Television writers understand the importance of building tension right before a commercial break to entice viewers to tune in and find out what might happen next.
Would Formula 1 do the same for the Hungarian Grand Prix, the last race before the summer break? Ferrari and Charles Leclerc had an ideal opportunity to make up ground lost to Red Bull and Max Verstappen, reinvigorate the championship battles and leave millions of fans hooked during the four-week suspension.
Instead, what Ferrari and their passionate fans witnessed during the Hungarian Grand Prix was less drama and more comedy, with Red Bull the ones who headed into August laughing the loudest.
But Verstappen’s rise could easily have self-sabotaged before it had even begun. Leclerc’s run prompted Ferrari’s debated decision to fit a set of hard tires at their second pit stop, despite the problems other teams experienced getting the compound to work on a relatively cool track.
After Sunday’s race, Verstappen revealed he almost opted for the same compound as he prepared to line up 10th on the grid. It would have proved a serious mistake.
Verstappen made a vital call before the race: “We were planning to start on the hard tyre,” Verstappen later revealed. “But then I went to the grid on the soft tires and I was already struggling for grip. So I said, ‘No way we’re going to start on the hard . . .’
Verstappen’s insistence and Red Bull’s willingness to listen to their driver would contrast sharply with Ferrari’s approach during the race. What unfolded was arguably another example of the team with the best car on the grid giving away points in the most baffling fashion.
With George Russell handing pole position to Mercedes on Saturday, the first of his Formula 1 career, the least his team can do is give him the best chance of keeping it. For this reason and others, they opted to start the pole winner on soft compound tires to help him exit the first corner with the lead.
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The plan worked, just. Carlos Sainz Jnr, on medium rubber, chased Russell into the first lap and overtook the Mercedes under braking for the tight right, with his nose in front. But Russell had the racing line, overtook the Ferrari and held the lead.
The first pole winner, Russell held Sainz back. Behind them, Leclerc was unopposed in third, while Lando Norris was challenged for fourth by Lewis Hamilton. The other Mercedes driver, who had started seventh after aborting his last qualifying attempt with a DRS problem, had already overtaken the Alpine pair, Esteban Ocon and Fernando Alonso looking more interested in battling each other than him.
In the pack, Kevin Magnussen clipped Daniel Ricciardo slightly at the exit of the first corner, tilting the left end plate of his front wing in the process. Not to be outdone, Alexander Albon closed into the next corner and crashed into the back of Lance Stroll’s Aston Martin, somehow with enough force to break his front wing, but not enough to deal noticeable damage to Stroll.
With enough carbon fiber littering the first sector to make a Womble jealous, the Virtual Safety Car was deployed. Albon escaped investigation for his clash with Stroll but was rewarded with a black and orange flag, forcing him into the pits and dropping him to the back, 20 seconds behind the others Magnussen later received a similar citation for heading into his wing-end plate, giving the Williams driver the luxury of having someone to look up to in his mirrors.
As he did at Paul Ricard a week ago, Russell leapfrogged his nearest rival once the VSC was lifted and the race resumed, holding a more than two and a half second lead over Sainz once he hit the track it was green Russell was immediately given tire salvage duties by Mercedes, which prevented him from running away from the Ferraris behind him, as he would no doubt have preferred.
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Seven seconds behind, Verstappen was doing anything but preserving his smooths. Having passed Ricciardo and Valtteri Bottas at the start, Verstappen was now looking at the Alpines ahead. He sent Alonso on lap five, then Ocon on lap seven. Verstappen was suddenly sixth and just 10 seconds off the race leader, already matching Red Bull’s projections for their race result after just 30km. His call to start soft seemed to be vindicated.
Norris held off Hamilton until Verstappen caught the pair. Up front Russell was doing a great job of staying ahead of the Ferraris. But if the plan was for him to create a gap with the red cars behind him, he was having less success in achieving that goal, with Sainz staying around three seconds off the leader.
In fourth place, Norris was enjoying being the only car not in the top three of the top six teams. On lap 12, Hamilton decided the McLaren had outstayed its welcome and passed him braking for the first lap. Hamilton’s pass paved the way for Verstappen to follow, easily dragging Norris into the run to the second lap with the help of DRS.
