Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton enjoyed an unmatched race to his eighth Hungarian Grand Prix victory, beating Max Verstappen’s Red Bull as he tied Michael Schumacher’s record for the most wins in one place.
Starting from pole, Hamilton quickly gained a comfortable lead in the opening laps, before controlling his pace over his rivals in the Hungaroring match, and finally took the flag 8.7s ahead of Verstappen to seal his third consecutive victory in this race. . .
Verstappen himself overcame a poor rating that saw him start P7, and then an embarrassing collision against the wall of turn 12 in his lap that required some urgent repairs, to claim P2, the Dutchman delayed an attack from third place Valtteri Bottas at Las final stages of the race.
Racing Point’s Lance Stroll was unable to convert his position on the P3 grid to the team’s first podium of the year when he came home in a distant quarter. A late pass from Red Bull’s Alex Albon in Sebastian Vettel’s Ferrari gave Albon, who started 13th, P5, although Red Bull was called up to the stewards after the race for allegedly drying up Albon’s grid spot before the start of the race.
Vettel held Sergio Pérez’s second racing point in the closing laps of the race, as the Mexican finished seventh, having started fourth, while Renault’s Daniel Ricciardo made a monstrous 42-lap season in mediums work for take the eighth.
With the track greasy before the start of the race, but the rain stopped falling, a Haas-inspired strategy helped Kevin Magnussen take the team’s first points of the year, with Magnussen and Romain Grosjean facing spots at the end of the lap of Training as his rivals started with intermediates on the drying track, and the Dane finally took P9 after a good run.
Carlos Sainz of McLaren completed the top 10, thanks to a pass at the end of the race in the Ferrari of Charles Leclerc, who finished 11th.
More to follow …
