Daniel Ricciardo rounded out the podium in third while his teammate Max Verstappen dropped back behind the Ferrari of Sebastian Vettel in the first round of stops.
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After beating Rosberg to race victory, Hamilton said he was still concerned about the implications of his Mercedes teammate going unpunished. The Brit lad now stands on the top with a six-point advantage over Rosberg. Ricciardo finished third, followed by Vettel. The three-times world champion had experienced a hard start to the season with two mechanical failures in qualifying, and after Rosberg won the first four races, was 43 points behind the German. He also has 48 wins, three short of Alain Prost who is second on the all-time list.
After their collision at Spa in 2014, Hamilton went on a similar hot streak, winning six of the next seven races, to win the championship.
Hamilton’s win, his 5th at Hungaroring, puts him ahead of 4-time victor Michael Schumacher (who retired in 2012), the previous record-holder.
“I just managed to get my head together, and get my s*** together and get on with it”. A couple of races go towards one then the tide turns. I need to do what I just need to do, even if we win by a tenth of a second.
When Hamilton and Rosberg then stopped for a second time eight and nine laps later respectively, they both emerged ahead of Ricciardo, and from there the race was all but over. Up to now, it’s been a good battle with Lewis and as I’ve always said, I’m not counting the points. “So I already lost the win there and that was a big disappointment”.
“The whole weekend we were discussing their need to be very cautious on the tyres”, said Wolff in his post-race press conference. “It’s still a long, long way to go”, Rosberg said. After that I was pushing the limits in every stint, not really being able to save the tires fighting in front and behind me.
“I love it here, so I hope there’s more to come before I stop”.
The final ten laps were smooth sailing for the rest of the field as Hamilton crossed the line nearly two seconds ahead of Rosberg.
Daimler announced that Nico Rosberg finally got his contract extension under its Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One Team.
“There was never a moment when I felt that I was going to lose it”.
It was, for Hamilton, a fairly easy race, given that the dicing was limited to the first corner.
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Button was also the first casualty of the new rules by FIA, motorsport’s governing body, forcing drivers to enter the pit lane for repairs – or withdraw from the race – if they are warned over the radio of any malfunctions. Hamilton was able to drive the auto back to the pit lane and later returned to the team garage after a medical checkup.
