Hungarian Grand Prix - Hungaroring

[René]

After super fast Silverstone, it is now the turn of the twisty short track near Budapest. It is hot in Hungary so it will be tough for the drivers (and long lines at the beer stall  ).




Red Bull comes with their biggest and most important update of the year. Can they take another step forward or are they at the limit of this car? Mercedes will be aiming for three in a row and whether this slow track will suit McLaren remains to be seen. Ferrari comes with a modified, i.e. an improved, version of their last (failed) update. Let's hope they can rejoin the fight at the front.




For Kevin Magnussen, the Formula 1 adventure is indeed over (at least for the time being). He will probably be replaced by Esteban Ocon for 2025.





Nigel Mansell won brilliantly from 12th on the grid at the 1989 Hungarian Grand Prix.

[Carl]

Credible rumours have our administrator in Gelsenkirchen today, appearing onstage as Taylor Swift's dancer partner.

                                                                      

[René]

Jul 19, 2024 19:45:41 GMT Carl said:

Credible rumours have our administrator in Gelsenkirchen today, appearing onstage as Taylor Swift's dancer partner.

                                                                       View Attachment

Ha ha, you're on to me! I am a Swifty! 

[René]

McLaren looking very fast! Could be a close battle between the orange cars and Red Bull #1.



FP3 times:

1 Lando NORRIS 1:16.098
2 Oscar PIASTRI +0.044
3 Max VERSTAPPEN +0.281
4 George RUSSELL +0.466
5 Carlos SAINZ +0.541
6 Daniel RICCIARDO +0.554
7 Alexander ALBON +0.563
8 Nico HULKENBERG +0.598
9 Yuki TSUNODA +0.646
10 Lewis HAMILTON +0.688
11 Charles LECLERC +0.705
12 Valtteri BOTTAS +0.706
13 Sergio PEREZ +0.856
14 Fernando ALONSO +0.903
15 Lance STROLL +0.987
16 Logan SARGEANT +1.070
17 Guanyu ZHOU +1.193
18 Pierre GASLY +1.401 5
19 Kevin MAGNUSSEN +1.409
20 Esteban OCON +1.477

[Carl]

What has Ferrari done with two of the best young drivers?  Stasis is not the goal in racing.

With success erratic at best despite brilliant driving, how much longer will Charles Leclerc remain loyal to Ferrari?

[René]

Jul 20, 2024 16:40:38 GMT Carl said:

What has Ferrari done with two of the best young drivers?  Stasis is not the goal in racing.

With success erratic at best despite brilliant driving, how much longer will Charles Leclerc remain loyal to Ferrari?

Carl, it is indeed frustrating. Ferrari seemed to be on the right track, but are now falling back slightly..again. You can see from Mercedes that it is not easy to get back to the top, but things are starting to get tough. Certainly for Charles Leclerc. Becoming world champion with Ferrari is his big dream (and that of his late father), but it is better to become champion with McLaren, Mercedes or Red Bull (uhh, not sure about that one ) than not at all. I have seen people calling Charles ‘Alesi 2.0’…

He is my fav driver and I still believe in the success with Ferrari but it needs to happen soon.

[René]

Pole position for Lando Norris and a front row lockout for McLaren! That has been a while.



McLaren now really does seem to have the best car. Bad luck for George Russell and Sergio Pérez singlehanded terminated his contract by putting his car in the barriers. 

The grid for tomorrow:

1 Lando NORRIS 1:15.227
2 Oscar PIASTRI +0.022

3 Max VERSTAPPEN +0.046
4 Carlos SAINZ +0.469

5 Lewis HAMILTON +0.627
6 Charles LECLERC +0.678

7 Fernando ALONSO +0.816
8 Lance STROLL +1.017

9 Daniel RICCIARDO +1.220
10 Yuki TSUNODA +1.250

11 Nico HULKENBERG 1:16.317
12 Valtteri BOTTAS 1:16.384

13 Alexander ALBON 1:16.429
14 Logan SARGEANT 1:16.543

15 Kevin MAGNUSSEN 1:16.548
16 Sergio PEREZ 1:17.886

17 George RUSSELL 1:17.968
18 Guanyu ZHOU 1:18.037

19 Esteban OCON 1:18.049
20 Pierre GASLY 1:18.166

[René]

Congratulations to Oscar Piastri, his first Grand Prix win!



The team orders and swapping of positions was a bit awkward and indecisive by the team but in the end the right thing to do. I assume they talked about this scenario before the race. But for Lando, this could be a Coulthard-Håkkinen moment… but anyway, a great result for McLaren. Hats off to them!

Great race also from Lewis who seems to have reignited his fire again. Great defensive driving against Max.

Charles Leclerc also drove a strong race which made me happy. Ferrari is not that far off.

Max is like a spoiled child whose toys have been taken away. He doesn't have the fastest car anymore, poor thing. A very good driver, but not the nicest person. Even his team had enough of his whining. And hey wow, he makes mistakes again.


