Grand Prix race results: Ocon wins wild Hungarian GP F1

The race was red flagged after an opening-corner pileup, when Valtteri Bottas locked up and pushed McLaren’s Lando Norris into the Red Bull of erstwhile world championship leader Max Verstappen. Bottas’s three-wheeled car then collected the second Red Bull of Sergio Perez too.

Hamilton made a major error at the restart when he didn’t pit for slicks at the end of the formation lap, unlike the entire field, dropping him to last when he did then pit. That handed the lead to Ocon over Vettel, the latter just failing to undercut him due to a slow pitstop, and Ocon held him off until the finish.

UPDATE: After the race Vettel was disqualified as his car didn't contain the one litre of fuel required by FIA stewards for testing purposes.

Hamilton recovered to finish third, with Verstappen 10th on the road and ninth after Vettel's exclusion.

2021 Hungarian Grand Prix race results

Cla	Driver	Chassis	Laps	Time	Gap
1	Esteban Ocon	Alpine	70	2:04'43.199
2	Sebastian Vettel	Aston Martin	70	2:04'45.058	1.859
3	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	70	2:04'45.935	2.736
4	Carlos Sainz Jr.	Ferrari	70	2:04'58.217	15.018
5	Fernando Alonso	Alpine	70	2:04'58.850	15.651
6	Pierre Gasly	AlphaTauri	70	2:05'46.813	1'03.614
7	Yuki Tsunoda	AlphaTauri	70	2:05'59.002	1'15.803
8	Nicholas Latifi	Williams	70	2:06'01.109	1'17.910
9	George Russell	Williams	70	2:06'02.293	1'19.094
10	Max Verstappen	Red Bull	70	2:06'03.443	1'20.244
11	Kimi Raikkonen	Alfa Romeo	69	2:05'00.261	1 Lap
12	Daniel Ricciardo	McLaren	69	2:05'12.032	1 Lap
13	Mick Schumacher	Haas	69	2:05'21.793	1 Lap
14	Antonio Giovinazzi	Alfa Romeo	69	2:05'22.828	1 Lap
	Nikita Mazepin	Haas	3	31'35.873	67 Laps
	Lando Norris	McLaren	2	5'29.158	68 Laps
	Valtteri Bottas	Mercedes	0
	Sergio Perez	Red Bull	0
	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	0
	Lance Stroll	Aston Martin	0
View full results

How the Hungarian Grand Prix unfolded

Pre-race rain meant the entire field started on intermediate tyres, although Antonio Giovinazzi pitted his Alfa Romeo at the end of the installation lap for slicks. From pole position, Hamilton led Verstappen on the run to Turn 1 as Bottas made a terrible start and dropped to fifth.

At the first corner, on the damp surface, Bottas locked up and took out Norris, who slid into Verstappen, and then collected Perez – putting himself out of the race. In a second crash, Lance Stroll’s Aston Martin slammed into Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, who cannoned into Daniel Ricciardo’s McLaren. Leclerc then went off at Turn 2, while Perez was forced to stop further around the lap.

At the end of the first lap, Hamilton led Ocon, Vettel, Sainz, Tsunoda and Latifi as the safety car and then red flag was required to clear the debris. Verstappen was 13^th, as he stopped to have some damage repaired, as did Norris – whose streak of points finishes ended as McLaren couldn’t fix his car. Bottas was given a five-place grid penalty for the next race.

The red flag allowed teams to make repairs, so 15 cars took the standing restart on a now-dry track. Hamilton was the only car that didn’t go into the pitlane and started on his own, as the real race developed out of the pits as Russell led Ocon, Vettel, Latifi, Tsunoda, with Verstappen in 12^th. Nikita Mazepin (Haas) went out with damaged suspension after Kimi Raikkonen’s Alfa Romeo was released into his path in the pitlane.

Hamilton pitted at the end of the opening lap, dropping to him to 14^th and last. Russell would have taken the lead but his Williams slowed as he’d been told to give up places by the FIA, allowing Ocon to lead Vettel, Latifi, Tsunoda. Verstappen was 11^th with Hamilton 14^th.

