So finally finished watching the 2nd half of the race after having to leave at Lap 38 before going to work. Boy am I glad I resisted the urge to spoil the results today.
Ocon drove a phenomenal race after cleanly and calmly escaping the first lap chaos. He, in combination with good calls from the Alpine pit wall and driving from Fernando, put in a solid performance and were able to fend off a charging Vettel for most of the race. While Hungary is known for being a tough place to pass, it was still an amazing race for him, espescially after a tough last few races.
Seb also drove a solid race today, and I think could've gotten past Ocon with a few more laps. Still, an on-paper P2 from him is as good as a victory for him and Aston Martin. All Aston has to do is keep this momentum, and remember how to count correctly, and they're sure to get solid results sooner rather than later.
While admittedly a bit frustrating that all of his competitors were removed from the race, it's hard to take away anything from the performance of Lewis, even with a bad strategy call from his team. Lewis put down another trademark hard-charge through the field, and probably would've won if it weren't for Fernando. Only 6 points separate Lewis and Max, so this championship is far from over.
Sainz was on point on the tactics side today, and put in what I feel like was one of his best overall races of his career. He was able to maintain good pace while being aware of Lewis and making good tactical calls to his pit box. I would've loved for him to get a (natural) podium today, but there was no way he could've held off Hamilton with twice-as-old tires.
Fernando's battle against Lewis was just so much fun to watch, even on this track which presents few places to fight for passes. Two legends duking it out hard even with a major difference in car performance. Definitely my driver of the day.
And of course, I'm beyond stoked that Williams not only got points this year, but earned a double-points finish mostly on merit. While 6 cars being taken out helps, both Russell and Latifi were able to drive fast enough to keep pace with the mid-field and not immediately fall back down into the bottom half. Latifi in particular drove a very good race, and was able to keep pace in much better form than I think anyone expected. It's a shame that his first points finish (ahead of George no less) will more than likely fall under the radar over time. He's definitely not the fastest driver to sit in an F1 car, but I've always felt that he's not a total waste of space like so many pay drivers before him.
Biggest losers were definitely Ricciardo and Verstappen. It just hurts to see Danny having such a bad time with the McLaren, especially after putting in a solid performance in Silverstone 2 weeks ago. Fingers are crossed that the new regs will let Ricciardo bounce back. While Verstappen was able to salvage a point from the race, the car was just so slow and so unwieldy for him. I think it would've been better if Red Bull retired the car honestly rather than stress out already-damaged materials.
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