Lewis Hamilton also claimed victory in Sunday’s race, with sixth place for Sebastian Vettel, the best Ferrari he could muster.
Teammate Charles Leclerc finished in 11th place.
As expected, Leclerc was hit by the flying Hamilton, but in a worrying sign for Ferrari, so was his teammate Vettel.
Ferrari described the humiliation as “painful” and called his current situation “unacceptable”, and commentators also considered the team’s struggles.
“That is a very significant moment,” said Martin Brundle of Sky F1 after watching Hamilton beat four-time world champion Vettel.
Ferrari officials were devastated that their two cars overlapped and their team boss was left looking for answers after the race.
“An extremely disappointing Sunday and the result is very difficult to swallow,” said team boss Mattia Binotto.
“In qualifying, we had made the most of the car as it is right now, but in the race that was not the case. Being lapped is very painful for us and our fans. “
Binotto was particularly unhappy with the new aerodynamic package for his vehicles, which Ferrari has accelerated for this season.
“Now we are coming home after this long journey and we have to try our best to improve as much as possible in each area,” he explained after race three.
“Everyone will have to analyze their work and have the courage to change course if necessary, because the current dynamic is unacceptable. There is no other solution to solve this situation. “
Vettel admitted after the race that he was not surprised to see Hamilton defeat him, in another sign of concern for Ferrari.
“It was already clear that he would scold us before the race,” he told Sky F1. “It was not a surprise,” said the German.
“I think today is probably where we could end, possibly fifth or sixth, but probably not higher.”
Lewis Hamilton celebrates his victory at the Hungarian GP. Pic: Getty
Hamilton won the race from pole when Mercedes teammate Valtteri Bottas made a mess and fell from second to sixth, before crossing the finish line in third place.
Max Verstappen shot from the seventh to the third after his mechanics somehow managed to fix the car in about 15 minutes after he slipped onto the barriers in still wet conditions while heading to the grid.
Finally sealed a second place.
Australian Daniel Ricciardo was eighth in his Renault after starting the race from 11th on the grid.
Tire strategies play an important role
On a fast-drying track, drivers quickly entered the pits to trade in their intermediate tires for dry-weather stains.
Once all the top drivers had new tires, Hamilton stayed ahead of Verstappen, while Vettel lost precious seconds when he couldn’t get out of the pits due to traffic.
Also still in the mix were Haas drivers Kevin Magnussen and Romain Grosjean, who switched from wet to dizzy from the start.
Leclerc was the only one on soft tires to degrade faster and was finally overtaken by Red Bull’s Alex Albon, who fought impressively from 13th on the grid, and Vettel, uneventfully between the two Ferrari drivers this time after that Leclerc got into Vettel a week ago.
It was a Ferrari gamble as more rain was forecast, but that eventually never materialized and a second round of pit stops occurred around the middle of the 70-lap race.
So it was Sebastian Vettel’s choice to go to mediums 👏. His choice dragged that Ferrari much higher than it deserves. The team is really going to miss Seb’s participation next year # f1 pic.twitter.com/P8n4OvlMPM
– Claire (@EvieElysia) July 19, 2020
Despite the improvements, Lecelerc and Vettel were caught by Hamilton, who crossed more than 20 seconds ahead of Verstappen, who soon made Bottas breathe through his neck.
The Finn then faced fresh rubbers a third time that gave Verstappen a breather before he also cracked down on a late Bottas charge.
Hamilton was also told to pit in the end and managed to convince his team to put on soft tires instead of hard tires for the last three laps, then set the fastest lap for an extra point in the championship. and beat Vertappen by almost nine seconds despite one more stop than the Dutchman.
Hamilton’s eight Hungaroring victories since his first in 2007 take him to the level of former great Michael Schumacher, who won the French GP eight times
Hamilton is now just five grand prix away from Schumacher’s top 91 and can also emulate German if he wins a seventh world title.
He leads the standings with 63 points in three races thanks to his second consecutive victory, five ahead of Bottas.
