The start was always going to be a crucial part of the race and Hamilton hooked up a perfect one to lead comfortably into the first corner. Vettel found himself under attack from Grosjean but managed to hold the Lotus as Alonso also tried to join the fun in the top three at Turn 2. Nico Rosberg made a good start off the line only to find himself fending off and making contact with Felipe Massa at turn five, which was the start of slippery slope for the Mercedes driver. After sustaining damage, his race eventually ended with a plume of smoke from the right bank of his Mercedes engine five laps from the end.
The first of the frontrunners to stop for new tyres was polesitter Hamilton on lap nine, switching to the medium compound and promoting Vettel into the lead, who pitted two laps later and re-joined behind Hamilton. By lap 14, Webber – who had started on the medium tyres – was in the lead, pitting for the first time for more mediums on lap 23.
Hamilton pitted from the lead once more on lap 31 and lap 50, maintaining his cushion over the following Red Bull drivers on each occasion by taking the initiative when it came to pit stops. His closest challenger at the end of the race was Raikkonen, who finished 10 seconds behind the Mercedes driver despite stopping for tyres only twice. The Finn and the two McLaren drivers were the only top 10 finishers to adopt a two-stop strategy.
Lewis Hamilton has listed his win at the Hungarian Grand Prix among the most important of his career: "I think this is probably one of the most important wins of my career. To move to a new team and to win for Mercedes Benz is a real privilege. I'm so glad I can be a part of the team and I really couldn't be happier. I hope there is many more to come. I think you could tell I was hungry for it and I was just going all out. I needed to get past those people, usually I get stuck in traffic in my races, but today I just wasn't having it. I was going for every move I had. Champion? We've got to work hard. You never know how the tyres are going to last but if we can come here and make them last we can do it anywhere."
Kimi Raikkonen says anything can still happen so he’ll keep fighting until the end: "It was a good race and a good result for the team. The strategy worked well. We did two long stints on the tyres but they weren’t too bad and the car felt strong so it allowed us to make one less stop. In the last few laps the rears were a bit on edge, but apart from that it was ok. Sebastian [Vettel] got the run on me a couple of times but luckily it was in places that you can’t really overtake. The main positive is that we gained a few points to Seb in the Championship. For sure we could have maybe closed the gap a little more with a win, but anything we can get back will help. We’re only halfway through the season and it will be hard to catch up, but anything can still happen so we’ll keep fighting until the end."
Sebastian Vettel: "I would have loved the race to have been a bit longer, as it was fun with Kimi at the end. It’s hard to pass on this track, I got close but I wasn’t in the prime overtaking spot at that point. I was trying to set something up for the next corners, but it didn’t work. The key issue in the race was when I got stuck behind Jenson, there’s no one to blame for that, I lost more time than expected on the way into the first stop and we came out just behind him. I couldn’t get past, I tried to force it and damaged my front wing, which was a mistake from my side. I was maybe trying to urge a bit too much. It was close with Kimi and nice to be on the podium again today. Congratulations to Lewis, he did a good job today."
HUNGARIAN GRAND PRIX, HUNGARORING
70 laps, 301.458km., Weather: Sunny.
CLASIFFIED:
P. DRIVER TEAM TIME
1. Lewis Hamilton Mercedes AMG 1ч42:29.445
2. Kimi Raikkonen Lotus + 10.938
3. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull + 12.459
4. Mark Webber Red Bull + 18.044
5. Fernando Alonso Ferrari + 31.411
6. Romain Grosjean Lotus + 32.295
7. Jenson Button McLaren + 53.819
8. Felipe Massa Ferrari + 56.447
9. Sergio Peres McLaren + 1 lap
10. Pastor Maldonado Williams + 1 lap
11. Nico Hulkenberg Sauber + 1 lap
12. Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso + 1 lap
13. Daniel Ricciardo Toro Rosso + 1 lap
14. Giedo van der Garde Caterham + 2 laps
15. Charles Pic Caterham + 2 laps
16. Jules Bianchi Marussia + 3 laps
17. Max Chilton Marussia + 3 laps
18. Pol di Resta Force India + 4 laps
19. Nico Rosberg Mercedes AMG + 6 laps
Fastest Lap: Mark Webber - 1:24.069
NOT CLASIFFIED:
DRIVER TEAM LAP
Valtteri Bottas Williams 42
Esteban Gutierrez Sauber 28
Adrian Sutil Force India 19
After 10 races:
Drivers: Constructors:
1. S.Vettel 172 1. Red Bull 277
2. K.Raikkonen 134 2. Mercedes AMG 208
3. F.Alonso 133 3. Ferrari 194
4. L.Hamilton 124 4. Lotus 183
5. M.Webber 105 5. Force India 59
6. N.Rosberg 84 6. McLaren 57
7. F.Massa 61 7. Toro Rosso 24
8. R.Grosjean 49 8. Sauber 7
9. J.Button 39 9. Williams 1
10. P.di Resta 36
11. A.Sutil 23
12. S.Peres 18
13. J.Vergne 13
14. D.Ricciardo 11
15. N.Hulkenberg 7
16. P.Maldonado 1
