'Gain before pain for Daniel in Budapest’

After an opportunistic start in the wet in Hungary, Daniel's last race before the mid-season break went south in a hurry through no fault of his own … 

Daniel's summation of the final race before the mid-season F1 break, last Sunday's Hungarian Grand Prix in Budapest? A pause, followed by a sigh … and you can see why. 

After the Hungaroring had been baked by a scorching summer sun all weekend, the 11th round of the Formula One season took an unexpected turn when rain hit the circuit just before the lights went out. Mix together a long run to the first corner and the first time anyone had done any wet-weather driving all weekend, and chaos was guaranteed. 

For Daniel, that was good news for a short time, but bad for a lot longer. 

With Valtteri Bottas (Mercedes) harpooning the back of Daniel's McLaren teammate Lando Norris and cars subsequently scattering everywhere, Daniel made it through the carbon fibre carnage to sit in second place as the cars set off for Turn 2, a huge gain from 11th on the grid. That joy was short-lived, though; as Lance Stroll (Aston Martin) sought to escape the melee, the Canadian speared onto the grass and into the side of Charles Leclerc's Ferrari, which pinballed into Daniel's McLaren and spun it 180 degrees, badly damaging the right-hand side of the car. 

"I saw a bit of chaos unfold in front of me, and I was in a clean bit of space and safe … and then, well you saw what happened next," Daniel says. 

"I watched Stroll's onboard afterwards, and it didn't even seem like he locked up, he just chose to go on the grass and take Charles and myself out. It was weird and obviously pretty bad. I was looking at the exit of the corner and I thought I was through it, and looking like I was probably going to get out of Turn 1 in second, so that was painful." 

For causing the collision, Stroll received a five-place grid penalty for the next Grand Prix, which Daniel felt was a small price to pay for a mistake that took out two rivals, Leclerc having to retire his broken Ferrari on the spot. 

"It's hard to say what penalty he should have got because nothing can justify ruining other drivers' races," Daniel muses. 

"A five-place grid penalty is something at least, but it doesn't make up for what happened. But it's the sport we're in and we know sometimes things can happen that are out of our control. It's just a shitty part of the sport, but it is what it is." 

The race was red-flagged to clean up the debris, and while Daniel could continue, he knew he was condemned to 70 laps of compromise around the twisty Hungaroring layout. 

"There was quite a bit of damage on the right side of the car, and with that, it affects the balance of the whole car," he explains. 

"It feels different when you turn left compared to when you turn right, and then you work your tyres harder and go through them quicker than you'd like … things get undone pretty quickly. Basically my race was all over from Turn 1, and maybe it would have been less painful if my race was properly done there and then." 

The best Daniel could have hoped for with a crippled car was to hang on for a points-paying finish, and as the race unfolded, he found himself under siege for 10th from former Red Bull teammate and world championship leader Max Verstappen, who was also an innocent victim from Bottas' earlier mistake. In a car carrying its own damage, Verstappen harassed Daniel from lap 34 to 60, finally squeezing past and dropping Daniel outside the points in 11th. 

Kimi Raikkonen (Alfa Romeo) demoted Daniel to 12th with three laps left, but Daniel was promoted back to 11th when Sebastian Vettel (Aston Martin), who finished second, was disqualified after the race. 

A madcap Grand Prix was won by Daniel's former teammate at Alpine (formerly Renault), Esteban Ocon, the Frenchman taking his maiden F1 victory. 

"Ocon had an opportunity that he made the most of and he had a really strong day, and he got to tick the box of one of his childhood dreams by winning," Daniel says. 

"I'm happy for him, and I'm happy that one of these more chaotic races provided an opportunity for someone different to win it. It was cool that in all the chaos, someone new got a chance to get something out of it." 

Hungary marked the halfway stage of the season, with Daniel sitting ninth in the drivers' standings with 50 points in his first season at McLaren – a tally he'd like to be much higher. 

"It's not been great, to say the least," he says of 2021 so far. 

"It's been a struggle at times, and I've put a lot of effort into the first half of the season. At the moment there's not a ton of reward to show for it, so it's time to not think about racing for a bit – I think everyone needs a reset and then we go again for the rest of the season." 

That resumption begins at one of the sport's most iconic circuits at the end of the month, the Belgian Grand Prix (August 29) at Spa-Francorchamps doubling as Daniel's 200th F1 start. 

"I always love Belgium and I think it always provides really good racing on a Sunday, so it's cool that the milestone race is there," he says of the Grand Prix that was the third of his seven career wins back in 2014. 

"It's an awesome track … so hopefully there's some redemption for me and some fun too."