Flip through the latest issue of Gulf Weekly.
Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton cruised to the top of the podium, scoring his eighth win at the Hungarian Grand Prix held on Sunday at the Hungaroring racetrack, catching up to Michael Schumacher’s record for most number of wins at a single venue.
Hamilton, who has won the last three Hungarian Grands-Prix, crossed the finish line with a comfortable 8.702 second lead over Red Bull’s Max Verstappen and wrestled the lead for the World Drivers’ championship from his team mate Valterri Bottas, who came in third.
Hamilton said: “What an incredible race. Honestly, that was one of my favourites that I’ve raced, even though I was on my own for the majority. It’s a very different kind of challenge and I was pushing hard out there - particularly for the fastest lap at the end. We had great pace today, brilliant pit stops, and a fantastic strategy and then, as I was managing those (medium tyres) for a long, long time, at the end it was the perfect time to get on fresh tyres and take that extra point for fastest lap.”
Even as Hamilton clinched the 86th win of his career edging closer to Schumacher’s 91-win-record, the most exciting moments of the race happened behind him. Verstappen, who had a rocky start after an embarrassing pre-race accident sliding off the damp track to hit the barrier, was rescued by the agility of Red Bull’s mechanics, before leaping from seventh on the grid to second place.
Bottas, on the other hand, had a false start, jumping forward before the final light indicating the start of the race before stalling and falling to sixth but avoiding a five-second penalty. Verstappen and Bottas battled for second place throughout the rest of the race, with Bottas almost catching up by the end but falling short to settle for third place.
Bottas commented, after the race: “That was a tough race. Obviously starting second on the grid, you aim to win the race, but I had a bad start and lost a few positions. I reacted to a light on my dash that went off, instead of the start lights, which then meant the car went into anti-stall and I had to do the start again. I lost some ground there and that made the race very difficult for me, as I was fighting right to the very end.
“It was pretty close with Max and I think the gamble to pit late on was definitely worth taking, as it gave me the difference in tyre life. But it didn’t quite pay off today. Still, I scored a good haul of points and there’s plenty to learn from this weekend, heading to Silverstone.”
Despite a wet start to the race, the tracks started to dry by Lap 4, prompting a flurry of pit stops to change tyres, led by Hamilton, with the exception of Haas Ferrari’s Romain Grosjean and Kevin Magnussen, who had the foresight to put on rubber slick tyres right from the start. The strategy paid off as the team scored its first point of the season with Magnussen coming in 10th.
Ferrari meanwhile had a muted race, with Sebastian Vettel finishing sixth and Charles Leclerc coming in 11th behind Magnussen. Mattia Binotto, team principal, called it “An extremely disappointing Sunday and the result is very hard to swallow” as the team dropped to fifth in the Constructor standings.
The next race will be the first of a double header at the Silverstone Circuit, kicking off on July 31, with the Mercedes team leading in points, followed by Red Bull, McLaren, Racing Point and Ferrari.
