HUNGARIAN GRAND PRIX

Tense. Stressful. Upsetting. All words that I would use to describe the situation of the race this weekend.

Qualifying was the best part of the weekend, when Max Verstappen, sweet and domineering wunderkind that he is, finally got pole. The surprising part wasn't that he finally got pole, but that he hadn't actually gotten it yet. He's won so many races, it's shocking he wasn't on pole before that, but I think that's a great testament to his driving ability since that means he's fought for the win every single time.

This weekend's race was no except to that fight that we all have come to expect from Max. There were moments where I actually couldn't watch, not because I Was afraid for Max's driving ability, but I was afraid of how much of an unfair advantage Mercedes has as well as the fact that Hamilton and Max were out front together, alone, within a second of each other for most of the race.

So, pros. Max got pole. I am thrilled. What a way to go into the summer break. The next big step for Max will be to convert pole to a win, which can't be far away.

And cons? Well, the Mercedes dominance is always a con.

But you can't talk cons without mentioning Ferrari. During the race, both Ferraris were a full second behind the pace, even though they were in third and fourth. This was especially puzzling considering how up for grabs pole was with both Ferraris performing well.

And then there's Pierre Gasly. But that's another story. I feel terrible for that poor man.

So now we go into the summer break with no Ferrari wins and another race of Hamilton as a winner.

But all is not lost. I'm certainly not done recovering from the wonderful, heart-wrenching stress of the German Grand Prix the weekend before this (will I ever be fully recovered?? Will anyone??), and I consider that the benchmark for the kinds of races I'm hoping for in the second half of the season.

See you all in Belgium at the end of the month!

Free Practice 1

- some more rain drama, will it rain won’t it rain

- Force India is having a nightmare session. Lance spun and so did Perez a bunch

- Bottas doesn’t have a lot of run time because something is wrong with his car, engine problems

- Max reporting some entry problems and sensitivity, did a big spin then put it back the right way and it was really cool 

Free Practice 2

- Bottas is back out and it seems he’s running again 

- Session red flagged for Albon hitting some grass and then sliding REAL hard and fast sideways into a tire barrier, hard enough that when it bounced back from the wall, it was off the ground

- Lots of delays because of rain but people got back out

Free Practice 3

- start of session delayed by 10 minutes so they can finish track work to clean up a huge oil spill from the F2 race this morning

- the footage of this is unreal, it doesn't feel like F1 at all. It's probably the second weirdest F1 one thing this year, after the Azerbaijan Oil Spill and Bridge Collision Debacle of 2019, which was glorious

- Practice 3 will be shortened because of the track work

- Less than a tenth of a second between the top three at the end of this session so quali is up in the air 

Quali 

- to buy: this Max fan’s wooden shoes painted blue with Max’s number on them 

- In Q1, Charles had a spin and hit the barrier with the back of his car and they can probably put a new rear wing and get him back out 

- Out in Q1, Russell, Perez, Daniel, Stroll and Kubica 

- Gio being investigated for impeding Lance Stroll.... 

- Perez blocked Daniel after Daniel tried to buy some clear space

- Russell did a great qualifying of 1.5 sec faster than Kubica, Russell in 15th, Kubica in 20th 

- Maxy has a real chance for pole in Q3

- MAX ON POLE FOR THE FIRST TIME YESSSSSSS then Bot then Ham 

For some reason, our DVR didn't record a Grid Walk or Pre-Race Show.... this is the second time this has happened this year with no explanation. They didn't play one in America I guess?

Race

- MAX KEEPS FIRST at the start and has the two Mercedes squabbling behind him 

- Ham ruthlessly trying to get past Bottas and we think Ham damaged Bottas car but it was actually Charles who drifted into him a little but the FIA said no investigation necessary 

- Bottas has to pit because of damage and they have a bad pit stop replacing the front wing  and he comes out plumb last 

- Gasly is someone in 9th right now after a bad start from 6th I think. Unbelievably not good 

- By lap 13, Gasly is still in 8th

- Daniel has a terrible start in last after an engine change which they did after qualifying terribly so they figured why not 

- Max and Lewis are pulling away from Charles in 3rd and by lap 14, Charles is already 10 seconds behind the leader

- They’re almost a second off the pace at Ferrari every lap even though they’re in 3 and 4 

- Lots of worries about when to pit Max so they don’t let Lewis ahead but they managed it 

- Norris and Albon have really bad pit stops where a tire doesn’t go on fast enough 

- There was a terrifying time where it looked like Ham was going to get past but then he over tried and shot off and then came back on and then after he was complaining about how he couldn’t do more and couldn’t keep the pressure on 

- Seb has a terrible pit stop too, what’s going on today 

- Mercedes pitted Hamilton and Red Bull didn’t pit Max in front and this race feels soooo long because I’m so terrified that Ham could catch Maxy and something will happen 

- Grosjean retires for no specified reason, now has the most DNFs of any driver with 6 this season 

- Eventually, Hamilton does get past Max and Hamilton wins and Max takes second. Heartbreaking. But at least Max finally got pole.