Triple Formula One world champion Lewis Hamilton won the Hungarian Grand Prix for Mercedes to take the lead in the championship from team mate Nico Rosberg for the first time this season.
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Rosberg would recover from his poor start, that pushed him down to third place, while Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo managed to move into second, by reclaiming second on the second lap of the race.
The two drivers were still at odds after the race over the decision not to penalise Rosberg for posting his pole position lap while double-waved yellow flags were being shown.
“I managed a good start and spent the first two laps fighting for position and moving up the grid”.
“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”.
NHRA: John Force and Tony Schumacher earned their first victories this season at the Mile-High Nationals in Denver. Hamilton, 31, had trailed his Mercedes teammate all season, but a record-breaking fifth career win at the Hungaroring sees him take the top spot.
As he finally passed the Mexican, coming on to the main straight, the Briton made a classic American gesture.
In order to limit the damage to his title hopes, Hamilton is aiming for maximum points with races like Silverstone two weeks ago, where he claimed a sensational win on home soil after dominating all weekend. I wasn’t backing Nico up, and if he was quick enough he could have closed the gap if he’d wanted to.
Indeed, Hamilton is concerned the open interpretation could set precedent going forward, not least because the margin of error for Rosberg was such a minor loss of time. 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. “Right now, I am still with the same mentality of still chasing”.
Ricciardo pitted for a second time at the end of lap 33, and suddenly Hamilton turned in his fastest laps of the race.
Currently, Hamilton is ahead of six points in the standings. “It’s still close and it just takes a small thing to switch it the other way and I want to do that at Hockenheim on Sunday”.
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But if Ferrari were this close to Red Bull at a circuit like Hungary, they should be ahead of them at most of the remaining venues on the 2016 calendar. Whereas, his teammate, Jenson Button, had to retire following several issues with the auto and a drive-through penalty for an “illegal” radio communication.
