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Piastri wins controversial Hungarian Grand Prix

NEWS STORY
21/07/2024

You may not be aware, but Expensify APX-GP, the fictitious team that stars in the imaginatively titled F1 movie - F1 - has a social media account, a year before the public gets to see the movie.

This morning we are helpfully advised that Sonny qualified P5 for today's Hungarian Grand Prix and Joshua 4th, the team apologising for its mistake in the qualifying result times.

In somewhat questionable taste, on Wednesday the team even paid tribute to Jules Bianchi on the anniversary of his death.

"A true racer, whose smile shone as bright as his talent," read the tweet. "You will forever in our heart, Jules."

Thus with every passing day the line between F1 fact and F1 fiction becomes ever more blurred, as Mike Lawrence's Formula One Script Unit gradually becomes reality.

Four teams in the battle for titles, Hamilton's fairy-tale win at Silverstone, McLaren's first front row lock-out since 2012... not to mention the Sergio Perez saga, the Horner saga, Lewis to Ferrari, Adrian Newey to... where?

Art imitating life or life imitating art? Whatever, the fact is that now under the ownership of a media company - and who, in this day and age, trusts the media - it is becoming increasingly difficult to tell what is real and what isn't.

So, with that in mind, what is the point of attempting to predict this afternoon's events, for someone, somewhere already has the script and all that remains is for the players to stick to it.

As previously mentioned, McLaren has locked out the front row, but with an eye on the strategic cock-up in Silverstone, not to mention a determined Max Verstappen, the boys in Papaya's first concern is going to be maintaining position on the opening lap.

Strategy is usually the downfall of Ferrari, but this year they appear to have gone the wrong way with their updates also, a situation not helped by Charles Leclerc's repeated mistakes.

While poor old Sergio has grabbed all the headlines, other than his progress through the field it will be interesting to watch George Russell's progress. Interestingly, having initially taken the blame for his Q1 elimination, the youngster proceeded to throw Mercedes under the bus quicker than Jack Black threw his Tenacious D bandmate.

Looking good for a decent points haul are the Aston Martin pair, likewise the RB duo, both of whom could be in line for promotion to the 'big team' over the summer.

On previous form, don't write off Nico Hulkenberg, while surely Valtteri Bottas deserves something.

As for the weather, well along with the Weather Gods it would appear that there might be other factors to consider. After Friday's scorching heat, qualifying was hit by rain and cooler temperatures.

Now, we're not ones for conspiracy theorising, but did Friday's clear skies give way to chemtrails yesterday, could (would) F1 resort to geoengineering in order to boost Expensify APX-GP's chances?

Finally, are we alone in wondering how Max looked superfast on Friday yet somewhat sluggish just 24 hours later.

In terms of movies about F1, the benchmark has to be John Frankenheimer's 1966 epic Grand Prix. Interestingly, the following decade saw a spate of great conspiracy theory movies, including Capricorn One, The Parallax View, Soylent Green, Three Days of the Condor, The Conversation, The China Syndrome... all of which, you won't be surprised to hear, are in the Pitpass DVD collection.

Consequently, we have to wonder if the forthcoming F1 movie is Liberty Media trying to get ahead of the game. Turk Thrust would be fully in favour.

This is a race where the classic two-stop is the clear favourite. On paper, the quickest option is to start on the medium before then bringing in the hard. Clearly, the number of available sets of these two harder compounds will determine the teams' decisions.

On that topic, there are three teams - Red Bull, McLaren and Ferrari - whose drivers only have one set of new hards and two of new mediums available, while one, Aston Martin, has one set of new mediums and one of new hards. All the other teams have at least two sets of hard and one of medium.

After changing parts overnight, Gasly will start from the pitlane, though having qualified 20th courtesy of Alpine's monumental 'error' this shouldn't bother him too much... at least he should avoid any first corner silliness.

The pitlane opens and Verstappen leads the way, followed by Hulkenberg, Magnussen, Zhou and Bottas.

