Hungary – Race: Hamilton and his strategist oust Verstappen

A bright sun has been present over the Hungaroring since the beginning of the day as forecasted by the weather predictions. Temperatures are at 26°C in the air and 48°C on the ground, ideal conditions for the single-seaters and slightly warmer than those experienced so far. This could obviously affect the behavior of the engines and tires.

Regarding these, all drivers beyond 10th place except for Ricciardo have chosen to start on medium tires as permitted by the regulations. Only the McLarens, Grosjean, and Räikkönen are starting on soft tires. It’s worth noting that the Australian is starting from the last position, as Renault has chosen to change his power unit.

From the start, Verstappen manages to keep the Mercedes at bay.

Duel between the two Silver Arrows on the first two corners, and contact is inevitable between the two teammates.

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LIGHTS OUT in Hungary!

Verstappen leads off the line 👏#F1 🇭🇺#HungarianGP pic.twitter.com/7fOHzczd1b

— Formula 1 (@F1) 4 août 2019

Bottas’s front wing was damaged by slight contact with Leclerc, and the Finn loses a position to the Monegasque, who moves up to 3rd. Vettel also overtakes the Mercedes driver, who is clearly slowed by the aerodynamic loss due to his broken wing. He will have to pit to change the nose of his car to limit the damage.

Meanwhile, Verstappen takes the lead and is 2 seconds ahead of Hamilton by the 3rd lap. Gasly is the loser of this start, having lost 3 places while Räikkönen is now 8th. Grosjean maintained his 8th place.

Bottas stops on lap 6 and decides to equip white tires while changing his front wing. A long stop of 14.7 seconds. The Finn comes out last and will have to climb back up the field. He will also have to manage his tires until the end of the race.

Charles Leclerc is urged to attack as he is not keeping up with the pace of Verstappen and Hamilton. The Italians are conceding a second per lap to the cars ahead of them, thus confirming their difficulties on this circuit.

On the 11th lap, Hamilton is still managing his two-second gap with Verstappen, while behind, Charles Leclerc is over ten seconds behind the Mercedes driver. Verstappen is three seconds behind, and much further back are the two McLarens. The Ferraris continue to lose a second per lap, completely off the pace of the leaders.

At the back of the grid, Ricciardo gradually climbs up equipped with white-walled tires. He is in 16th place while Bottas struggles to move up the grid, having only managed to overtake Kubica since his stop.

LAP 10/70

It’s a fight from the back for Danny Ricc after power unit penalties saw him start dead last

Here’s the moment he grabbed P16 from Stroll:#F1 🇭🇺#HungarianGP pic.twitter.com/BVeeQXAQty

— Formula 1 (@F1) 4 août 2019

Attempting to overtake Stroll at the end of the straight, Valtteri Bottas is surprised by a wheel lock-up and narrowly avoids a collision with the Racing Point. The Finn nonetheless manages to get past the Canadian and climbs to 16th place at the start of the 17th lap.

Surprisingly, the four drivers equipped with soft tires do not seem to experience a decrease in pace.

Stroll and Giovinazzi pit to put on the hard tires and attempt to reach the finish.

In the middle of the pack, the battle rages on between the Toro Rosso cars, which are side by side through several corners. No contact but committed maneuvers that remained without consequences thanks to the wide run-off areas. Kvyat is 11th and Albon 12th.

LAP 19/70

😱 It took a fair few turns side-by-side but Kvyat has overtaken Albon for 12th

👏 Great, clean racing from the @ToroRosso teammates!#F1 🇭🇺#HungarianGP pic.twitter.com/mZh0HPtu6d

— Formula 1 (@F1) 4 août 2019

Bottas sees his comeback slowed by Ricciardo. The Finn can’t get past the Australian, now 13th.

Gasly is still 8th, a little less than two seconds behind Räikkönen.

In front, Verstappen starts to lose pace and sees Hamilton getting closer.

At the 20th lap, Grosjean stops at the pits to equip hard tires in his turn. The other three drivers on softs, Norris, Sainz, and Räikkönen, continue their initial pace and still do not seem to be suffering from tire wear.

At the 24th lap, Lewis Hamilton gets within a second behind #33 and will thus have access to DRS. The latter complains to his team about losing grip, but they decide to keep him on track, noting that the white tires are not competitive in the race.

On the 26th lap, Verstappen enters the pits to come out into the backmarker traffic on white tires after an average stop by Red Bull. Lewis Hamilton attacks and decides not to stop, wanting to take advantage of the time lost by the Red Bull driver. Quickly freed from the last drivers, Max Verstappen picks up his pace and secures his provisional first place in anticipation of the quadruple world champion’s stop.

Bad pit stop for Lando Norris who comes out 11th. Bottas still cannot find his rhythm and remains 12th, behind Ricciardo.

