In a race that many thought would end in an all Mercedes battle for victory, Sebastian Vettel got the start that he needed to pass the driver's of the Silver Arrows to move himself from third place to lead the pack, what followed was the best race we've seen for years.
Prior to the race start, a minute silence was held in memory of Jules Bianchi following his passing last weekend; joined by his family the drivers formed a circle with their crash helmets before creating a circle of themselves around it, with Bianchi's helmet in the middle a sure sign that he will always be in their thoughts throughout their careers and lives.
The start was delayed as a result of Felipe Massa stopping short of his grid slot, to which he informed his race engineer over the radio when he was notified of the infringement "Yeah, I couldn't see the yellow line" - as a result of this the Williams driver was handed a 5 second penalty which he had to serve at his first pitstop.
On the second attempt the race was underway, and it was a surprise for everyone to see Lewis Hamilton having a slow getaway and being passed by Vettel, Kimi Raikkonen and teammate Nico Rosberg. From there it was a difficult opening lap for the Briton who tumbled down the order after being squeezed out by his teammate and having to run through the gravel and ending up in tenth place. Amidst the chaos Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo dropped to ninth place. It was the perfect start for the scarlet cars though as whilst this was going on, the Ferrari pair were scampering off into the distance.
The progress out front by Vettel was reminiscent of 2010-2013 where he would get the start he need, get out of DRS territory and pump in fastest lap after fastest lap whilst still being able to manage his tyres. He held such an advantage that after just six laps Lewis Hamilton was already 19 seconds off of the lead. By the time the Brit had managed to make his way up to eighth place he was already 30.5s off of the lead, this was still true when in fifth place, due to pitstops, despite having clear air in front of him.
Rosberg, seemed to have some inherent issue over the opening stages of the race putting no pressure on the Ferrari drivers and dropping off from them at a rapid pace.Overall, not the start that Mercedes and many watching the race had envisioned.
There was a scary moment for Sergio Perez who was shunted off track by Pastor Maldonado who understeered into the Mexican who was forced into the air and a subsequent spin when the car came back down.
There was a mysterious incident for Raikkonen, who had one of the camera mounts on his front wing fly off - however during his pitstop the team decided not to replace the wing for the new one that they were testing this weekend which from the seems of it they only had one - most likely due to the wing disintegrating on Raikkonen during practice - as there was no driver number on it.
Romain Grosjean was one of the many drivers to be given a penalty, as a result of an unsafe pit release. However this was nothing compared to his teammate who received three penalties: one for the collision with Perez, the second for overtaking under the safety car and the third for speeding in the pitlane. Lewis Hamilton was also given a penalty following his collision with Daniel Ricciardo late on in the race and Daniil Kvyat was also penalised for leaving the circuit and gaining an advantage.
In second place it was becoming glaringly obvious that there might have been an issue with Raikkonen's car as the Finn's car did not sound healthy and he was quickly falling off of the tail of his teammate - these problems were best illustrated by the fact on one lap he lost 2.8s to Vettel and the lapped car of Alonso passed him into Turn 1. The Ferrari driver was swiftly informed that it was an issue with the MGU-K.
The virtual safety car was called out after Nico Hulkenberg ended up in the barriers at Turn 1, after his front wing failed and went underneath his car and showered Kvyat behind him in carbon fibre. Due to the amount of debris on the track, the actual safety car was called to allow the marshalls time to sweep it up which meant the drivers had to go through the pits during these laps. Ricciardo was the one to watch at the restart as he was on soft tyres whereas the cars in front of him were all on the medium compound tyre and Raikkonen was still hindered by his MGU-K issue. On the restart Rosberg immediately passed Raikkonen into Turn 1, whilst Ricciardo and Hamilton made contact leaving the pair with damage and allowing Kvyat and Bottas to come through - until Bottas then also ended up with a puncture which was caused by Max Verstappen.
Hamilton was forced to pit for a new wing after his damage, and came out in 13th place and if the race had remained this way Rosberg would have taken the lead of the championship heading into the summer.
The Ferrari of Raikkonen was called into the pits and the engine was switched off and restarted and sent on his way but he reported that the issue remained and brought his car back into the pits to retire.
Whilst attempting to overtake Rosberg, Ricciardo made contact with him puncturing the German's tyre and damaging the Australian's front wing. Both cars managed to limp back to the pits but crucially Ricciardo returned to track in third place whereas Rosberg came out in tenth and behind Hamilton. As a result of this Kvyat found himself in second place and on the brink of his maiden podium in F1, however he was handed a 10 second penalty but this held no impact on the final result.
It was also a positive day for McLaren who demonstrated the progress that the team has made with managing to get both cars into the points for the first time of the season, with Fernando Alonso coming home in fifth place and Jenson Button in ninth place who both demonstrated decent pace and overtaking maneuvers throughout the Grand Prix.
As Vettel took the chequered flag he held a very comfortable lead over Kvyat and Ricciardo; additionally, despite it being quite unnoticed and quiet Max Verstappen found himself in fourth place an unbelievable feat for the 17-year-old Dutchman. After a scrappy day the Mercedes drivers found themselves in sixth and eighth place, not what has come to be expected of the Silver Arrows in recent seasons.
There was a very touching moment over the radio between Vettel and the team where he dedicated his victory to Jules Bianchi who many had felt would have been destined to a Ferrari seat, possibly even as soon as next season to replace Kimi Raikkonen if the Finn is to retire or leave the team at the end of this season.
It is worth noting this is the first podium since Brazil 2013 that has not featured a Mercedes driver - a run of 29 races, and also it means that Sebastian Vettel is the only driver to have finished every race so far this season in the top 5.
Final results:
- Sebastian Vettel GER Ferrari-Ferrari 69 laps 1hr 46m 09.985s
- Daniil Kvyat RUS Red Bull-Renault +15.7s
- Daniel Ricciardo AUS Red Bull-Renault +25.0s
- Max Verstappen NED Toro Rosso-Renault +44.2s
- Fernando Alonso ESP McLaren-Honda +49.0s
- Lewis Hamilton GBR Mercedes-Mercedes +52.0s
- Romain Grosjean FRA Lotus-Mercedes +58.5s
- Nico Rosberg GER Mercedes-Mercedes +58.8s
- Jenson Button GBR McLaren-Honda +67.0s
- Marcus Ericsson SWE Sauber-Ferrari +69.1s
- Felipe Nasr BRZ Sauber-Ferrari +73.4s
- Felipe Massa BRZ Williams-Mercedes +74.2s
- Pastor Maldonado VEN Lotus-Mercedes +80.2s
- Valtteri Bottas FIN Williams-Mercedes +85.1s
- Roberto Merhi SPA Manor Marussia-Ferrari +2 laps
- Will Stevens GBR Manor Marussia-Ferrari +4 laps
Rtd Carlos Sainz Jr ESP Toro Rosso-Renaultengine 60 laps completed
Rtd Kimi Raikkonen FIN Ferrari-Ferrariengine 55 laps completed
Rtd Sergio Perez MEX Force India-Mercedesretirement 53 laps completed
Rtd Nico Hulkenberg GER Force India-Mercedesaccident 41 laps completed
Rtd Kimi Raikkonen FIN Ferrari-Ferrariengine 55 laps completed
Rtd Sergio Perez MEX Force India-Mercedesretirement 53 laps completed
Rtd Nico Hulkenberg GER Force India-Mercedesaccident 41 laps completed
After a tense and thrilling race in Budapest and a tough week for all in F1, the drivers and teams rightly now head into the summer break before heading off to Spa Francorchamps for the Belgium Grand Prix at the end of August.
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