F1MATHS: Who was the quickest off the line at the Hungaroring?

Although the Hungarian Grand Prix is done and dusted, F1Technical's senior writer Balazs Szabo takes a look at the Hungaroring round to analyse how drivers performed at the start of the Mogyoród race.

McLaren looked utterly dominant across the practice sessions, but a sudden change to the weather conditions meant that they were unexpectedly challenged by several rivals.

In the end, Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc got the better of Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris, but a second and third spot on the grid were still strong starting places for the Woking-based outfit.

At the start, Piastri held on to second place, but Norris fell behind the Mercedes of George Russell and the Aston Martin of Fernando Alonso.

With a one-stop strategy for Norris and fading pace for Leclerc, the McLaren pair worked its way up into the lead. The closing stages saw Piastri close in on his team-mate on his fresher tyres, and the Australian mounted several attacks, Norris held on to secure a one-two for the British outfit.

Considering the first phase of the start, Williams driver Carlos Sainz was the quickest, accelerating from 0 to 100kph in 2.9 seconds, whilst the other two drivers, who started on the soft compound, Aleaxander Albon and Nico Hulkenberg took 3.0 and 3.1 seconds, respectively, to reach 100kph.

The majority of the drivers - 65 per cent of the field - opted for the mediums for the start, and they required 3.1 or 3.2 seconds to accelerate up to 100kph.

Two drivers - Lewis Hamilton and Pierre Gasly - were eager to pursue an offset strategy to elongate the opening stint, and therefore they opted for Pirelli's hard tyres. They were clearly handicapped at the start, with both of them requiring 3.3 seconds off the line to accelerate their cars up to 100kph.

The Ferrari driver paid a big price for his choice as he lost two places at the start, dropping behind Sainz and his Mercedes replacement Andrea Kimi Antonelli, which heavily compromised his chances to deliver a sensational recovery drive that he was able to achieve at Spa-Francorchamps.

Interestingly, the tyre choices for the start had less effect on the second phase of the acceleration procedure. However, George Russell was heavily compromised by Lando Norris when accelerating from 100 to 200 kph, and as he needed to reduce the throttle application, he needed around two seconds more than his rivals to reach 200 kph.