Lewis Hamilton delivered a spectacular performance to win the Hungarian Grand Prix, the aftermath of an amazing start. The track was pretty damp thanks to the rain prior to the race. Hamilton picked up a formidable lead at the very begining as a result of securing pole position in the qualifiers. This win also makes for a total of 90 pole positions for Hamilton, a new record in F1. Michael Schumacher falls in next for second most number of pole positions with a total of 68.
Mercedes’ Hamilton finished with an impressive time of 1:36:12.473. This win at Hungary gives Hamilton two wins back-to-back and also marks a highly successful opening season for Mercedes.
Securing P2, by a decent 8.702 seconds behind Hamilton, is Red Bull’s Max Verstappen. The 22- year old got off to a shaky start when he crashed into a barrier on the way to the grid. Luckily his mechanics were able to work on time and get him all set before the race. Not to mention a poor qualifying performance that started him at P7. “I thought I wasn’t going to race, so second is like a victory” says Verstappen post the finish. As a result of his tremendous effort to finish at P2 and split the two Mercedes, despite the crash and starting at seventh, Verstappen was named ‘Driver of the Day’ by fans.( Votes for Max Verstappen- 18.1%, Lewis Hamilton- 14.9%)
Revving in right behind Verstappen was Mercedes’ Bottas. Though the 30-year old Finn started alongside Hamilton at P2, he quickly dropped behind in the initial laps. He changed his strategy before the last 20 laps and took on a fresh set of tyres. He then proceeded to close the gap between him and Verstappen but fell short by a small fraction. Valtteri Bottas was previously head of the points table but this race put Hamilton 5 points ahead of him.
Missing the podium and coming in P4 and P5 are Racing Point’s Lance Stroll and Red Bull Racing’s Alexander Albon respectively. Though, Albon maybe be facing a potential penalty as Red Bull representatives were summoned by the stewards. This was regarding an investigation based on the hunch that the Red Bull Racing team artificially dried the gridbox of car number 23, which is a breach of regulations. More info to come later.
This will be Hamilton’s 8th Hungarian Grand Prix win, a record in F1 history for most wins at the same circuit. The record is only equalled by Schumacher at the Magny-Cours circuit. AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly was the only non-finisher.
