#Formula1 #HungarianGrandPrix 2021 Race Preview. #F1 #HungarianGP

2021 Hungarian GP Preview – After Lewis Hamilton claimed a home Grand Prix victory at Silverstone despite a ten second penalty for his controversial-collision with championship-rival Max Verstappen on the opening lap and snatching the win from Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc with two laps to spare, round eleven of the 2021 FIA Formula One World Championship returns to the Hungaroring in Mogyoród, Hungary for the Formula 1 Aramco Magyar Nagydij 2021. This will be the 36^th edition of the Hungarian Grand Prix as part of the world championship.

 

 

2021 Hungarian GP Preview – A Look At The Hungaroring

 

 

The Hungaroring is a permanent racing circuit in Mogyoród, Hungary where the Hungarian Grand Prix has been held since 1986. In 1986, it became the first Formula 1 Grand Prix held behind the Iron Curtain. Bernie Ecclestone wanted a race in the USSR (now held in Sochi), but a Hungarian friend recommended Budapest. They wanted a street circuit similar to the Circuit de Monaco to be built in Nepliget, Budapest’s largest park but the government decided to build a new circuit outside the city near the major highway.

 

Construction works started on October 1, 1985. It was built in eight months, less time than any other Formula One circuit. The first race was held on March 24, 1986, in memory of Janos Drapal, the first Hungarian who won motorcycle Grand Prix races. According to a survey put together by the national tourism office of Hungary, Mogyoród ranks third among Hungarian destinations visited by tourists, behind the Danube Bend area and Lake Balaton, but ahead of Budapest.

 

The Grand Prix is held in the middle of summer, which is usually very hot and dry in this region. It’s very first wet Grand Prix race was in 2006. The circuit is normally dusty due to underuse throughout the rest of the year and its sandy soil. As the circuit is in a valley about 80 percent of it can be seen from any point.

 

Normally, an underused circuit becomes faster over the weekend as the track surface gathers more rubber; however, with the Hungaroring this generally does not happen, because the track can get dusty so quickly. The track becomes faster during a qualifying session, which leads competitors to try for their best lap as late as possible. Described as “Monaco without walls” by Ricciardo, the Hungaroring is also a circuit less reliant on engine power meaning the field could be closely bunched than in recent races. Teams run their maximum downforce packages in Hungary to cope with the many slow corners. The issue that will occupy the minds of engineers during the practice sessions is the need to maximise traction to get the best return from the many low-gear acceleration points.

 

The twisty and bumpy nature of the circuit makes overtaking very difficult in dry conditions. Nonetheless, the Hungaroring has been the scene of some several memorable races such as the duels of Nelson Piquet and Ayrton Senna, Nigel Mansell’s lost wheel in 1987, Mansell’s win from 12th on the grid after a dramatic overtake on Ayrton Senna in 1989, Damon Hill’s almost victory with Arrows in 1997,  Michael Schumacher’s change in strategy to beat the McLarens of Mika Häkkinen and David Coulthard in 1998 and maiden victories for Hill in 1993, Fernando Alonso in 2003, Jenson Button in 2006 in the track’s first wet Grand Prix, Heikki Kovalainen in 2008, and the second win for Daniel Ricciardo in 2014, overtaking the Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton and Alonso’s Ferrari using very degraded soft tyres in the penultimate lap, grabbing an incredible victory.

 

The current Grand Prix circuit layout is 4.381km (2.722mi) in length and runs in a clockwise direction with 16 corners.

 

Race distance is 306.663km (190.560mi) with 70 laps in total.

 

Lewis Hamilton holds the fastest lap record set at last year’s event with a 1:16.627 in his Mercedes AMG Petronas Motorsport F1 W11 EQ Performance racer.

 

Lewis Hamilton holds the record for most wins at the Hungarian Grand Prix with eight to his name.

 

McLaren are the most successful constructor at the Hungarian Grand Prix with 11 victories.

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2021 Hungarian GP Preview – Onboard lap of the Hungaroring

 

 

Here is the onboard pole position lap of the Hungaroring from last year’s event, set Lewis Hamilton in his Mercedes AMG Petronas Motorsport F1 W11 EQ Performance racer. The Briton posted a blistering 1:13.447. You can watch the footage right here at the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rh6vBU-YNK0.

