2019 Hungarian Grand Prix Explained

Type:F1
Country:Hungary
Grand Prix:Hungarian
Details Ref:[1]
Previous Round:2019 German Grand Prix
Next Round:2019 Belgian Grand Prix
Image-Size:250px
Date:4 August
Year:2019
Official Name:Formula 1 Rolex Magyar Nagydíj 2019
Race No:12
Season No:21
Location:Hungaroring
Mogyoród, Hungary
Course:Permanent racing facility
Course Mi:2.722
Course Km:4.381
Distance Laps:70
Distance Mi:190.531
Distance Km:306.630
Weather:Sunny
Attendance:230,000[2]
Pole Driver:Max Verstappen
Pole Team:Red Bull Racing-Honda
Pole Time:1:14.572
Pole Country:NED
Fast Driver:Max Verstappen
Fast Country:NED
Fast Team:Red Bull Racing-Honda
Fast Time:1:17.103
Fast Lap:69
First Driver:Lewis Hamilton
First Team:Mercedes
First Country:GBR
Second Driver:Max Verstappen
Second Team:Red Bull Racing-Honda
Second Country:NED
Third Driver:Sebastian Vettel
Third Team:Ferrari
Third Country:GER

The 2019 Hungarian Grand Prix (formally known as the Formula 1 Rolex Magyar Nagydíj 2019) was a Formula One motor race which was held on 4 August 2019 at the Hungaroring in Mogyoród, Hungary.[1] The race was the 12th round of 21 of the 2019 Formula One World Championship and the 35th running of the Hungarian Grand Prix and the 34th time the race had been run as a World Championship event since the inaugural season in .

Background

Entrants

The drivers and teams entered were the same as those on the season entry list with no additional stand-in drivers for either the race or practice.[3] Alexander Albon and Pierre Gasly contested their last races for Scuderia Toro Rosso and Red Bull Racing respectively before swapping teams from the next race onward.[4] [5]

Championship standings before the race

Heading into the weekend it was Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes who held a lead of 41 and 148 points in the drivers and constructors championships respectively. The size of their leads meant that both would still be leading their respective championships after the race regardless of the race result.[6] [7]

Qualifying

Max Verstappen was fastest, becoming the first Dutch Formula 1 driver to be on pole and also the 100th different driver to be on pole in Formula 1 history.[8] [9] He was followed by Mercedes' drivers Valtteri Bottas and Lewis Hamilton.

Qualifying classification

DriverConstructor
Q1Q2Q3
133data-sort-value="VER" Max VerstappenRed Bull Racing-Honda1:15.8171:15.5731:14.5721
277data-sort-value="BOT" Valtteri BottasMercedes1:16.0781:15.6691:14.5902
344data-sort-value="HAM" Lewis HamiltonMercedes1:16.0681:15.5481:14.7693
416data-sort-value="LEC" Charles LeclercFerrari1:16.3371:15.7921:15.0434
55data-sort-value="VET" Sebastian VettelFerrari1:16.4521:15.8851:15.0715
610data-sort-value="GAS" Pierre GaslyRed Bull Racing-Honda1:16.7161:16.3931:15.4506
74data-sort-value="NOR" Lando NorrisMcLaren-Renault1:16.6971:16.0601:15.8007
855data-sort-value="SAI" Carlos Sainz Jr.McLaren-Renault1:16.4931:16.3081:15.8528
98data-sort-value="GRO" Romain GrosjeanHaas-Ferrari1:16.9781:16.3191:16.0139
107data-sort-value="RAI" Kimi Räikkönen1:16.5061:16.5181:16.04110
1127data-sort-value="HUL" Nico HülkenbergRenault1:16.7901:16.565N/A11
1223data-sort-value="ALB" Alexander AlbonScuderia Toro Rosso-Honda1:16.9121:16.687N/A12
1326data-sort-value="KVY" Daniil KvyatScuderia Toro Rosso-Honda1:16.7501:16.692N/A13
1499data-sort-value="GIO"Alfa Romeo Racing-Ferrari1:16.8941:16.804N/A17
1520data-sort-value="MAG" Kevin MagnussenHaas-Ferrari1:16.1221:17.081N/A14
1663data-sort-value="RUS" George RussellWilliams-Mercedes1:17.031N/AN/A15
1711data-sort-value="PER" Sergio Pérez1:17.109N/AN/A16
183data-sort-value="RIC" Daniel RicciardoRenault1:17.257N/AN/A20
1918data-sort-value="STR" Lance Stroll1:17.542N/AN/A18
2088data-sort-value="KUB" Robert KubicaWilliams-Mercedes1:18.324N/AN/A19
107% time

