2021 Hungarian Grand Prix interactive data: lap charts, times and tyres

2021 Hungarian Grand Prix

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The split in strategies between Mercedes and Red Bull before the Hungarian Grand Prix began came to naught. It didn’t matter that the Mercedes on the front row chose mediums and the Red Bulls behind them took softs, due to the downpour which hit the track before the race began, and allowed drivers to choose wet weather tyres.

Every driver therefore opted to start on intermediates – bar Antonio Giovinazzi, who peeled into the pits before the original start was given to fit slicks. Half an hour later, when the race was restarted following a messy first-corner crash, every driver also set out from the pit lane on the race restart with intermediates.

But by now the track had dried, and all bar leader Hamilton pitted before the restart. After the first corner crash Hamilton looked on course for an easy win, but by the time he came in for slicks he was last, and it became clear we were going to see a surprise winner.

Worries before the race about whether it would be a one- or two-stop strategy disappeared due to the rain. Hamilton and Verstappen both found themselves having to work back up the grid, Hamilton’s efforts much more effective since his Mercedes was in good working order compared to Verstappen’s heavily damaged Red Bull.

The cars at the front of the race drove a much more ‘normal’ strategy. Had anyone chose to fit hards instead of mediums when they got rid of their intermediates, they could have tried running to the end, but the difficulty of warming up the harder tyres likely dissuaded teams from that gamble.

Once they’d inherited the top two spots, Esteban Ocon and Sebastian Vettel were in very close competition and needing to avoid being under or overcut in the pits. Both opted for long first stints, completing more than half the race distance before pitting.

Carlos Sainz Jnr, who ran in third place for much of the race, flew once he cleared the AlphaTauri cars but struggled severely with late-race pace after pitting relatively early. He was alert to the threat posed by Hamilton pitting, but powerless to keep the Mercedes behind when it appeared in his mirrors. Hamilton’s lap times, when compared to Verstappen’s, show the severe deficit the Red Bull was suffering due to damage.

Pierre Gasly took fastest lap on the final tour, pitting for soft tyres in the final laps of the race. However, team mate Yuki Tsunoda complained that Gasly wasn’t going fast enough after they switched positions mid-race and both AlphaTauri cars’ pace was quite variable, fighting in the mid-pack.

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2021 Hungarian Grand Prix lap chart

The positions of each driver on every lap. Click name to highlight, right-click to reset. Toggle drivers using controls below:

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2021 Hungarian Grand Prix race chart

The gaps between each driver on every lap compared to the leader’s average lap time. Very large gaps omitted. Scroll to zoom, drag to pan and right-click to reset. Toggle drivers using controls below:

Position change

DriverStart positionLap one position changeRace position change
Lewis Hamilton10-2
Valtteri Bottas2
Max Verstappen3-6-7
Sergio Perez4
Lando Norris6-9
Daniel Ricciardo11-3-1
Lance Stroll12
Sebastian Vettel1078
Esteban Ocon867
Fernando Alonso924
Charles Leclerc7
Carlos Sainz Jnr151111
Pierre Gasly5-7-1
Yuki Tsunoda16119
Kimi Raikkonen1332
Antonio Giovinazzi14-20
Mick Schumacher2097
Nikita Mazepin196
George Russell1798
Nicholas Latifi181210

2021 Hungarian Grand Prix lap times

All the lap times by the drivers (in seconds, very slow laps excluded). Scroll to zoom, drag to pan and toggle drivers using the control below:

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2021 Hungarian Grand Prix fastest laps

Each driver’s fastest lap:

