Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton has snatched the lead in the F1 championship after finishing third at the Hungarian Grand Prix in one of the craziest races in recent memory.
Six cars failed to finish the race, which was claimed by first-time winner Esteban Ocon in his Alpine ahead of Sebastian Vettel of Aston Martin in a staggering result.
But Vettel’s second-place only stood for hours. After a marathon deliberation by stewards, the German was disqualified for not being able to supply a fuel sample after the race.
Under the rules, a one-litre sample of fuel may be taken from a car at any time during the event. However, after Sunday’s Grand Prix at the Hungaroring, it is understood it was only possible to take a 0.3 litre sample from Vettel’s vehicle.
Aston Martin immediately lodged an appeal before the final classification was issued, meaning Vettel has technically been reinstated as second until a verdict can be reached.
Earlier, five cars – including a host of top contenders – were forced to retire after wet conditions caused a mass crash on the opening corner of the race.
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Hamilton managed to avoid the chaos behind him, only to make a massive tactical error when the race restarted. He was the only driver to resume on intermediate tyres despite the rain stopping and the track drying while the race had been stopped following the crash.
Hamilton was forced to pit one lap after the restart to change to dry tires, sending him from first to 14th. But he remarkably fought back to finish third with a sensational drive that left him so weary that he could hardly stand on the podium.
He was then promoted to second after Vettel’s disqualification, while Carlos Sainz was pushed up to third, pending Aston Martin’s appeal.
It was Ocon’s first win in F1, having not won any race since the third-tier GP3 in Spain in 2015. In unbelievable scenes, Ocon accidentally parked at the wrong end of pit lane and was forced to run back up the pit lane to celebrate with his team. The Alpine team (formerly Renault) had not even led a race at any point since Romain Grosjean at the USA Grand Prix in 2013.
Ocon said: “What a moment, what a moment. It feels so good… we’ve had some difficult moments this season but we overcame (them) with the team. And the victory, what can I say!”
He added: “We are back where we belong, and it’s fantastic.”
Max Verstappen finished 10th in a Red Bull that was heavily damaged in the opening-lap crash, leaving him six points behind Hamilton in the drivers championship heading into the mid-season break.
Australia’s Daniel Ricciardo – another caught up in the mayhem – finished 12th, missing the points in another disappointing result.
He was mere metres away from going clear into second at Turn One. With Hamilton’s tyre error, Ricciardo realistically could have been leading the race instead of Ocon.
Nonetheless, Lance Stroll rammed into Charles Leclerc who was pushed into Ricciardo to turn the Australian’s car around.
The race started in utter chaos after two first-corner crashes on the first lap dumped five cars out of the race.
In rainy conditions at the Hungaroring, Valtteri Bottas got a woefully slow start from P2 in his Mercedes. He was overtaken, and failed to time his braking – and rear-ended the McLaren of Lando Norris, forcing him into Max Verstappen’s Red Bull.
Meanwhile, the Aston Martin of Lance Stroll rear-ended Charles Leclerc’s Ferrari, who smashed into Daniel Ricciardo and sent him spinning.
The carnage saw the race red-flagged – and caused a furious Verstappen to ask on team radio: “What the f**k happened there!?”
Perez, Stroll, Leclerc, Bottas and Norris were all forced to retire, while Verstappen limped back to the pits in 13th – one place behind Daniel Ricciardo, whose car was also damaged.
It was the first time Bottas had retired on the first lap of an F1 race, while he and Stroll were also both handed five-place grid penalties for the next race.
It led to a host of back-markers surging up the order and creating a chaotic leaderboard. Carlos Sainz went from 15th to fourth, Yuki Tsunoda 16th to fifth, Nicholas Latifi from 18th to sixth, George Russell up nine places to eighth, and Mick Schumacher 20th to 10th.
Williams driver Latifi, for one, had never been positioned so high in a F1 race – and things would soon get better after the restart as he moved up to third.
