Max in damaged car tenth in Hungarian Grand Prix: 'Disappointing'

Published on 01 August 2021 by Kees-Jan Koster

Max Verstappen finished tenth in the Hungarian Grand Prix. Verstappen drove the whole race in a damaged car, after being cannoned off the wet track by Lando Norris, who was in turn hit by Valtteri Bottas. Because of the many accidents the race was red flagged. The Mercedes team made a huge mistake by not having Hamilton change to dry weather tyres at the restart. Esteban Ocon took the lead and the Frenchman drove his Alpine sensationally to his first victory in Formula 1. Sebastian Vettel finished second, while Hamilton managed to fight back to third. Verstappen was not able to do much in his damaged car and finished in tenth position.

After the race Max says: “The start was good, nothing wrong with that. Then I am taken out again by a Mercedes. It was clearly Bottas his fault. It is really disappointing to be so unlucky two races in a row. I had so much damage to the side of the car and the floor, it was almost impossible to drive. I was not able to brake into the corners and I kept locking up. Besides that I had oversteer and understeer.”

To park the car in the pits was not an option for Verstappen: “It is always better to take one point. I tried to make the best of it. When you still have a car, you can try to fight your way up, but is was really difficult.”

Despite the disappointing race, Max continues to be combative: “Crazy things have happened which have cost us many points, but nothing has been lost. We will keep pushing and never give up. I will give everything and hope the car continues to be competitive.”

Just before the start of the race it starts to rain on the 4,381 km long Hungaroring. This makes that all drivers start the race on intermediate tyres. Max has a good start and is in second position when entering turn one. Valtteri Bottas ruins his start. The Finn loses a couple of places and when entering the first corner he out-braked himself and ran into the back of Lando Norris. The two slide out of control straight ahead in turn one and cannoned into both Red Bull Racing drivers. In the same corner another accident happens when Lance Stroll flies into the side of Charles Leclerc. Leclerc hits Daniel Ricciardo who spins. Sergio Perez, Lance Stroll, Charles Leclerc and Valtteri Bottas have to retire at the first corner. Max has a damaged side of his RB16B and has to go into the pits for repairs. He comes back on track in thirteenth position. A red flag follows to remove the stranded cars form the track. Hamilton is leading the race, with Esteban Ocon in P2 and Sebastian Vettel in P3. Carlos Sainz is in fourth position, with Yuki Tsunoda in P5.

During the red flag period Red Bull Racing mechanics are busy to try and repair some of the damage on Verstappen’s car. The McLaren of Lando Norris is heavily damaged and has to retire from the race. After half an hour the race is restarted by a standing start. All drivers, except for Lewis Hamilton, decide to pit after the warm-up lap to put dry weather tyres under their cars. Hamilton is completely alone on the grid and obviously takes the lead after the restart. After one lap Hamilton also decides to pit and change to dry weather tyres, he comes back out on track in last position. Esteban Ocon takes the lead for the first time in his Formula 1 career, with behind him Sebastian Vettel and Nicholas Latifi. Max Verstappen is stuck behind Mick Schumacher and is visibly suffering from the damaged sustained at the start.

In lap fourteen Max can overtake Schumacher for P10. Not much later Max moves one place up when Kimi Raikkonen makes his pitstop. Hamilton is then still behind Verstappen in eleventh position. Ocon is leading the race one second ahead of Vettel. The two are increasing the gap to Latifi in P3. Hamilton comes into the pits again in lap 20. The Brit changed to the hard tyres and comes out on track in thirteenth position. One lap later Verstappen also comes in to swap his medium compound tyres for hard tyres. But Hamilton undercuts Verstappen and overtakes him. The Dutchman is after his stop in twelfth position, behind Ricciardo and Hamilton.

Hamilton is quick on the hard tyres and moves up to the front. In lap 33 he overtakes Tsunoda for P5. Carlos Sainz decides to pit from third position and comes back out on track in P4 in front of Hamilton. Verstappen, with his damaged car, can overtake Mick Schumacher but is then stuck behind Daniel Ricciardo.

Out front Vettel makes his second stop from P2 in lap 37. He comes back out on track in third position. The leader Ocon stops one lap later and the Frenchman comes back out in P2 just in front of Vettel. Alonso takes the lead of the race, but two laps later he comes in for his second stop. The Spaniard comes back out in P5 behind Hamilton. Ocon is again in the lead.

Verstappen makes a third pitstop in lap 41. In a lightning fast stop of 1.8 seconds Max changes to the medium compound tyres, he comes back out on track in twelfth position. He quickly overtakes Raikkonen for P11, but is then stuck again behind Ricciardo and Russell. Hamilton also makes a third pitstop, causing him to fall back to fifth position.

With ten laps to go Verstappen overtakes Ricciardo for P10, while Hamilton on new medium tyres closes in quickly on Alonso. A sensational battle between Alonso and Hamilton unfolds, Alonso can keep Hamilton behind lap after lap. But with five laps to go Hamilton can overtake Alonso for P4. Two laps later Hamilton overtakes Sainz for third position. But there is not enough time for Hamilton to also overtake Vettel and Ocon, so that Ocon takes his first victory in his Formula 1 career. It is also the first victory for Alpine. Vettel takes second position for the second time this year, with Hamilton finishing in P3. Calos Sainz finished fourth, with Alonso in P5. The AlphaTauri’s of Pierre Gasly and Yuki Tsunoda finish in P6 and P7, with Gasly taking the point for the fastest lap in the last lap of the race. Also Williams celebrate, with eighth for Nicholas Latifi and nineth for teammate George Russell, the team score six points, the best result for Williams since 2017. Max Verstappen finishes with his damaged car in tenth position, he takes the last championship point.

Results Grand Prix Hungary: