds him off masterfully, taking the Dutchman wide of the track, but Verstappen comes back brilliantly on turn two and gets his nose in front, to huge roars from his fanclub. He’s in the points as it stands. Thrilling stuff.
Lap 13/70. Hamilton tries to make a move on Gasly but the Frenchman keeps his distance. Verstappen’s struggle with Schumacher continues to prove similarly fruitless. The championship leader just can’t find and opening
Lap 12/70. Here’s how they stand: 1 Ocon, 2 Vettel 3 Latifi, 4 Tsunoda, 5 Sainz, 6 Alonso, 7 Russell, 8 Raikkonen, 9. Ricciardo, 10 Schumacher. Verstappen is 11th and Hamilton 13th, and there are onlyl 14 drivers in the race
Lap 11/70. Up front, Vettel, the old stager, is closing in on Ocon, whose lead is cut to 1.1sec. Latifi is eight seconds further back. Hamilton’s been told over the radio that his brake temperature is too high, so the champion has yet more to think about, back in 13th. What an afternoon this is shaping up to be.
Lap 10/70. Hamilton comes on the inside past Giovanazzi to gain a place. Verstappen tries similar on Schumacher but can’t manage it. Both are outside the top 10. Giovanazzi’s copped a 10-second penalty for speeding in the pit lane.
Lap 9/70. Hamilton’s got his despondent voice on over the radio, his team exhorting him that he can still do this. He tries to overtake Giovanazzi but can’t quite make it, he’s got some momentum though
Updated
Lap 8/70. Verstappen overhauls Gasly to move up to 11th. Ocon leads by 1.8 sec. Vettel is second and Latifi, who’s never been this high up the field in F1, is third.
Lap 7/70. Mazepin is now out of the race, colliding with Raikkonen as he was released in the pit lane. The craziness continues
Lap 6/70. It’s chaotic once again out there in a different way. And here’s how they now line up: Ocon leads from Vettel, Latifi, Tsunoda and Sainz. Verstappen is 11th and Hamilton 14th. Dizzying stuff.
Updated
Lap 5/70. The luckless George Russell has a puncture as Hamilton pits. Ocon leads
Lap 4/70. Hamilton hasn’t made enough time to pit and stay in front. Have Mercedes blundered?
Lights out and away we go again!
Hamilton the only driver who didn’t start from the pits!
They’re on the formation lap on a now-dry track! So how long will all those intermediate tyres now last? Ocon and Sainz are duly changing tyres. As is Tsunoda. They’ll be joining from the pit lane!
Updated
A similarly unhappy Lando Norris has said a penalty should be considered for Bottas over the crash. If there’s any consolation for the McLaren man, currently third in the world championship standings, it’s that the three drivers behind him are also out of the race so can’t encroach on his position.
A disconsolate Perez confirms that he’s lost an engine, which will mean a penalty later in the season too.
They’re beavering away on Verstappen’s car to great effect, the Dutchman himself looking stern and anxious behind his mask. A hell of a test of temperament to come for him. Both he and Hamilton will be driving without teammates from here on in, both Perez and Bottas falling victim to that first corner carnage.
Race to resume at 2.32pm BST
They’ve just confirmed. Meanwhile Lando Norris is also out. Pandemonium.
And here’s how they now stand anyway ahead of resumption: 1 Hamilton 2 Ocon 3 Vettel 4 Sainz 5 Tsunoda 6 Latifi 7 Alonso 8 Russell 9 Raikkonen 10 Schumacher. And poor old Max Verstappen is back in 13th.
There will be recriminations from this, but it’s perhaps not wholly unsurprising given the sudden arrival of conditions with which the drivers had not been familiar during practice and qualifications.
We’ll be hearing more I’m sure …
Chaos! 😱
— Red Bull Racing Honda (@redbullracing) August 1, 2021
“Bottas caused it all. I simply can’t wait for Horner’s whinge off!” writes Hugh Molloy. It’s certainly not-raining-but-pouring for Red Bull at the minute. Verstappen’s currently in the pits for repairs but will start way down the field.
Red flag!
They’re stopping the race, to deal with the considerable debris on the track.
Leclerc, Perez, Stroll and Bottas are all out of of the race
Updated
Lap 2/70. Right, let’s try and pick through that. Bottas broke way too late, prompting Norris to bump him, Verstappen and Perez - both the Red Bulls - being taken out in the tumult. The safety car is out. Verstappen appears to have lost some body work.
Updated
Lap 1/70 Chaos early on, three or four cars come off at the first turn, and Verstappen has sustained damage and dropped down the field. Perez too. Hamilton leads!
Updated
Lights out and away we go!
And they’re off. Giovanazzi comes into the pits already for a tyre change
Updated
It’s been pointed out that Verstappen may get an advantage from starting over the grid spot kept dry by Hamilton, whereas the man in pole goes straight onto a wet surface.
