First day
In the “Formula 1” is not accepted to hold three consecutive races, but this season, such a schedule is a necessary necessity. The teams arrived at the Hungarian Grand Prix immediately after two Austrian stages, according to which it is already possible to draw some conclusions about the current championship. Mercedes is still out of competition, and it is now fought not by Red Bull and Ferrari, but by McLaren and Racing Point.
The successes of the last team cause some irritation among the other stables, since in fact Lance Stroll and Sergio Perez got last year's Mercedes cars. Renault decided that this should not be, and a protest was filed between the second and third stages. Its consideration is still ongoing, so that Racing Point could safely take part in the Hungarian Grand Prix.
Sinuous “Hungaroring” could give a slight advantage to cars with good downforce, but from the first train of free rides it became clear that it is still impossible to compete with Mercedes. Lewis Hamilton showed the best time on the slowest tires, and no one on softer rubber could block it. Only second partner Valtteri Bottas, Stroll and Perez could be in a second from him.
On Friday evening, it started to rain, and the training was not going according to plan. Since rainfall was also predicted for Saturday and Sunday, riders chose to save tires. Nobody drove more than 16 laps, and Sebastian Vettel showed the best lap - for Ferrari it was at least some reason for joy lately.
Second day
The forecast for the second day of the Hungarian Grand Prix did not materialize. There was little rain, but he did not cause any problems to the pilots. The last training session before qualifying went smoothly for everyone except Daniil Kvyat - because of problems with the machine, he missed half of the session. Mercedes regained the lead, but this time Bottas beat Hamilton in 0.042 seconds.
In qualification, Kvyat could not prove himself. In the first segment, he showed only the 17th time, losing to partner Pierre Gasly for almost half a second. For the Russian, this result was the worst since last year's home Grand Prix, when due to problems with the engine he did not go to the track at all. In the second part of the qualification, ahead of time, Alexander Albon finished the fight at Red Bull. The Thai pilot got into traffic and was unable to overtake even Gasli, who, although he took tenth place, did not return to the track anymore due to complaints about the engine.
Another Red Bull pilot Max Verstappen also did not show his maximum. The Dutchman showed only the seventh time, although it was his car that the Hungarian track should have been the best. He even lost to Ferrari, which for the first time in a season brought both cars to the final qualification. Red fireballs took the third row of the starting grid, with Vettel located above Charles Lecler.
The first four places went to Mercedes, new and old. Lewis Hamilton set a new record for the track and won the 90th pole of his career. Bottas lost to his partner in just 0.107 seconds. Racing Point occupied the entire second row, losing almost the whole second. At the same time, the Stroll was higher than the more experienced Perez, since he was canceled the best lap for leaving the track.
Race
The Sunday show began even before the race itself. On the way to the start, Verstappen unexpectedly flew off the wet track and hit the tire barrier. It was not possible to avoid damage, and the Dutchman's participation was in question. But the mechanics did the impossible - in a matter of minutes they put the car in order.
Disaster for Max Verstappen as he goes into the barriers on the way to the grid 😮 # HungarianGP 🇭🇺 # F1pic.twitter.com / VqOSEzbHwD
- Formula 1 (@ F1) July 19, 2020The race started without incident, but there were a lot of events right after its start. Bottas and Perez started off horribly and flew out of the leading group, and Verstappen broke into third place. Both Haas fireballs began to rise rapidly - Romain Grosjean and Kevin Magnussen right before the start replaced the intermediate tires with slicks and began to bypass the entire peloton.
Disaster for Max Verstappen as he goes into the barriers on the way to the grid 😮 # HungarianGP 🇭🇺 # F1pic.twitter.com / VqOSEzbHwD
- Formula 1 (@ F1) July 19, 2020Quat also wanted to change the shoes in advance, but did not receive permission from the team. After the first round, he still followed the example of Haas and gained a foothold in 13th place, while Magnussen and Grosjean after all the pit stops were already in third and fourth lines. The Dane held so high for a long time, and his partner soon nevertheless missed Stroll and Bottas. Hamilton and Verstappen, meanwhile, confidently increased their separation from the peloton.
Only Nicholas Latifi became a troublemaker at the beginning of the race. He went to the pit lane right in front of Carlos Sainz and punctured the tire on his car, because of which the Frenchman turned around at the next bend. The Williams pilot not only rolled back to last place, but also received a five-second fine. An abnormal situation soon occurred at Vettel, who took off from the highway. The German fell to ninth place, skipping ahead of Albona. And the first to retire was Gasley. All weekend he was tormented with a motor and as a result he prematurely finished the race already on the 16th lap.
LAP 18/70
Smoke coming from Pierre Gasly's AlphaTauri - and he becomes the first driver to retire from the race 😬 # HungarianGP 🇭🇺 # F1pic.twitter.com / VA9rPihsVd
The pilots who remained on the track had to suffer the question of which tires to drive the race on. The threat of rain remained, and everyone needed to call into the pits after an early pit stop. Quat again showed everyone an example and rolled back to the penultimate position. Leclair followed him - he was unable to rise above ninth place, and as a result, the Ferrari pilot had to start all over again, missing six pilots at the pit stop. But in the end, the rain did not start, and the tactics of these two pilots did not work - they did not earn any tangible advantage.
In the second half of the race, Bottas intensified. Due to the pit stop, he walked around Stroll and began to quickly catch up with Verstappen in the fight for second place, constantly showing the best lap time. Because of the laps, Bottas was never able to get to the position for the attack and decided to change tires again 20 laps before the finish. Sometimes the Finn won back two seconds at once, so it was really possible to get around the Dutchman. But the Mercedes pilot was just a little short of distance - at the finish he still turned out to be third, and Verstappen thanked his team by holding the second place.
LAP 49/70
Bottas closing in on Verstappen for P2 👀
The Finn has closed the gap to 1.5s as we approach the last 20 laps at the Hungaroring #HungarianGP 🇭🇺 # F1pic.twitter.com / uEmymDRwyM
All this time, the leading Hamilton at the very end of the race received fresh tires and himself showed the best lap time to earn the highest possible number of points. The Mercedes pilot won and came out on top in the overall standings. Surprised at the start of the race, Haas earned two points thanks to Magnussen's ninth place. Leclair and Quat finished right after the top ten.