By the way, following Tsunoda's crash, the grass run-off in Turn 5 has been replaced with gravel.

Air temperature is 28 degrees C, while the track temperature is 44 degrees. Race Control claims a 20% chance of rain.

"Well done guys, amazing job," says Perez, "let's go for a really good race."

"Front brakes locking, front-left," warns Gasly.

Among the last to take their places on the grid are Hamilton and Sargeant.

"Just confirming, something's definitely not right with the throttle," reports Norris. "It's not how it should be."

The FIA's Jo Bauer is overseeing the work on Norris' car. Finally, a huge sigh of relief as the issues appears to have been resolved.

All are starting on mediums bar Alonso, Stroll, Albon and Magnussen who are on softs and Perez and Russell who are on hards, fresh rubber for all bar Alonso, Stroll, Bottas and Zhou.

Aston Martin going aggressive while - out of place - Russell and Perez opt for the long game.

Ricciardo told of a tailwind out of Turn 1.

The field heads off on the formation lap. The rear of the grid getting away very slowly, indeed Norris is at Turn 5 as Ocon finally leaves the grid.

The grid forms.

They're away! A strong start from Norris sees him move across to cover his McLaren teammate. Tucked in behind the Briton, Verstappen finally pulls to the left as they head towards Turn 1.

Norris moves to his left to cover the Red Bull, and as they head into the first corner they are three abreast with Piastri on the inside, then Norris and Verstappen on the outside.

Piastri holds his position, which causes Norris to go wide and Verstappen to go even wider, the Dutchman taking to the run-off. However, such is his momentum he rejoins that track ahead of Norris who is now battling Hamilton as Piastri disappears up the road.

"Max has to give the position," declares Norris, who having lost out to Hamilton is now under attack from Leclerc.

Somehow he holds off the Ferrari and as they head into Turn 3 he eases ahead of Hamilton also.

At the end of Lap 1, it's: Piastri, Verstappen, Norris, Hamilton, Leclerc, Alonso, Sainz, Stroll, Albon and Magnussen.

Verstappen has been noted for leaving the track and gaining an advantage as Norris continues to complain.

"I got forced off, I was ahead at the apex," insists Verstappen who is now under investigation.

"He committed to the exit," insists Norris.

In seventh, a DRS train is forming behind Alonso, the first three of which, like the Spaniard, are on softs.

Verstappen is advised to let Norris through as the incident is under investigation. The Dutchman isn't happy - is he ever - but subsequently yields to the second McLaren.

"OK, so you can just force people off the track then," moans Verstappen, who is 0.86s down on Norris who is 2.2s down on Piastri.

Check out our Sunday gallery from the Hungaroring here.

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READERS COMMENTS

 

1. Posted by kenji, 24/07/2024 1:45

"It's weird....First post disappeared hence second one posted. Then they both pop up!"

Rating: Neutral (0)     Rate comment: Positive | NegativeReport this comment

2. Posted by kenji, 23/07/2024 13:09

"@Ed. I did manage to open the link...very funny. Close, but no cigar hahaha. Petulance is cringeworthy especially in the era of risk taking superstars. "

Rating: Positive (1)     Rate comment: Positive | NegativeReport this comment

3. Posted by kenji, 23/07/2024 11:21

"@ Ed. Managed to open the link. Very good. Close but no cigar hahaha. Petulance in any form is cringeworthy and does no one any favours. All this hoo har about the 'killer instinct' being an accepted way of competing is a sop to those who choose to accept outside assistance to achieve their goals. If he'd kept the position he, and the team, would've been pilloried. ATM I still don't have any answers to my original questions as to who made the call to give Norris priority? Surely Stella was involved......"

Rating: Positive (1)     Rate comment: Positive | NegativeReport this comment

4. Posted by Editor, 23/07/2024 7:56

"@ Kenji

This is how I feared you'd ended up as you watched Lando's petulance...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YI3NoBeNwfk
"

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5. Posted by kenji, 23/07/2024 2:18

"@Ed...once again you have me at a disadvantage as 'Scanners' is virtually unknown to me, prior to me Googling it! Sci Fi has never been my schtick so I don't feel too inadequate despite my career in filmed entertainment.

