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Hungarian Grand Prix – Talking Points

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Formula One

Take a Look at the Talking Points of the Hungarian Grand Prix

 

Hungarian Grand Prix – Talking Points

A Haas mastermind…sort of

The American-based company, Haas, have struggled in the opening two races in the 2020 F1 season. Both cars failed to complete the Austrian GP and showed slow pace in Styrian GP, leaving them with no points.

Ahead of Sunday’s Hungarian GP, rain fell onto the track, making it damp in certain areas. This prompted all drivers to start on the intermediate or wets. However, Kevin Magnussen and Romain Grosjean decided to change to slick tyres at the end of the formation lap. 

This strategy lifted both Haas drivers into 4th and 5th as everyone else then pitted on lap three and four to also go onto the slicks. Whoever made the call eventually got Haas their first vital points of 2020. Champagne all around for the Haas team.

Magnussen managed to stay in 4th in the opening 20 laps, with Grosjean holding off Vettel and Albon. Both started to drop positions later on in the race and ended up with Magnussen in 9th and Grosjean in 15th. 

However, celebrations were short-lived as stewards called Haas in for the investigation of breaching article 27.1 of the sporting regulations, over a rule of a breach on driver aids. 

On the formation lap, the Dane said: “We’ve done the wrong thing, there’s already a dry line.”

The engineer replied, “Ok Kevin box now, box now”.

After the meeting with Haas, the stewards deemed the team had breached the regulations surrounding driver aids, awarding 10 sec time penalties for both drivers.

This dropped Magnussen into 10th and Grosjean into 16th. Although the weekend ended in disappointment, Haas showed some significant pace against the middle teams, and even Red Bull. Plus, Magnussen still got Haas’ first and only point of the season, so the Hungarian GP was an incredible achievement for Haas.

Renault vs Racing Point

The saga between both teams has erupted again. 

Last week, Renault protested against the legality of Racing Point’s car after the Styrian Grand Prix. And the French company have done the exact same again after Hungary.

Renaults protest is ‘identical’ to the one at the Styrian Grand Prix, lodging the appeal against the Racing Point’s brake duct design. The British company, apparently, designed their car on the 2019 Mercedes car, but Renault believes there were given documents on the brake duct design. 

Racing Point’s Lance Stroll was impressive across the weekend, securing 3rd in qualifying with Racing Point locking out the second row. The 21-year-old went onto finish season-best 4th, unchallenged from the Ferrari’s or Alex Albon. 

His teammate, Sergio Perez, also gained some valuable points, finishing in 7th ahead of Daniel Riccardo in the Renault. Renault could only manage one driver in the point positions after Esteban Ocon finished in 14th. 

We are expected to hear the outcome of the protest during the break between the Hungarian Grand Prix and the British Grand Prix in two weeks’ time.

Charles Leclerc Frustrations

Since finishing in 2nd on the opening weekend, Leclerc’s season has gone fairly downhill. 

Causing the crash between himself and Vettel, which resulted in both Ferraris’ to retire at the Styrian Grand Prix. However, Hungary was not much better for the young driver. 

Ferrari finally put a decent qualifying display in, with both drivers in Q3 and locking out the third row. 

Once drivers began to pit to change onto slicks’, many went for Mediums expect for Leclerc, who was given the softs. This decision would result in a poor race for the Ferrari man. 

Around lap 20, Leclerc was frustrated at the lack of grip on his left-front tyre, but Ferrari hesitated on whether to pit due to potential rainfall. The rain never fell, and Leclerc lost valuable time but was eventually changed to hard tyres, around 10 laps before anyone else. 

Leclerc tried to go 50 laps on his hard, but everyone around him was gaining on him after being on fresher tyres. His future teammate, Carlos Sainz, managed to overtake the Ferrari, who fell to 11th. And was again frustrated at the lack of grip on his tyres. 

The decision to put Leclerc on soft tyres resulted in the Frenchman on missing out on the points. 

Max Verstappen our only chance

In the pre-season testing, many hoped, and thought, that 2020 was finally going to be a competitive season. Unfortunately, everyone will be disappointed with how the first three races have played out. 

Lewis Hamilton was in-complete control and unchallenged throughout the race, as he overtook Bottas in the driver standings.

Verstappen deserves plenty of plaudits for separating the two Mercedes, despite his car being considerably slower than Bottas’. The Finn closed a 12sec gap to 0.5 on the final lap, but the Red Bull driver managed to prevent Bottas from securing a Mercedes one-two. 

The Dutchman deserves to be fighting against Hamilton at the front of the pack, but Red Bull is showing no signs of closing the gap between themselves and Mercedes. 

Hamilton, and Mercedes, have already and will cruise to driver and constructor champions unless Red Bull can find the necessary speed in the next two weeks. 

 

We hope you enjoyed this article ‘Hungarian Grand Prix – Talking Points’. What was your favourite moment from the race? Let us know!

 

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