By now the softs were becoming more of a hindrance than a help, with Russell struggling with rear-wheel drive as his rubber wore down. “I’m closing,” Sainz told his Ferrari team what they could already work out from the timing screen. As soon as he got within a second of the leader on lap 16, Ferrari called Sainz into the pits to try to jump ahead of Russell, only for Mercedes to beat them. Sainz stayed out as Russell raced into the pits.
The former leader emerged among the Alpines in dispute with a set of means. Any chance Sainz, who was now leading, of extending his stint was lost as he reported that he “can’t do many more laps” in his opening set. He pitted a lap ahead of Russell, but a slow 3.7 second stop put paid to any chance of leapfrogging the Mercedes.
Leclerc had a clear track ahead. “How many laps can you do at this pace?” race engineer Xavier Marcos Padros asked. “At the moment the tires are holding,” replied Leclerc. “But it’s a good question. Around seven or eight?”
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Instead of doing those seven laps, Ferrari opted for just one more. With a second set of media and no delay in his pit box, Leclerc was sent on his way, rejoining ahead of his team-mate but still behind Russell. With the top three on the same compound and Russell’s tires five laps older than Leclerc’s, Ferrari could start to show their impressive race pace that they had shown on Friday in much warmer conditions.
Leclerc looked set for victory after passing Russell. By lap 26, Leclerc was in the DRS range. Russell held his nerve for multiple laps of sustained pressure until the start of lap 31, when Leclerc was close enough to deploy DRS along the pit straight and breeze by the leader with such superior braking that he be able to move to cover the interior. line before reaching the corner.
Having lost the lead, Russell could only watch as Leclerc did what he had failed to do and gradually pulled away from the front. Russell was more worried about Sainz chasing him behind than he was about regaining the lead, concerns that only grew when Sainz got behind him.
But Sainz was not alone. Verstappen had used a well-timed first stop to undercut Hamilton and move into fourth and was now breathing down the neck of the third-placed Ferrari, who were trying to focus on catching Russell.
On the Red Bull pit wall, chief strategy engineer Hannah Schmitz and her colleagues saw an opportunity. They made the call and brought Verstappen in at the end of lap 38 for a second set of medias. The team’s ever-reliable pit crew, which ensured both of its drivers received the four fastest pit stops of the day, sent their man back after a wait of just 2.4 seconds.
“An almighty lap could see you pass Russell,” Giampiero Lambiese urged Verstappen. “Here we go.” The world champion obliged.
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Red Bull’s move sparked retaliation. Mercedes had to cover for Verstappen, and brought Russell through another set of means to try and last him the 31 laps to the end of the race. Unfortunately, that immediate reaction wasn’t enough to prevent Verstappen knocking them out of the pit lane as the Red Bull driver has successfully completed his ‘almighty lap’ mission.
The pit stop that cost Leclerc the victory? Meanwhile, Ferrari had also recalled Leclerc after a shorter 18-lap stint in their second set of media. Their numbers told them that the hard compound would buy them time in the long run if they were willing to take an initial hit to get the tires up to temperature. But it didn’t take long for Leclerc to realize that this blow would be much tougher than his team expected.
“Damn…” sighed Leclerc as Verstappen filled his mirrors down the pit straight. “The tires are crap.”
Even leaving minimal space on the inside could not allow Leclerc to keep the Red Bull behind. With less than two-thirds of the way through the race, Verstappen had already completed his recovery from tenth on the grid to the outright race lead.
Ferrari did not panic. Leclerc would surely come into his own later in the race around the point where Verstappen should start to fade. Then they were handed a gift: As Verstappen rounded the long left-hander of Turn 13 at the end of the lap, a minor clutch problem that had been quietly healing for the first 40 laps bit him in the accelerator and Verstappen suddenly went through a loop. Full 360 degrees at the pit lane entrance.
Leclerc had to avoid drastic actions and almost lost it for sympathy, but he kept his car pointing the right way and regained virtual second…