RankDriverCarFastest lapGapOn lap
1Pierre GaslyAlphaTauri-Honda1’18.39470
2Lewis HamiltonMercedes1’18.7150.32149
3Fernando AlonsoAlpine-Renault1’20.3591.96541
4Max VerstappenRed Bull-Honda1’20.9452.55143
5Esteban OconAlpine-Renault1’21.4213.02754
6Carlos Sainz JnrFerrari1’21.4233.02954
7Sebastian VettelAston Martin-Mercedes1’21.4593.06560
8Kimi RaikkonenAlfa Romeo-Ferrari1’21.5183.12458
9George RussellWilliams-Mercedes1’22.1123.71862
10Yuki TsunodaAlphaTauri-Honda1’22.4504.05643
11Mick SchumacherHaas-Ferrari1’22.7114.31744
12Antonio GiovinazziAlfa Romeo-Ferrari1’22.7364.34244
13Daniel RicciardoMcLaren-Mercedes1’22.8024.40858
14Nicholas LatifiWilliams-Mercedes1’22.8314.43762
15Lando NorrisMcLaren-Mercedes3’06.733108.3392
16Nikita MazepinHaas-Ferrari3’09.487111.0932

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2021 Hungarian Grand Prix tyre strategies

The tyre strategies for each driver:

Stint 1Stint 2Stint 3Stint 4Stint 5
Esteban OconIntermediate (3)C3 (34)C2 (33)
Sebastian VettelIntermediate (3)C3 (33)C2 (34)
Lewis HamiltonIntermediate (2)Intermediate (2)C3 (15)C2 (28)C3 (23)
Carlos Sainz JnrIntermediate (3)C3 (29)C2 (38)
Fernando AlonsoIntermediate (3)C3 (36)C2 (31)
Pierre GaslyIntermediate (3)C3 (27)C2 (38)C4 (2)
Yuki TsunodaIntermediate (3)C3 (19)C2 (48)
Nicholas LatifiIntermediate (3)C3 (20)C2 (47)
George RussellIntermediate (3)C3 (18)C2 (49)
Max VerstappenIntermediate (1)Intermediate (2)C3 (17)C2 (20)C3 (30)
Kimi RaikkonenIntermediate (3)C3 (12)C2 (38)C4 (16)
Daniel RicciardoIntermediate (3)C3 (17)C2 (49)
Mick SchumacherIntermediate (3)C3 (31)C2 (35)
Antonio GiovinazziC3 (1)Intermediate (2)Intermediate (8)C3 (22)C2 (36)
Nikita MazepinIntermediate (1)Intermediate (2)
Lando NorrisIntermediate (1)Intermediate (1)

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2021 Hungarian Grand Prix pit stop times

How long each driver’s pit stops took:

DriverTeamPit stop timeGapOn lap
1Max VerstappenRed Bull20.84840
2Max VerstappenRed Bull21.0470.19920
3Kimi RaikkonenAlfa Romeo21.1720.32453
4Lewis HamiltonMercedes21.2080.36047
5Pierre GaslyAlphaTauri21.2950.44730
6Lewis HamiltonMercedes21.5160.66819
7Fernando AlonsoAlpine21.5230.67539
8Pierre GaslyAlphaTauri21.5430.69568
9Daniel RicciardoMcLaren21.6230.77520
10Esteban OconAlpine21.6420.79437
11Lewis HamiltonMercedes21.7310.8834
12Yuki TsunodaAlphaTauri21.8190.97122
13Antonio GiovinazziAlfa Romeo21.8741.02633
14Carlos Sainz JnrFerrari21.9511.10332
15Mick SchumacherHaas22.1131.26534
16George RussellWilliams22.1861.33821
17Max VerstappenRed Bull22.5691.7211
18Sebastian VettelAston Martin22.7031.85536
19Nicholas LatifiWilliams22.7041.85623
20Nikita MazepinHaas23.7152.8671
21Antonio GiovinazziAlfa Romeo26.5735.7251
22Antonio GiovinazziAlfa Romeo29.1918.34311
23George RussellWilliams29.3748.5263
24Daniel RicciardoMcLaren34.49213.6443
25Max VerstappenRed Bull35.24514.3973
26Kimi RaikkonenAlfa Romeo35.45114.6033
27Kimi RaikkonenAlfa Romeo36.45715.60915
28Mick SchumacherHaas36.81315.9653
29Antonio GiovinazziAlfa Romeo36.89916.0513
30Fernando AlonsoAlpine37.12216.2743
31Lando NorrisMcLaren38.26717.4191
32Nicholas LatifiWilliams39.08118.2333
33Esteban OconAlpine39.52218.6743
34Pierre GaslyAlphaTauri39.83918.9913
35Yuki TsunodaAlphaTauri40.74019.8923
36Sebastian VettelAston Martin40.88220.0343
37Carlos Sainz JnrFerrari42.78621.9383
38Lewis HamiltonMercedes1449.2591428.4112

2021 Hungarian Grand Prix

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Author information

Hazel Southwell
Hazel is a motorsport and automotive journalist with a particular interest in hybrid systems, electrification, batteries and new fuel technologies....