1:21.124

Source:[10] [11]
Notes

Race

Race report

Max Verstappen got a reasonable start from pole position but the Mercedes cars of Valtteri Bottas and Lewis Hamilton were both able to attack into turn one, forcing Verstappen to defend on the inside. However, Bottas locked his front right tyre forcing Hamilton to take a wider line through the corner and allowing Verstappen to pull away between turns one and two. Behind the front three cars, Charles Leclerc got a good start and maintained his lead over teammate Sebastian Vettel into turn one but Carlos Sainz managed to get ahead of both Pierre Gasly and Lando Norris to briefly threaten Vettel on the entry to the second corner.

Through turn two, Bottas once again locked his tyres allowing Hamilton to attack around the outside and eventually pass through turn three, albeit with a tap on Bottas's front wing on the exit. The overtaking move forced Bottas slightly wide and onto the kerbs which slowed him enough for Leclerc to challenge on the run up to turn four. As Leclerc passed Bottas, he drifted to the left hitting the same part of the wing that Hamilton had touched moments before, damaging it. The incident was investigated by the stewards but no action was taken.

The damage to his wing hindered Bottas's pace and Vettel was able to overtake on the start finish straight at the start of lap 2. Bottas stayed out for a few more laps but was eventually brought into the pits at the end of lap 6 for a change to the hard tyres and a new front wing, dropping him to last place. At the front, Verstappen and Hamilton began to pull away from the rest of the field. By lap 13 the gap between Hamilton, in second place, and Leclerc, in third, was more than 10 seconds. Whilst the two Ferraris of Leclerc and Vettel were running within a few seconds of each other in third and fourth with the rest of the field lagging a further 17 seconds behind.

By lap 15 Bottas had managed to start making progress through the field and was up to seventeenth place. Just ahead of him Daniel Ricciardo had captured fourteenth place and Sergio Pérez was running in eleventh from his starting position of sixteenth. At the start of lap 19, the two Toro Rosso cars of Daniil Kvyat and Alexander Albon battled side by side all the way through the first sector, running millimetres apart at the exit of turn two, before Kvyat forced Albon onto the run off area after turn four and took twelfth place.

At the front, Verstappen pitted at the end of lap 25 for hard tyres, giving Hamilton a temporary lead. Hamilton then tried to push to overcut Verstappen on pit stop strategy but failed to make ground and was pitted on lap 32 for hard tyres, emerging about 5 seconds behind Verstappen. Immediately Hamilton went on the attack, however the two leading cars had to pick their way through traffic as they lapped slower cars. Whilst this slowed both drivers' progress, the presence of the lapped cars also gave Verstappen DRS allowing him to stay ahead of Hamilton. At the end of lap 38, Verstappen was held up by Ricciardo and then made a small mistake on the exit of turn twelve allowing Hamilton to close to 0.3 seconds. Both had DRS as they started lap 39 but Hamilton managed to pull almost alongside into turn one as they lapped Ricciardo. Unable to make the move, Hamilton continued to fight through turns two and three before launching a brave sortie into turn four that saw him run wide and fall back behind Verstappen.

