2020 Hungarian Grand Prix

On the provisional 2020 calendar, published in 2019, the Hungarian Grand Prix was pencilled in for 2 August.[2] However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the FIA reshuffled the calendar. The Hungarian Grand Prix was moved to 19 July swapping places with the British Grand Prix.[3]

Prior to the race, concerns were raised regarding Hungary's strict coronavirus restrictions, which include the threat of fines and imprisonment for personnel who do not comply.[4] Further to this Scuderia Ferrari team principal Mattia Binotto revealed he had spoken about the need to follow the FIA's own COVID-19 safety protocols to both of his drivers after both were found to have breached the rules on separate occasions during the first two race weekends in Austria with the threat of sporting sanctions (including being removed from the event entry list) by race stewards a possibility for further breaches. Binotto stated he expects the drivers to pay closer attention to these rules going forward.[5]

After the second round, the Styrian Grand Prix, Valtteri Bottas led the championship by 6 points from his teammate and defending champion Lewis Hamilton, with Lando Norris of McLaren a further 11 points behind in third place. In the Constructors' Championship, defending champions Mercedes led the championship with 80 points, McLaren was in second with 39 points, with Red Bull Racing in third with 27 points. Racing Point was 4th with 22 points, with Scuderia Ferrari in 5th with 19 points following a double retirement for the team at the Styrian Grand Prix.[6]

The drivers and teams were the same as the season entry list with no additional stand-in drivers for the race.[7] Robert Kubica took part in the first practice session for Alfa Romeo Racing in place of Kimi Räikkönen.[8]

The Hungarian Grand Prix used the C2, C3 and C4 combination of tyres, the second, third, and fourth hardest compounds available. The same compound selection as was used in the first two races of the season at the Red Bull Ring.[9]

Max Verstappen crashed on the way to the grid, damaging his front wing and suspension. His car was repaired prior to the formation lap and he started from his original grid position.

At the start of the formation lap all drivers but one were on the intermediate tyres with Magnussen on full wets. During the formation lap, both Haas cars entered the pits and swapped from intermediate and wet tyres to slicks.

The race started in damp conditions with further rain forecast during the race.

At the start of the race, Valtteri Bottas, starting second in his Mercedes, moved slightly before all five lights went out; Bottas said afterwards that he had reacted to lights on his steering wheel rather than the actual lights. As the movement was so small, the sensors that determine a jumped start did not pick it up, and thus Bottas was not penalised by the stewards; however, he had damaged his own launch and consequently lost four places on the first lap. With the track drying swiftly, drivers quickly came into the pits for slick tyres - as both Haas cars were already on the medium compound, they did not have to pit, and were in third and fourth by lap 8. By lap 9, polesitter Lewis Hamilton had already gained seven seconds on second placed Verstappen. Having already spun at turn one on lap 5, Nicholas Latifi of Williams received a five-second time penalty for an unsafe release in the pits, where he almost collided with the McLaren of Carlos Sainz Jr.

On laps 9 and 10, Bottas duelled with Charles Leclerc's Ferrari for sixth place, eventually getting past at turn one, with Leclerc complaining about his soft compound tyres. On lap 13, Sebastian Vettel in the other Ferrari lost eighth place to Alexander Albon of Red Bull, after running wide at Turn 12. Pierre Gasly in his AlphaTauri retired on lap 15, due to the engine problem that had affected him throughout the weekend. By lap 25, the top 10 ran thus: Hamilton, Verstappen, Lance Stroll, Bottas, Kevin Magnussen, Romain Grosjean, Albon, Vettel, Sergio Pérez, and Daniel Ricciardo.

On lap 30, Ferrari, betting on there being no rain, had Vettel pit for hard tyres. This became the view of all the teams in the next few laps, and all of the drivers pitted for new slick tyres. Three laps later, Leclerc was involved in another close fight, this time with Lando Norris for 13th. After Hamilton's pit stop on lap 40, his lead over Verstappen stood at over 20 seconds. This was enough time for him to pit near the end of the race onto soft tyres, so he could set the fastest lap of the race, a 1:16:627. In the final few laps, Albon overtook Vettel for fifth place, and Sainz overtook the other Ferrari of Leclerc for tenth (Sainz would later be promoted to ninth following a penalty for Magnussen). On the final lap, Bottas had a chance to overtake Verstappen for second place; he was not, however, able to get past.[17]

Kevin Magnussen and Romain Grosjean each received a ten-second penalty for a breach of rules regarding formation lap radio messages instructing the drivers to pit and change tyres, which, in turn, contravened the rule that the driver "must drive the car alone and unaided". The penalty dropped Magnussen from ninth to tenth, and Grosjean from fifteenth to sixteenth.[18] Alexander Albon was also investigated by the stewards as it was believed that his team was illegally drying the track around his grid spot prior to the race, but was not punished as no evidence for the claims was found.[19] Renault protested the results of the Racing Point team over the legality of their car for the second successive race. The FIA investigation into the matter continued.[20]

Pos.	No.	Driver	Constructor	Laps	Time/Retired	Start	Points
1	44	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	70	1:36:12.473	1	261
2	33	Max Verstappen	Red Bull Racing-Honda	70	+8.702	7	18
3	77	Valtteri Bottas	Mercedes	70	+9.452	2	15
4	18	Lance Stroll	Racing Point-BWT Mercedes	70	+57.579	3	12
5	23	Alexander Albon	Red Bull Racing-Honda	70	+1:18.316	13	10
6	5	Sebastian Vettel	Ferrari	69	+1 lap	5	8
7	11	Sergio Pérez	Racing Point-BWT Mercedes	69	+1 lap	4	6
8	3	Daniel Ricciardo	Renault	69	+1 lap	11	4
9	55	Carlos Sainz Jr.	McLaren-Renault	69	+1 lap	9	2
10	20	Kevin Magnussen	Haas-Ferrari	69	+1 lap2	PL2	1
11	16	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	69	+1 lap	6
12	26	Daniil Kvyat	AlphaTauri-Honda	69	+1 lap	17
13	4	Lando Norris	McLaren-Renault	69	+1 lap	8
14	31	Esteban Ocon	Renault	69	+1 lap	14
15	7	Kimi Räikkönen	Alfa Romeo Racing-Ferrari	69	+1 lap	20
16	8	Romain Grosjean	Haas-Ferrari	69	+1 lap3	PL3
17	99	Antonio Giovinazzi	Alfa Romeo Racing-Ferrari	69	+1 lap	19
18	63	George Russell	Williams-Mercedes	69	+1 lap	12
19	6	Nicholas Latifi	Williams-Mercedes	65	+5 laps	15
Ret	10	Pierre Gasly	AlphaTauri-Honda	15	Gearbox	10
Fastest lap: Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) – 1:16.627 (lap 70)
Source:[21]

Notes

• ^1 – Includes one point for fastest lap.
• ^2 – Kevin Magnussen qualified 16th, but his place on the grid was left vacant as he came into the pits during the formation lap. He originally finished 9th, but received a ten-second time penalty for breaching rules regarding radio communications on the formation lap.[18]
• ^3 – Romain Grosjean qualified 18th, but his place on the grid was left vacant as he came into the pits during the formation lap. He originally finished 15th, but received a ten-second time penalty for breaching rules regarding radio communications on the formation lap.[18]