“Today will be better than yesterday.”

Clearly, the way the 2021 Hungarian Grand Prix unfolded was not quite what Daniel Ricciardo had in mind when asked for his thoughts ahead of the race.

In fact, none of us had what transpired in mind. The opening exchanges of the grand prix looked more like a game of skittles at your local pub than the start of a Formula 1 race. Despite the best efforts of Lando Norris and Daniel off the line, which saw them gain multiple places, our fate was pretty much sealed after the first several hundred metres: one car too damaged to continue and the other, also damaged, dragged resolutely around the Hungaroring for 70 laps with no reward.

Unfortunately, that’s motor racing and the way it goes sometimes. Lady Luck wasn’t on our side at the weekend but you, our fans, most certainly were and here’s what you made of it all on social media…

Friday kicked off with a rather dapper looking dog:

But it wasn’t just our canine friends who were looking fly. We love these kicks...

We loved them so much we featured them on the McLaren App:

While some were getting sartorially creative, others were still trying to get their head around the MCL35M model masterclass from McLaren HomeFest.

Despite seeing thousands of fans at Silverstone a fortnight ago, the novelty of having fans back at the track still hadn’t worn off in Hungary. It was great to see you too @GirlWPinkHelmet, and many more of you at the Hungaroring...

As for those of you who couldn’t be with us at the track, don’t worry, we could still feel the love.

OK, we’ll admit, this might be a better place than the track to watch the action from:

It was tough times for fans during qualifying…

With Daniel missing out on a spot in Q3 by just 0.077s, the concerns weren’t entirely unfounded.

With Lando starting P6, and Daniel P11 with a free choice of starting tyre and a host of strategic possibilities, hopes were high for the race. 

In the first few hundred metres, things were looking promising; both Lando and Daniel leapt off the line, running as high as third and seventh respectively. But hopes were soon dashed when a game of, as Charles Leclerc put it, ‘bowling’ broke out at Turn One:

Despite @JonesJonesnige’s suggestion, no amount of duct tape and quick-glue could put Lando’s car back together again in time for the race restart. 

It brought an end to a record 15 consecutive points finishes for a McLaren driver.

Despite also being caught up in the Turn One melee and suffering substantial damage, Daniel was still in the race. 

Daniel plugged away at the wheel of his wounded car for the entire race in an effort to conjure a small miracle…

But it just wasn’t enough to finish in the points…

Unsurprisingly, the mood on social was fairly downbeat, as we suffered our first non-points score since the Russian Grand Prix in September last year: 

But the weekend’s result does little to tarnish a strong first half of the season for the team – an opening 11 rounds from which we can take plenty of heart. We can hold our heads up high and we’ll come back re-energised after the summer break when we’ll continue our fight in both championships. The Belgian Grand Prix is less than four weeks away but if the thought of more racing around the corner doesn’t cheer you up, our favourite post of the weekend will…

This is what it’s all about, folks. Keep smiling like Alice and see you at Spa!

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