The Hungarian Grand Prix 2019 was the 12th round of the 2019 F1 season, and took place at the Hungaroring in Budapest, Hungary, on August 4th.

Lewis Hamilton won the race after starting in the 3rd position, followed by Max Verstappen, who originally had the pole position, and Sebastian Vettel completing the podium.

Final results

1
2
HAM
Lewis Hamilton
Mercedes
1:35:03.796
Finished
2
1
VER
Max Verstappen
Red Bull
+17.796
Finished
3
2
VET
Sebastian Vettel
Ferrari
+1:01.433
Finished
4
-
LEC
Charles Leclerc
Ferrari
+1:05.250
Finished
5
3
SAI
Carlos Sainz
McLaren
+1 Lap
6
-
GAS
Pierre Gasly
Red Bull
+1 Lap
7
3
RAI
Kimi Räikkönen
Alfa Romeo
+1 Lap
8
6
BOT
Valtteri Bottas
Mercedes
+1 Lap
9
2
NOR
Lando Norris
McLaren
+1 Lap
10
2
ALB
Alexander Albon
Toro Rosso
+1 Lap
11
5
PER
Sergio Pérez
Racing Point
+1 Lap
12
1
HUL
Nico Hülkenberg
Renault
+1 Lap
13
1
MAG
Kevin Magnussen
Haas F1 Team
+1 Lap
14
6
RIC
Daniel Ricciardo
Renault
+1 Lap
15
2
KVY
Daniil Kvyat
Toro Rosso
+2 Laps
16
1
RUS
George Russell
Williams
+2 Laps
17
1
STR
Lance Stroll
Racing Point
+2 Laps
18
1
GIO
Antonio Giovinazzi
Alfa Romeo
+2 Laps
19
-
KUB
Robert Kubica
Williams
+3 Laps
20
11
GRO
Romain Grosjean
Haas F1 Team
Water pressure
Show all

Race evolution

Pit Stops

0
1
2
3
4
5
BOT
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
GIO
16
STR
RUS
17
18
KUB
PER
19
GRO
20
21
KVY
22
23
24
25
VER
26
27
LEC
28
GAS
NOR
ALB
29
RAI
SAI
30
31
HAM
32
33
34
35
36
HUL
37
38
MAG
39
VET
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
RIC
BOT
47
48
HAM
49
50
STR
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
VER
68
69
70

There were a total of 24 pit stops during the race.

The most popular pit stop windows were:

  • Laps 27-29: 6 stops

The fastest pit stop was Max Verstappen's, stopping the clock at 21.164 seconds during his pit stop on lap 67, while the slowest one was was Valtteri Bottas's, who stopped the clock at 33.328 seconds, 12.164 seconds slower than Verstappen, during his pit stop on lap 5.

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 1 stop. Only Valtteri Bottas, Lance Stroll, Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton decided to try something different with a 2 stops strategy.

The race winner, Lewis Hamilton, was on a 2 stops strategy.

1 stop

  • 1
    Antonio Giovinazzi
  • 1
    George Russell
  • -
    Robert Kubica
  • 5
    Sergio Pérez
  • 11
    Romain Grosjean
  • 2
    Daniil Kvyat
  • -
    Charles Leclerc
  • -
    Pierre Gasly
  • 2
    Lando Norris
  • 2
    Alexander Albon
  • 3
    Kimi Räikkönen
  • 3
    Carlos Sainz
  • 1
    Nico Hülkenberg
  • 1
    Kevin Magnussen
  • 2
    Sebastian Vettel
  • 6
    Daniel Ricciardo

2 stops

  • 6
    Valtteri Bottas
  • 1
    Lance Stroll
  • 1
    Max Verstappen
  • 2
    Lewis Hamilton

Excluding those drivers who could not finish the race, those on a 1 stop strategy lost an average of 1 positions, while those on a 2 stops strategy lost an average of 1 positions.

This difference in possitions gained, together with a deeper nalaysis of each strategy, reinforces the conclusion that a 1 stop strategy was the best option, even if Lewis Hamilton managed to win the race making 2 stops.

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 race went on mostly with no incidents. Only 1 divers were involved in circumstances that were severe enough to prevented them from finishing the race.

These included, .

Water pressure

  • Romain Grosjean
    Lap 49

Qualifying

#1
VER
#2
BOT
#3
HAM
#4
LEC
#5
VET
#6
GAS
#7
NOR
#8
SAI
#9
GRO
#10
RAI
#11
HUL
#12
ALB
#13
KVY
#14
GIO
#15
MAG
#16
RUS
#17
PER
#18
RIC
#19
STR
#20
KUB

Max Verstappen managed to get the pole position by 0.018 seconds and a final lipe time of 1:14.572. Right next to him, completing the first line of the grid, was Valtteri Bottas.

Q1

  • Max Verstappen
    1:15.817
  • Lewis Hamilton
    1:16.068
  • Valtteri Bottas
    1:16.078
  • Kevin Magnussen
    1:16.122
  • Charles Leclerc
    1:16.337
  • Sebastian Vettel
    1:16.452
  • Carlos Sainz
    1:16.493
  • Kimi Räikkönen
    1:16.506
  • Lando Norris
    1:16.697
  • Pierre Gasly
    1:16.716
  • Daniil Kvyat
    1:16.750
  • Nico Hülkenberg
    1:16.790
  • Antonio Giovinazzi
    1:16.894
  • Alexander Albon
    1:16.912
  • Romain Grosjean
    1:16.978
  • George Russell
    1:17.031
  • Sergio Pérez
    1:17.109
  • Daniel Ricciardo
    1:17.257
  • Lance Stroll
    1:17.542
  • Robert Kubica
    1:18.324

Q2

  • Lewis Hamilton
    1:15.548
  • Max Verstappen
    1:15.573
  • Valtteri Bottas
    1:15.669
  • Charles Leclerc
    1:15.792
  • Sebastian Vettel
    1:15.885
  • Lando Norris
    1:16.060
  • Carlos Sainz
    1:16.308
  • Romain Grosjean
    1:16.319
  • Pierre Gasly
    1:16.393
  • Kimi Räikkönen
    1:16.518
  • Nico Hülkenberg
    1:16.565
  • Alexander Albon
    1:16.687
  • Daniil Kvyat
    1:16.692
  • Antonio Giovinazzi
    1:16.804
  • Kevin Magnussen
    1:17.081

Q3

  • Max Verstappen
    1:14.572
  • Valtteri Bottas
    1:14.590
  • Lewis Hamilton
    1:14.769
  • Charles Leclerc
    1:15.043
  • Sebastian Vettel
    1:15.071
  • Pierre Gasly
    1:15.450
  • Lando Norris
    1:15.800
  • Carlos Sainz
    1:15.852
  • Romain Grosjean
    1:16.013
  • Kimi Räikkönen
    1:16.041

Track evolution

Q1
-0.248
seconds faster
Q2
-0.686
seconds faster
Q3

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 13 out of the 15 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 all of the drivers that took place in Q3 managed to improve their times in this last session.