Hungary: The Hits and Misses of the Editorial Team

Daniel Ricciardo, exceptional brakeman

The Hungaroring is a circuit where it is difficult to overtake, but the Australian had announced that he would find his way to move up. Lacking luck in qualifications, he started 12th on the grid. Caught in the middle of the pack at the start, he took time to extract himself from the crowd where minor collisions were frequent. The start was rather chaotic, and I took a hit on the front left which caused vibrations, and we lost a few positions at that moment.

Starting on softs to delay his first stop, he moves up past his opponents one by one. With a rhythm advantage, we were able to catch up and overtake our adversaries. I really enjoyed it. After passing Pierre Gasly, the Australian reaches 5th place, which was the goal according to Christian Horner, Red Bull team director. Only, the distress of Valtteri Bottas towards the end of the race, struggling with his tires, stimulates the appetite of the Honey Badger. I like them vulnerable as he likes to say, and with a forceful contact with the Finn, he snatches that final 4th place.

His fantastic ride earned him the title of Driver of the Day awarded by the public, and he also treated himself to the luxury of setting the fastest lap in the race.

Your #F1DriverOfTheDay…

From P12 up to P4, top effort @danielricciardo 💪💪💪#HungarianGP 🇭🇺 #F1 pic.twitter.com/3bCxVe358T

— Formula 1 (@F1) 29 juillet /f1/actualite/22869-des-qualifications-qui-finissent-en-eau-de-boudin-pour-red-bull.html

Pierre Gasly, solo navigator

His performance in qualifying under the downpour was already a small victory for the Frenchman with a 6th place on the grid. Just like in Bahrain, he sensed the right opportunity and did everything to be the best of the rest in Hungary. His “bad” start did not hold him back, the Rouen native states after the race; I really wanted to overtake Carlos [Sainz], which he quickly did to find himself trailing Max Verstappen.

With the latter out of the race, Gasly runs his race alone, managing his ultra-soft tires to perfection. When Daniel Ricciardo comes up alongside him, he maneuvers to lose as little time as possible to continue his progress. On the 32nd lap, he takes his only pit stop and continues his solitary journey. He is finally challenged in the last laps by a comeback from Kevin Magnussen, but the Frenchman manages well and is the last driver on the lead lap at the finish line. This 6th place is a godsend for Toro Rosso, which has been struggling with performance for several weekends.

6th!!! YESSSSS!! Sooo happy & proud of @ToroRosso & @HondaRacingF1 !! What an amazing weekend for us!! 😍 pic.twitter.com/ohmo3E8uFO

— Pierre Gasly 🇫🇷 (@PierreGASLY) 29 juillet

**An Almost Double-Entry in the Points for McLaren**

11th and 15th at the start, Fernando Alonso and Stoffel Vandoorne played the conservation card. McLaren had found the best settings and the best strategy to climb up the standings. At the lights out, the Belgian gained three positions while the Spaniard battled with Romain Grosjean for 10th place.

As their adversaries make pit stops, both drivers move into the top 10. Even better, they retain their soft tires and pit on the 39th and 40th laps like a certain Sebastian Vettel. This conservation and strategy make the pit stop “free” because they don’t lose any positions. This perfectly synchronized execution is halted on the 49th lap by the Belgian driver’s gearbox. At the finish, only Alonso brings in the four points for 8th place.

This result hints at the team’s refusal to give up and showcases the performance of Stoffel Vandoorne, who is too often overshadowed by his teammate and whose place in Formula 1 is in jeopardy.

Fernando to the team: “Great Sunday, thanks to you guys. Great strategy. Shame for Stoffel, he didn’t deserve that.” #HungarianGP 🇭🇺 pic.twitter.com/RTy8lT6WCC

— McLaren (@McLarenF1) 29 juillet /f1/actualite/22869-des-qualifications-qui-finissent-en-eau-de-boudin-pour-red-bull.html

Valtteri Bottas, the annoyed lieutenant

In front of his teammate during the last practice session and more comfortable with the car on the Hungarian track, Valtteri Bottas was second on the starting grid, behind his teammate. Following a calm start, he quickly found himself playing the role of a blocker so that Lewis Hamilton could advance. The strategy worked for over 60 laps, but a very early stop on the 15th lap to cover Kimi Räikkönen’s undercut doomed his race finale.

With soft tires at the end of their life, he defends as best he can against Sebastian Vettel. The German finds the resources to pull alongside him at the exit of turn 1 and overtakes the Mercedes driver by 95%. The remaining 5% is the rear of the Ferrari that the Finn hits, losing two positions to the Ferraris. Now struggling and with half a front wing in the runoff of turn 2, he is caught by Daniel Ricciardo. This new skirmish further damages the Mercedes, which also sees its left side punctured.

Valtteri Bottas crosses the finish line in 5th position and is summoned by the stewards to answer for his actions regarding the German and the Australian. A stop for post-race interviews will only increase the pressure. Already quite annoyed by his race and its incidents, the Finn learns from a Sky Sports journalist that Toto Wolff, Mercedes team director, called him a “fantastic ally”, which doesn’t sit well with him at all. The tally increases again with the penalty he receives from the race direction for his contact with the Red Bull driver, while he is cleared for his contact with the Scuderia driver. Fortunately, he now has four weeks of vacation to put the Hungarian weekend behind him.

5th today 🇫🇮🏁

Disappointed with the end result.
I gave it all I had, and will always do.

This year hasn’t been great for me so far, but I believe the good times will come. Will never give up 👊🏽#VB77 #F1 #HungarianGP @MercedesAMGF1
📸 @JanErikOlin pic.twitter.com/OmcBlBnKtM

— Valtteri Bottas (@ValtteriBottas) 29 juillet /f1/actualite/22869-des-qualifications-qui-finissent-en-eau-de-boudin-pour-red-bull.html

Carlos Sainz, a missed opportunity

Nico Hülkenberg’s fifth place last week has undoubtedly given ideas to the Madrid native, who started 5th on the grid this afternoon. At the start, Carlos Sainz believes in it, he gets alongside Sebastian Vettel but is caught by another Renault engine, that of Max Verstappen who dives inside at the first corner. In the following corners, things worsen, and the Spaniard loses several positions.

He deems his performance unsatisfactory and partly blames his team for bringing him into the pits too early, in his opinion. Renault chose to pit their driver on the 25th lap, while Haas stopped their drivers, the direct competitors, around the 30th lap. Worse still, the other competitors, the McLarens, managed to pit on the 40th lap and came out ahead of him, leading the Spaniard to settle for this 9th place.

Disappointed with today. Struggled in the first few corners with a harder tyre than those around me and then stopped too early and got overcut. Another solid weekend where we miss out on big points. Some frustration but generally pleased with the last weekend before the break! pic.twitter.com/8n3LA4JlZ8

— Carlos Sainz (@Carlossainz55) 29 juillet /f1/actualite/22869-des-qualifications-qui-finissent-en-eau-de-boudin-pour-red-bull.html

Brendon Hartley, an attempt without transformation

Tenth at the finish in Germany, Brendon Hartley found his way back to the points. In qualifying yesterday, he hadn’t forgotten this path and for the first time he reached Q3. Eighth on the grid today, he was too conservative at the start and lost several positions like Carlos Sainz, behind whom he found himself stuck. The New Zealander couldn’t exploit his ultra-soft tires and pitted at the same time as the Renault drivers, a mistake according to him when it came time for the assessment.

Wearing medium tires, he is unable to make them work and continues his race, stuck between Romain Grosjean and Esteban Ocon, eventually overtaken by Nico Hülkenberg. At the finish, this 11th place is a disappointment. On the other side of the garage, Pierre Gasly maintained his 6th place until the checkered flag, losing three places, the results are hard to bear. Daniil Kvyat’s replacement will need to raise his level at the restart if he doesn’t want to face the same fate as the Russian.

Gutted not to score in the points today. I had a good start but made the call not to dive up the inside of Pierre and lost the place to Magnussen. Was then stuck behind Sainz who was on a… https://t.co/c9uXfsK7wM— Brendon Hartley (@BrendonHartley) 29 juillet