Valtteri Bottas, Lance Stroll trigger huge pile-up at Hungarian GP

Valtteri Bottas and Lance Stroll were both given five-place grid penalties for the next race for causing a multiple car pile-up on the opening lap of the Hungarian Grand Prix.

The race started in wet conditions, with drivers on the intermediate tyre. Lewis Hamilton led comfortably away from pole position but a sluggish start from his teammate Valtteri Bottas in second position saw the second Mercedes drops to fifth on the run down to Turn 1.

Bottas then appeared to misjudge the lack of grip at Turn 1 and slid into the back of McLaren’s Lando Norris, who then in turn was a passenger as his car careered into Verstappen. By this point Bottas was completely out of control and took out Sergio Perez as well.

Further back, Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll tried to avoid the chaos by going straight across the corner at Turn 1, but ended up hitting Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, who in turn spun Daniel Ricciardo’s McLaren.

Bottas and Stroll’s cars were both terminally damaged, while Leclerc and Perez were also unable to continue.

Bottas and Stroll were both found wholly to blame for their parts in the crash and wil drop five places from wherever they qualify at the Belgian Grand Prix at the end of August.

Both drivers were given two penalty points on their superlicence. Drivers get an automatic one race ban if they ever accumulate 12 over a rolling 12-month period.

In the current period, Bottas has four points, while Stroll now has six.