2015 HUNGARIAN GP: PERFECT WIN FOR VETTEL, RED BULL FINALLY ON PODIUM

Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel claimed his second win of the season with a thrilling victory, in a race that was characterised by incidents, penalties and a lengthy safety car period, which closed up the field towards the finish and added more variables to the strategy.

Vettel’s victory was made possible after he made an excellent start from the second row of the grid to take the lead by the first corner. But he had to fight hard to keep it, after the field was compacted by a safety car, in place to protect the cars from damage caused by debris on the main straight. As a result the cars passed through the pit lane repeatedly – with few drivers taking the opportunity to change tyres.

This safety car period caused strategies to be disrupted. But despite this moving target, Vettel only briefly lost the lead to his team mate, Kimi Raikkonen, before regaining it all the way to the finish – with the Ferrari team executing a perfect strategy over all 70 laps. Vettel started the race on the soft tyre, before completing a second stint on the soft tyre and ending it on the medium: just as we had predicted.

Mercedes driver Nico Rosberg chose an alternative strategy by completing only one stint on the soft tyre and then finishing the race on the medium tyre – but a certain second-place finish was taken away from him almost within sight of the finish, when he picked up a puncture following contact with the Red Bull of Daniel Ricciardo.

Ricciardo eventually finished third, with his team mate Daniel Kvyat claiming his best-ever finish in second (despite a 10-second penalty), confirming the pace of Red Bull seen during free practice and qualifying in Hungary. It was also a career-best result for Toro Rosso’s Max Verstappen, who finished fourth. 

HUNGARIAN GRAND PRIX, HUNGARORING
70 laps, 306.630km., Weather: Sunny/Hot.
CLASSIFIED:
 P.      DRIVER          TEAM             TIME    
 1. Sebastian Vettel    Ferrari        1h46:09.985
 2. Daniil Kvyat        Red Bull        +   15.748
 3. Daniel Ricciardo    Red Bull        +   25.084
 4. Max Verstappen      Toro Rosso      +   44.251
 5. Fernando Alonso     McLaren         +   49.070
 6. Lewis Hamilton      Mercedes AMG    +   52.025
 7. Romain Grosjean     Lotus           +   58.578
 8. Nico Rosberg        Mercedes AMG    +   58.876
 9. Jenson Button       McLaren         + 1:07.028
10. Marcus Ericssoon    Sauber          + 1:09.130
11. Felipe Nasr         Sauber          + 1:13.458
12. Felipe Massa        Williams        + 1:14.278
13. Valtteri Bottas     Williams        + 1:20.228
14. Pastor Maldonado    Lotus           + 1:25.142
15. Roberto Merhi       Manor           +   2 laps
16. Will Stevens        Manor           +   4 laps

* 2014: Daniel Ricciardo - Red Bull - 1h53:05.058

Fastest Lap: Daniel Ricciardo - 1:24.821          

NOT CLASSIFIED:
Carlos Sainz JR.     Toro Rosso        60
Kimi Raikkonen       Ferrari           55
Sergio Perez         Force India       53
Nico Hulkenberg      Force India       42

After 10 Races:                
Drivers:                    Constructors:         
 1. Lewis Hamilton    202   1. Mercedes AMG  383
 2. Nico Rosberg      181   2. Ferrari       236
 3. Sebastian Vettel  160   3. Williams      151
 4. Valtteri Bottas    77   4. Red Bull       96
 5. Kimi Raikkonen     76   5. Force India    39
 6. Felipe Massa       74   6. Lotus          35
 7. Daniel Ricciardo   51   7. Toro Rosso     31
 8. Daniil Kvyat       45   8. Sauber         22
 9. Nico Hulkenberg    24   9. McLaren        17
10. Romain Grosjean    23
11. Max Verstappen     22
12. Felipe Nasr        16
13. Sergio Perez       15
14. Pastor Maldonado   12
15. Fernando Alonso    11
16. Carlos Sainz JR.    9
17. Jenson Button       6
18. Marcus Ericsson     6