The rain stopped during the time the race was stopped, with almost every driver choosing to immediately change to slick or dry tyres. But in the pit-lane scramble, Nikita Mazepin was shunted by Kimi Raikkonen, causing damage to Mazepin’s Haas which soon forced him to retire. Raikkonen was handed a 10-second time penalty.
Only race leader Lewis Hamilton started on intermediate tyres suited to driving in damp conditions – but it was evidently the wrong decision, as Hamilton immediately pitted after one lap and sending him straight to the back of the pack in 14th.
That led Esteban Ocon stunningly leading the race, with Vettel second ahead of Latifi.
Like Hamilton, Verstappen was also seeking to fight his way from the back. He overtook Mick Schumacher into 10th on lap 14, in a move that threatened more drama when the cars touched.
But Hamilton was struggling to make the pace of his Mercedes count, stuck in the dirty air and traffic and unable to make overtakes.
That led to a radical strategic call that changed the course of the race and set him on the path to the podium.
20 laps in, Hamilton pitted again for hard tyres. One lap later, Max Verstappen and Daniel Ricciardo, a couple of places ahead of Hamilton, responded by pitting themselves for fresh hard tyres.
But Hamilton had delivered a storming out-lap on his fresh tyres, and he overtook both Verstappen then Ricciardo as they exited the pits.
Hamilton was suddenly 10th, but ahead of two of his biggest obstacles. George Russell pitted his Williams on the next lap, but also emerged behind Hamilton, and ahead of Ricciardo.
For Verstappen, it was nothing short of a nightmare. He went from ahead of his title rival to behind him, and carrying massive damage and scrapping to even get in the points.
“It was almost impossible to drive to be honest,” he said after the race. It took Verstappen until the 61st of 70 laps to finally overtake Ricciardo and clinch 10th place, having pitted again on the 41st lap in an attempt to use fresh tyres to get past the Aussie.
Meanwhile Hamilton was charging up the leaderboard as those in front of him pitted, and he moved beyond Yuki Tsunoda on lap 32 to move into fifth.
He would eventually catch up to Fernando Alonso in fourth, after the pair pitted – Hamilton pitting on the 48th lap. But in a mark of the success of the earlier pit stop strategy, and the determined mindset, he asked his team what the target was – and Mercedes boss Toto Wolff told him via team radio: “Lewis, you can win this!”
Hamilton battled Alonso over five immensely exciting laps, repeatedly attempting to get beyond the 40-year-old former champion only to be denied by incredible defence. For Alonso, he was protecting not only his own position but that of his Alpine teammate Ocon. Finally, with five laps remaining, Hamilton pulled off the overtake when Alonso locked his tyres going into the first corner.
And while Hamilton soon swooped past Carlos Sainz into third place, Alonso had done enough to stop the Mercedes star from catching up to the front two drivers – effectively sealing a famous drought-breaking victory for Alpine. Sainz finished fourth, ahead of Alonso in fifth.
Meanwhile, George Russell overtook the Alfa Romeo of Mick Schumacher on lap 34 for ninth place. Daniel Ricciardo and Max Verstappen followed in quick succession, putting Ricciardo into the points in 10th spot – a spot he would gamely defend until Verstappen finally got past him with nine laps to spare. He was also overtaken by Kimi Raikkonen in the dying stages of the race, dropping him to his eventual finishing position of 12th.
Ahead of that duo’s battle, Pierre Gasly was also charging forwards in his AlphaTauri. On lap 41, he overtook Latifi with a superb late braking move to rise into seventh. Then he was handed sixth place by AlphaTauri teammate Yuki Tsunoda in a co-ordinated swap on the first corner, but couldn’t rise further in the standings – though he did manage to claim an extra point for the fastest lap of the race after pitting late for fresh tyres.
Behind Gasly and Tsunoda in sixth and seventh, Williams duo Nicholas Latifi and George Russell both finished in the points – having started 18th and 17th respectively. It is a huge result for the team, and their first double points finish since 2018.
— With AFP