Lap 1 – And they’re off!
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It is the fourth time Verstappen has failed to finish this season. He was passing him around the outside of Turn 1 when Bottas locked up again and clattered into the side of Ricciardo’s Red Bull, damaging its sidepod in the process. Red Bull are to switch to a Honda engine next season.
The rain-affected qualifying for the Hungarian Grand Prix played in to Mercedes’ and Lewis Hamilton’s, hands, giving Hamilton pole position when the clever money was on a Vettel pole. However, that would change in Hamilton’s second season for Mercedes in 2014, when dominated his rival drivers to win his second World Drivers’ Championship.
Both he and Hamilton have suffered various setbacks this year but even against the greatest odds and racing from the back of the field, the British driver manages risks and keeps the racing clean. “That boost will last a long time with our team”. For the next two races at Azerbaijan and Spain, Hamilton found his rhythm while Vettel struggled for a podium finish. He crossed the line 17 seconds clear. “What a handsome day and a great crowd – and a great job from the team”.
Vettel spent the next 20 laps stuck behind Bottas and could not use his ultrasoft tyres to chase down Hamilton.
Bottas displayed excellent defense in second place to try and deny the Ferrari duo.
“I got a hit from behind”. “I think he would have made it to Lewis and the outcome could have been a different one”, he said. “What matters to me is that we are constantly developing, and we are”.
The next race isn’t until the 26th of August in Belgium.
Could we soon see a new face in F1 at one of the top mid-ranking teams?
As a result of that incident, Bottas was forced to make a second pit stop and, after he returned to the race, he bumped Daniel Ricciardo’s Red Bull off the track as he was about to be overtaken.
But Ferrari insider Leo Turrini thinks Raikkonen should stay.
Raikkonen was joined in his celebrations by his son Robin and said it was nice to share the moment with his family. “Apart from that, it wasn’t an issue”. Today’s been an emotional rollercoaster in tricky conditions and so happy with the final result. Honestly I’m really happy because we knew that with Toro Rosso, two, three times in the year you have big opportunities like this where the auto works better than expected, things come your way. “Then, it is hard to foresee the traffic and knowing how well you go through it or not”. He had been ahead by nearly 10 seconds and under no pressure.
Together with last week’s win in Germany, it moves him 24 points ahead of Sebastian Vettel in the 2018 drivers championship.
Mercedes chose to bring Hamilton in on Sunday for his only tire change on lap 26. Vettel was unhappy and knew he was losing crucial seconds.
Vettel ran 15 laps longer than Hamilton, and had put in a number of speedy laps to leapfrog Bottas, only to lose two seconds with a slow-fitting tyre.
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Vettel also survived a late collision with Hamilton’s teammate Bottas but still lost ground in his battle with the Brit.
