The Hungarian Grand Prix 2013 was the 10th round of the 2013 F1 season, and took place at the Hungaroring in Budapest, Hungary, on July 28th.
Lewis Hamilton won the race from the pole, followed by Kimi Räikkönen, and Sebastian Vettel completing the podium.
Final results
Race evolution
Pit Stops
There were a total of 56 pit stops during the race.
The most popular pit stop windows were:
- Laps 8-13: 15 stops
- Laps 23-31: 12 stops
- Laps 33-35: 6 stops
- Laps 37-38: 5 stops
- Laps 46-48: 6 stops
- Laps 50-51: 4 stops
The fastest pit stop was Romain Grosjean's, stopping the clock at 16.453 seconds during his pit stop on lap 37, while the slowest one was was Pastor Maldonado's, who stopped the clock at 24.796 seconds, 8.343 seconds slower than Grosjean, during his pit stop on lap 51.
These times include the time the driver spent going through the pit lane, as well as the actual time he stopped for the mechanics to work on his car.
Strategy
We saw a variety of options in terms of pit stop strategies during this race, however most drivers chose a 3 stops. Only 1 driver tried a 1 stop, 6 drivers tried a 2 stops, and 1 driver tried a 4 stops.
The race winner, Lewis Hamilton, was on a 3 stops strategy.
1 stop
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4Esteban Gutiérrez
2 stops
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5Daniel Ricciardo
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4Valtteri Bottas
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4Kimi Räikkönen
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4Charles Pic
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-Sergio Pérez
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6Jenson Button
3 stops
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2Jean-Éric Vergne
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6Giedo van der Garde
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-Lewis Hamilton
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5Pastor Maldonado
-
-Paul di Resta
-
15Nico Rosberg
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1Sebastian Vettel
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1Felipe Massa
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1Nico Hülkenberg
-
-Fernando Alonso
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5Jules Bianchi
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5Max Chilton
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6Mark Webber
4 stops
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3Romain Grosjean
Excluding those drivers who could not finish the race, those on a 2 stops strategy gained 1.8 positions on average, the ones on a 3 stops strategy gained 2.55 positions on average, while those on a 4 stops strategy lost an average of 3 positions.
This difference in possitions gained, together with a deeper nalaysis of each strategy, reinforces the conclusion that a 3 stops strategy was the best option.
It is important to note that this might not always be the case for other races held at the Hungaroring, as the conditions might change from year to year, in terms of wheel degradation, accidents, safety cars, etc.
Incidents
There were some incidents during the race, with 5 drivers who didn't manage to cross the finish line.
These included, Paul di Resta, Valtteri Bottas, and Adrian Sutil, all of whom experienced an hydraulic malfunction, Nico Rosberg, who suffered an engine malfunction on lap 64, and Esteban Gutiérrez, who had a transmission problem on lap 28.
Hydraulics
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Paul di RestaLap 66
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Valtteri BottasLap 42
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Adrian SutilLap 19
Engine
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Nico RosbergLap 64
Transmission
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Esteban GutiérrezLap 28
Qualifying
Lewis Hamilton managed to get the pole position by 0.038 seconds and a final lipe time of 1:19.388. Right next to him, completing the first line of the grid, was Sebastian Vettel.
Track evolution
As the qualifying session went on, with the track rubbering in, and the drivers testing the limits of the grip of their cars, the times per lap dropped, and 14 out of the 16 drivers that took place in Q2 were able to improve their times.
The Q3 is the time were all the remaining drivers put all their cards on the table, even those with a superior car who might have been managing their times in Q1 and Q2 push their cars to the limit in Q3. It therefore comes as no surprise that 7 out of the 9 drivers that took place in Q3 were able to improve their times.