The 2021 Formula One Hungarian Grand Prix held on Sunday at Budapest's Hungaroring is certainly one whose outcome no one could have predicted.
It was an eventful race that saw Alpine's Esteban Ocon drive superbly to secure his maiden victory. Aston Martin's Sebastian Vettel finished second ahead of Mercedes-Benz AMG's Lewis Hamilton in third, though Vettel was later disqualified due to his team being unable to remove a mandated 1.0 liter of fuel from the car for testing. This gave second place to Hamilton, while third place was given to Ferrari's Carlos Sainz.
The action arrived right at the start of the race, with five drivers eliminated within the first lap. Hamilton started on pole with fellow Mercedes driver Valtteri Bottas also at the front of the grid. Hamilton enjoyed a clean start while Bottas suffered major wheelspin and was soon passed by McLaren's Lando Norris.
Going into Turn 1, Bottas' wheels locked, sending his car into the rear of Norris and pushing Norris' car into Red Bull Racing's Max Verstappen. Bottas meanwhile careened into the other Red Bull of Sergio Perez. While Verstappen was able to continue with a damaged car, the race was over for the other drivers involved. Bottas received a five-place grid penalty for the next round.
2021 Formula One Hungarian Grand Prix
That wasn't the only incident at the start, however. Further back, Aston Martin's Lance Stroll took to the inside grass at Turn 1 and ended up coming into contact with Ferrari's Charles Leclerc, ending the race for both.
At the race restart, Hamilton was the sole driver as every other driver pitted for medium tires as the wet weather was starting to clear. Hamilton had to then enter the pits on the next lap, and was at the back of the grid upon exiting. That allowed Ocon to take a lead and hold it until the end of the race, despite multiple challenges from Vettel. Hamilton would eventually fight his way up to third, passing Verstappen with a successful undercut following a second pit stop on lap 19.
And there was more chaos elsewhere. Haas' Nikita Mazepin had to retire after coming into contact with Alfa Romeo's Kimi Raikkonen in the pits, for which Raikkonen was handed a 10-second penalty.
Following Sunday's action, Hamilton has moved into the lead spot in the 2021 Drivers' Championship with 192 points, with Verstappen now in second with 186 points and Norris a distant third with 113 points. In the Constructors' Championship, Mercedes leads with 300 points, versus the 290 of Red Bull and 163 of McLaren. Teams now enjoy a three-week summer break before the action starts again with the Belgian Grand Prix.
2021 Formula One Hungarian Grand Prix
Below are the full results from the 2021 Formula One Hungarian Grand Prix:
1) Esteban Ocon, Alpine
2) Sebastian Vettel, Aston Martin +1.859 seconds
3) Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes-Benz AMG +2.736 seconds
4) Carlos Sainz, Ferrari +15.018 seconds
5) Fernando Alonso, Alpine 15.651 seconds
6) Pierre Gasly, AlphaTauri +63.614 seconds
7) Yuki Tsunoda, AlphaTauri +75.803 seconds
8) Nicholas Latifi, Williams +77.910 seconds
9) George Russell, Williams +79.094 seconds
10) Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing +80.244 seconds
11) Kimi Raikkonen, Alfa Romeo +1 lap
12) Daniel Ricciardo, McLaren +1 lap
13) Mick Schumacher, Haas +1 lap
14) Antonio Giovinazzi, Alfa Romeo +1 lap
NC) Nikita Mazepin, Haas DNF
NC) Lando Norris, McLaren DNF
NC) Valtteri Bottas, Mercedes-Benz AMG DNF
NC) Sergio Perez, Red Bull Racing DNF
NC) Charles Leclerc, Ferrari DNF
NC) Lance Stroll, Aston Martin DNF
