2024 Hungarian Grand Prix

2024 Hungarian Grand Prix
2024 Hungarian Grand Prix
Race 13 of 24 in the 2024 Formula One World Championship
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	Layout of the Hungaroring
Race details
Date	21 July 2024
Official name	Formula 1 Hungarian Grand Prix 2024
Location	Hungaroring; Mogyoród, Hungary
Course	Permanent racing facility
Course length	4.381 km (2.722 miles)
Distance	70 laps, 306.630 km (190.531 miles)
Weather	Partly cloudy
Attendance	310,000
Pole position
Driver	Lando Norris;
Time	1:15.227
Fastest lap
Driver	George Russell
Time	1:20.305 on lap 55
Podium
First	Oscar Piastri;
Second	Lando Norris;
Third	Lewis Hamilton;
	Lap leaders ;

The 2024 Hungarian Grand Prix (officially known as the Formula 1 Hungarian Grand Prix 2024) was a Formula One motor race that took place on 21 July 2024 at the Hungaroring in Mogyoród, Hungary. It was the thirteenth round of the 2024 Formula One World Championship.

The McLarens of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri locked out the front row, their first since the 2012 Brazilian Grand Prix. Piastri won the race for McLaren, marking his maiden victory in Formula One. Teammate Norris finished second, marking McLaren’s first 1–2 finish since the 2021 Italian Grand Prix. Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton finished third, becoming the first driver to record 200 career podiums.

Background

The event was held at the Hungaroring in Mogyoród for the 39th time in the circuit's history, across the weekend of 19–21 July.^[2] The Grand Prix was the thirteenth round of the 2024 Formula One World Championship and the 39th running of the Hungarian Grand Prix as part of the Formula One World Championship.^[3]

Championship standings before the race

Going into the weekend, Max Verstappen led the Drivers' Championship with 255 points, 84 points ahead of Lando Norris in second, and 105 ahead of Charles Leclerc in third. Red Bull Racing, with 373 points, led the Constructors' Championship from Ferrari and McLaren, who were second and third with 302 and 295 points, respectively.^[4]

Entrants

The drivers and teams were the same as the season entry list with no additional stand-in drivers for the race.^[5] Oliver Bearman drove in the first free practice session for Haas, in place of Nico Hülkenberg.^[6]

Tyre choices

Tyre supplier Pirelli brought the C3, C4, and C5 tyre compounds (the three softest in their range) designated hard, medium, and soft, respectively, for teams to use at this event.^[7]

Practice

Three free practice sessions were held for the event. The first free practice session was held on 19 July 2024 at 13:30 local time (UTC+2), and was topped by Carlos Sainz Jr. of Ferrari ahead of Max Verstappen of Red Bull and Sainz's teammate Charles Leclerc.^[8] The second free practice session was held on the same day, at 17:00 local time, and was topped by Lando Norris of McLaren ahead of Verstappen and Sainz.^[9] The third free practice session was held on 20 July 2024, at 12:30 local time, and was topped by Norris ahead of his teammate Oscar Piastri and Verstappen.^[10]

Qualifying

Qualifying was held on 20 July 2024, at 16:00 local time (UTC+2).^[10]

Qualifying report

The first segment of qualifying was held after a spell of rain hit the circuit. The track was sufficiently dry for slick tyres to be used. Logan Sargeant crashed his Williams into the barriers at turn 1. This accident brought out yellow flags and Sargeant's car was brought in for repairs. Sergio Pérez, who had been under pressure from his Red Bull Racing team after poor results, spun into the barriers and destroyed his car, suspending the session while the barriers were repaired. During this red flag period, the rain briefly returned and the track was left wet. Daniel Ricciardo ended the segment fastest. George Russell, in the Mercedes, was caught out and was eliminated from qualifying, alongside Pérez, Zhou Guanyu and the two Alpine cars of Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly.^[11]

