F1 Driver Form: Hungarian Grand Prix

Max Verstappen secured the first pole position of his career at the 2019 Hungarian Grand Prix, but he is yet to win at the circuit. Verstappen finished on the podium in Hungary in both 2019 and 2020, finishing as runner-up – doing so in 2020 despite crashing on his way to the grid. 2018 is the only time that Verstappen has failed to score at the event, retiring with power issues after just five laps.

Verstappen has never failed to reach Q3 at the Hungaroring, and 2016 is the only season that the Dutchman has been out-qualified by his team-mate at the track. 2015 and 2020 are the only years that Verstappen has finished the event in a better position than where he started.

Sergio Perez has scored only three times in eleven appearances at the Hungarian Grand Prix. He recorded his best result at the circuit so far in 2020, finishing in seventh place. In addition, Perez finished ninth with McLaren in 2013 and eighth with Force India in 2017. He retired from the event in 2014, 2015 and 2021, but has finished outside of the points on his other five appearances. His 2015 weekend at the circuit got off to a bad start, as he crashed in Friday Practice, flipping his car.

2020 marked the first time Perez reached Q3 at the Hungaroring since 2013. He lined up fourth on the grid – the first time he has started inside the top eight at this track. He equalled that result last year. 2019 is the only season in the last eight years in which Perez has out-qualified his team-mate at the Hungarian Grand Prix.

Lewis Hamilton is on the cusp of a record-breaking ninth Hungarian Grand Prix victory. He has won the race three times in the last four years and finished as runner-up last season. That was only the second time Hamilton finished on the podium here without winning the race. He finished third in 2014. Aside from his only DNF at the track in 2010, Hamilton has never finished outside of the top six at the track.

Hamilton has taken seven pole positions at the circuit, and has started from the front row on eleven occasions. He has actually started from pole eight times here, as Fernando Alonso was penalised after holding up then team-mate Hamilton in the pit-lane in 2007. 2014, when his car set alight during qualifying, is the only occasion that he has failed to reach Q3, but he made up for that by gaining nineteen places from his pit-lane start. 2010, 2015 and 2017 are the only seasons that Hamilton has not led a lap at the Hungarian Grand Prix.

George Russell scored points in Hungary for the first time last year, finishing in eighth place. Hr has a 100% finish record at the circuit. Russell impressed in qualifying in both 2019 and 2020. He set the sixteenth fastest time – his best qualifying result of the year – in 2019, before reaching Q2 and qualifying twelfth in 2020. He failed to make it out of Q1 here last year. Russell raced in Hungary in F3, GP3 and F2, but has never had much luck at the Hungaroring. He retired from two of the three F3 races in 2016, finishing fourth in the second race. In GP3 in 2017, he failed to start the first race and finished only eleventh in the second event. In F2 in 2018, Russell retired from the Feature Race and finished eighth in the Sprint Race.

Charles Leclerc’s fourth place finish at the 2019 Hungarian Grand Prix is the only time that he has scored points at the Hungaroring. He retired from the race in both 2018 and 2019, and finished eleventh in 2020. Leclerc’s best qualifying position here is also fourth, in 2019. He has reached Q3 in all of the last three seasons.

Carlos Sainz was promoted onto the podium at last year’s Hungarian Grand Prix following Sebastian Vettel’s disqualification. It was the sixth consecutive season in which he has scored at the Hungaroring. 2015, when he retired, is the only time that Sainz has failed to score at the event. 2015 and 2020 are the only seasons in which Sainz has failed to reach Q3 at the track. His best qualifying result here is fifth, with Renault in 2018. He has failed to out-qualify his team-mate in each of the last three seasons.

Daniel Ricciardo won the 2014 Hungarian Grand Prix in damp conditions. It was the first time that he scored at the track, having finished outside the top ten on all three previous occasions. Ricciardo went on to finish on the podium in both 2015 and 2016, and scored with fourth place in 2018 and eighth in 2020. He recorded his only retirement so far at the circuit in 2017 after making contact with then team-mate Max Verstappen. Ricciardo has not reached Q3 at the Hungaroring since 2017. 2020 is the only time that Ricciardo out-qualified a team-mate here since 2016. His best qualifying result at the circuit is third place, recorded in 2016. Of the ten races that he has finished at the circuit, the 2013 one is the only one in which he has finished in a worse position than where he started.

