Hungarian Grand Prix – Esteban Ocon winner after a completely crazy race
Splendid victory for the Frenchman Esteban Ocon. The Alpine team went crazy after a race full of suspense where Hamilton ran into a valiant Alonso, and Verstappen managed to snatch a point that could prove to be decisive at the end of the year.

Bottas’s perfect start strike!
Another eventful departure this season. The tension is palpable, and to that is added the light shower that falls precisely at 3:00 p.m.
All drivers are on intermediate tires. If this choice could be challenged for a while. During the formation lap, the rain intensifies and Hamilton confirms that it is the right choice.
However, Antonio Giovinazzi goes back to his pit and tries the gamble of starting on slick tires. There is no other solution but to attempt an unconventional strategy if one wants to stand out.
In any case, the alleged advantage of the red tires for the Red Bull compared to the Mercedes is lost. A perfect start would be needed under wet conditions.
1, 2, 3, 4, 5: the red lights signal the start which is animated by Valtteri Bottas from the first turn. The Finn misses his start. He is overtaken by Verstappen who immediately starts chasing Hamilton. Norris pulls alongside and also overtakes the Mercedes 77.
At the beginning of the first corner, Bottas is too optimistic and crashes into the McLaren which heads towards Verstappen’s Red Bull, with Bottas also involved in Perez’s car.
At the same time, inside the turn it’s Lance Stroll who crashes into Leclerc’s Ferrari.
The race is quickly stopped. Out of the race: Perez, Stroll, Leclerc, and Bottas.
At the entrance to the pitlane, the entire Austrian team is busy around RB No. 33, Räikkönen changes his wing, and Lando Norris has to retire. His car is too damaged to continue.
Interviewed after his retirement, Charles Leclerc is disillusioned: « They played bowling. They chose the wrong sport. It can happen to go overboard, but this is frustrating. There was a real opportunity to score big points today. I believed in it for the race. »
A second departure as crazy as it is unprecedented!
The formation lap is done on intermediate tires, but the sun is becoming more and more prominent. While all the drivers decide to return to the pits to put on the soft compound, only Hamilton takes the gamble to start on the green tires.
A unprecedented situation is emerging, he is the only one taking the start on the grid; everyone else is starting from the pit lane! Incredible sight!
What is incomprehensible is that everyone had the choice to take this second start with other tires than those used before the first crash.
With his intermediates, he quickly gets caught up and overtaken by Russell, Ocon, Vettel, Latifi and the rest of the pack.
As Russell saw himself as the leader at the wheel of his Williams, he suffered a technical breakdown that made him drop back to 7th place…or at least that’s what we thought: in reality, he had to give back the positions he had gained in an irregular manner when the race restarted in the pitlane.
It is therefore Esteban Ocon with his Alpine who becomes a Grand Prix leader for once.
It’s also a nice surprise to see Vettel fight for the win again. Even more surprising, Latifi is a good third. Even if he is holding up the rest of the pack, he proudly defends his position and fights like a devil.
Behind, Hamilton is struggling to make up ground, and then struggles to overtake the cars at the back of the grid.
We also observe a rather defensively bold maneuver against Verstappen, and this on two occasions.
A less animated racing environment, with Vettel keeping the pressure on Ocon
Penalties have been issued: Giovinazzi receives a 10-second penalty for speeding. The same punishment for his teammate Räikkönen who broke Mazepin’s suspension during the pit stops before the second restart.
Except for the two lead duettists for the final victory, Ocon and Vettel, from the 23rd lap onwards the majority of the pack chooses to switch from yellow tires to hard tires.
And it is the undercut strategy that works here. Thus, Hamilton overtakes Verstappen and Ricciardo thanks to the tire change. At this point, he is in the points, and continues his climb towards Schumacher and then Latifi.
Sainz disobeyed his engineer’s planned strategy, and it paid off for him. Yuki Tsunoda, who was slowing him down, stops in his turn and regains the provisional podium. The Spaniard maintains a very fast pace on worn tires. As fast as those who stayed on new tires.
Vettel is keeping Ocon in check. He seems to be saving himself to deliver the fatal blow at the right moment. In any case, these two are 15 seconds behind Sainz and have all the cards in hand to go after a first F1 victory for their team.
Max Verstappen is struggling with his heavily damaged car. He is stuck in 12th place behind Ricciardo’s McLaren.
At the midway point, Latifi is in 7th place, Russell is in 9th place, and the Alfa drivers are bringing up the rear.
Thus, the ranking of the back-of-the-field teams is completely disrupted. Williams moves up to 8th place ahead of Alfa and Haas.
On my route, the stop not to be missed.
