Lewis Hamilton was in dire shape as he swept away the competition at the Hungaroring to lower the curtain on the triple opening header of Formula 1 2020. Now is the time for a race-free week, but before we get a break, we’ve chosen the Winners and losers of the Hungarian Grand Prix …
Winner: Lewis Hamilton
There was a time when Michael Schumacher’s astonishing records seemed unbeatable, but Lewis Hamilton has been marking them, one by one, with aplomb. And his victory in Hungary, his eighth in place, has brought him to the brink of breaking even further.
Hamilton was not wrong over the weekend, saying his 90th pole lap required “absolute perfection” and then destroyed the opposition on race day, beating Alexander Albon in fifth place.
READ MORE: Hamilton reaches the eighth victory of the Hungarian Grand Prix, while Verstappen recovers to the second
The win takes him just five away from Schumacher’s total win of 91, and two fewer than the German’s podium, while other consecutive points end his streak at 36 in an afternoon where he led a race for the 150th time, the first driver to get to reach this total
And to top it all off, he wrested the championship leadership from Mercedes teammate Valtteri Bottas. For the British, it was a mission accomplished.
Lewis Hamilton’s 8 wins at the Hungarian Grand Prix
Losers: Ferrari
Sebastian Vettel secured his best season finale with the sixth, albeit the worst in Hungary since joining Ferrari. But that position is simply not good enough for the Italian team, nor the fact that only one of their cars has managed to reach the checkered flag at points.
Worse yet, both cars finished one lap behind race winner Hamilton, 61 seconds adrift, in fact. The result leaves them fifth in the constructors’ championship with just 27 points, almost 100 less than the leaders and current world champion Mercedes, after just three races.
READ MORE: “There is a lot of work ahead”, says Leclerc after a mixed day for Ferrari
Sebastian Vettel: ‘It is not a surprise’ to be hit by Hamilton
Winner: Max Verstappen
Max Verstappen was firmly in the losers’ column before the race started, when the Dutchman got caught in the wet conditions and slipped into the barriers on his way to the grid.
The team did a phenomenal job of repairing the car’s left front corner, completing the feat with less than 30 seconds to go. Potentially motivated by guilt, Verstappen made an electric start, reaching third place, which became second when Lance Stroll faced.
It was a position he would not give up, brilliantly holding Valtteri Bottas to split the Mercedes into a car that doesn’t seem capable of doing it in terms of pure pace. As a result, he finished second in Hungary for the second year in a row, taking his 33rd podium finish to beat Jim Clark.
READ MORE: “The second feels like a victory,” says Verstappen as he recovers from the crash before the podium race.
Crash to P2: Max Verstappen’s incredible Hungarian GP recovery
Loser: Pierre Gasly
As Pierre Gasly put it, French was “Unfortunate” this weekend. He encountered engine problems in qualifying, which subsequently led to the installation of a new ICE, turbo and MGU-H, but still managed to make Q3.
However, the mechanical gremlins returned on race day as they had a problem with the transmission and struggled with gear changes from the time the race started. When it became clear that his AlphaTauri team was unable to remedy the situation, he was forced to withdraw the car, his second pointless result in three races.
Hungarian GP: pit fire when Pierre Gasly retires
Winner: Lance Stroll
Okay, so it wasn’t the podium that Lance Stroll would have felt was really possible when he ranked third on the grid, but fourth on the road is still in his top three Formula 1 results.
The Canadian had a great battle with Verstappen earlier in the race and took full advantage of the car’s performance to stay away from the group, once Bottas jumped it, to cross the line in fourth place, moving him level on points with Charles Leclerc from Ferrari.
READ MORE: The Strategy Bet Lost the Chance of Earning Points at Racing Point, Stroll Says
Lance Stroll: “We have to be happy with the result”
Loser: Sergio Pérez
The positive was that Sergio Pérez’s seventh place was his best finish in nine Hungaroring starts, and that he has now started the 2020 season with a sixth, sixth and seventh in the first three races to place him sixth in the championship.
However, the Mexican struggled with neck pain and felt dizzy during qualifying. And on the track, he must have felt that he could have had a result in the top four, and probably even a podium, given that he had outdone his teammate Stroll until he started feeling bad on Saturday.
CLOCK: We had a “very poor start” and it was difficult to recover, says Pérez
Hungarian GP: watch the start of the 2020 F1 race
Winner: Kevin Magnussen
Haas is off to a miserable start in its 2020 campaign, the car struggling for performance in terms of both aerodynamic drive and power, but when an opportunity presented itself in Hungary, Kevin Magnussen seized it with both hands.
The team boldly called him and Romain Grosjean to the pits before the start and placed dry tires on a wet but dry track. He paid generously, because everyone else took the start and then were forced to pit, while the Haas cars went up to third and fourth place respectively.
Magnussen did an excellent job defending cars that were clearly much faster than him, keeping McLaren and Ferrari at bay in the closing stages. It was unfortunate that he lost a position and a point, after a commissioners penalty, but nevertheless it was a welcome point in a season where it will be very difficult between them, Alfa Romeo and Williams for the inferior positions.
READ MORE: Magnussen Praises Haas’ “Amazing Call” That Helped Him Get To First Point Of 2020
Hungarian GP: “Can you believe it?” – Kevin Magnussen takes P9
Loser: Nicholas Latifi
As he progresses, Nicholas Latifi became one of the best on the grid, reaching the top 10 from 15 while judging difficult conditions to perfection. But his fortune changed when he had an insecure release in the way of the Carlos Sainz from McLaren, puncturing his tire.
He recovered in the pits, but there was significant damage to the floor, and from there it was simply a matter of bringing the car to the finish. He did it, but the Canadian was five laps down.
CLOCK: A “good start” was as good as it was, says Latifi
Hungarian GP: Latifi spins with a puncture after pit contact
Winner: Formula 1
There was an element of fear before Formula 1 2020 restarted, so different was the global courtesy of the coronavirus. But while opening day was a bit strange, F1 staff soon found a way to make it all work, and for Hungary it worked like a well-oiled machine.
Ross Brawn Column: F1 Copying Is Standard: Racing Point Just Got A More Complete Job
It’s still not the same, of course, and racing is missing something without the fans. But at least the show is back, as the first international sporting event to come back after Covid. It is not a small feat, since it was also the second triple header in F1 history.
But they all came together to make this happen and the Hungarian GP, helped in part by the weather, was a third consecutive entertaining race. If we continue like this, hopefully the Grand Prix as we know it will not be far away.
Race highlights: 2020 Hungarian Grand Prix
