The Hungarian Grand Prix has witnessed first time F1 winners before. There was Damon Hill in 1993 with Williams, Fernando Alonso in 2003 with Renault, Jenson Button in 2006 with Honda, Heikki Kovalainen in 2008 with McLaren, and Esteban Ocon in 2021 with Alpine.
Could McLaren’s Oscar Piastri be the next man to claim his inaugural spoils at the Hungaroring?
The 23-year-old, from Melbourne, is in his second season and has so far claimed three second places and a sprint-race victory.
He finished the Austrian Grand Prix three weeks ago less than two seconds behind winner George Russell. And if he’d switched his slick tyres for inters a lap earlier at Silverstone he might have denied Lewis Hamilton that fairytale British Grand Prix result.
So, it’s coming, but will it be delivered in Budapest? McLaren has arguably the fastest car on the grid and Piastri, despite his relative inexperience compared with the likes of championship-leader Max Verstappen and team-mate Lando Norris, has already proven the complete package.
He is unflappable and incredibly quick. The weakness, thus far, has been team strategy.
‘We’ve come close a couple of times, so from a performance and driving point of view, we’re doing the right things,’ says the Australian, who is managed by former racer turned Channel 4 pundit Mark Webber.
‘But it’s a tight battle. There are four teams involved (Red Bull, Mercedes, Ferrari and McLaren). It’s not easy. We’re competing against teams that have been in this position for an incredibly long time. We’ve analysed [Silverstone] and worked out where we could have gone better. We’ve identified what went wrong. The opportunities are always very tough to come by but there have been times when we’ve really taken advantage of them.’
He may only have made 34 race starts but you can feel the sense of frustration. Piastri says he balances that by remembering how much harder everything was last year when McLaren were fighting for points finishes not podiums. ‘Of course, we can’t live off that forever and we need to appreciate we’re in a different position now. Some of the circumstances have been outside our control. So we mustn’t get caught up in things that are out of our control and focus on what we need to improve for ourselves.’
Here in Hungary, Piastri will be hoping for an opportunity like the one Ocon had. Ahead of this weekend’s race, Esteban, who had specified in his contract that he could keep his machinery should he win, took delivery of the A521 Alpine car with which he triumphed three years ago; an action-packed race where he was under attack from Aston Martin’s Sebastian Vettel almost throughout.
The car has taken pride of place in his dad’s garage in Evreux, Normandy, where the Ocons once sold their home and garage business to fund his early racing career. ‘It’s now a past-generation car, it’s like a historic car now, which is quite crazy!’ said Esteban.
‘But the emotions that we went through – my parents and all the people I love were there [in Hungary], and to see it coming in the garage was more than special.’
Ocon is expected to sign for the Haas team next season, having been given his P45 by Alpine following his shunt with team-mate Pierre Gasly in Monaco. Kevin Magnussen announced he will be leaving the American-owned team for a destination unknown, along with the Audi-bound Nico Hulkenburg, so there’s a spare seat next to rookie Ollie Bearman for 2025.
Alpine, meanwhile, have ‘three good options’ for replacing Ocon next year, according to Gasly.
Those appear to be Carlos Sainz Jr, Valtteri Bottas or, if his Red Bull contract is torn up, Sergio Perez.
‘At the end of the day, it’s not up to me,’ says Gasly. ‘I welcome the fastest guy out there. We all know who it is.’
His inference was that it is Sainz.
Serg in form badly needed
Following Sergio Perez’s poor form in recent months there are mounting rumours of him being replaced for the second half of 2024 if the Mexican can’t rediscover his mojo in the next two races. Hungary, and Belgium next week, will be crucial to his future.
In June, Red Bull extended Perez’s contract through to the end of 2026 in the hope this security would settle him down. It hasn’t worked. His best finish in the last two-and-a-half months has been seventh.
He failed to get into Q3 at Imola and didn’t even graduate from Q1 in Monaco, Montreal and Silverstone.
If he is replaced, it’s likely first dibs will go to Liam Lawson, the Kiwi who filled in for the injured Daniel Ricciardo at Alpha Tauri for five races last year. However, Yuki Tsunoda says it would be odd for Lawson to get the call over him, given his greater experience and results at the sister squad.
He said: ‘If they choose Liam, that would be weird. Liam did a really good job on the sim but I think it’s more than that.’
It’s thought team principal Christian Horner has concerns over Tsunoda coping with the pressure that comes from sharing a garage with Max Verstappen – Pierre Gasly and Alex Albon both wilted under the weight of expectation. Mind you, there are no guarantees Lawson would fare better.
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