Hungary – Race: A Finnish Shield Saves Vettel!

Last thrills before the summer break, the twenty drivers on the grid were throwing their last efforts into the battle around a historical and atypical circuit. At just fifteen meters wide (at best, in the start/finish straight), the Hungaroring track requires crucial concentration, similar to an urban circuit.

And history shows it: the “turnstile” of Budapest often represents an important moment in a Formula 1 season. This year, the stakes were high at the top. Separated by a single point, Vettel and Hamilton were eager to outdo each other during the summer. The former had the advantage in the qualifiers, while the latter, only fourth, failed to capitalize on the tire warming. Between the two stars, their teammates took the second and third positions.

On the other levels of the grid, the pleasant surprise was the form of the McLaren-Honda cars, lined up together on the fourth row, with Alonso having outperformed Vandoorne, behind the two Red Bulls, Verstappen ahead of Ricciardo. At the back of the field, observers were closely watching the preparation of Paul Di Resta, who stepped in as a replacement for Felipe Massa, in nineteenth place with the Williams. It should be noted that the Scotsman was celebrating his big return to Formula 1, three and a half years after his last race in Brazil, with V8 engines! All this after only one qualifying session under his belt…

The Torpedo Verstappen

The eleventh start of the season was fatal to Daniel Ricciardo’s ambitions. The first race neutralization emerged right from the first lap; it was the fault of the two Red Bulls, which collided!

The culprit in the matter was Max Verstappen. Certainly annoyed at being sent onto the astroturf at T1 by Bottas, the Dutchman attempted to overtake his teammate on the inside in the subsequent sequence. However, his late braking sent him into the other RB13, immediately stopping the Australian, with a punctured left rear tire and a torn side.

But not content with becoming the black sheep of his team, the youngest Grand Prix winner was given a ten-second stop-and-go penalty after the fact!

LAP 7/70: VER given a 10 second penalty for RIC collision ⏱#HungarianGP 🇭🇺 #F1 pic.twitter.com/Mua8EIMwkq

— Formula 1 (@F1) July 30, 2017

The start was decidedly eventful as the stewards also noted an incident between Hülkenberg and Grosjean. The Renault driver had forcefully pushed his Haas counterpart off the T1 racing line. Upset, the Frenchman was not heard by Derek Warwick, the chief steward of this Hungarian weekend, who decided not to take any action on the incident. Bad luck continued its work anyway. Suffering from a slow puncture on the 22nd lap, Grosjean retired a lap later due to a poorly fastened wheel during his early pit stop.

As for the two Ferraris, they did not continue their battle beyond the first corner. Vettel kept the upper hand over Räikkönen and Hamilton took advantage of Ricciardo’s drop in the standings to take fifth place, behind Verstappen. In the top 10, it was worth noting the entry of the two Force India cars, with Pérez in eighth place and Ocon closing out this part of the standings.

It was therefore the German in red who revived the pack on the sixth lap of the race.

Protected from the chaos, Vettel was being Vettel in the first stint, starting with the pedal to the metal. But a first warning emerged on lap 25: a steering problem for the four-time world champion, with a wheel pulling to the left! The stress peaked, especially since Räikkönen hadn’t let up, always within two seconds difference.

By luck for the leader, Bottas was still running slightly below pace, eight seconds behind at the same checkpoint. Hamilton, on his part, was handicapped by a faulty radio and hadn’t overtaken Verstappen due to the lack of a viable window of opportunity.

The ranking of the top ten had indeed remained unchanged throughout all these laps. The main threat for Ocon was the comeback of Nico Hülkenberg, who had passed Jolyon Palmer on the orders of his team.

The Ferrari Dilemma

The minor issues from previous laps had an impact on the continuation of the race. Vettel’s erratic direction damaging his tires required him to pit again on lap 33. Just barely, his position was saved in front of his teammate. Räikkönen is definitely not having any luck: hindered by traffic and the “driver-commentator” Di Resta, Iceman came out just behind! Enough to give us a delightful radio conversation, forging the legend of the 2007 world champion.

“What the **** is this Williams doing? If he can’t see me there he should stay in the reporting,” Räikkönen says about Sky pundit di Resta.
— Autosport Live (@autosportlive) 30 July 2017

Meanwhile, the two Mercedes had been the most reactive by stopping just before. Hamilton was closing in on Bottas, reducing the gap to under one second by the 38th lap. The excitement also ramped up, thanks to the thrilling fight between Sainz and Alonso. The double world champion of 2005-2006 was teaching his young Spanish teammate the art of overtaking.

LAP 38/70: 🇪🇸 vs 🇪🇸 for P9

#HungarianGP 🇭🇺 pic.twitter.com/dmcYedKzbb

— Formula 1 (@F1) 30 juillet 2017

But let’s get back to the front: Vettel’s gradual slowdown was causing a general Ferrari-Mercedes regrouping. The trio Räikkönen-Bottas-Hamilton was becoming increasingly threatening in his rearview mirrors, all within a five-second gap. The only good news at this precise moment was that Verstappen’s stop and go allowed him to retake the lead of the Grand Prix on the 43rd lap.

It was necessary to observe the lap times to understand the evolution of the situation. And faced with the resurgence of the Ferraris, Hamilton slammed his fist on the table. Audible again to his engineer, the Briton commanded Bottas to fall in line behind him to better attack Räikkönen. Without complying, the former Williams driver pulled over in the first corner to let his “leader” pass.

Would Hamilton’s charge be sufficient though? That was the question over the last fifteen laps. The Mercedes pit wall provided full engine power to attack the red barrier. The downside was that his vehicle had to be managed, particularly the brakes, which were stressed by the Hungarian furnace with 55 degrees on the track. Fortunately for him, Bottas was not a significant threat, relegated to five seconds behind and especially only four seconds ahead of… Verstappen, who had miraculously come back!

Even without overtakes, the tension increased as the final count progressed. Especially since the stragglers were adding their two cents, notably Ocon slowing down Hamilton. Benefiting from a series of favorable circumstances, the leader was no longer threatened: the standings were definitively set!

At the 70th lap, Sebastian Vettel crossed the finish line as the winner of the 2017 Hungarian Grand Prix! After having struggled on the other side of the Iron Curtain for a long time, the German clinches his second victory in three years, on the day of his fiftieth start with Ferrari. More importantly, he extends his lead in the overall standings against Hamilton, who ultimately honors his promise: to let Bottas pass again, despite the pressure from Max Verstappen! In purely numerical terms, it’s a bad move for the Briton who loses three additional points: he is now fourteen points behind his rival. However, looking further ahead, Bottas very likely just pledged his allegiance for the rest of the season.

INITIAL CLASSIFICATION (LAP 71/71): A win on his 50th Ferrari start for Sebastian Vettel 👏 #HungarianGP 🇭🇺 #F1 pic.twitter.com/FnGuEQBNeX

— Formula 1 (@F1) 30 juillet 2017

For the rest, Fernando Alonso stayed away from the cameras at the end of the race. But his performance will be remembered: sixth, best of the others behind the top drivers. And to top it off for McLaren, Stoffel Vandoorne scored his first point of the season! This deserved a great staging, celebrating the summer break, which will officially start on Wednesday, after the wave of two days of private testing!

Fastest lap ✅
Best finish of the season ✅
Birthday weekend ✅

Time for @alo_oficial to relax #HungarianGP 🇭🇺 #F1 pic.twitter.com/hpa8SakPS0

— Formula 1 (@F1) 30 juillet 2017