They’re on the formation lap now with this steady rain forecast for 25 minutes.
There’s another race going on very soon of course, but it’ll only take a few seconds, so dash back:
The rain is now falling as the anthem is played.
Updated
Fancy a trip round the circuit with Robert Kubica? Here ye go:
Fresh from his best finish of the season at Hockenheim, Robert Kubica is looking forward to Hungary ⏩
— Formula 1 (@F1) July 31, 2019
Join him for a lap of the Hungaroring in this week's Circuit Guide
VIDEO >> https://t.co/EORqtCoFoe pic.twitter.com/FZ6Uxi1tzL
Christian Horner has been expanding on Verstappen having to change his engine this morning. After starting with an expression of condolence to the family and friends of the marshal who died at Brands Hatch yesterday. Horner told Sky that the engine was shown to their team in Japan for visual checks after Red Bull noticed a crack had appeared in the engine after running yesterday. “It’s another consequence of the incident at Silverstone,” said the Red Bull supremo. “We’ve had to replace it with another power unit – there’s no grid penalty here but it does make life tough to stay within three power units for the rest of the season. It’s repairable but we certainly couldn’t run it here today.”
Rain is expected in 15 minutes’ time, we’re told. Hamilton’s a master of the wet of course.
Here’s a reminder of yesterday’s qualifying shenanigans with our man in Hungary, Giles Richards:
Lewis Hamilton executed with sublime precision to take pole for the Hungarian Grand Prix but the Mercedes driver received a blunt and boorish reception by some fans for his efforts. Red Bull accused him of gamesmanship and he was booed as he climbed from his car at the Hungaroring after a qualifying session in Budapest that will have done little to ease the tension between the two teams. The title is on a knife edge and tempers, too, are being tested.
Verstappen’s been bigging up his huge Dutch following at the Hungaroring. “It’s great to see such support.” His pithy assessment of the challenge ahead: “I need to break a bit later into turn one.” A slightly chirpier response than his “Can we already stop about this? We have had so many ****ing questions about this.” yesterday when asked about the Silverstone crash.
Lewis Hamilton has been speaking to Sky about his bid to win his 100th race. “I can remember the dream of just getting one so am very grateful and happy,” he said, “I was talking to my garage earlier about hall the special people I’ve had the pleasure of working with, its’ a testament to teamwork.” On today’s challenge, with his teammate Bottas on different tyres, he added: “The weather is windy, and holding the two behind at the start will be key but it won’t be the end of the world if we lose those positions as our tyres can go longer. Valtteri did an amazing job yesterday to get second”.
Here’s how they line up on the grid:
1 Lewis Hamilton (Gbr) Mercedes 2 Valtteri Bottas (Fin) Mercedes 3 Max Verstappen (Ned) Red Bull 4 Sergio Perez (Mex) Red Bull 5 Pierre Gasly (Fra) Scuderia AlphaTauri 6 Lando Norris (Gbr) McLaren 7 Charles Leclerc (Mon) Ferrari 8 Esteban Ocon (Fra) Alpine 9 Fernando Alonso (Spa) Alpine 10 Sebastian Vettel (Ger) Aston Martin 11 Daniel Ricciardo (Aus) McLaren 12 Lance Stroll (Can) Aston Martin 13 Kimi Raikkonen (Fin) Alfa Romeo Racing 1:17.564, 14 Antonio Giovinazzi (Ita) Alfa Romeo Racing 15 Carlos Sainz Jr (Spa) Ferrari. 16 Yuki Tsunoda (Jpn) Scuderia AlphaTauri 17 George Russell (Gbr) Williams 18 Nicholas Latifi (Can) Williams 19 Nikita Mazepin (Raf) Haas F1 20 Mick Schumacher (Ger) Haas F No Time Set
Preamble
Well, we’ve got ourselves a world title race, and a feisty one at that. What a few weeks ago was looking like a fairly frictionless glide to the title for Max Verstappen and Red Bull is now a proper dogfight. Lewis Hamilton’s contentious win at Silverstone has reignited the the seven-times champion’s campaign, as well as sparking beef between Mercedes and Red Bull to match that of the Lions and Springboks in South Africa.
And Verstappen’s unhappiness at the manner in which he crashed out of the British Grand Prix was compounded by a tetchy qualifying session yesterday, with Hamilton claiming pole and Red Bull accusing Mercedes of gamesmanship for going too slowly on their out lap and backing up their rivals. Hamilton was having none of it, claiming “those making the comments really don’t know anything about the job we are doing here”. But they copped some boos from the crowd to stoke things further.
Still, Hamilton likes it at the Hungaroring, having won here seven times, including the past three races here. He won from pole last year, pipping Verstappen and his teammate Valtteri Bottas to top spot on the podium. The two Mercedes drivers are in the front row today and an enticing race awaits. Bring it.
Lights out 2pm BST.
