One week prior to the grand prix the deeply saddening news of former F1 driver Jules Bianchi’s death rocked the sport, and it has been in mourning ever since.
Emotions peaked on Tuesday (July 27) at Jules’ funeral, attended by a swathe of drivers, team personnel, and other Formula One figures past and present, but the quiet persisted well into the race weekend.
The paddock went about its business as per usual, but it was undoubtedly subdued as it did so. Problem-riddled practices, a stonking Lewis Hamilton qualifying lap and the promise of a mouth-watering battle on Sunday (July 26) certainly kept spirits high, but still a certain shadow floated just below the surface.
But there was no staring at shoes or awkward shuffling of feet about the place; rather it was a mood of introspection that clung close to all those who walked through the circuit.
For an environment so ordinarily filled with competitiveness and aggression, with brutal rivalry and uncompromising gamesmanship, there was something overwhelmingly beautiful about the pre-race minute’s silence to Jules.
With team principals present, the drivers linked arms, visibly emotional, with members of the Bianchi family to form a circle around their helmets. In the middle was Jules’ – they were racing with him this weekend. He was gone, but not forgotten.
It was as human a moment as one is ever likely to see in Formula One. Even Bernie Ecclestone, the sport’s unflappable ringleader, took a moment to reflect as he stood on his own on the grid, perhaps considering the return of death, the sport’s oldest foe, to once again take one of his flock, as he had personally known it to do for so many years.
One could not hope for a better grand prix to pay tribute to a racing driver like Jules. There was action up and down the field, and emerging victoriously from the fray was Ferrari, the team that guided him through his F1 rookie months with the intention of signing him perhaps as soon as next year.
“Merci, Jules. Cette victoire est pour vous,” said race winner Sebastian Vettel over team radio. “This victory is for you.”
The podium celebrations were poignant, and though every driver who raced today will have admitted that they raced with Jules in their minds, Daniel Ricciardo appeared in equal parts proud to dedicate his podium place to Jules’ memory and upset not to have been able to win in his name.
Ricciardo credits Jules as amongst the first friends he made upon moving to Europe to pursue his Formula One dream. They were mates as teenagers, as Ricciardo’s touching Twitter tribute alluded to after the world heard the terrible news
“This race was for Jules,” he said afterwards. “I left everything on the track. Whether some competitors like it or not, that’s how I wanted to do it and that’s how I’ll always do it – and watching Jules grow up, that was how he did it.
“I drove inspired today and I’m happy to be standing up here. It’s been an emotional week. This one’s for him.”
On the podium, as the drivers clutched their trophies and signalled to the sky, there was a sense after the race that a page had been turned. The memory of Jules will rightfully stay with Formula One forever, but just as the racing couldn’t be halted, life too must go on.
“I’ll never forget you and the good times we had,” read Ricciardo’s message, and with Formula One heading into the midseason break with two exciting races under its belt and a renewed feeling of connectedness amongst its ranks, it started doing that most difficult thing: it took strength from the good times, and it started to heal.
The 2015 Hungarian Grand Prix was a beautiful weekend, and it was the power of one driver that brought the sport together for a moment, however brief, to remember its humanity. That in itself is the mark of the man.