Hungarian Grand Prix: Driver Ratings

Formula 1 signed off for its summer break with yet another barnstorming race as Lewis Hamilton hunted down Max Verstappen to win a record-extending seventh Hungarian Grand Prix.

After the frustration of Germany, Hamilton was jubilant again, with his spectacular win quelling some growing talk that he could face a title challenge in the second portion of the season.

His nearest challenger, team-mate Valtteri Bottas, had a particularly miserable weekend.

Matt Scott has run the rule over all 20 drivers in action. Let us know if you agree, or not, with the scores on Facebook and Twitter!

Romain Grosjean (Qual: 9th - Race: DNF) 5/10

The sole retiree at the Hungaroring, Grosjean outqualified Kevin Magnussen once again using a Melbourne-spec car but he dropped pace badly in the race and was pulled in to the pits 21 laps from the end due to a water-pressure problem.

Robert Kubica (Qual: 20th - Race: 19th) 4/10

A weekend in which Williams' fightback began, but not in Kubica's car. He qualified an aeon down on George Russell and never made progress from the back of the grid.

Antonio Giovinazzi (Qual: 14th - Race: 18th) 4/10

The Italian was dropped to 17th on the grid for impeding Lance Stroll during Q1 and first-lap contact set him back even further on a track that is always difficult to make much progress on.

Lance Stroll (Qual 19th - Race: 17th) 4/10

Couldn't manage one of his special starts after a disrupted qualifying effort and then spent the entire race looking at the gearbox of Russell in the Williams ahead of him.

George Russell (Qual: 16th - Race: 16th) 8/10

Russell agonisingly missed out on a spot in Q2 by half a tenth, but sent his car around the Hungaroring a huge 1.3 seconds quicker than Kubica. If anyone doubted the Formula 2 champions' credentials, this was the weekend he proved them.

Daniil Kvyat (Qual: 13th - Race: 15th) 5/10

Got the better of team-mate Alex Albon in a brilliant fight through the first four turns, but Kvyat's race fell apart after that as an early pit-stop came back to bite when his tyres fell apart and he tumbled down the order.

Fantastic racing! 😃@ToroRosso put on a show in the #HungarianGP#F1 pic.twitter.com/xmZbHHwpUr

— Formula 1 (@F1) August 4, 2019

Daniel Ricciardo (Qual: 18th - Race: 14th) 4/10

Ricciardo qualified on the penultimate row, dropped to last place on the grid after taking a new power unit and saw attempts at a monstrously long opening stint only advance him as far as 14th. With Red Bull having been in the mix at four straight races, the Australian will be looking hard at 2021, as Renault appear to be going backwards.

Kevin Magnussen (Qual: 15th - Race: 13th) 5/10

K-Mag had his elbows out in a big way to keep hold of 14th place from Ricciardo and it was a shame that the testy scrap was not for a reward.

Nico Hulkenberg (Qual: 11th - Race: 12th) 5/10

The German battled a loss of power through much of the race, holding up a big train of cars in the process, although it did little to aid his hunt for points.

Sergio Perez (Qual: 17th - Race: 11th) 6/10

Perez made impressive progress at the start and also jumped more places with his pit-stop, running in 10th until Albon sprung up late on to poach the final point from him.

Alexander Albon (Qual: 12th - Race: 10th) 6/10

Albon had the superior strategy compared to his team-mate in the end, succeeding where Kvyat had earlier failed by launching a late assault on Perez to secure his fifth top-10 finish of the year.

Lando Norris (Qual: 7th - Race: 9th) 6/10

Norris was out-launched by teammate Carlos Sainz, otherwise he might have taken a greater share of the spoils as the Spaniard did. Having jumped Gasly off the line with his team-mate, he eventually fell back behind the Frenchman and succumbed to a resurging Valtteri Bottas late on.

Valtteri Bottas Qual: 2nd - Race: 8th) 3/10

Bottas began the race hoping to spend the summer break plotting a late title charge, but instead he may well be on the lookout for a new team after a ruinous race, in which he needed to impress Toto Wolff. Contact with Hamilton and Charles Leclerc on Lap 1 dropped him to last, and Mercedes' radio message that recovering P6 should have been "likely" proved incorrect.

A nightmare start to the #HungarianGP for Valtteri Bottas

He collided with his team mate, Lewis Hamilton, AND Charles Leclerc on Lap 1 😭#F1 🇭🇺 pic.twitter.com/9rvDTZwL84

— Formula 1 (@F1) August 4, 2019

Kimi Raikkonen (Qual: 10th - Race: 7th) 7/10

Continues to bank solid points regularly for Alfa and did so in Budapest thanks to a sharp start and the fierce defence late in the race, when Bottas had numerous laps to go at him on soft tyres. No surprise to see the veteran manage to add a few inches onto his machine.

Pierre Gasly (Qual: 6th - Race: 6th) 4/10

On the one hand, you would expect Pierre Gasly to finish sixth, but on the other this was another desperate outing for the Frenchman. Gasly qualified almost a second slower than Verstappen in Q3, and was then lapped by the Dutchman for the second time in four races, having dropped places at the start and struggled to make them back up on-track.

Carlos Sainz (Qual: 7th - Race: 5th) 8/10

The smooth operator strikes again! Sainz's start was so rapid that he was even having a look at taking on Ferrari in the first few corners. From there he had enough pace to hang onto his second P5 in a row, as Gasly's efforts fell short to leave just five points between them in the standings.

Charles Leclerc (Qual: 4th - Race: 4th) 6/10

Leclerc made a hot start, jumping into the top three as Bottas struggled through the first few corners. Leclerc drove a solid race from there on what was viewed as the optimum strategy but Ferrari were able to gamble with team-mate Sebastian Vettel, which paid off for the German as he snuck third place a few laps from the end.

Sebastian Vettel (Qual: 5th - Race: 3rd) 7/10

Vettel delivered another solid performance to back up last weekend's incredible comeback in Hockenheim. Cruising behind Leclerc, Ferrari put the German onto 'Plan C', namely running a chunky opening stint in order to fit softs for a charge at Leclerc in the later laps. Not long after Hamilton had made the winning move on Verstappen, Vettel did likewise on his team-mate. Any joy was tempered slightly by the fact that Ferrari finished over a minute off the pace of the winner.

Max Verstappen (Qual: 1st - Race: 2nd) 10/10

It's near impossible to find fault with Verstappen's race, given he made the perfect start from pole and had already held off intense pressure and a stern assault from Hamilton, which prompted Mercedes into gambling with the world champion. Having lost out on the win, Verstappen undid a fraction of the damage by setting fastest lap with new tyres of his own. A maiden pole position in grand prix number 93 sums up how much Verstappen has overperformed in his time in F1 so far, but he has had podium pace at the very least in four consecutive races now and the only shame is that 2019 will likely end before he can close the gap to Hamilton sufficiently.

Lewis Hamilton (Qual: 3rd - Race: 1st) 10/10

Starting third behind the two drivers closest to him in the standings, Hamilton might have feared the worst, but a seventh Hungarian GP win duly followed in exceptional circumstances. Hamilton's failed move around the outside of Turn 4 arguably said more about his hunger and desire than the shark-like pursuit of Verstappen in the final 20 laps after Mercedes had gambled on Hamilton being able to reel in Verstappen. If anyone had doubted it would work, perhaps the man himself included, they needn't as he sprung into life with 10 tours to go and made an easy move stick on Lap 67 of 70. Hamilton will holiday with a 62-point championship lead making every drink taste sweeter and every sunray feel that much warmer. Title number six is in the bag already.

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