The race was lively for many reasons but ultimately achieved the correct result despite the efforts of some to wreck it. It was painful to hear the 'plaintive calls' made to one particular driver. Duplicity has no place in an F1 race. Looking forward massively to Spa."

Rating: Neutral (0)     Rate comment: Positive | NegativeReport this comment

6. Posted by Superbird70, 22/07/2024 22:12

"It seems that all the teams have made copies of Ferrari's strategy, and HR handooks. All this intra-team uncertainty can only be good for giving us some interesting races going forward."

Rating: Positive (1)     Rate comment: Positive | NegativeReport this comment

7. Posted by Spindoctor, 22/07/2024 6:35

"A shame that Piastri's 1st very well-deserved win has been slightly overshadowed by the "controversy" over McLaren's strategy. Credit to Lando that he eventually obeyed team orders if not with very good grace!
The real story is "What the hell were McLaren doing/" with the timing of pit stops which catapulted Lando into P1, when Piastri was deservedly ahead.

Notwithstanding all the bruhaha a great result for McLaren & Piastri and it seems that, for the moment at least, it's "Game on" in F1"

Rating: Positive (2)     Rate comment: Positive | NegativeReport this comment

8. Posted by Editor, 22/07/2024 5:47

"@ Kenji

Was worried that you'd experienced something like that scene in Scanners... you must have come close."

Rating: Positive (2)     Rate comment: Positive | NegativeReport this comment

9. Posted by kenji, 22/07/2024 5:30

"@Ed. I'm here....just working on a cool, calm, considered response that reflects on the nature of events and how they unfolded into what was a gold star rated SNAFU by the team and their 'annointed one'. Will revert in the not too distant future."

Rating: Negative (-1)     Rate comment: Positive | NegativeReport this comment

10. Posted by Editor, 22/07/2024 5:07

"Has anyone checked on Kenji?"

Rating: Positive (2)     Rate comment: Positive | NegativeReport this comment

11. Posted by TokyoAussie, 22/07/2024 1:00

"McLaren have scored own-goals with their strategy decisions the last 2 races. It didn't cost the team in Hungary, because it was still a 1-2 finish, whatever the order that took the flag.

I think Lando Norris scored an own-goal too. Had he given up the position he was gifted immediately while there were still many laps to go, he could've passed Piastri subsequently before the end of the race. By waiting so long, he removed that possibility all by himself."

Rating: Positive (1)     Rate comment: Positive | NegativeReport this comment

12. Posted by Ricardo_sanchez, 22/07/2024 0:05

"@Celtic Tiger - your comment has given me another excuse to mention Senna’s maiden victory at Estoril in 1985, where he finished a full lap ahead of all but one other driver.

Piastri is an exceptional talent and is more than overdue a GP victory but I wish it had been under different circumstances. "

Rating: Positive (3)     Rate comment: Positive | NegativeReport this comment

13. Posted by Celtic Tiger, 21/07/2024 22:50

"To be fair, by and large, a driver's first win in F1 is hardly ever an out-and-out dominating performance. It comes about through circumstance and sheer luck of the moment. This is probably why when people ask a dominating driver what their best/favorite win is, the first win is mentioned as an aside in their answers.
Just like Piastri's win today. So, he shouldn't be apologetic about it and fully enjoy it as I'm sure the next time he wins it will be on a more commanding performance.

That said, McLaren should be the space to watch as Norris will stewing about this, I don't think it'll get to Alonso/Hamilton level but I expect the threat of fireworks on the horizon."

Rating: Positive (2)     Rate comment: Positive | NegativeReport this comment

14. Posted by Ricardo_sanchez, 21/07/2024 17:38

"Only on Pitpass will you see a reference to ‘Tenacious D’ within a race report."

Rating: Positive (1)     Rate comment: Positive | NegativeReport this comment

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