Throughout the race, Hamilton had been struggling with brake issues, and the prolonged assault on Verstappen had overheated his brakes, forcing the Mercedes to back off through the next few laps. Knowing that they had used the best of the current set of tyres, Mercedes opted to try a two-stop strategy and pitted Hamilton for medium tyres on at the end of lap 48. By now, the gap between second and third place was almost 40 seconds so, with an expected 20 seconds lost due to a pit stop, Hamilton could pit without dropping any positions. Red Bull chose not to respond, fearing that Verstappen would lose position to Hamilton via the undercut.

Both Verstappen and Hamilton had to fight through traffic but, despite some initial gains, Hamilton was 15 seconds behind with 14 laps remaining. On lap 60, Hamilton was 12 seconds behind but then began to reel in Verstappen. On lap 63, Verstappen reported over the team radio that his tyres were "dead" with the gap to Hamilton less than 6 seconds. By the end of lap 66, Hamilton had caught up to Verstappen, easily passed him round the outside through turn one, and pulled away; he maintained the lead to the end of the race. Behind the leaders, the Ferraris of Leclerc and Vettel battled over third place. Ferrari had put their drivers on a split strategy and pitted Vettel a second time for soft tyres which allowed him to pass Leclerc, who was on old hard tyres, at the start of lap 68. Having lost the race lead, Verstappen pitted for soft tyres and proceeded to set the fastest lap of the race, a 1:17.103 which was a new lap record at the time, and thus earned him an extra championship point.

Further down the field, Carlos Sainz came in fifth and Lando Norris managed ninth earning twelve points for McLaren. Kimi Räikkönen came in seventh for Alfa Romeo and Albon secured the last point scoring position of tenth for Toro Rosso. Romain Grosjean was the only retirement, on lap 51 due to a water pressure issue.[14] [15] [16] [17]

Bottas managed to recover to eighth place and Gasly finished sixth but both were scrutinised in the media due to their poor races in comparison to their teammates.[18] Regarding Gasly, Red Bull team principal Christian Horner commented that Red Bull "desperately need him realising more of the potential of the car".[19] [20]

After the race

Following the Hungarian Grand Prix Red Bull Racing announced that Pierre Gasly would be replaced by Alexander Albon for the remainder of the season, with Gasly taking Albon's seat at Toro Rosso.[21]

Race classification

DriverConstructorLapsTime/RetiredGridPoints
144data-sort-value="HAM" Lewis HamiltonMercedes701:35:03.796325
233data-sort-value="VER" Max VerstappenRed Bull Racing-Honda70+17.796119
35data-sort-value="VET" Sebastian VettelFerrari70+1:01.433515
416data-sort-value="LEC" Charles LeclercFerrari70+1:05.250412
555data-sort-value="SAI" Carlos Sainz Jr.McLaren-Renault69+1 lap810
610data-sort-value="GAS" Pierre GaslyRed Bull Racing-Honda69+1 lap68
77data-sort-value="RAI" Kimi RäikkönenAlfa Romeo Racing-Ferrari69+1 lap106
877data-sort-value="BOT" Valtteri BottasMercedes69+1 lap24
94data-sort-value="NOR" Lando NorrisMcLaren-Renault69+1 lap72
1023data-sort-value="ALB" Alexander AlbonScuderia Toro Rosso-Honda69+1 lap121
1111data-sort-value="PER" Sergio Pérez69+1 lap16
1227data-sort-value="HUL" Nico HülkenbergRenault69+1 lap11
1320data-sort-value="MAG" Kevin MagnussenHaas-Ferrari69+1 lap14
143data-sort-value="RIC" Daniel RicciardoRenault69+1 lap20
1526data-sort-value="KVY" Daniil KvyatScuderia Toro Rosso-Honda68+2 laps13
1663data-sort-value="RUS" George RussellWilliams-Mercedes68+2 laps15
1718data-sort-value="STR" Lance Stroll68+2 laps18
1899data-sort-value="GIO"Alfa Romeo Racing-Ferrari68+2 laps17
1988data-sort-value="KUB" Robert KubicaWilliams-Mercedes67+3 laps19
data-sort-value="20"Ret8data-sort-value="GRO" Romain GrosjeanHaas-Ferrari499
Fastest lap

