Mercedes-AMG’s Lewis Hamilton led the Silver arrows to another Formula 1 World Championship victory at the Hungarian Grand Prix, leaving Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel to take second place. Sebastian Vettel had a run of bad luck surviving late in the race contact with Valtteri Bottas. For Hamilton, however, it was a comfortable win from pole position with everything seeming to go exactly the way he wanted it. In the back, the damp track and desperation for points among the pack peaking the entertainment was on! Vettel’s incident with Bottas, took place in the last stages as the Ferrari driver was passed with just five laps remaining. Vettel clawed back for his place with an audacious pass resulting in contact with Bottas who then slumped to fifth place as Kimi Raikkonen stole the final place on the podium.
Starting Fourth, Vettel opted to start the race on Soft Compound options and got a jump on Ferrari team Raikkonen on the opening lap. Using the early pace Vettel then went on the hunt for the two Silver Arrows that were leading the pack. The two Silver Arrows had opted for ultra soft tyres straight off the bat and were milking the grip. As the race went on, Hamilton managed to pull ahead of Bottas, with a healthy gap by the end of Lap 25 when he pulled into the pits. Vettel then seized the vacant lead probably attempting to play on the life of his soft option tyres before pitting late for Ultrasoft.
There was no doubt that Vettel had the pace matching both the Mercedes drivers, giving Ferrari a brief whiff of victory. It seemed apparent that this strategy would pay off if Vette was to pit and get out in second place, he could easily put the fresh Ultra Softs to use and catch Hamilton before the race was up. The tight damp Hungaroring had still it’s hand to play, as traffic hindered Vettel’s blast costing him four seconds ahead of his Lap 39 pit stop. Then it all went downhill as the Ferrari pit crew stumbled with Vettel’s front-left tyre, meaning that when he finally exited the pits, Bottas had already managed to intercede in second place with Hamilton 10 second adrift, He went on to take his fifth win of the season and 67th of his Formula One career unchallenged. The brief incident between Vettel and Bottas saw Vettel scramble back to second place ahead of Raikkonen. Bottas in the meanwhile fought another losing battle again Daniel Ricciardo who took fourth place relegating Bottas to fifth.
Pierre Gasly, drove a rather uneventful race to finish in sixth place for Torro Rosso, while Kevin Magnussen finished in seventh place for Haas, 13 seconds behind Gasly. Fernando Alonso and Mclaren also found themselves at the point after a good first outing, managing to take the 8th position. Sainz recovered from a difficult first lap to finish ninth for Renault ahead of Romain Grosjean, who rounded out the points in the second Haas.
Meanwhile, this race will mean a one week halt for the season as it will return in four weeks to the Belgian Grand Prix at Spa-Francorchamps.
Image: Crash.net
