2021 Hungarian Grand Prix

Lore & Background

The race started at 15:00 CEST on 1 August. It was held for seventy laps at the Hungaroring with Lewis Hamilton starting on pole position. Rain before and during the first lap led to all cars starting on intermediate tyres. The race began with major incidents at the first turn on the first lap; Valtteri Bottas braked late, causing him to hit the back of the McLaren of Lando Norris, sending Norris into Verstappen, who suffered damage but was able to continue.

After hitting Norris, Bottas slid into the other Red Bull of Sergio Pérez, taking him out of the race. Lance Stroll also left his braking too late, and attempted to avoid a collision by taking to the grass on the inside, but collided with the Ferrari of Charles Leclerc, who then forced Daniel Ricciardo to spin as a result. When the safety car was called out, Pérez retired. After following two laps under the safety car, the race was red-flagged.

Norris then retired under the red flag. The engine in Leclerc's car was written off as it was found to be damaged beyond repair. Verstappen's car had significant damage, greatly hampering his performance. As the cars came into the pit lane to change tyres and come out for the restart, an unsafe release from Alfa Romeo caused Kimi Räikkönen to collide with Nikita Mazepin, taking the Haas driver out of the race.

Räikkönen was subsequently given a ten-second time penalty. On the restart, only race leader Hamilton started from the grid on intermediate tyres; the rest of the grid started from the pits having changed to slick tyres. Hamilton pitted after the fourth lap, putting the Alpine of Ocon into the lead with Vettel chasing close behind. Hamilton made a pit stop for hard tyres on the nineteenth lap, allowing him to undercut Verstappen and Ricciardo when they stopped the following lap.

Sainz overcut Latifi and Tsunoda, putting him into third behind Ocon and Vettel. Verstappen overtook Räikkönen to move up into eleventh place. Vettel and Ocon made pit stops for new tyres on the thirty-sixth and thirty-seventh laps, respectively. Hamilton fought his way up to fourth, then pitted on the forty-eighth lap, coming out behind Alonso.

Alonso held him back for twelve laps after the fifty-third lap until the Spaniard locked up and Hamilton passed at the first turn. Hamilton overtook the Ferrari of Sainz on the sixty-seventh lap and moved into third.

Reader's Guide

The drivers and teams were the same as the season entry list, with no additional stand-in drivers for the race. Robert Kubica drove in the first practice session for Alfa Romeo Racing in place of Kimi Räikkönen. Mick Schumacher did not take part in qualifying due to an accident that occurred during the third practice session. He was permitted to race at the stewards' discretion. He also received a five-place grid penalty for an unscheduled gearbox change. This made no difference as he was already due to start the race from last place. Nikita Mazepin was the Haas driver who was taken out of the race by a collision with Kimi Räikkönen during the red flag period. Haas scored no points in the 2021 season, which notes Williams scored their first points of any kind since the 2019 German Grand Prix.

Did You Know?

• It was the first win for the Enstone-based team since the 2013 Australian Grand Prix.
• It was the first win for a Renault-badged engine since the 2014 Belgian Grand Prix.
• Pierre Gasly earned the fastest lap.
• Williams scored their first double points finish since the 2018 Italian Grand Prix.