(Tamas Kovacs /MTI via AP).
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It was another Mercedes AMG Petronas one-two at Sunday’s Hungarian Grand Prix.
Lewis Hamilton celebrates his victory in the Hungarian Grand Prix.
Nico Rosberg says there is still a “long way to go” in the battle for the drivers’ title after he slipped off the top of the standings.
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. He beat Rosberg by 1.977 seconds. Ferrari had opted to perform an undercut pit strategy with Sebastian Vettel coming in first, followed by Raikkonen on the next lap.
Ricciardo took third place for Red Bull, in a race that proved that the team didn’t really have what it took to challenge the two Silver Arrows ahead of them.
Hamilton’s victory was his fifth at Budapest, setting a new record as he overtook Michael Schumacher to become the most successful driver at the Hungaroring.
At the age of 36, however, Raikkonen is no longer as decisive as he once was in attack and he could have passed the Dutchman several times before he eventually hit the Red Bull youngster at Turn 2.
“I’m just still in the same mentality of chasing, I’m still chasing”, he told reporters.
Hamilton made a flawless start to pull alongside Rosberg while Ricciardo surged forward on the outside in the run-up to turn one.
Lewis took the race lead at the start by overtaking Rosberg, who started from the pole position.
“But that’s the way it is, I’ve got to accept that and of course I’ve lost the championship lead now”.
Speaking after the race, Hamilton said: “The track is great, the city is great and thank you to the fans”.
“It’s very close. It’s been a good season so far”.
“Arguably if you go 2kph or 4kph slower or brake earlier and you drop half a tenth I don’t think you are preparing to stop”.
Hamilton will head to Rosberg’s home race in Germany on Sunday – the final round before the sport’s summer break – in charge of the title race after winning in Hungary. The duel allowed Rosberg to sit comfortably in second place while Hamilton was ahead by over two seconds from his team mate.
Nevertheless, the incident has sparked some paddock debate, with Hamilton questioning whether a 0.1s loss of time is enough to demonstrate that a driver is “ready to stop” if necessary, as written in the regulations, a query he took to Whiting on Saturday evening.
“I was just fully focused forwards”, said Rosberg.
The four-time world champion on Monday repeated the view of race victor Hamilton by saying that it was a bad example to other drivers.
Later, due to a controversial clampdown on the sport’s radio rules, he was subsequently handed a drive-through penalty by the stewards.
Button started eighth but soon developed hydraulic problems. “Max, track limits at Turn 4, that’s two warnings now Max, two warnings”.
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Despite losing aerodynamic downforce, Raikkonen came back again at Verstappen but the Red Bull was able to hold off the Ferrari – youth trumping experience again in a repeat of their battles at the Spanish and Austrian Grands Prix already this year.