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13 comments on “2021 Hungarian Grand Prix interactive data: lap charts, times and tyres”

  1. A simulation I am interested in:

    If Merc had pitted, would their box position rendered them unable to leave the pits while the train of cars passed by?

    In which case they would have ended up last or near last even after pitting.

    Red Bull are the second box, but Max was not at the front after the formation lap. Nor was Ricciardo who has the next box in the Mclaren.

    If so, it seems Merc were in a unique situation where they were dammed if they pitted and dammed if they didn’t.

    Add to that the frustration of trying to leave their box, I could imagine a scenario where Lewis ended up with a penalty or even collecting a car on leaving.

    If it went well, they may not have ended up at the back, but they probably would have lost a lot of places.

    So I can kind of see why Merc went super cautious.

    Russell pointed out this whole scenario in his post race interview.

    Thoughs?

    1. AJ (@asleepatthewheel)
      2nd August 2021, 2:37

      He might have slotted somewhere in the middle of the pack depending on where the gap was. But there could have been a risk of an unsafe release. However, even if he came out dead last, he’d have been right behind Giovinazzi and in touch with the pack, as compared to 5-6 seconds he had to make up to catch up in race conditions.

    2. If Hamilton had also pitted, resulting in absolutely no grid for the restart, would Masi have responded and called an extra formation lap, sending them all back around for a full dry grid start?
      There’s no precedent for all of this really.

      Also, the pit lane was chaos, and was potentially far more dangerous than Raidillon (referencing Saturday’s accident and debate).
      Frankly impressive that we only had one unsafe release.

    3. Don’t think Lewis would have come out last. If you notice the queue, you will see that the 2nd drivers of teams had started creating space for themselves by slowing down while entering the pitlane in order to avoid losing time behind their teammates. So that would have created an opening for Lewis to slot into once he was serviced in his pit box.

      The first ‘2nd driver’ to cross Lewis’ pit box would have been Fernando and next would be George. So, I think he would have come out ahead of Fernando (best case) or ahead of George (next best case). Which would have made him P7 or P8.

      Lewis would have won on a canter from the P7, P8 position.

      1. @sumedh Mercedes’ estimation was he would’ve rejoined in P6.

    4. Even if Lewis had to wait for the entire field to enter, he would not have been last. Many of those cars would boxed themselves allowing for Lewis to get back around them.

    5. Well, this is a far more logical explanation than “The team thought it was going to rain”. Especialy when all the other teams thought otherwises.

  2. That Hungarian GP race chart looks like a spider’s web in the first laps! ;O It indicates how much of a good and crazy race it was.

  3. I have an opinion
    2nd August 2021, 9:15

    The Williams cars confirmed their reputation as some of the hardest to overtake, despite their poor laptimes. Latifi and Russell had trains behind them.

  4. When Max pitted the second time, he recaught Ricciardo in about 10 laps!

  5. I think Red Bull pit stop crew did a 1.85s pit stop or something for Verstappen yesterday. Amazing job they keep improving to break the fastest pit stop record, salute their determination.

  6. Giovinazzi missed a massive opportunity here, if the displayed tyre strategies are indeed correct. He pitted in the warmup lap for slicks, but apparently decided to switch to inters after the first lap. Seconds later there was a red flag. During the restart he followed all the other drivers into the pits, only to be the only one to switch to inters. I have no idea why he did that, since he already was on fresh inters but the track was almost completely dry at the time.

    1. @matthijs Gio and his team probably had an overthought because of the pile up first lap accident. It’s a shame, because they got it right but changed to the wrong choice only to follow everyody afterwards, reaping only the onus of the gamble.

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