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2021 Hungarian GP Preview – The Last Five Winners

 

 

2020: Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes AMG F1. 2019: Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes AMG F1. 2018: Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes AMG F1. 2017: Sebastian Vettel, Scuderia Ferrari. 2016: Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes AMG Petronas F1.

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2021 Hungarian GP Preview – Tyres

 

 

Sole-tyre supplier Pirelli will be bringing with them to the Hungaroring, the white-side walled C2 (Hard) tyres, the yellow-branded C3 (Mediums) and red-marked C4 (Soft) rubber alongside the green-marked (Intermediates) and blue-branded (Full Wets) in case of rain.

 

All drivers will have two sets of hards (C2), three sets of mediums (C3) and eight sets of soft (C4) rubber available to them.

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2021 Hungarian GP Preview – DRS Zones

 

There will be two DRS zones sharing a detection point 5 metres before turn 14. Activation points are 130 metres after the apex of turn 14 and 6 metres after the apex of turn one.

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2021 Hungarian GP Preview – Pitlane Speed Limits

 

Pitlane speeds will be 80km/h during practice, qualifying and the race.

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ICYMI: British GP rewind – Hamilton snatches victory from Leclerc despite penalty

 

 

Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton snatched a home British GP victory off Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc with two laps to spare despite being hit with a 10 second penalty for his opening lap collision with title-rival Max Verstappen sending the Red Bull driver out of the race.

 

Hamilton was penalised for the controversial clash at Copse corner, just after, which saw Leclerc take the lead before the race was red flagged.

 

Leclerc lead the majority of the restarted Grand Prix, including whilst managing a nagging engine issue, but was unable to withstand Hamilton’s late push to the front following his long pit-stop, where the Briton served his penalty.

 

When the 52 lap British GP began, unlike in yesterday’s F1 Sprint Qualifying, Hamilton made the better run off the line and was alongside pole-sitter Verstappen as they raced down to Abbey, with the Dutchman hanging on around the outside – almost going into the run-off area – to lead at Village.

 

The fight continued, as the duo ran side-by-side that they appeared to touch, down the Wellington Straight, at the end of which Hamilton go ahead on the outside line, with Verstappen running on the inside kerbs and remained in-front, even though it took the Red Bull driver wide on the exit.

 

Verstappen’s tighter entry through Luffield meant Hamilton was able to get into the slipstream on the old pit-straight, diving to the inside and very close to the barriers after Verstappen had moved to cover the inside line for Copse corner.

 

There, with Hamilton alongside, the title-rivals collided as they ran through the fast right-hander, with Hamilton’s front-left tyre clipping Verstappen’s right-rear and knocking it off the RB16B, which was spun around at high-speed and crashed into the barriers in the outside.

 

Verstappen hit the tyre wall side on, where he dizzily climbed from the damaged Red Bull after the Grand Prix was suspended, from an initial deployment of the safety car. The Dutchman was taken to hospital for further precautionary checks an FIA spokesperson stated.

 

Leclerc lead at that moment as he went by Hamilton, who had lost speed after his tangle with Verstappen exiting Copse.

 

The race was stopped for almost half an hour, which saw at the time Red Bull and Mercedes giving their viewpoints to the race director Michael Masi, as the race stewards investigated the incident.

 

At the standing start on lap three, Leclerc remained ahead of Hamilton off the line, whilst McLaren’s Lando Norris passed Bottas same style to Leclerc at the first start to run third and in-front of the Mercedes.

 

Leclerc pulled to a 1.4 second gap at the end of the opening tour and kept Hamilton – who was told to charge after being hit with a ten-second time penalty for his collision with Verstappen – at arm’s length for the next stint of the Grand Prix – where they traded a series of fastest laps in the 1:32’s barrier.

 

Ferrari told Leclerc it was going to “Plan B” – a one stop strategy with a longer opening stint – as Hamilton struggled to get by due to being stuck in dirty air.

 

But the reigning world champion to get close and run in DRS range approaching the 20^th tour after Leclerc encountered a string of engine cuts, with the Scuderia telling him to change the power-unit settings.

