The win was Hamilton’s fifth in Hungary, making Hamilton the most successful driver at the Hungaroring in its 31-race history with one more victory than Michael Schumacher.
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Lewis Hamilton says the lack of penalty for Nico Rosberg after yellow flags emerged during his pole lap for the Hungarian Grand Prix is sending the wrong message and needs to be clarified.
Nico Rosberg seized pole in a rain-delayed qualifying session for Sunday’s Hungarian F1 Grand Prix but the world championship leader is under investigation after failing to slow for yellow flags that hindered title rival Lewis Hamilton.
Hamilton’s only slight panic came when he reported a lack of pace in the middle part of the race, but he quickly found his feet on soft tyres to keep Rosberg at arm’s length. “I got a good start and one of the Red Bulls was on the inside of me so I was pressured a lot into turn one”.
“But since Spain we’ve pulled together, and I’d love to come out of the next race with a result like this so when I do go to Spa or Monza, and have a penalty and start from the pit lane or last place, that is a minimum damage”.
By lap 10, Hamilton held a 1.8s lead of Rosberg, with the Red Bulls almost five seconds adrift as Verstappen complained he was “driving like a grandma” behind teammate Ricciardo.
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. And then, yeah, into Turn Two, I was just on the inside and Nico had a clear run and got better drive. Red Bull was strong again in this one, with Daniel Ricciardo taking the remaining podium spot.
Lewis Hamilton now leads Nico Rosberg by 6 points.
A similar Red Bull-Ferrari battle raged for fifth place between Red Bull’s Max Verstappen and Kimi Raikkonen, the Finn having gained eight places in the 70 lap race, after starting from 14th.
“I lifted off 30 metres before my braking point, I was just rolling there, 20 km/h slower until I got to the apex”.
“It is great to have another podium this year”.
Hamilton s win increased his points total to 192, six more than Rosberg as Ricciardo moved up to third.
The sport’s ruling body, the International Motoring Federation (FIA), is expected to issue a clarification on the ruling before next weekend’s German Grand Prix at Hockenheim.
Fernando Alonso finished seventh for McLaren to collect six points one day after the team recorded its best qualifying result since pairing with Honda last season. It was very, very obvious what I did, very clear and of course on a drying track you’re going to get massively faster every lap. “A race from hell this is going to be!” was his response.
As they turned in to the descending right-hander, Ricciardo attacked and briefly led before Hamilton responded as the front five squeezed through a sweeping trio of corners.
“It’s very close. Up till now it was a good battle with Lewis”.
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The squabbling pair were running one-two on the final lap when Hamilton went to pass his team-mate around the outside.