2024 Hungarian Grand Prix F1 results:

1. Oscar Piastri McLaren 70 Laps
2. Lando Norris McLaren +2.141
3. Lewis Hamilton Mercedes +14.880
4. Charles Leclerc Ferrari +19.686
5. Max Verstappen Red Bull +21.349
6. Carlos Sainz Ferrari +23.073
7. Sergio Perez Red Bull +39.792
8. George Russell Mercedes +42.368
9. Yuki Tsunoda VCARB +77.259
10. Lance Stroll Aston Martin +77.976
11. Fernando Alonso Aston Martin +82.460
12. Daniel Ricciardo VCARB +1 Lap
13. Nico Hulkenberg Haas +1 Lap
14. Alex Albon Williams +1 Lap
15. Kevin Magnussen Haas +1 Lap
16. Valtteri Bottas Sauber +1 Lap
17. Logan Sargeant Williams +1 Lap
18. Esteban Ocon Alpine +1 Lap
19. Zhou Guanyu Sauber +1 Lap
20. Pierre Gasly Alpine DNF

[mikael]

Yes, the unexpected new success of McLaren has made the season interesting. Didn't understand the logic in the 1-2 swap, though, considering that Norris had the pole position.

It is actually possible for Norris to win the World Championship. One possible scenario (out of many) is that he wins the rest of the races, with Verstappen second, consequently; then Norris will win (the DWC) with one single point.

But apparently, McLaren don't believe in the possibility that he (Norris) could win ... We'll, it might not be fully realistic either; but still ...

[robmarsh]

I think the McLaren pit wall really messed up. Sure Piastri got off the line first but Lando was hampered by MV being on his left and then not giving up the position straight away. Every race this season Lando has been faster than Oscar in the last quarter of the race and he was again yesterday. Oscar's off was a bigger mistake than Lando made in his slightly tardy get off the line yet Lando had to give up his place. If I was Oscar I wouldn't feel so chuffed that I deserved the win. If it had been another team that pitted first and got the undercut then they wouldn't have moved over to let Oscar win. He may have the potential to be a great driver but he needs to earn his silver spurs not have them gifted to him. 

In any case none of this would have happened if the engineers were not allowed to talk to the drivers all the time. Jackie Stewart won his first race at Monza in 1965 because Graham Hill made a slight mistake at the parabolica I think. There were no team orders to give the place back and JYS didn't. He deserved the win because he made the fewer mistakes.

Max is reverting to type...leopards and spots spring to mind.  Isn't it amazing that when drivers win with the best car by miles it is them not the car. When they lose because of mistakes then it is the car not them. In the latter case they also throw all their toys out the cot and become quite horrible, entitled brats. So sad.

On the Race site that idiot Ray is being his normal nauseating self of shouting at everyone who doesn't agree with him and being insulting at the same time. He calls teacher, teacher (Mark) when people don't support his somewhat outlandish theories. What a dick he is...so glad he isn't on this forum.

[robmarsh]

Another point which I forgot was that Lando has his throttle mechanism replaced minutes before the start.  This probably didn't help him at the start either and was a team error and not a Lando error.  Apart from a very slightly slower start than optimal Lando made no mistakes in the race yet had to give up a 5 second lead. Not good McLaren pitwall.

[mikael]

An interesting little detail is that the "bulging" engine cover of the Red Bull has gone - at least on Verstappen's car (not on Perez's, as yet). So now, the Red Bull design is converging to that of most other teams, perhaps ...

Verstappen in Hungary

Perez in Hungary

[robmarsh]

Apparently RB didn't have enough parts to put it on Perez' car. It something to do with high and low downforce tracks so Spa should be interesting.

[chrisb]

I think firstly we saw a lot of true colours this weekend, what an honourable chap Norris is - albeit a very reluctant one, secondly how badly McLaren handled a dominant situation, the question remains for me why did they want Piastri to win? Did they toss a coin aka Jimmy and Graham 1967 US Grand Prix only for mechanical gremlins to intervene and Jimmy take Graham's "win" - the story afterwards was one of apologies from Jimmy to Graham and Graham shrugging. Or did they think Piastri will be a better driver than Lando if he wins? which happens, whatever else I disliked it intensely. Lando was the winner in my mind, same as Reubens was in Austria. 

Talking of disliking intensely - MV- as Cyndi Lauper may say "true colours" whatever else it was extremely boring listening to a spoilt brat spouting forth the garbage he came out with him. Why do we like and worship other drivers? not when they are winning in the best car but how they conduct themselves in a poor car, aka 1966 Dutch GP. I have watched the incident several times and wonder why MV is blaming Lewis, I also wonder if Adrian's absence is a bit like Niki's from Mercedes and they are starting to flounder.

Jackie always spoke about his huge gratitude to Graham and how he helped him in his rookie year - and I am sorry I still believe it to be the most impressive debut year, anyone who finishes 2nd to Jimmy at the fearsome Spa in the rain is way above any other rookie. how Graham didn't begrudge him winning at Monza is stuff of legends, I just love the pictures of the three of them in fits of laughter on more than one occasion, pure class. 

[robmarsh]

Excellent post Chris, agree with every point you made. Lando is class as were Jimmy, Graham and Jackie. As they say form is temporary, class is eternal.