Max Verstappen (Red Bull Racing-Honda) – 1:17.103 (lap 69)

Source:[22]
Notes

Championship standings after the race

Drivers' Championship standings
DriverPoints
1 Lewis Hamilton250
2 Valtteri Bottas188
3 Max Verstappen181
4 Sebastian Vettel156
5 Charles Leclerc132
Source:[23]
Constructors' Championship standings
ConstructorPoints
1 Mercedes438
2 Ferrari288
3 Red Bull Racing-Honda244
4 McLaren-Renault82
5 Scuderia Toro Rosso-Honda43
Source:
Note

See also

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Hungarian Grand Prix 2019. Formula1.com. 1 August 2019.
  2. News: Grand Prix attendance surpasses 4 million in 2019 . Formula1.com . 19 December 2019 . 19 December 2019.
  3. Web site: 2019 Hungarian Grand Prix – Entry List . FIA . 1 August 2019 . 1 August 2019.
  4. Web site: Alex joins the team. https://web.archive.org/web/20190812104837/https://redbullracing.redbull.com/article/alex-joins-team. Red Bull Racing. 12 August 2019. 12 August 2019. dead.
  5. Web site: Albon replaces Gasly at Red Bull from Spa. motorsport.com. Motorsport Network. en. 30 April 2024. 14 August 2019.
  6. Web site: 2019. StatsF1. 1 August 2019.
  7. Web site: Germany 2019 – Championship. StatsF1. 1 August 2019.
  8. Web site: Netherlands – Pole positions. StatsF1. 2019-08-03.
  9. Web site: Statistics Drivers – Pole positions – By number. StatsF1. 3 August 2019. https://web.archive.org/web/20190614162055/https://www.statsf1.com/en/statistiques/pilote/pole/nombre.aspx. 14 June 2019. dead.
  10. Web site: Formula 1 Rolex Magyar Nagydíj 2019 – Qualifying. Formula1.com. 3 August 2019. 3 August 2019.
  11. Web site: Formula 1 Rolex Magyar Nagydíj 2019 – Starting Grid. Formula1.com. 3 August 2019. 3 August 2019.
  12. Web site: Alfa Romeo's Antonio Giovinazzi penalised 3 places after qualifying incident in Hungary. 3 August 2019. www.formula1.com. en. 2019-10-30.
  13. Web site: Ricciardo to start from back of Budapest grid. 4 August 2019. www.formula1.com. en. 2019-10-30.
  14. Web site: 2019 Hungarian Grand Prix: Race Highlights . YouTube . 5 August 2019.
  15. News: Emons . Michael . How the Hungarian Grand Prix unfolded . BBC Sport . 3 August 2019 . 5 August 2019.
  16. News: Benson . Andrew . Hungarian Grand Prix: How Lewis Hamilton v Max Verstappen lived up to billing . BBC Sport . 5 August 2019.
  17. News: Benson . Andrew . Lewis Hamilton overtakes Max Verstappen for late Hungary win . BBC Sport . 5 August 2019.
  18. Web site: Baldwin . Alan . Bottas and Gasly go into F1 break feeling the pace . Yahoo Sports . 5 August 2019.
  19. News: Benson . Andrew . Pierre Gasly: Red Bull driver needs to improve, says Christian Horner . BBC Sport . 5 August 2019.
  20. News: Benson . Andrew . Hungarian GP: Max Verstappen not going to Mercedes . BBC Sport .
  21. News: Red Bull: Alexander Albon to replace Pierre Gasly . BBC Sport.
  22. Web site: Formula 1 Rolex Magyar Nagydíj 2019 – Race Result. Formula1.com. 4 August 2019. 4 August 2019.
  23. Web site: Hungary 2019 – Championship. StatsF1. 4 August 2019. 5 August 2019.