The 2024 Hungarian Grand Prix (officially known as the Formula 1 Hungarian Grand Prix 2024) was a Formula One motor race that took place on 21 July 2024 at the Hungaroring in Mogyoród, Hungary. It was the thirteenth round of the 2024 Formula One World Championship.

The McLarens of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri locked out the front row, their first since the 2012 Brazilian Grand Prix. Piastri won the race for McLaren, marking his maiden victory in Formula One. Teammate Norris finished second, marking McLaren’s first 1–2 finish since the 2021 Italian Grand Prix. Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton finished third, becoming the first driver to record 200 career podiums.

As a consequence, Norris narrowed the gap over Verstappen in the World Drivers' Championship to 76 points. In the World Constructors' Championship, Red Bull's lead in the standings decreased to 51 points after McLaren scored the maximum available points for the first time this season, overtaking Ferrari for second with 338 points, 16 points ahead of Ferrari.

Background The event was held at the Hungaroring in Mogyoród for the 39th time in the circuit's history, across the weekend of 19–21 July. The Grand Prix was the thirteenth round of the 2024 Formula One World Championship and the 39th running of the Hungarian Grand Prix as part of the Formula One World Championship.

Championship standings before the race Going into the weekend, Max Verstappen led the Drivers' Championship with 255 points, 84 points ahead of Lando Norris in second, and 105 ahead of Charles Leclerc in third. Red Bull Racing, with 373 points, led the Constructors' Championship from Ferrari and McLaren, who were second and third with 302 and 295 points, respectively.

Entrants

The drivers and teams were the same as the season entry list with no additional stand-in drivers for the race. Oliver Bearman drove in the first free practice session for Haas, in place of Nico Hülkenberg.

Tyre choices

Tyre supplier Pirelli brought the C3, C4, and C5 tyre compounds (the three softest in their range) designated hard, medium, and soft, respectively, for teams to use at this event.

Practice Three free practice sessions were held for the event. The first free practice session was held on 19 July 2024 at 13:30 local time (UTC+2), and was topped by Carlos Sainz Jr. of Ferrari ahead of Max Verstappen of Red Bull and Sainz's teammate Charles Leclerc. The second free practice session was held on the same day, at 17:00 local time, and was topped by Lando Norris of McLaren ahead of Verstappen and Sainz. The third free practice session was held on 20 July 2024, at 12:30 local time, and was topped by Norris ahead of his teammate Oscar Piastri and Verstappen.

Qualifying Qualifying was held on 20 July 2024, at 16:00 local time (UTC+2).

Qualifying report The first segment of qualifying was held after a spell of rain hit the circuit. The track was sufficiently dry for slick tyres to be used. Logan Sargeant crashed his Williams into the barriers at turn 1. This accident brought out yellow flags and Sargeant's car was brought in for repairs. Sergio Pérez, who had been under pressure from his Red Bull Racing team after poor results, spun into the barriers and destroyed his car, suspending the session while the barriers were repaired. During this red flag period, the rain briefly returned and the track was left wet. Daniel Ricciardo ended the segment fastest. George Russell, in the Mercedes, was caught out and was eliminated from qualifying, alongside Pérez, Zhou Guanyu and the two Alpine cars of Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly.

The second segment was topped by Lando Norris in the McLaren. Lewis Hamilton struggled to improve much during this session, managing a time only good enough for tenth. Nico Hülkenberg, Valtteri Bottas, Alexander Albon, Sargeant and Kevin Magnussen were eliminated from this segment.

Norris set the fastest time of the session, granting him provisional pole position. Yuki Tsunoda in the RB was involved in a heavy crash that left his chassis destroyed. Red flags were flown for the second and final time this session, and only Ricciardo (9th) was able to improve after the session was restarted. Oscar Piastri qualified second, which meant that McLaren secured a front-row lockout, their first since the 2012 Brazilian Grand Prix. Max Verstappen was third.

Qualifying classification DriverConstructorQ1Q2Q314 Lando NorrisMcLaren-Mercedes1:17.7551:15.5401:15.2271281 Oscar PiastriMcLaren-Mercedes1:17.5041:15.7851:15.249231 Max VerstappenRed Bull Racing-Honda RBPT1:17.0871:15.7701:15.2733455 Carlos Sainz Jr.Ferrari1:17.2441:15.8851:15.6964544 Lewis HamiltonMercedes1:17.0871:16.3071:15.8545616 Charles LeclercFerrari1:17.4371:15.8911:15.9056714 Fernando Alonso1:17.6241:16.1171:16.0437818 Lance Stroll1:17.4051:16.0751:16.244893 Daniel RicciardoRB-Honda RBPT1:17.0501:16.2021:16.44791022 Yuki TsunodaRB-Honda RBPT1:17.4361:16.1211:16.477101127Haas-Ferrari1:17.3621:16.317N/A111277 Valtteri BottasKick Sauber-Ferrari1:17.4871:16.384N/A121323 Alexander AlbonWilliams-Mercedes1:17.2801:16.429N/A13142 Logan SargeantWilliams-Mercedes1:17.7701:16.543N/A141520Haas-Ferrari1:17.8511:16.548N/A151611 Sergio PérezRed Bull Racing-Honda RBPT1:17.886N/AN/A161763 George RussellMercedes1:17.968N/AN/A171824 Zhou GuanyuKick Sauber-Ferrari1:18.037N/AN/A181931 Esteban OconAlpine-Renault1:18.049N/AN/A192010 Pierre GaslyAlpine-Renault1:18.166N/AN/A107% time: 1:22.443Source: Notes – Pierre Gasly qualified 20th, but was required to start the race from the pit lane for replacing power unit elements without the approval of the technical delegate during parc fermé. – As qualifying was held on a wet track, the 107% rule was not in force.

