Lewis Hamilton has won the 2020 Hungarian Grand Prix creating a new piece of history for the sport. With his eighth win at the Hungaroring, Hamilton now equals Michael Schumacher’s record of most wins at the same track which the legendary German driver holds at the Circuit de Nevers Magny-Cours in France. Hamilton dominated the race on the moist track to win the race ahead of Max Verstappen of Red Bull Racing. Hamilton’s Mercedes team-mate Valtteri Bottas finished in third to claim the final step of the podium.
The drama at the Hungaroring began even before the race started as Max Verstappen crashed his Red Bull on his way to the grid. But the Red Bull team managed to repair the car in time before the start of the race. Verstappen lost grip on the damp track from the rain before. The drying track meant that all drivers started the formation laps on the intermediate tyres.
When the lights went out, Hamilton got a great start into turn one. Lance Stroll also got a decent start in the Racing point and was up to second with Verstappen starting from seventh on the grid to climb up to third. The two Ferraris found themselves in between him and Bottas who nearly had a jump start, but was not penalised.
By lap three and four, nearly all drivers dived into the pits for dry tyres as the drying track began to evolve. But with the threat of incoming rain, threw some uncertainty in team strategies.
After the pitstops, Hamilton was still in the lead with Verstappen behind him. But Hamilton’s pace could not be matched by anyone in the race as by the end of the first lap itself, Hamilton was in a class of his own having a healthy lead of three-seconds which he began to extend as the race went on.
Bottas managed to make his way past the pack and was sitting comfortably behind Verstappen in third but was quite a fair distance away. Bottas tried to throw everything he had to close in the gap to the rudimentarily rebuilt Red Bull, but Verstappen managed to keep the Finn’s Mercedes at bay till the end.
Near the end of the race, Hamilton had built a healthy gap of over 25 seconds that allowed him to pit for new tyres to claim the extra point for the fastest lap of the race, and still be ahead Verstappen.
Hamilton broke the track record and went on to claim his win for the eighth time at the Hungaroring and also break Schumacher’s record. Verstappen managed to hold his position in second ahead of Bottas who finished third.
In fourth place was Stroll in the Racing Point. Alex Albon in the second Red Bull finished fifth but has been summoned by the stewards after the race for a possible infringement on the starting grid that could disqualify. Sebastian Vettel was the fastest of the two Ferrari’s finishing sixth ahead of Sergio Perez, Daniel Ricciardo, Kevin Magnussen and Carlos Sainz who make up the top-10 finishers claiming championship points.