 

The problem appeared to be solved (although Leclerc reported the issue on another occasion before he was told to avoid upshifting if the cut happened again) and the Monegasque-youngster was able to increase his lead once more as Hamilton reported blistering on both his front tyres, after charging hard to capitalise on Leclerc’s power issues.

 

Leclerc’s pace was solid that Ferrari left him out longer until the 29^th lap, two tours after Hamilton stopped to swap his mediums for hards – and one lap later after Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz had lost 10 seconds from a slow pit-stop with his left-front tyre.

 

But Leclerc had no problem and began his run on the harder rubber with a 7.7 second gap over Bottas, which he rapidly started extending.

 

Hamilton ran behind Norris after his penalty-served long stop, the McLaren fell behind Bottas due to his own pit-stop delay because of a slow right-rear change that lost the Briton a valuable four seconds.

 

The Mercedes driver rapidly charged in on Norris and passed the McLaren on the run to the inside of Copse corner on the 31^st tour, at the end of which Leclerc was almost ten seconds in-front of Bottas and 13.5 ahead of Hamilton.

 

The next ten tours, while Leclerc was managing his pace in the mid 1:31’s in P1, Hamilton caught up to his Mercedes team-mate with a string of quick laps in the mid-high 1:29’s bracket, with the Brackley based-outfit ordering Bottas not to hold the reigning world champion up and let him passed at Stowe on the 40^th lap.

 

This left Leclerc 7.6 seconds to defend the charging Hamilton with 12 laps remaining, as Ferrari told the former to “full push to the end”, as Hamilton continued to cut the gap down.

 

The Briton kept taking a second out of the leading Ferrari driver, reaching DRS range with three tours remaining, where Leclerc encountered lapped traffic.

 

With two laps remaining, Hamilton once again looked on the inside of Copse, with Leclerc trying to hold onto the outside.

 

But the Monegasque-youngster had to catch a snap of over-steer and the Ferrari went wide over the exit kerbs and went off, rejoining the track just behind Hamilton, who pulled clear to clinch the British GP victory and the 99^th of his career by 3.871 seconds.

 

Bottas wound up 11.125 seconds off his race-winning team-mate in third place, with Norris ahead of McLaren team-mate Daniel Ricciardo, who held Sainz at bay to come home fifth.

 

Alpine F1 Team’s Fernando Alonso was another driver who endured a slow pit-stop, before which the Spaniard momentarily fought with Bottas when the Silver Arrow emerged out of the pits from it’s sole stop, and the two-time world champion finished seventh after passing Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll following the slow delay.

 

Stroll was eighth and in-front of the second Alpine of Esteban Ocon, with AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda taking the final points position on offer.

 

The other AlphaTauri of Pierre Gasly was forced to pit late-on due to a puncture and ended up 11^th, ahead of Williams Racing’s George Russell who came 12^th.

 

Alfa Romeo Racing pairing Antonio Giovinazzi and Kimi Raikkonen finished 13^th and 15^th respectively with Williams Racing’s Nicholas Latifi sandwiched in-between the duo.

 

Red Bull’s Sergio Perez was 16^th and ahead of Haas F1 Team’s Nikita Mazepin and Mick Schumacher who brought up the rear.

 

Raikkonen and Perez clashed in the later stages of the Grand Prix – with both drivers escaping penalties after a post-race investigation by the stewards.

 

Aston Martin’s Sebastian Vettel was the other retiree after the team called him in due to an issue.

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2021 Hungarian GP Preview – The Situation

 

 

Max Verstappen returns to Hungary sitting on top of the World Driver’s Championship with 185 points and an eight-point lead over Lewis Hamilton who is second on 177 points, whilst Lando Norris is a further 52 adrift of the Dutchman on 113 points.

 

Red Bull Racing head to the Hungaroring in P1 of the World Constructors Championship with 289 points and a four-point advantage over nearest rivals Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One Team who are second on 285 points, whilst McLaren Racing are a further 126 off the Milton Keynes based-outfit on 163 points.

 

You can see the full 2021 FIA Formula One World Championship Driver’s (Top 10) and Constructors Championship standings at the following link: 2021 F1 World Championship Standings

 

The Formula 1 Magyar Nagydij 2021 weekend begins Friday July 30 with Free Practice 1 and 2, followed by Free Practice 3 and Qualifying Saturday July 31 and the 70 lap Race Sunday August 1.