His victory completed a hat-trick of successes in consecutive races, was his outright record fifth in Hungary, his fifth of the season and the 48th of his career.
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“I was just fully focused forwards”, said Rosberg. “I appreciate it for the result”. The team did a fantastic job with the strategy, preparing the auto as always, and the guys back at the factory continuing to push flat out so a huge thank you to them.
Lewis Hamilton said it was “incredible” to beat Michael Schumacher’s record for wins at the Hungarian Grand Prix.
He also won in his first year with Mercedes in 2013 but before Sunday the team had not claimed victory at the track since the introduction of hybrid engines in 2014.
The defending three-time world champion and new leader of this year’s title race said their failure to act had encouraged drivers, in all categories, to take scant notice of flags and endangered marshals and other on-track personnel.
Behind him, after 25 laps, Rosberg was just 1.1 seconds away and Ricciardo, third, only 5.4 seconds adrift, ahead of the two Ferraris, led by Vettel. Nevertheless, the Dutch driver maintained his lead.
Indeed, Hamilton admits his great start was critical to his performance, saying he was always in control despite some “unknowns” with the Pirelli tyres as track temperatures soared as high as 53 degrees.
When they crossed the start/finish line at the end of the first lap, Hamilton already had a 1.076-second advantage.
“It was nothing to do with Nico, I had no plans on him being anywhere else but second”.
Ricciardo faded in the final stint after his early second stop, causing him to drop into the clutches of Vettel in the final few laps. It is still a long long way to go and everything is possible.
“It’s a concern. Going into the next race, we could be going for pole position through double yellow flags and now we know we only have to do a small lift and lose one tenth of a second, go purple through the sector, and we’ll be fine”. “It’s not like I am driving slowly”.
Rosberg led the pack since race one, and now finds himself 6 points behind Hamilton. The Briton emerged on a fresh set of softs well clear of Ricciardo, with Rosberg following suit one lap later.
“Lewis went quicker after we suggested that Nico would come in first”, Lauda said.
Hamilton may have a case for the rubber being to blame, however.
“The fact he didn’t get penalised means we have to be careful because the message we send to the drivers here, and also in the lower categories, is that it’s now possible for you to lose only one-tenth of a second in the double waved yellow flag section, which is one of the most unsafe scenarios”, he told a post-race news conference.
Yet again Hamilton had the pace when he needed it, though, and swiftly turned it on again. At the end of Lap 53, it was back to 1.208 seconds. By the close it proved to be more than enough and the win and the championship lead was his by a margin of 1.9sec.
This remains a very long season, however.
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McLaren’s Jenson Button was the only driver who did not finish the race, pulling out after 60 laps with smoke coming out of the auto. Rosberg does look bludgeoned by Hamilton’s comeback and on recent form has no answer to him but he will not be retiring to his corner. The season also marked its halfway point in this round. Verstappen is the only non-Mercedes driver to win a race in 2016. Max Verstappen held off Kimi Raikkonen to finish fifth. The Finn clipped the back of Verstappen’s vehicle and damaging his own front wing in an attempt to overtake the 18-year-old and admitted post-race he felt he had been illegally blocked. He made the second on lap 50 and, with pleasing symmetry, closed behind Verstappen. He then pitted but with the problem having apparently rectified itself he was given a drive-through for “illegal communication”. Button asked his team over the radio.