Race The race was held on 21 July 2024, at 15:00 local time (UTC+2), and was run for 70 laps.

Race report Pierre Gasly had changes made to his power unit during parc fermé, facilitating a pit lane start. He later retired from the race on lap 33 due to a suspected hydraulics leak. Most cars started on the medium compound tyres with some others opting for hard compound or soft compound. Polesitter Lando Norris lost position to teammate Oscar Piastri at the start. Championship leader Max Verstappen, starting from third, took second from Norris off-track. He let Norris retake second on lap 4, to avoid a potential penalty for gaining a position off track. The pit window was open by lap 17, and everyone went in for their scheduled stops, briefly giving Charles Leclerc the lead ahead of his stop. Sergio Pérez, who ended qualifying early after damaging his car, was able to recover to the points, eventually finishing seventh.

Lewis Hamilton soon saw himself engaged in a battle with Verstappen, who ended up being undercut by Hamilton and Leclerc. Verstappen, who had grown increasingly frustrated throughout the race, criticised the team's strategy calls and the handling and pace of the RB20 over team radio. Verstappen soon caught up to Hamilton and was subjected to strong defenses; later, an attempted overtake from Verstappen caused a collision between the two, prompting an investigation from the stewards. No penalty was given for the contact with the stewards determining that no driver was primarily at fault. Norris was first up to pit for mediums in an attempt to cover off the potential risk of being overtaken by Hamilton; soon after, race-leading Piastri came in for mediums. Throughout the closing stages of the race, McLaren invoked team orders asking Norris, who had gained the lead via an undercut, to swap positions with Piastri. Eventually, Norris slowed down at the start-finish straight on lap 68, giving Piastri the lead and eventual maiden race win. Hamilton rounded off the podium, becoming the first driver to record 200 career podiums. Verstappen finished in fifth after losing fourth to Charles Leclerc due to the collision with Hamilton earlier.

This was McLaren's first 1–2 finish since the 2021 Italian Grand Prix. McLaren's decision to swap Norris and Piastri was controversial, as Norris had gained a six-second lead over Piastri with the pit-stop strategy. There was doubt from McLaren management and observers that Norris would obey the team orders, with Norris being instructed to swap positions over a twenty-lap period. Norris later stated that he always intended to swap positions and that he thought it was fair to give Piastri the win. Ahead of the following , Norris stated he regretted that team orders had overshadowed Piastri's win and stated that he should have ceded position to his team mate sooner to avoid adding to the controversy and to allow him an opportunity to challenge Piastri for the lead if McLaren's team orders allowed it.

Race classification DriverConstructorTime/RetiredPoints 181 Oscar Piastri McLaren-Mercedes 70 1:38:01.989 2 25 2 4 Lando Norris McLaren-Mercedes 70 +2.141 1 18 344 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 70 +14.880 5 15 4 16 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 70 +19.686 6 12 5 1 Max Verstappen Red Bull Racing-Honda RBPT 70 +21.349 3 10 655 Carlos Sainz Jr. Ferrari 70 +23.073 4 8 711 Sergio Pérez Red Bull Racing-Honda RBPT 70 +39.792 16 6 863 George Russell Mercedes 70 +42.368 17 5 922 Yuki Tsunoda RB-Honda RBPT 70 +1:17.259 10 2 1018 Lance Stroll 70 +1:17.976 8 1 1114 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin Aramco-Mercedes 70 +1:22.460 7 123 Daniel Ricciardo RB-Honda RBPT 69 +1 lap 9 1327 Haas-Ferrari 69 +1 lap 11 1423 Alexander Albon Williams-Mercedes 69 +1 lap 13 1520 Haas-Ferrari 69 +1 lap 15 1677 Valtteri Bottas Kick Sauber-Ferrari 69 +1 lap 12 172 Logan SargeantWilliams-Mercedes 69 +1 lap 14 1831 Esteban Ocon Alpine-Renault 69 +1 lap 19 1924 Zhou GuanyuKick Sauber-Ferrari 69 +1 lap 18 10 Pierre GaslyAlpine-Renault33 HydraulicsFastest lap: George Russell (Mercedes) – 1:20.305 (lap 55)Source: Notes – Includes one point for fastest lap.

Championship standings after the race

Drivers' Championship standings Driver Points1 Max Verstappen2652 Lando Norris1893 Charles Leclerc1624 Carlos Sainz Jr.1545 Oscar Piastri149Source:

Constructors' Championship standings Constructor Points1 Red Bull Racing-Honda RBPT389 12 McLaren-Mercedes338 13 Ferrari3224 Mercedes241569Source:

Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.

See also 2024 Budapest Formula 2 round 2024 Budapest Formula 3 round

References

External links