Rosberg had to settle for runner-up, 1.9 seconds behind, with Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo just managing to hold off Sebastian Vettel’s Ferrari for the final podium spot.
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Hamilton admitted he hit rock bottom after his crash with Rosberg in Spain, but following a streak of victories since, the defending champion appeared completely at ease throughout the Hungarian Grand Prix week.
Hamilton passed pole sitter and Mercedes teammate Nico Rosberg at the start and never looked back as he celebrated his third win on the bounce and fifth from the past six races.
Hamilton’s win, his 5th at Hungaroring, puts him ahead of 4-time victor Michael Schumacher (who retired in 2012), the previous record-holder. “It’s one thing Esteban got penalised with five seconds, and we still need to check the data and the timing, but I think the five seconds were taken because the gesture was done, not because he was holding him up”.
“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”.
After 17 laps, Hamilton led the race away from Rosberg, Ricciardo, Vettel, Raikkonen, Verstappen, Perez, Palmer and Magnussen.
According to Mercedes mastermind Toto Wolff, the Drivers’ Championship battle between Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton will carry on right until the last race of the season in Abu Dhabi. Schumacher won in Top Fuel, Allen Johnson in Pro Stock and Andrew Hines in Pro Stock Motorcycle.
Asked if he thought Hamilton was trying to back up title rival and teammate Rosberg, Wolff said: “I’m sure he didn’t want to back him up”.
Losing the Hungarian Grand Prix was a disaster for Nico Rosberg on several fronts.
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. “I just need to do what I have to do”. The duel allowed Rosberg to sit comfortably in second place while Hamilton was ahead by over two seconds from his team mate. Once again it was the Red Bull driver that performed better, with Verstappen securing fifth place and Räikkönen sixth.
“I went 20km/h (12mph) slower into that corner, 20km/h is a different world in an F1 vehicle – you’re going proper slow”.
“Toward the end I started to run out of tires and I had a few issues with the brakes”.
By the end of the race Vettel was less than a second off the pace of Ricciardo, though both were more than 27.0 seconds behind the victor, proving once again the superiority of Mercedes’ design.
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The next race is the German Grand Prix on July 31, followed by the traditional summer break and then the Belgian Grand Prix on August 28.