32nd lap and pit stop for Lewis Hamilton to equip hard tires after a four-second stop. Vettel, still on track, is on an offset strategy compared to Leclerc.

In the race for the top 5, Sainz secures his position but Pierre Gasly gets closer with each lap, trailing the Spaniard by 1.6 seconds in the 34th lap.

Muscular overtake by Norris on Magnussen. The young Englishman is trying to make up for lost time in the pits and is now in 9th place.

In the lead of the race, Lewis Hamilton closed up to within half a second of Verstappen’s exhaust. The Englishman is fully exploiting the peak performance of his fresh tires, while the Dutchman’s tires have a few more laps on them.

Albon, a backmarker, acts as a buffer while staying off the racing line and gives Verstappen some breathing room.

Lewis Hamilton attacks from the outside of Verstappen, with strong defense from the Dutchman forcing the Mercedes driver to take the escape road. The positions are currently maintained, but there’s no doubt Hamilton will come back with another attempt.

LAP 39/70

It’s wheel-to-wheel for the lead and we haven’t breathed for at least two laps 😲

Hamilton just 0.3 seconds behind Verstappen#F1 🇭🇺#HungarianGP pic.twitter.com/nDOFKI5Ga2

— Formula 1 (@F1) 4 août 2019

On the 40th lap, Vettel finally stops to switch to red tires. A very poor stop in 5.8 seconds. He comes out behind Leclerc, more than 20 seconds behind.

Verstappen regains his pace unlike Lewis Hamilton who suffers from having pushed too hard, and a significant gap is forming.

Incredible backmarker, Bottas gets lapped by Verstappen and Hamilton. The latter is concerned about the condition of his brakes which seem to be suffering a lot and is struggling to catch up with the Red Bull driver.

On the 48th lap, Valtteri Bottas stops again in the pits, completely off the pace.

New pit stop for Lewis Hamilton as well to fit a new set of tires. A surprising strategy for Mercedes that traps Red Bull. If Verstappen stops, he will come out behind the Englishman, so he will have to finish on these worn tires and hope to contain the certain threat of the Silver Arrow.

Gasly is also lapped by his teammate. The trend seems to be turning in favor of Mercedes with Lewis Hamilton dramatically closing the gap between him and the Dutchman.

Mechanical failure for Romain Grosjean at the end of the 52nd lap. Disappointment for the Frenchman who was delivering a strong performance. Bad luck strikes him once again.

LAP 53/70

Unfortunately it’s a retirement for Grosjean

He returns to the Haas pits 😔

19 cars still running #F1 🇭🇺 #HungarianGP pic.twitter.com/b7sOfDY98z

— Formula 1 (@F1) 4 août 2019

At this moment in the race, Hamilton is gaining 1.5 seconds per lap on Max Verstappen and reduces the gap to less than 16 seconds. The pace of the two leaders is such that they are about to lap Carlos Sainz, 5th, lapping more than two seconds faster than the other drivers.

In the battle for 14th position, Ricciardo and Magnussen jostle with each other, and the Dane uses his legendary defense based on incessant zigzags. Contact narrowly avoided, but incident averted for Ricciardo who is probably boiling under his helmet. In trouble once again at Renault, Hülkenberg being 13th.

In front, Lewis Hamilton attacks and continues his charge on Verstappen, who on his side is gradually losing all competitiveness with his tires. The connection is expected in the final laps of the race, and the end promises to be intense.

On lap 64, Mercedes comes within four seconds of a struggling Verstappen with his tires.

Further ahead, Bottas manages to get past Norris and takes 8th place.

With five laps to go, Hamilton moves into second and regains DRS. At that moment, Red Bull informs Verstappen that he has the qualifying engine mapping to try and maintain his position.

At the end of the next straight, Max Verstappen can do nothing, as his Red Bull fails to turn. The Englishman passes and speeds toward victory. The Mercedes strategists had aimed correctly.

LAP 67/70

That was… surprisingly smooth 💅

Hamilton leads, Verstappen just not able to fight for grip#F1 🇭🇺 #HungarianGP pic.twitter.com/70qgDbCyke

— Formula 1 (@F1) 4 août 2019

Aware of losing the first place, Verstappen stops at the pits to attempt the fastest lap. Vettel, on his side, catches up to Leclerc and overtakes him at the end of the straight, equipped with more efficient soft tires.

The driver no. 33 manages to secure the fastest lap and the accompanying point.

Here’s how it all ended –

Hamilton, Verstappen and Vettel tasted the last of the pre-holidays champagne

Some big drives in the midfield might see a few more corks fly yet 👀🍾#F1 🇭🇺 #HungarianGP pic.twitter.com/7WNwUQDJmk

— Formula 1 (@F1) 4 août 2019