Hungarian GP: Race - RE-CAP & RESULTS

HUNGARIAN GP - RACE - RE-CAP & RESULTS

    Lewis Hamilton extended his lead at the front of the championship standings with a dominant victory at the Hungarian Grand Prix.

    Title rival Sebastian Vettel survived contact with Valtteri Bottas to take second ahead of team-mate Kimi Raikkonen.

    Mercedes was in complete control in the early stages of the race, with Hamilton and Bottas holding a comfortable 1-2 before the pit stops.

    Raikkonen was the first of the front runners to come into the pits, with Bottas following him in on the following lap.

    At the front of the order, Hamilton continued to extend the advantage over Vettel in second, before eventually coming into the pits when backmarkers began to cost the Mercedes too much time.

    Vettel couldn’t do the same when handed the race lead, with Hamilton rapidly closing the gap to the Ferrari before Vettel came into the pits for a slow stop that dropped him back behind Bottas but ahead of team-mate Raikkonen, who had taken a second stop.

    After retaking the race lead, Hamilton was unchallenged to the chequered flag, finishing more than 17 seconds ahead of the rest of the field.

    Bottas, who hadn’t followed Raikkonen’s two-stop strategy, was struggling with his rear tyres in the closing stages of the race, allowing the Ferrari’s to close onto the back of him. With five laps to go, Vettel made a move on the Mercedes, going around the outside of turn one before cutting in front of Bottas to take turn two. Bottas locked up, running into the back of Vettel and damaging his front wing.

    Both Ferraris were able to pass and Bottas was left to battle with Daniel Ricciardo, who had driven a stunning race from 12th on the grid.

    With four laps to go, Ricciardo tried to mimic Vettel’s move, attempting to go around the outside of Bottas at turn one. Bottas locked up and collided with the Red Bull, damaging Ricciardo’s side pod.

    Both were able to continue and Bottas handed the position to Ricciardo on the instructions of his team. It wasn’t enough to avoid a penalty, with the stewards giving him a 10 second penalty and two penalty points.

    The results of the race were unaffected, with Bottas finishing fifth ahead of Pierre Gasly.

    Ricciardo’s team-mate Max Verstappen came to a stop with a power unit problem just five laps into the race.

    Gasly, who took the chequered flag more than a minute after Hamilton, was the last driver to finish on the lead lap.

    Kevin Magnussen took seventh, ahead of Fernando Alonso, Carlos Sainz, and Romain Grosjean.

    Brendon Hartley narrowly missed out on points in P11, finishing just ahead of Nico Hulkenberg.

    Esteban Ocon and Sergio Perez finished 13th and 14th after a slow start to the race. The pair squeezed Sauber’s Charles Leclerc off the line, causing damage to Leclerc’s car and ending the rookie’s race on the opening lap.

    Marcus Ericsson, who was also in trouble on the opening lap after contact with Ricciardo, took 15th, 
ahead of Sergey Sirotkin and Lance Stroll.

    Stoffel Vandoorne was the only other retirement, a gearbox problem bringing his McLaren to a stop after 49 laps.

RESULTS: 

1. Lewis Hamilton / Mercedes-Mercedes / Great Britain / + 25 Points
2.  Sebastian Vettel / Ferrari-Ferrari / Germany / + 18 Points
3. Kimi Raikkonen / Ferrari-Ferrari / Finland / + 15 Points
4. Daniel Ricciardo / Red Bull Racing-TAG-Heuer / Australia / + 12 Points
5. Valtteri Bottas / Mercedes-Mercedes / Finland / + 10 Points
6. Pierre Gasly / Scuderia Toro Rosso-Honda / France / + 8 Points
7. Kevin Magnussen / Haas-Ferrari / Denmark / + 6 Points
8. Fernando Alonso / McLaren-Renault / Spain / + 4 Points
9. Carlos Sainz / Renault-Renault / Spain / + 2 Points
10. Romain Grosjean / Haas-Ferrari / France / + 1 Point 
11.  Brendon Hartley / Scuderia Toro Rosso-Honda / New Zealand
12. Nico Hulkenberg / Renault-Renault / Germany
13. Esteban Ocon / Force India-Mercedes / France
14. Sergio Perez / Force India-Mercedes / Mexico
15.  Marcus Ericsson / Sauber-Ferrari / Sweden
16. Sergey Sirotkin / Williams-Mercedes / Russia
17. Lance Stroll / Williams-Mercedes / Canada

RETIRED - Stoffel Vandoorne / McLaren-Renault / Belgium / Gearbox
RETIRED - Max Verstappen / Red Bull Racing-TAG-Heuer / Netherlands / Power Unit
RETIRED - Charles Leclerc / Sauber-Ferrari / Monaco / Collison

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Article Written By: Bethonie Waring
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