Ocon and Vettel are on a one-stop strategy. And it’s the German who takes the lead first to change tires. Unfortunately for him, his entry into the pitlane is close, he loses time. He also loses 1 second during a 3.3 second pit stop.
The French covers Aston Martin’s strategy and stops at the end of the next lap. The pit stop is perfectly executed in 2.3 seconds!
He lets his teammate take the lead at Alpine, and manages to resist Vettel’s attacks. The battle for victory will therefore be played out on the track! And Vettel seems less calm than at the beginning of the race.
He increases the pressure on Ocon and makes some mistakes by locking his wheels during his attempts to intimidate the Normandy driver.
Hamilton is back in 4th place after Gasly and Alonso pit stops, but his strategy is offbeat. He should normally make one last stop at the end of the race as his tires seem to wear out quickly.
With 25 laps to go, the pressure is mounting for the win.
Ocon has been a solid leader since the second start. He successfully and proudly manages the repeated attacks from Vettel who continuously shows himself to be threatening.
Behind, Carlos Sainz is only four seconds away from the leader, and little by little Lewis Hamilton has closed the gap to the point of threatening Sainz.
English has worn tires, and even though the Mercedes excels on long stints on hard tires, the strategy chosen is an attacking race for the last 23 laps of this Hungarian GP. He indeed chooses to switch to the yellow tires in order to optimize his chances of victory.
By the way, his engineer Peter Bonington encourages him: “
“We lower our heads and attack until the checkered flag.”
And Toto Wolff himself adds: “You can go get this victory!”
Three races within the race for an exciting final 15 laps!
Hamilton took the gamble to climb back up by stopping 5 laps ago, so he now has to overtake Alonso, Sainz, Vettel, and Ocon. And to begin with, the Spanish driver is not the easiest opponent to pass. The young forty-year-old makes it difficult for his former teammate at McLaren in 2007. The battle is intense until the end! To the point of annoying the seven-time world champion.
Max Verstappen must limit the damage and finish the race by trying to score a point, or even two by overtaking Ricciardo and Russell. One or two points that could prove decisive at the end of the year.
And at the front of the race, Ocon and Vettel are only separated by one second. They are more than ever in a good position to win.
Alonso eventually gave in to the pressure, but thanks to his defense, the victory is now between Vettel and Ocon.
Six laps from the end, Alonso falls into the trap at the first turn. He slightly locks his wheel by trying to delay his braking too much and his rival immediately takes advantage of it. Then two laps later, the Briton secures a spot on the podium by overtaking an helpless Carlos Sainz at the same spot, who tried everything until the following sequence, in vain.
More than 4 laps left: Hamilton is 7 seconds behind the leader. If the protagonists do not make a mistake, he cannot come back for the win.
And it is finally Esteban Ocon who emerges victorious. A splendid victory, thoroughly deserved as his race was so well managed! He did not make the slightest mistake.
A new Frenchman writes his name on the list of winners in Grand Prix after Pierre Gasly at Monza last year!
Results table of the Hungarian Grand Prix
N° | Driver | Team | Times | Gap | Laps |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Ocon | Alpine F1 Team | 2:04:43.199 |
70
|
|
2 | Vettel | Cognizant Aston Martin Racing | +1.859 |
70
|
|
3 | Hamilton | Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport | +2.736 |
70
|
|
4 | Sainz Jr. | Scuderia Ferrari | +15.018 |
70
|
|
5 | Alonso | Alpine F1 Team | +15.651 |
70
|
|
6 | Gasly | Scuderia AlphaTauri Honda | +1:03.614 |
70
|
|
7 | Tsunoda | Scuderia AlphaTauri Honda | +1:15.803 |
70
|
|
8 | Latifi | Williams Racing | +1:17.910 |
70
|
|
9 | Russell | Williams Racing | +1:19.094 |
70
|
|
10 | Verstappen | Red Bull Racing | +1:20.244 |
70
|
|
11 | Ricciardo | McLaren F1 Team | +1 lap |
69
|
|
12 | Räikkönen | Alfa Romeo Racing ORLEN | +1 lap |
69
|
|
13 | Schumacher | Haas F1 Team | +1 lap |
69
|
|
14 | Giovinazzi | Alfa Romeo Racing ORLEN | +1 lap |
69
|
|
15 | Mazepin | Haas F1 Team | ABANDON |
2
|
|
16 | Norris | McLaren F1 Team | ABANDON |
1
|
|
17 | Perez | Red Bull Racing | ABANDON |
0
|
|
18 | Bottas | Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport | ABANDON |
0
|
|
19 | Leclerc | Scuderia Ferrari | ABANDON |
0
|
|
20 | Stroll | Cognizant Aston Martin Racing | ABANDON |
0
|