The Hungarian Grand Prix 2020 was the 3rd round of the 2020 F1 season, and took place at the Hungaroring in Budapest, Hungary, on July 19th.
Lewis Hamilton won the race from the pole, followed by Max Verstappen, and Valtteri Bottas completing the podium.
Final results
Race evolution
Pit Stops
There were a total of 45 pit stops during the race.
The most popular pit stop windows were:
- Laps 1-4: 19 stops
- Laps 18-20: 4 stops
- Laps 33-37: 10 stops
The fastest pit stop was George Russell's, stopping the clock at 21.184 seconds during his pit stop on lap 4, while the slowest one was was Nicholas Latifi's, who stopped the clock at 36.335 seconds, 15.151 seconds slower than Russell, during his pit stop also on lap 4.
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
The race was not obvious in terms of pit stop strategy, with different teams and different drivers choosing to make anywhere from 1 to 5 stops.
The race winner, Lewis Hamilton, was on a 3 stops strategy.
1 stop
-
10Pierre Gasly
-
16Romain Grosjean
-
10Kevin Magnussen
2 stops
-
5Daniil Kvyat
-
5Charles Leclerc
-
5Kimi Räikkönen
-
1Sebastian Vettel
-
3Sergio Pérez
-
-Carlos Sainz
-
8Alexander Albon
-
3Daniel Ricciardo
-
5Max Verstappen
-
-Esteban Ocon
-
5Lando Norris
3 stops
-
1Valtteri Bottas
-
-Lewis Hamilton
-
1Lance Stroll
-
2Antonio Giovinazzi
-
6George Russell
5 stops
-
4Nicholas Latifi
Excluding those drivers who could not finish the race, those on a 1 stop strategy lost an average of 13 positions, the ones on a 2 stops strategy gained 1.09 positions on average, the ones on a 3 stops strategy lost an average of 1.2 positions, while those on a 5 stops strategy lost an average of 4 positions.
This difference in possitions gained, together with a deeper nalaysis of each strategy, reinforces the conclusion that a 2 stops strategy was the best option, even if Lewis Hamilton managed to win the race making 3 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 2 divers were involved in circumstances that were severe enough to prevented them from finishing the race.
These included, .
Engine
-
Pierre GaslyLap 15
Qualifying
Lewis Hamilton managed to get the pole position by 0.107 seconds and a final lipe time of 1:13.447. Valtteri Bottas was right behind him, helping Mercedes score a one-two and monopolize the first line of the grid.
The second line fo the grid was dominated by Racing Point, with Lance Stroll in third position, and Sergio Pérez in fourth.
But the team pairings didn't stop there, as the two Ferraris were right behind them, with Sebastian Vettel in fith position, and Charles Leclerc in sixth.
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 10 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.