Ocon pulled clear of Vettel, with Latifi and Tsunoda battling for third. Hamilton passed Giovinazzi for 13^th, as Verstappen hounded Schumacher to get back into the points. Verstappen made a move stick around the outside of Turn 2 on Lap 14, but not without some contact.

Hamilton pitted on Lap 20 to switch to hards, and managed to undercut Verstappen and Ricciardo to run 10^th, which became ninth when Russell pitted a lap later. Hamilton then passed Schumacher and Latifi.

At the front, Vettel caught up with Ocon at one-third race distance but wasn’t able to find a way past, with Sainz holding a distant third, ahead of Alonso. Hamilton passed Tsunoda around the outside at Turn 4 to take fifth on Lap 33, but was hampered when Sainz stopped for fresh tyres and was forced to run in his wake for a while.

Verstappen remained stuck behind Ricciardo, so opted for a second stop for medium tyres.

Vettel pitted on Lap 37, losing about a second due to a sticky left-rear wheel. Ocon responded a lap later, handing the lead to teammate Alonso, but crucially just in front of Vettel. Alonso pitted on Lap 40, dropping to fifth behind Sainz and Hamilton.

Hamilton pitted again for new mediums on Lap 48, rejoining in fifth behind Alonso but freeing him up to charge to the finish. Vettel challenged Ocon for the lead on Lap 49 in traffic at Turn 1, almost getting alongside as Ocon lapped Giovinazzi, but the Frenchman held on to his lead and scored his maiden F1 win.

After the race, Vettel stopped out on track on the slowing down lap, apparently out of fuel. In post-race scrutineering, only 0.3-litres of the requisite one litre was extracted from the car, and so he was disqualified.

Hamilton caught Alonso with 15 laps to go, repeatedly attacking at Turn 2 and Turn 4 but was firmly repelled time and again. Hamilton finally got ahead with five laps to go, benefitting as Alonso locked up and ran wide at Turn 1. Hamilton quickly caught Sainz and passed him for what turned out to be second place on the run to Turn 1 with a handful of laps remaining.

Behind Alonso in fourth, Gasly (who pitted and took fastest lap on the final tour) and Tsunoda were fifth and sixth respectively, ahead of Williams duo Latifi and Russell.

Verstappen passed Ricciardo for a point around the outside at Turn 2 with 10 laps to go but could make no further progress in his damaged car. He was classified ninth, ahead of Raikkonen.

2021 Formula 1 Hungarian Grand Prix fastest laps

Cla	Driver	Chassis	Laps	Time	Gap	Interval	km/h
1	Pierre Gasly	AlphaTauri	70	1'18.394			201.183
2	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	49	1'18.715	0.321	0.321	200.363
3	Fernando Alonso	Alpine	41	1'20.359	1.965	1.644	196.264
4	Max Verstappen	Red Bull	43	1'20.945	2.551	0.586	194.843
5	Esteban Ocon	Alpine	54	1'21.421	3.027	0.476	193.704
6	Carlos Sainz Jr.	Ferrari	54	1'21.423	3.029	0.002	193.699
7	Sebastian Vettel	Aston Martin	60	1'21.459	3.065	0.036	193.613
8	Kimi Raikkonen	Alfa Romeo	58	1'21.518	3.124	0.059	193.473
9	George Russell	Williams	62	1'22.112	3.718	0.594	192.074
10	Yuki Tsunoda	AlphaTauri	43	1'22.450	4.056	0.338	191.286
11	Mick Schumacher	Haas	44	1'22.711	4.317	0.261	190.683
12	Antonio Giovinazzi	Alfa Romeo	44	1'22.736	4.342	0.025	190.625
13	Daniel Ricciardo	McLaren	58	1'22.802	4.408	0.066	190.473
14	Nicholas Latifi	Williams	62	1'22.831	4.437	0.029	190.406
View full results