Lando Norris finished in ninth place on his first appearance at the Hungarian Grand Prix, but failed to score in the last two years. He finished thirteenth in 2020 and was taken out at the first corner in 2021. Norris has reached Q3 on all three appearances at the Hungaroring, with a best qualifying result of sixth in 2021. Norris is yet to be out-qualified by a team-mate at the circuit. He has lost positions from where he has started on both of his Hungarian Grands Prix finishes to date. Norris previously competed at the Hungaroring in Formula 3 and Formula 2. In 2017, he completed all three races of the F3 meeting at the track, finishing a best of third at the final race. In F2, Norris finished as runner-up in the Feature Race and in fourth place in the Sprint Race.

Fernando Alonso recorded the first victory of his career at the 2003 Hungarian Grand Prix. That’s the only time that he has won at the Hungaroring – though he has recorded a further four podium finishes at the track. He finished fourth here last year. Alonso has scored in every race he has taken part in at the circuit since 2010. He retired from the race in 2001, 2006 and 2009, while his eleventh place finish in 2005 is the only time he has finished a race here in a position outside of the points. Alonso has set the fastest qualifying time on three occasions at the circuit, but started from pole only twice, in 2003 and 2009. He was penalised in 2007 for blocking McLaren team-mate Lewis Hamilton in the pit-lane. Since 2007, 2015 and 2017 are the only years in which the Spaniard has not reached Q3 at the circuit. 2006, 2011 and 2021 are the only years in which he has been out-qualified by his team-mate at the track. Of the races he has finished here, 2005 is the only one in which Alonso has finished in a worse position than where he started.

Esteban Ocon took his maiden victory at the 2021 Hungarian Grand Prix. It was the first time he had scored at the event since his first appearance in 2017, when he finished in ninth place. He finished thirteenth in 2018 and fourteenth in 2020. Ocon reached Q3 at the circuit for the first time last year, qualifying in eighth place. 2020 is the only time he has been out-qualified by his team-mate at the track. The Frenchman has never lost a position from where he has started at the Hungaroring.

Pierre Gasly has finished in the top six on three of his four appearances at the Hungarian Grand Prix. He does not have a 100% finish record at the track, having retired in 2020. His best result here is fifth, recorded last year. Gasly has never failed to reach Q3 here, having also recorded a best qualifying result of fifth last year. 2019 is the only time that the Frenchman has been out-qualified by his team-mate at the track.

Sebastian Vettel did not win the Hungarian Grand Prix until he joined Ferrari. He soon changed that, winning the race in both 2015 and 2017. In all of his first three visits to the track, Vettel failed to score. He finished sixteenth in 2007 and retired in both 2008 and 2009. 2021 was the first time that he failed to score at the track since then. Although he originally finished on the podium, he was disqualified as he was unable to supply a fuel sample. Vettel has finished on the podium in Hungary on seven occasions. Vettel has taken three poles here, in 2010, 2011 and 2017 and has started from the front row six times in total. 2007 and 2008 are the only years that Vettel has not reached Q3 at the track, while 2021 is the only other year in which he has not qualified in the top five. For ten consecutive seasons between 2008 and 2017, Vettel was not out-qualified by his team-mate at the Hungaroring. He was out-qualified here in both 2018 and 2019.

Lance Stroll’s 100% finish record at the Hungarian Grand Prix came to an end in 2021, as he crashed out at the first corner. 2020 marked the first time that Stroll scored at the event, finishing in fourth lace. Stroll qualified in third place in 2020, marking his first – and so far only – Q3 appearance at the track. 2019 and 2021 are the only occasions on which Stroll has been out-qualified by a team-mate at the track.

Valtteri Bottas failed to finish last year’s Hungarian Grand Prix after crashing out at the first corner. It was the first time he failed to finish at the circuit since his maiden season in 2013. He’s yet to finish above third place at the Hungarian Grand Prix. He has finished on the podium here twice, in 2017 and 2020. His 2018 and 2019 races at the track went off course due to errors. In 2018, he made contact with both Sebastian Vettel and Daniel Ricciardo in the closing stages and ultimately finished fifth, while 2019 saw him finish eighth after picking up front wing damage on the first lap. 2015 is the only other time that he has failed to score. Bottas is yet to take pole position at the Hungaroring, but has lined up on the front row of the grid in all of the last four seasons. 2013 is the only time he has failed to reach Q3 at the circuit.

Kevin Magnussen has a 100% finish rate from his six previous Hungarian Grand Prix starts. His best result here is seventh, recorded in 2018. He also scored a single point here on his last visit, in 2020, finishing in tenth place. Magnussen has reached Q3 here twice, in 2014 and 2018. The latter is his best qualifying result at the track, with ninth place. That’s the only time he’s started in the top ten at the Hungaroring, having picked up a grid penalty after qualifying tenth in 2014. Magnussen has gained places from where he has started on every Hungarian Grand Prix outing.