Claiming his fifth victory this season, Mercedes-AMG driver Lewis Hamilton secured the number one position at the Hungarian Grand Prix, also taking the lead in championship standings surpassing teammate Nico Rosberg (+1.977s).
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After grabbing the lead off the line, Hamilton never opened a gap larger than three seconds, and at one point was asked by his Mercedes team to increase his pace in order to shake off third-placed Daniel Ricciardo.
But Rosberg, who has lost out to Hamilton in each of the past two seasons they have battled for the championship, does not fear the title is slipping away from him.
Hamilton outpaced pole-sitter Rosberg at the start and then controlled the 70 laps with a mixture of speed and flawless judgement in sweltering heat at the Hungaroring circuit.
Until Sunday he had shared the record for Hungary GP wins with seven times champion Michael Schumacher. “I got a good start and one of the Red Bulls was inside me so I was pressurised a lot into Turn One”.
“I was happy to get Daniel back on the outside of Turn 2 and from there on I put all the pressure possible on Lewis, of course it’s not possible to pass at this track”.
Sebastian Vettel finished fourth for Ferrari while the Red Bull of Max Verstappen held off Kimi Raikkonen to finish sixth.
Hamilton and Rosberg both ended up in the gravel at turn four on the opening lap of the Barcelona race back in May. Raikkonen’s late first pit stop (on lap 29) helped him to massively close in on Verstappen from his 14th place on the starting grid.
On faster tyres, Raikkonen challenged Verstappen, only to run into the back of him when misjudging an overtaking manoeuvre on lap 57 and damage his front wing.
Haas driver Esteban Gutierrez has called Lewis Hamilton “disrespectful” following an incident during yesterday’s Hungarian Grand Prix. McLaren’s other man Jenson Button was the only driver failing to finish.
Next up – the German Grand Prix in Hockenheim next weekend.
With 10 races remaining, Rosberg said he was not concerned about losing the championship lead. “I love the track and so I’m going to try and win there”.
“I’m disappointed because I wanted to win Hungary, not because some points are this way or that way and soon I will be very excited again because it’s the home race”.
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Ricciardo, also single, added with a smile, “You know that Sunday we’re focused on the race and the task ahead, but it would be nice if we raced on Saturdays and then had Saturday evening to explore the city a bit more”.
