Carnage at the first corner of the Hungarian Grand Prix sent five cars out and drivers’ championship leader Max Verstappen down through the field.
Key points:
- Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton were both outside the top 10 after the wildest start to a grand prix this year
- Valtteri Bottas crashed into Lando Norris, starting a chain reaction taking out five cars
- Lewis Hamilton was the only car not to re-start from the pit lane, as every car behind him changed their tyres
But a red flag lead to Lewis Hamilton being the only car to re-start the race on the track with every other in the pit lane.
With rain falling onto a slippery track Mercedes driver Valtteri Bottas, who started second on the grid, ran into the rear of McLaren’s Lando Norris which led to a chain reaction leaving debris strewn all over the track.
Norris was sent into Red Bull’s Verstappen, while Bottas’s broken car rammed into the side of the other Red Bull of Sergio Perez.
The series of crashes led to Bottas, Norris and Perez being taken out of the race, while the carnage continued behind them.
Aston Martin driver Lance Stroll was also travelling too fast into the first corner and tried a move up the inside before slamming into the Ferrari of Charles Leclerc, which ended both their races.
The shunt on Leclerc sent him into the side of Australia’s Daniel Ricciardo, who was on the verge of climbing into the top three.
After two laps behind the safety car the race was stopped to clear the wreckage from the track.
Verstappen came into the pits before the race was stopped, but then confirmed he had lost his right barge board.
Hamilton all alone for the re-start as every car pits
Sky Sports UK via Kayo
)The remaining 15 cars did another formation lap before the race re-started, but as Hamilton took his grid slot, every car behind him pitted to get off the intermediate tyres.
Lewis Hamilton re-started by himself, with the rest of the field coming out of the pit lane.
On a drying track, Hamilton had no choice but to pit once he had completed the lap to put on the slick tyres, and came out several seconds behind at the back of the field.
A furious Hamilton told his team not to fail him again in the race, as he tried to climb up the field from 14th.
However, Hamilton’s championship rival was compromised with a damaged car and just ahead in 11th.
