If there are sometimes soporific Grand Prix that make you sink on your sofas, this one certainly deprived you of your Sunday nap. On the track of the Hungaroring near Budapest for the 12th race of the season we expected a spectacle due to the rain which fell heavily, but perhaps not so many twists.
From the start we were served, with a chaotic start. A big accident from the first corner caused by Valtteri Bottas (Mercedes), who started in 2nd position, which was not without consequences since several drivers were forced to retire: the Finnish driver (destruction of his front left wheel), Leclerc, Stroll, Pérez and Mazepin. Following too many race incidents, the marshals launched the safety car, before finally pulling out the red flag to pick up all the debris on the track. The pilots come back to the pits… Some quite annoyed like Charles Leclerc who confided to the microphone of Canal +: “They played bowling, they just took the wrong place. It happens to exaggerate in the first round but there (…) It is dear because we knew we knew there was going to be an opportunity today. It’s frustrating “
In the standings after this red flag, Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes), author of the pole is in the lead ahead of Esteban Ocon (Alpine) and Sebastian Vettel (Aston Martin). And that’s where the second event of the afternoon comes in. After a fifteen minute break and while the sun hitherto nonexistent is pointing the tip of its nose, the cars go to settle on the starting grid … And there unusual image, Lewis Hamilton finds himself alone since all the other pilots decide to return to the pits to remove their intermediate tires. Never seen !
Halfway through the race, the two Alpines of French Esteban Ocon and Spaniard Fernando Alonso are on the podium of this crazy GP. Already in 2006, the Hungarian GP offered a magnificent spectacle on a waterlogged circuit with an unprecedented winner: Jenson Button.
