Round 14 of 24 took us to the Hungaroring, on the outskirts of Budapest, Hungary. One of the trickier tracks on the calendar, famed for its difficulty to overtake, is often compared to a karting circuit thanks to its tightly twisting layout. Dry skies and relatively steady weather conditions offered a clean slate for a weekend ripe for a few surprises.
Practice
Ollie hit the ground running in Friday’s first practice session, finishing an impressive P6 and laying down a strong marker for the weekend ahead. In FP2, a close call with George Russell’s Mercedes through Turn 9 added some heat to an otherwise smooth session.
Ollie ended up in P11 in both FP2 and FP3, right in the thick of the midfield battle, finishing the practice sessions ahead of Max Verstappen on Saturday morning.
Qualifying,
On Saturday afternoon, Ollie delivered another solid result. In the first Qualifying stint, Ollie pulled himself clear of the danger zone with a strong final lap in the closing moments of the session to reach Q2.
He went on to qualify P12, ahead of seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton. Ollie was then promoted to P11 on the grid after Kimi Antonelli, a familiar face from his Prema days, had a lap time deleted for exceeding track limits.
The Race
With four P11 finishes in a row, fans were left wondering if Hungary could be the race where Ollie broke back into the points.
Starting on medium compound tyres, Ollie gained ground early on and broke into the top ten in the opening laps. As strategies began to play out and the option of a one-stop race emerged for more drivers, Ollie held his ground until Lap 32, when he pitted for Hard tyres and rejoined at the back of the pack.
By Lap 42, Ollie was in P16 as others made their stops, looking strong for another late surge as his tyres came to temperature. However, just a few laps later, things took an unfortunate turn. Radioing that the car felt ‘broken’, Ollie was told he had significant rear floor damage. The team made the call to retire the car after 48 laps, making it Ollie’s second DNF of the season.
Looking Ahead
With the car showing bursts of decent pace, the summer break is coming at a good time to reset, recharge and refocus, to put the pieces together in a way that means Ollie can finish back in the points when the season restarts. The next race is at the end of August, when the season returns for the Dutch Grand Prix.
Inspire
All in