2021 F1 Hungarian Grand Grand Prix: Winners And Losers

If you thought the previous race at Silverstone was wild, the 2021 Hungarian Grand Prix at the Hungaroring completely blew that out of the water. This race had everything, from early wet weather thrills, first lap chaos, wheel-to-wheel action, comeback drives and an intense fight for the lead, to a shock maiden win for the Alpine of Esteban Ocon. Here are the winners and losers from the 11th round of the 2021 Formula One season:

Winners

 Alpine

History was made for the Enstone-based team as Esteban Ocon managed to pull off a sensational maiden F1 win after holding off extreme pressure from the Aston Martin of Sebastian Vettel throughout the race. It all transpired when a chaotic first lap left Ocon second on the road before the red flag was called out. The moment that crucially contributed to his race win was Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton being the only driver not to pit for slick tyres during the formation lap. That left Hamilton right at the back of the grid when he made his stop for slick tyres and paved the way for Ocon to hold on to the eventual race win. 

That win for Ocon would not have been possible were it not for teammate Fernando Alonso’s valiant defense against Lewis Hamilton who was on fresher tyres for a good portion of the race. Although Hamilton got past in the end, that time loss was crucial to Hamilton being forced to settle for third place at the chequered flag. Nonetheless, a strong fifth place for Alonso combined with Ocon’s win has catapulted them to fifth place in the constructors’ standings.

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Sebastian Vettel 

Another driver benefited greatly from the first lap carnage, shadowing Ocon for the entire race. The Aston Martin driver piled on plenty of pressure on the Frenchman, making a few passing attempts as well. But it just wasn’t enough to crack Ocon, and the four-time world champion had to settle for second place. 

But there was drama post-race as the German was provisionally disqualified for a fuel sample irregularity where the car fell short of the 1.0-litre fuel sample required for post-race scrutiny. That being said, since Aston Martin has filed a notice to appeal against the decision before the final classification comes out, Vettel is still in second place provisionally, until the outcome of the appeal. 

Lewis Hamilton

It was difficult to consider Lewis Hamilton one of the big winners in this race, after the Mercedes driver cost his shot at the race win due to not pitting for slick tyres under the formation lap. That led to a very bizarre start with him being the only one on the starting grid. While he dropped back to last after the pitstop, the seven-time champion did manage to fight his way back through the field and finished third in the end. Were it not for Fernando Alonso’s staunch defensive driving, Hamilton had a very realistic chance to snatch the race win off Esteban Ocon. But he’ll take this result as a nightmare Grand Prix for Max Verstappen and Red Bull Racing Honda means he now leads the drivers’ standings by just six points over Verstappen. This result has also contributed to Mercedes overtaking Red Bull Honda in the constructors' standings and holding a 10-point lead.

Honourable Mention- Williams

After more than two seasons worth of toiling at the back of the field, it finally came to fruition. Williams scored its first points of the season and its first since Germany 2019, with the pair of Nicolas Latifi and George Russell finishing eighth and ninth respectively. Another beneficiary from the first-lap carnage, both Williams’ drivers managed to hold off cars much faster than them for the majority of the race to hold on to this points finish. This result is huge for the team, as its six-point haul has leapfrogged it to eighth in the constructors’ standings, which could be crucial in its fight against Alfa Romeo who has dropped to ninth overall, four points behind it. 

Losers

Valtteri Bottas and Lance Stroll 

The chaos on the opening lap was pretty much caused by a series of chain reactions from Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas and the Aston Martin of Lance Stroll. Getting a poor launch off the line, Bottas misjudged his breaking point into Turn 1, leading to hitting the McLaren of Lando Norris, and the two spearing into both Verstappen and Perez, with three cars out on the spot. Lance Stroll also misjudged his breaking point, and in an attempt to avoid the pack, slid into the Ferrari of Charles Leclerc, taking them both out of the race. This certainly wasn’t the weekend Stroll, and especially Bottas would want, considering the latter’s future at Mercedes is on the line.

Red Bull Racing Honda 

The previous race was one to forget for Red Bull Honda, and the Hungarian Grand Prix was no different. Both Red Bull drivers, Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez, fell victim to a chaotic first lap where the Mercedes of Valtteri Bottas hit the McLaren of Lando Norris heading into Turn 1, and caused a chain reaction of incidents where both Red Bull drivers got caught up in the crossfire. 

The resulting collisions led to Perez retiring on the opening lap. Verstappen managed to survive, but with extensive damage to the car. The Dutchman did manage to carry on for the rest of the race, but the damaged car seriously compromised his pace, managing to limp home to 10th position in the end. These two forgettable race weekends have proven costly to Red Bull, as Verstappen and the team have been overtaken by Hamilton and Mercedes in the drivers’ and constructors' standings heading into the second half of the 2021 season.

 

McLaren 

Another team that was the unfortunate victim of the first lap crashes caused by Bottas and Stroll, Norris had a great launch off the line and was up to third position, but Bottas hit him from behind, causing an uncontrolled spear into Verstappen. The Brit did manage to make it back into the pits by the red flag period, but the damage to the car was too significant to continue.  

Teammate Daniel Ricciardo was a victim of Stroll’s incident, but still managed to keep the car running. Unfortunately, the car had sustained damage, which hampered the Australian’s attempts to move up the field, finishing a lowly 12th in the end. McLaren still holds third in the constructors’ standings, but Carlos Sainz’ fourth place finish for Ferrari leaves it only three points ahead.

With such a fantastic end to the first half of the 2021 season, F1 will now head into a summer shutdown, before resuming racing action at Spa Francorchamps for the Belgian Grand Prix. It is scheduled to run from August 27-29.