The Hungarian Grand Prix had more than enough drama to last us through the August break. From first lap shenanigans to a new race winner, this race was one of the most exciting of the season.

The rain was falling as the lights went out to start the race. Lando Norris got a great start, charging up the inside to pass Valtteri Bottas. However, Bottas seemed to be messed up by the rain and braked way too late slamming into the back of Norris and causing a whole bunch of chaos. Norris veered into Max Verstappen, while Bottas went into the side of Sergio Perez. Meanwhile, Lance Stroll slid on the grass at turn 1 and went into the side of Charles Leclerc, who also hit and spun around Daniel Ricciardo.

Leclerc and Bottas retired on the spot and the race was red flagged. During the red flag, Stroll, Perez and Norris also announced they had to retire. When we were ready to go again, the rain had stopped and the track was almost dry. After the formation lap, all drivers except for Lewis Hamilton decided to pit for slick tyres. This made for one of the weirdest race starts as Hamilton was the only driver lined up on the starting grid. This was a rare Mercedes error which saw Hamilton drop way down the grid on his Intermediates as all the other drivers zoomed passed on their slicks.

As he rounded the final corner, Hamilton had to pit which unleashed Esteban Ocon to lead the race, followed by Sebastian Vettel in second and Nicholas Latifi in third. The order stayed like that for much of the race with Ocon winning the race and Vettel finishing second. Also during the first few laps, Nikita Mazepin retired after Kimi Raikkonen spun him around in the pit lane, leaving only 14 finishers.

It was a great day for Williams who scored double points in seventh and eighth. I was elated to see George Russel score points. That guy is a phenomenal driver and he deserved those points so badly. It was also really nice to see Latifi score some points, and as a Canadian myself there was some country pride with that as well. I hope that Williams keeps coming up because I would really like to see them competing for points more regularly.

On the opposite side, McLaren had a terrible race with Norris being forced to retire and Ricciardo finishing the race in 11th. It was a big shame for Norris to retire because he was the only driver who had scored points in every race in the season until that moment. It was also a shame for Ricciardo who looked like he was starting to make some strides forward in the car.

Similarly it was a terrible day for Red Bull with Perez being out and Verstappen only finishing in ninth. The chaos at the start of the race which saw both Red Bulls damaged, but only one Mercedes, paved the way for Mercedes to retake the lead in the Constructors Championship. Hamilton also managed to take the lead back in the Drivers Championship.

Fernando Alonso was the driver of the day for this race and deservedly so. He did such an amazing job defending against Hamilton. Watching the two of them battle was like traveling back in time to when they were teammates. It was actually pretty action packed and it went on for quite a few laps. If it wasn’t for Alonso doing such a good job to keep Hamilton behind, I don’t think Ocon would have won the race.

Esteban Ocon is now a Race Winner! He was joined on the podium by Sebastian Vettel in second and Lewis Hamilton in third. Carlos Sainz finished fourth followed by Alonso in fifth, Pierre Gasly in sixth, Yuki Tsunoda in seventh, Latifi in eighth, Russell in ninth, and Verstappen rounded out the top ten.

There was quite a few penalties in the race. Raikkonen got a ten second time penalty for causing a collision in the pit lane, after he spun Mazepin around. Bottas and Stroll both got handed five place grid penalties for the start of the next race. The most heartbreaking was Vettel getting disqualified for a fuel infringement. After a race, each car needs to be able to provide a one liter fuel sample to the stewards, however Vettel’s car could only give 300mLs.

This was the last race before the August break. When we come back at the beginning of September, we head off to the Netherlands for the Belgian Grand Prix. This will be Verstappen’s first home race, and it should produce some amazing racing. Until then we will just have to find something else to entertain ourselves.