After three-straight poles and four this season, Lewis Hamilton was able to exercise his demons and take his first victory in 2013 since moving to Mercedes AMG.
The British driver drove to the top spot at the Hungaroring circuit for the fifth time in his career, repeating his performance from last season. In similar fashion, a strong two-stop race by Lotus driver Kimi Raikkonen saw him finish second, followed by Red Bull driver and championship leader Sebastian Vettel.
Hamilton’s pole position was a surprise to everyone including himself. He said a win on Sunday would be a “miracle,” but the Mercedes driver had a strong start and didn’t look back.
Vettel on the other hand, was put under pressure immediately with Nico Rosberg and Romain Grosjean on both sides, causing him to lose time on Hamilton out of turn one and throughout the first few laps.
Hamilton stretched his lead and pitted on lap 10. Vettel followed on lap 12 and exited behind McLaren’s Jenson Button, a crucial point that held the Red Bull driver back until lap 24 when he was able to make a pass.
That gave Hamilton some much needed freedom and clean air, while Vettel was forced to battle with a pack of drivers that included Grosjean and Ferrari driver Fernando Alonso.
When Vettel made his second stop on lap 34 he was released ahead of Alonso, but saw himself behind Button again, this time in sixth position. Hamilton meanwhile set the fastest lap.
The intense 51 degree C track temperatures were clearly favouring the Mercedes cars, while the Red Bulls were struggling to show their usual dominant pace amongst the traffic.
Amongst the action, the Raikkonen was able to steadily make his way through the field, getting ahead of Vettel on lap 56 when the German entered the pits. As Hamilton drove uncontested, Raikkonen had to ensure his 13-second lead would remain until the checkered flag on lap 70.
In one final push, Vettel closed in on Raikkonen with two laps remaining, but the Finn defended, throwing Vettel off line to ensure second place and move behind him into second in the standings.
Hamilton won by 10.9 seconds, his first victory since the U.S. Grand Prix last November.
“What a great weekend,” Hamilton said. “We really didn't expect this when we came here this weekend and I said last night that I would need a miracle to win today. Well, just maybe they do happen. The team called the strategy and the pit stops just right and then it was just about managing the gap. I had some racing to do out there, though, with Jenson and Mark and I think we had the pace on everyone today. The team has just done an exceptional job: we have worked so hard to understand these tires and we got the balance spot on today. I am very hopeful this could be a real turning point for us as we coped with these high track temperatures. I would like to say a massive thank you to everyone at the team here and at our factories in Brackley and Brixworth. Teamwork achieved this result today and I really couldn't be happier.”
The win moves Hamilton to fourth in the points with 124. Currently, Vettel leads the championship with 172 points, compared to Raikkonen's 134 and Alonso's 133. His Red Bull team continues to expand its lead in the the constructor's championship with 277 points. Mercedes sits second with 208, followed by Ferrari in third with 194. Lotus sits a close fourth with 183 points.
The Formula One grid enters its summer break until the Belgian Grand Prix at Spa, August 25, and many teams will be working to improve their standings going into the second half of the season.
Foremost, McLaren is working on a new package to improve their relatively disappointing 2013 car, which has only claimed 57 points compared to Red Bull’s leading 277. Williams will also be looking to for greater points finishes after claiming their sole point of the season today. But all eyes will be on the vacant seat at Red Bull next year, as Team Principal Christian Horner hinted there will be a decision between Toro Rosso driver Daniel Ricciardo or Raikkonen within the next few weeks. Stay tuned as the stories develop.
Other notes:
Lap 17: Vettel’s car suffers minor front wing damage trying to pass Button. The team opts not to change his wing due to time restraints…Lap 18: Vettel told to restrict his KERS usage due to the extreme heat…Lap 20: Force India driver Adrian Sutil retires in his 100th Grand Prix with a hydraulic failure…Lap 30: Esteban Gutierrez (Sauber) retires with gearbox problem...Lap 36: Grosjean has drive through penalty for having all four wheels off the outside of turn four in a passing attempt on Ferrari’s Felipe Massa, ultimately dropping him to sixth…Lap 45: William’s rookie Valtteri Bottas retires with an engine failure, his first non-finish… Lap 66: Mercedes’ Nico Rosberg suffers an engine failure, his third DNF this year...Post race: Grosjean given additional 20-second penalty for incident involving Button but does not lose position due to 21.6-second gap ahead of Button at finish.
OFFICIAL RESULTS:
