F1 Hungarian GP Live Commentary and Updates – Race
Minute-by-minute updates for the 2024 Formula 1 Hungarian Grand Prix.
F1 takes on a double-header dash before the summer break, starting in Hungary before a trip to Spa-Francorchamps, following the thrilling recent trio of races concluded by Lewis Hamilton’s emotional British GP triumph.
Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri locked out the front row of the grid in qualifying in Budapest, with Max Verstappen lurking from third on the grid.
Who will take victory? The race gets under way at 3pm BST.
Live Text
A snapshot of the start - out of picture is Verstappen off the track and about to slot into a brief second place.
Photo by: Andy Hone / Motorsport Images
So, Piastri is back in the lead and has a 3.2s advantage over Norris who in turn has 2.4s to Hamilton in third. Verstappen, in fourth, is faster than all those ahead of him with his younger hards on.
And indeed Sainz makes easy work of the RB. That's back up to P6, albeit 6.4s down on Leclerc.
Important work from Sainz, replicating the Perez move with Russell. Tsunoda isn't far away either for the Spaniard.
Verstappen has got his hards into the ideal performance window and took nearly a full second out of the gap to Hamilton on each of the last two laps. The gap is now 4.7s.
An easy pass for Sainz on Perez into Turn 1 means he is cost virtually no time.
And there goes Leclerc into the pits, taking on fresh hards to start lap 24, and comes out in fifth and behind Verstappen.
Hamilton is still posting fastest laps to close up to the two McLarens, having moved to 1.8s off Norris. Meanwhile Leclerc leads by 4.6s over Piastri but will be due to pit soon.
Russell has cut the gap to Tsunoda down to around two seconds now, down from four.
But a stop for him and Perez right now would demote them almost back to where they started. Not ideal.
At the end of lap 21 Verstappen pits from the lead, followed in by Sainz, and the Red Bull driver comes out in fifth behind Hamilton. Sainz is out in ninth behind the yet-to-pit Tsunoda, Russell and Perez.
Leclerc asks Ferrari to "think about plan C" which presumably will be a one-stop strategy. A tough ask but a bold one.
"This tyre definitely has less grip," Hamilton says, having punched in a few fastest laps to close in to 2.3s off Norris.
Verstappen inherits the lead but isn't interested in pitting just yet, so he heads the field by 3.5s on Leclerc, with Sainz up to third for the time being and almost five seconds back.
Stroll is giving the leaders great data for later in the race. Fresher tyres are giving him fantastic performance and he has made a move on Albon.
Now Stroll is coasting to the back of Alonso in the sister Aston Martin.
On the next tour, to start lap 19, Piastri pits from the lead and comes out in fourth ahead of Norris by 2.7s.
Verstappen's having a tough time of it today: "I can't brake, I can't enter corners. Front and rears, it is really bad."
Bottas also made a stop and finally released Russell and Perez to set some quicker lap times.
On the next lap McLaren responds by calling in Norris, but Verstappen stays out. The British driver takes on hards and comes out ahead of Hamilton, who passes Tsunoda to move up to sixth at Turn 1.
Hamilton is the first to pit from the frontrunners, a decent 2.3s stop to take on fresh hards, and he comes out in seventh. Can he pull off the undercut on Verstappen and co?
Stroll wasn't behind the Haas for long - he makes the move with DRS into Turn 1.
Norris has responded to Piastri's pace jump to see the gap close to 3.4s. Verstappen is still dropping back and is 4s off Norris at the end of lap 16.
A tetchy and slightly difficult-to-understand radio message for Alonso demonstrates a frustrated figure.
Team-mate Stroll pits, also onto mediums, but has a tyre delta to those now around him. He returns in P16, ahead of Ricciardo but behind Magnussen.
Piastri continues to increase his lead, which is up to 3.6s on the start of lap 14. Verstappen is also dropping back, 2.9s further behind, with both Hamilton and Leclerc in close company.
Russell was right up behind Bottas two laps ago but now the Sauber has stretched clear of DRS range.
Instead, the Mercedes driver has a mirror full of Perez's Red Bull.
Piastri adds another two-tenths to his lead over Norris and he looks comfortable out front. The pit window for those who started on the medium is expected to open on the next lap.
Alonso is the only driver who has made a switch to mediums in that flurry of stops. Intriguing, especially with team-mate Stroll extending his soft-tyre stint.
On to lap 10 and Piastri leads by 2.6s from Norris with Verstappen 2s back and then Hamilton is in fourth a further 1.1s back.
All of that has cycled Russell into 10th and Perez into 11th, as Sargeant pits next.
But Stroll, Tsunoda and Bottas remain as corks in the bottle.
The top six are all managing their pace on the mediums, with all of them lapping in the low 1m24s. It means the gaps are static and we await for someone to make the next move.
Rivals have to react. Alonso and Ricciardo are next in, though both endured long stops.
Alonso loses out to Hulkenberg as Ricciardo goes side-by-side with Magnussen - the Haas winning out at Turn 2.
Here come the strategy plays. Albon and Magnussen pit from ninth and 10th, get rid of the softs and return to the track on hard tyres.
Hulkenberg cycles past on the undercut, with Ocon also pitting. How will this affect the race order?
At the start of lap seven, Piastri leads by 2.5s from Norris who has a 1.2s gap to Verstappen. Hamilton is keeping up with the frontrunners, just 1.4s off Verstappen.
Unseen on the first look was Hamilton almost sneaked past both Norris and Verstappen at Turn 2 on the opening lap. The Dutch driver ran Hamilton to the outside of the track and that allowed Norris back into third. Had he not done that, Verstappen might have needed to give up places to both Hamilton and Norris.
A stop for Hulkenberg gives Russell and Perez a freebie - they now run P15 and 17, with their races to come back to them later on as the tyre strategies come back to them.
Verstappen is irked by the outcome and is using his anger to attack Norris. At the front, Piastri leads by 2.3s from Noris with Verstappen just 0.8s back.
"Max, the incident is under investigation, our recommendation is to let Norris past at Turn 1," Verstappen is told over team radio. Verstappen, despite his protests, duly lets Norris by into Turn 2 before going on the attack. That sees the investigation duly concluded with no further action.
So far Verstappen is holding firm of second place, setting a fastest lap, to cut the gap to Piastri to 1.3s. But the stewards are now looking into the incident at the start, as the pair argue their case over team radio.
Sainz made a bad start and dropped from fourth to seventh, but he has moved back past Alonso and into P6.
Albon and Magnussen have jumped the RB duo to rest in the top 10.
Norris is calling for Verstappen to give a place back to him, having felt the Red Bull driver overtook him running wide in that first corner incident. That has been noted by the stewards.
Down the field, Russell made his way past Perez for P16, who is then overtaken by Sargeant's Williams.
The Red Bull is 18th and struggling to make the hard tyres work.
By: Autosport Staff
