Dramatic Hungarian GP sees Esteban Ocon claim shock first F1 win

Dramatic Hungarian GP in Budapest’s Hungaroring sees Alpine driver Esteban Ocon claim his first-ever Formula One win

One of the most incredible Formula One races of all time took place this afternoon, Sunday, August 1, at Budapest’s Hungaroring, as the dramatic Hungarian GP wrapped up the first part of this season’s calendar before the team’s take a break.

An incredible collision between different drivers saw the race red-flagged after barely one minute, after Mercedes driver Valtteri Bottas triggered total chaos when his car shunted into the back of Lando Norris’ McLaren, who then hit Max Verstappen‘s Red Bull, an incident which escalated and took out other cars, including Sergio Pezez in the Red Bull, and Charles LeClerc’s Ferrari, with Hamilton out in front on his own.

A remarkable move by Esteban Ocon in the Alpine saw him take second behind Hamilton, just as the race was halted, during which time the Red Bull team managed to patch up Verstappen’s car to get it back in the starting line-up, but the best the Dutchman could manage was tenth spot at the end.

An unbelievable restart saw Hamilton’s Mercedes alone on the grid, as all the other cars had pulled into the pits for a change of tyres, so they had to join the race behind him from the pit lane, with the Brit going from first, to last, and eventually third, picking up valuable points in the driver’s championship to leapfrog ahead of Verstappen.

Esteban Ocas took the lead early on after Hamilton pitted on Lap 2 and after a dramatic cat-and-mouse fight with Mercedes driver Valtteri Bottas for most of the race, the 24-year-old Frenchman clung on to his lead in impressive style, to win his first-ever Grand Prix.

German driver Bottas drove his Aston Martin to second, after starting in tenth, with Carlos Sainz in fourth, and Fernando Alonso a credible fifth in the other Alpine, on his 40th birthday, as Brit George Russell secured his first points of the season, along with his teammate Nicholas Latifi, both earning top-ten finished, to give the Williams team their first points since the 2019 season.

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