The second segment was topped by Lando Norris in the McLaren. Lewis Hamilton struggled to improve much during this session, managing a time only good enough for tenth. Nico Hülkenberg, Valtteri Bottas, Alexander Albon, Sargeant and Kevin Magnussen were eliminated from this segment.^[11]

Norris set the fastest time of the session, granting him provisional pole position. Yuki Tsunoda in the RB was involved in a heavy crash that left his chassis destroyed. Red flags were flown for the second and final time this session, and only Ricciardo (9th) was able to improve after the session was restarted. Oscar Piastri qualified second, which meant that McLaren secured a front-row lockout, their first since the 2012 Brazilian Grand Prix. Max Versappen was third.^[11]

Qualifying classification

Pos.	No.	Driver	Constructor	Qualifying times			Final grid
Pos.	No.	Driver	Constructor	Q1	Q2	Q3	Final grid
1	4	Lando Norris	McLaren-Mercedes	1:17.755	1:15.540	1:15.227	1
2	81	Oscar Piastri	McLaren-Mercedes	1:17.504	1:15.785	1:15.249	2
3	1	Max Verstappen	Red Bull Racing-Honda RBPT	1:17.087	1:15.770	1:15.273	3
4	55	Carlos Sainz Jr.	Ferrari	1:17.244	1:15.885	1:15.696	4
5	44	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	1:17.087	1:16.307	1:15.854	5
6	16	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	1:17.437	1:15.891	1:15.905	6
7	14	Fernando Alonso	Aston Martin Aramco-Mercedes	1:17.624	1:16.117	1:16.043	7
8	18	Lance Stroll	Aston Martin Aramco-Mercedes	1:17.405	1:16.075	1:16.244	8
9	3	Daniel Ricciardo	RB-Honda RBPT	1:17.050	1:16.202	1:16.447	9
10	22	Yuki Tsunoda	RB-Honda RBPT	1:17.436	1:16.121	1:16.477	10
11	27	Nico Hülkenberg	Haas-Ferrari	1:17.362	1:16.317	N/A	11
12	77	Valtteri Bottas	Kick Sauber-Ferrari	1:17.487	1:16.384	N/A	12
13	23	Alexander Albon	Williams-Mercedes	1:17.280	1:16.429	N/A	13
14	2	Logan Sargeant	Williams-Mercedes	1:17.770	1:16.543	N/A	14
15	20	Kevin Magnussen	Haas-Ferrari	1:17.851	1:16.548	N/A	15
16	11	Sergio Pérez	Red Bull Racing-Honda RBPT	1:17.886	N/A	N/A	16
17	63	George Russell	Mercedes	1:17.968	N/A	N/A	17
18	24	Zhou Guanyu	Kick Sauber-Ferrari	1:18.037	N/A	N/A	18
19	31	Esteban Ocon	Alpine-Renault	1:18.049	N/A	N/A	19
20	10	Pierre Gasly	Alpine-Renault	1:18.166	N/A	N/A	PL¹
107% time: 1:22.443²
Source:^[12]^[13]

Notes

^1 – Pierre Gasly qualified 20th, but was required to start the race from the pit lane for replacing power unit elements without the approval of the technical delegate during parc fermé.^[13]
^2 – As qualifying was held on a wet track, the 107% rule was not in force.^[14]

Race

The race was held on 21 July 2024, at 15:00 local time (UTC+2), and was run for 70 laps.^[10]

Race report

Pierre Gasly had changes made to his power unit during parc fermé, facilitating a pit lane start. He later retired from the race on lap 33 due to a suspected hydraulics leak.^[15] Most cars started on the medium compound tyres with some others opting for hard compound or soft compound. Polesitter Lando Norris lost position to teammate Oscar Piastri at the start. Championship leader Max Verstappen, starting from third, took second from Norris off-track. He let Norris retake second on lap 4, to avoid a potential penalty for gaining a position off track. The pit window was open by lap 17, and everyone went in for their scheduled stops, briefly giving Charles Leclerc the lead ahead of his stop. Sergio Pérez, who ended qualifying early after damaging his car, was able to recover to the points, eventually finishing seventh.^[15]

Lewis Hamilton soon saw himself engaged in a battle with Verstappen, who ended up being undercut by Hamilton and Leclerc. Verstappen, who had grown increasingly frustrated throughout the race, criticised the team's strategy calls and the handling and pace of the RB20 over team radio.^[16]^[17] Verstappen soon caught up to Hamilton and was subjected to strong defenses. An attempted overtake from Verstappen caused a collision between the two, prompting an investigation from the stewards. No penalty was given for the contact with the stewards determining that no driver was primarily at fault.^[18] Norris was first up to pit for mediums in an attempt to cover off the potential risk of being overtaken by Hamilton; soon after, race-leading Piastri came in for mediums. Throughout the closing stages of the race, McLaren invoked team orders asking Norris, who had gained the lead via an undercut, to swap positions with Piastri. Norris slowed down at the start-finish straight on lap 68, giving Piastri the lead and eventual maiden race win. Hamilton rounded off the podium, becoming the first driver to record 200 career podiums.^[19]

This was McLaren's first 1–2 finish since the 2021 Italian Grand Prix.^[15] McLaren's decision to swap Norris and Piastri was controversial, as Norris was the faster driver and had gained a six-second lead over Piastri. There was doubt from McLaren management and observers that Norris would obey the team orders, with Norris being instructed to swap positions over a twenty-lap period. Norris later stated that he always intended to swap positions and that he thought it was fair to give Piastri the win.^[20] Ahead of the following Belgian Grand Prix, Norris stated he regretted that team orders had overshadowed Piastri's win and stated that he should have ceded position to his team mate sooner to avoid adding to the controversy and to allow him an opportunity to challenge Piastri for the lead if McLaren's team orders allowed it.^[21]^[22]

Race classification

Pos.	No.	Driver	Constructor	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Points
1	81	Oscar Piastri	McLaren-Mercedes	70	1:38:01.989	2	25
2	4	Lando Norris	McLaren-Mercedes	70	+2.141	1	18
3	44	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	70	+14.880	5	15
4	16	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	70	+19.686	6	12
5	1	Max Verstappen	Red Bull Racing-Honda RBPT	70	+21.349	3	10
6	55	Carlos Sainz Jr.	Ferrari	70	+23.073	4	8
7	11	Sergio Pérez	Red Bull Racing-Honda RBPT	70	+39.792	16	6
8	63	George Russell	Mercedes	70	+42.368	17	5¹
9	22	Yuki Tsunoda	RB-Honda RBPT	70	+1:17.259	10	2
10	18	Lance Stroll	Aston Martin Aramco-Mercedes	70	+1:17.976	8	1
11	14	Fernando Alonso	Aston Martin Aramco-Mercedes	70	+1:22.460	7
12	3	Daniel Ricciardo	RB-Honda RBPT	69	+1 lap	9
13	27	Nico Hülkenberg	Haas-Ferrari	69	+1 lap	11
14	23	Alexander Albon	Williams-Mercedes	69	+1 lap	13
15	20	Kevin Magnussen	Haas-Ferrari	69	+1 lap	15
16	77	Valtteri Bottas	Kick Sauber-Ferrari	69	+1 lap	12
17	2	Logan Sargeant	Williams-Mercedes	69	+1 lap	14
18	31	Esteban Ocon	Alpine-Renault	69	+1 lap	19
19	24	Zhou Guanyu	Kick Sauber-Ferrari	69	+1 lap	18
Ret	10	Pierre Gasly	Alpine-Renault	33	Hydraulics	PL
Fastest lap: George Russell (Mercedes) – 1:20.305 (lap 55)
Source:^[13]^[23]^[24]^[25]