Hamilton Wins Hungarian GP

OverTake.gg · Jul 29, 2013

Britain’s Lewis Hamilton held on to claim a brilliant victory in Sunday’s Hungarian Grand Prix.

The Mercedes driver, who started in pole position, drove a superb race to take his first win for his new team and his fourth victory at the Hungarian GP and his 22nd win in Formula One.

Kimi Raikkonen finished second in his Lotus while Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel was third.

Hamilton had said it would be a ‘miracle’ if he won the race at the Hungaroring, despite qualifying on pole, because of concerns over the tyre problems that have blighted the team’s season so far.

But he shrugged off those fears with a controlled drive to follow up on his wins with McLaren in 2007, 2009 and last year.

Vettel’s third place saw him open up a 38-point lead at the top of the drivers’ championship, with second-placed Raikkonen on 134 while Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso now has 133 points after finishing fifth.

Mark Webber, who started tenth on the grid, eventually finished fourth ahead of Alonso.

Hamilton, who has now moved up to 124 points, still 48 behind Vettel, remains fourth overall, but likely too far behind to mount a serious title challenge as the season takes its mid-season summer break before they report back for the Belgian Grand Prix on August 25.

‘This is probably one of the most important Grand Prix wins of my career,’ said Hamilton, who has now equalled Michael Schumacher’s four victories on this track. The guys have done an exceptional job, I really couldn’t be happier. I hope there are many more to come. We studied things a lot last night and were hoping the tyres would last. We had no idea it would go that well. I was hungry for it today, I was going all out. Usually, I get stuck in traffic, but today I was going for every move I could. For the last 20 laps it was then about managing the tyres, but this is one of the most important wins of my career. To win for Mercedes is a privilege. We’ve got to keep working hard and see how the tyres last elsewhere, but if we can come here and make them last anything is possible.’

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Salut Gilles · Jul 29, 2013

Kudos to World Champion Lewis Hamilton for his first win with Mercedes-AMG. Working hard, having discipline, showing seriousness, and being as talented as he is will pay off in most cases. He managed this race to a perfect 10/10.

May he and Mercedes personel start competing with Vettel on par until Sao Paolo. It would be quite a battle to watch! And good for the sport also! GO LEWIS GO!

Terry Rock · Jul 30, 2013

Hopefully Kimi, Alonso or Lewis can start scoring to bring down that gap to Vettel.
I really do not want to see another 'white-wash' season by RBR.

Hampus Andersson · Jul 30, 2013

Vettel needs a DNF in reality to get really nervous about the championship.
If let´s say Hamilton wins 8 straight races now and Vettel comes second in every one of them, it´s going to take until after Abu Dhabi for a new championship leader to emerge.
So with full reliability i think Vettel takes his fourth title.