Hungary: Penalty adds to Daniel's punishment in Budapest

A mid-race double-pass of two rivals was a masterstroke, but no tyre temperature and falling foul of the stewards ended the first half of 2022 on a frustrating note.

Race data
Hungary (Round 13 of 22), 31 July 2022
Hungaroring, 70 laps, 4.381km
Qualified: 9th
Finished: 15th
Laps per position: 3 laps (7th), 17 laps (8th), 12 laps (10th), 8 laps (11th), 4 laps (12th), 11 laps (13th), 13 laps (14th), 1 lap (16th)
Pit stops/tyres: Lap 15 (soft/medium), Lap 46 (medium/hard)
Fastest lap: 1:23.654 (17th, lap 63)
Points this event: 0
Points this season: 19 (12th in world championship)

Daniel's download
"I'm definitely ready for a break now, I'm not going to lie. It's been a pretty grim first half of the season, for sure. My energy levels are not too bad, it's more the grind where the results take a little bit of energy out of you. So looking forward to reset, properly switch off and come back for Spa.

"The soft tyre was actually pretty tough right from the start here – after a few laps it really fell off a cliff, so it wasn't particularly good. The medium I ran for the second stint, there were moments of it being competitive. The double pass on the two Alpines kept me excited! But then the hards for the last stint … it was pretty awful, just not enough temperature to get it going. I'd get into battles, then I'd get blue flags … I just never was able to get enough temp and energy into it.

"The incident with (Lance) Stroll – I heard he was out of the pits behind me on the softs so I didn't even intend on challenging him into Turn 2. I was just trying to get around the corner and knew he'd cruise around the outside, but I had no grip and just locked it, and slid up the track. I knew I'd get a penalty for that.

"One last thing, on Seb (Sebastian Vettel) announcing his retirement. I think it's the right time for him to hang it up, but it was still sad to hear even if you kind of expected it. His last world title was pretty much 10 years ago now, which is crazy how fast time goes. It was certainly a privilege being alongside him at Red Bull for that one year in 2014, and having him as my teammate made my career – in a nice way! I had such a strong season against him that year, that boosted my career and was positive for me. He was always a fair and decent guy to work with, and I learned from him. Good memories of that year, and I wish him well. He's grown into a pretty good human as well – I think he always was, but his competitiveness probably overshadowed that at times and people couldn't see it. He's let himself evolve and come out of his shell now, and I think he'll do some good things in years to come."

How Daniel's race unfolded
* Started ninth, finished first lap 11th after being passed by Verstappen/Red Bull, Perez/Red Bull and Magnussen/Haas, but passing Bottas/Alfa Romeo.
* Re-passed Magnussen on lap 6, up to 10th.
* Pitted on lap 15, re-joined in 16th place.
* Passed Alonso/Alpine and Ocon/Alpine in one move at Turn 3 on lap 24 to move up to 10th.
* Moved up to eighth and then pitted on lap 46, dropped to 11th.
* Made contact with Stroll/Aston Martin at Turn 2, dropped to 12th on lap 49. Issued five-second time penalty for incident.
* Overtaken by Vettel/Aston Martin on lap 51, demoted to 13th.
* Passed by Gasly/AlphaTauri on lap 55, fell to 14th.
* Up to 13th when Bottas retired on lap 65.
* Crossed the line after 69 laps in 13th place. Classified 15th after five-second penalty, one lap behind race-winner Verstappen, 3.9secs behind Schumacher/Haas in 14th.

Next race
Round 14: Belgium (Spa-Francorchamps), 28 August
Last race (2021): qualified 4th, finished 4th
Career: 11 races, 80 points, 1 win, 3 podiums, 1 fastest lap, 7 points finishes, 3 DNFs
Best finish: 1st (2014)
Belgium highlights: Took his third F1 win in Belgium in 2014 for Red Bull Racing, leading for 36 of the final 37 laps of the race. Recorded consecutive podiums in 2016 and 2017, and set the fastest race lap in 2020 for Renault. Has started and finished fourth the past two years; the 2021 race was delayed by rain and eventually called off after one lap, the shortest Grand Prix of Daniel's career! Has made Q3 on his past eight appearances at Spa.