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.
CLOCK: Great drama when Verstappen collides with Red Bull on the way to the grid ahead of the Hungarian GP
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.
|
one Luis Hamilton HAM Mercedes |
1: 36: 12.473 | 26 |
|
two Max Verstappen SEE Red bull racing |
+ 8.702s | 18 years |
|
3 Valtteri Bottas BOT Mercedes |
+ 9,452s | fifteen |
|
4 4 spear Walk STR Racing point |
+ 57.579s | 12 |
|
5 5 Alexander Albon SUNRISE Red bull racing |
+ 78.316s | 10 |
HOW IT HAPPENED
The rain had fallen on the Hungaroring in the hours leading up to the race. And although that rain had subsided in the minutes leading up to the start of the race, it left a treacherously slippery track. Max Verstappen figured that out the hard way, as he slipped off the circuit toward Turn 12 barriers, as he headed for the net.
It was certainly not the Dutchman’s best hour, but clever work from his mechanic meant Verstappen was able to start without penalties on the grid. Eighteen of the 20 drivers started the race on intermediate tires, but the two Haas cars skillfully boxed at the end of the formation lap to deal with the medium compound stains by detecting that the track was drying up. A smart move as it would turn out …
Out of the line, the polesitter Hamilton sweetly ran away, but Bottas next to him made an initial move, stopped and then slowly moved out of the line, falling from P2 to P6 (but avoiding any penalties), while Perez was another faller, sliding from P4 to P7
Verstappen left his pre-race embarrassment behind to move up to P3 behind Hamilton and Lance Stroll, while the Ferraris were strong at first as well, Vettel and Leclerc each up one position at P4 and P5. At the back of the grid, meanwhile, Kimi Raikkonen was deemed to be out of position on the grid and received a five-second penalty.
Hungarian GP: watch the start of the 2020 F1 race
The intelligence of Haas’ switch to slicks was demonstrated on lap 4 when leader Hamilton, having opened an almost 8-second lead, led a series of pit stops as the entire field switched to slippery rubber, with Vettel injured by the influx of drivers into the pit lane as he was forced to remain in his pits for 9.2 seconds as traffic passed.
Meanwhile, Carlos Sainz tagged Nicholas Latifi’s Williams when the Canadian was released from his pit on the Sainz road, the McLaren punctured Latifi’s tire and led him to turn at Turn 1.
With Verstappen passing Stroll at the pit stops, by the time the field had settled on lap 5 of 70, it was Hamilton from Verstappen, Magnussen and Grosjean, with Stroll, Leclerc and Bottas behind. Bottas passed Leclerc on Lap 10, two laps after a failed attempt that saw him run wide at Turn 2, while Stroll and Bottas cleared the Haases to sit third and fourth.
On lap 18, Leclerc was struggling to keep up in his soft “junk”, and after being quickly overtaken by Albon and his teammate Vettel, he decided to ignore the advice about the expected rain from the Ferrari pit wall, which It finally failed to show, despite some menacing black clouds looming over the track, again facing difficulties on lap 21 and emerging P15 behind Lando Norris’s McLaren, which had fallen into order both at the start and after get stuck in traffic during your pit stop.
Hungarian GP: Latifi spins with a puncture after pit contact
Lap 38 of 70, and with the top four making his second stops, Hamilton enjoyed a 21s lead over Verstappen, with Bottas behind at P3, after jumping fourth place Lance Stroll at the pit stops and closing quickly at Verstappen .
With the Finn on a second drift from Verstappen, Mercedes rolled the dice, bringing Bottas on hard tires with 20 laps and preparing a possible replay of the strategy that gave Hamilton the victory over the Red Bull driver last year, with Bottas instructed the lap in the 1m 18s to get second place.
Ultimately, however, the Finn simply ran out of laps, and when Hamilton made a stop four laps to go to switch to softs before scoring the fastest lap of the race on his final tour, the final victory, Verstappen he simply stopped in the second Mercedes behind him.
Considering that he had been buried in the wall of turn 12 half an hour before the start of the race, Verstappen was a big change, describing second place as “a victory”.
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Hungarian GP: Vettel’s Ferrari is trapped in the pit box
As impressive as it was, however, it was Lewis Hamilton who once again proved his dominance in the class-leading Mercedes W11 by tying with Michael Schumacher for the most wins in one place, while his number one win. 86 places him within five of Schumacher’s record of 91 wins.
The loss of the bonus point for the fastest lap to Hamilton, meanwhile, added to his teammate Bottas’ discouragement after a “bad race” from the Finn, in his own words, when Hamilton took the lead in the championship. pilots for the first time. time this year.
Behind the podium attendees, Stroll would have had mixed feelings about his P4, as he finished almost a minute below Hamilton, never showing the pace to agree with Verstappen, whom he had comfortably outperformed in qualifying.
A second major Red Bull recovery saw Alex Albon take fifth place (after starting 13th) thanks to strong pressure from Vettel in the closing laps, although that position was in jeopardy after the race as stewards called Red Bull to explain an alleged drying of Albon’s pit box on the grill.
READ MORE: Albon Faces Possible Penalty When Red Bull Is Summoned By Stewards For Alleged Grid Slot Drying
Hungarian GP: Hamilton crosses the line to claim the Hungaroring’s eighth victory
Vettel’s strong career saw him do enough to finish sixth, the best end of the year for the German, in the second Racing Point of Sergio Pérez, who finished a day a little disappointing for his team by finishing seventh, ahead of the Renault de Daniel Ricciardo. in eighth
Meanwhile, that soft work by Haas on the formation lap paid dividends for Kevin Magnussen when the Danish withheld pressure from Carlos Sainz’s McLaren to finish P9, while Haas was off the mark in 2020, with Sainz finishing P10, having passed the future Leclerc, a teammate with 10 laps to go, the Monegasque finished 11th after struggling with tires throughout the race.
Unfortunately for Williams, the point potential suggested by his double appearance in Q2 on Saturday did not materialize as they ended in P18 and P19 (AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly pulled out with a problem with the new power unit installed before the race ) with Latifi behind George Russell, having turned only on lap 43 for good measure.
The key quote
“Oddly enough, [I’m] still pushing, obviously particularly for the fastest lap at the end.
“While I was alone for the race it was a different kind of challenge. We had a great rhythm, but it couldn’t have been without these guys who were working. We made great pit stops, a great strategy and right at the end there because I was handling those means it was perfect to get on the softs and get the fastest lap.
“I definitely feel the first round [In Austria] There were multiple different shots that I was perhaps not ready for, but I refocused, which I do on every run. I need to try to continue like this. ” – Lewis Hamilton
Whats Next?
With the first of the 2020 triple headers now done and dusted off, Formula 1 will meet again at Silverstone for the British Grand Prix from July 31 to August 2, followed a week later by the 1970 Grand Prix. anniversary on the same track. Can anyone prevent six-time Silverstone winner Lewis Hamilton from adding a couple more wins on the Northamptonshire track to his account?
