@LewisHamilton snatches #HungarianGP victory from @Max33Verstappen. #F1

Lewis Hamilton pinched victory at the Hungarian Grand Prix with four laps remaining after Mercedes pulled off a master-stroke strategy switch to defeat long-time race leader Max Verstappen.

 

 

Hamilton moved to a two-stop strategy to use fresher rubber in an attempt to put on a late charge to pass Red Bull Racing’s Verstappen.

 

Verstappen remained in-front until the start of lap 67, when Hamilton was within DRS range to attack the Dutchman on the outside into turn one, and Verstappen’s “dead” tyres left him helpless in defending on the inside.

 

A late switch to fresh softer compounds allowed Verstappen to grab the consolation bonus fastest lap point, as Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel rounded out the podium – with the German a huge 61.433 seconds adrift of Hamilton.

 

When the Hungarian GP began, pole-sitter Verstappen held onto the lead as Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas locked up after attacking on the outside and made slight contact with Mercedes team-mate Hamilton, who was more to the outside of the left-hand corner.

 

Bottas then needed to defend from Hamilton into turn two but once again locked up, allowing Hamilton to switch back and breezed by the Finn around the outside into turn three – compromising Bottas as they slightly touched again and allowed Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc to move ahead.

 

Leclerc also had a tangle with Bottas in the process and as a result, Bottas’ front wing took slight damage, which ended up too problematic for the Mercedes driver to continue beyond the fifth lap, triggering the Silver Arrows to make an early pitstop and hampered the Finn’s race.

 

In the front, Verstappen quickly build a two second lead to Hamilton, but the latter pushed back and was nearly within DRS range when Verstappen – who was complaining of losing grip, pitted on the 25^th lap.

 

Mercedes decided to extend Hamilton’s initial stint on track six laps longer than Verstappen, which dropped the Briton 5.8 seconds behind, but when he emerged, Hamilton’s swift speed on the fresher compounds rapidly evaporated the gap.

 

Hamilton had DRS at his advantage to attack Verstappen within five laps post-pitting, causing the Dutchman to defend slightly at the first corner just as the Grand Prix passed the midway point.

 

Hamilton then had a great chance to pass the Red Bull on the outside into turn four, but he ran wide, and went a little into the run-off area, which allowed Verstappen a bit of comfort.

 

Verstappen asked for more engine power in his attempt to keep Hamilton out of DRS activation. with the latter also facing brake wear issues, meaning another attack was not on the horizon.

 

Mercedes then opted for the masterstroke, stopping Hamilton again for a fresh set of mediums on the 48^th lap, a move Red Bull did not cover – giving the Briton 20 laps to hunt down the 20-second leading Verstappen.

 

With six laps remaining, Hamilton got to within 5.5 seconds of Verstappen, as the latter reported his tyres were “dead” and in two laps, the former was in DRS range of the Dutchman.

 

Hamilton flew by on the outside into turn one with better grip and traction, while Verstappen was unable to fight back on his heavily worn hard rubber – he dived into the pits for a fresh set of softs and went on to grab the bonus fastest lap point.

 

Leclerc was on course to round out the podium after a quiet race from Ferrari, which saw the Maranello-outfit rapidly fade from the front-battle in the early proceedings and never looked to recover.

 

Vettel opted for “Plan C”, meaning a longer run on the softer rubber would make it a difficult task in making up the lost time to his Ferrari team-mate by extending his initial stint.

 

With less than three laps left, Vettel caught Leclerc and squeezed on the inside into the first corner in an aggressive pass to take the final podium position.

 

McLaren’s Carlos Sainz took advantage of Bottas’ troubles and a horror start for Red Bull Racing’s Pierre Gasly to take fifth place, as the Spaniard also jumped team-mate Lando Norris on the first lap.

 

Sainz then remained in that position for the rest of the Grand Prix until withstanding late pressure from Gasly to finish fifth for the second consecutive race.

 

Norris could have made it a 5-6 finish for the Woking-based squad, but a left-rear issue in a slow pit stop meant the Briton dropped behind Gasly and Alfa Romeo Racing’s Kimi Raikkonen.

 

Norris was too far behind to catch or put Raikkonen under pressure, with the latter achieving his equal best result of the 2019 campaign in seventh.

 

Bottas’ limited his damage to eighth place, moving by Norris in the late stages, despite Mercedes predicting he could end up sixth.

 

Toro Rosso’s Alexander Albon caught and passed team-mate Daniil Kvyat and Racing Point’s Sergio Perez in the final third of the race to round out the top ten and take another point.

 

The two Renault’s of Nico Hulkenberg and Daniel Ricciardo finished 12^th and 14^th respectively with Haas F1 Team’s Kevin Magnussen sandwiched in-between the duo in 13^th.

 

Toro Rosso’s Kvyat was 15^th and in-front of ROKiT Williams Racing’s George Russell who was 16^th and Racing Point’s Lance Stroll who ended 17^th.

 

Alfa Romeo Racing’s Antonio Giovinazzi took 18^th and ahead of the second Williams of Robert Kubica who finished at the rear.

 

Haas F1 Team’s Romain Grosjean was the only retirement of the Grand Prix with the Frenchman running in the top ten in the earlier stages, but his longer first stint did not pay off.

 

Grosjean’s VF-19 racer was brought back into the garage with more than 20 laps remaining due to a water pressure issue.

 

The Top Three

 

1^st – Lewis Hamilton, #44, Mercedes AMG Petronas Motorsport, F1 W10 EQ Power+: “It feels like a new win for us. We’d had brake problems all weekend for us, and I was doing a lot of lift and coast for half the lap, to try and save them. I didn’t know if I could cut that 19s gap.”

 

2^nd – Max Verstappen, #33, Aston Martin Red Bull Racing-Honda, RB15: “We were just not fast enough. I tried everything I could on the hard tyre to save alive but couldn’t. Today we didn’t win, but it was a good day and a good weekend for us.”

 

3^rd – Sebastian Vettel, #5, Scuderia Ferrari, SF90: “I was sitting in P4 and had nothing to use, so we just did a long stint at the start and hoped the soft would last. We need maybe to charge our batteries; the battle continues and there’ll be tracks better for us.”

 

Formula 1 Rolex Magyar Nagydij 2019 Race Results Classification (70 Laps)

 

POS	NO	DRIVER	CAR	LAPS	TIME/RETIRED	PTS
1	44	Lewis Hamilton	MERCEDES	70	1:35:03.796	0
2	33	Max Verstappen	RED BULL RACING HONDA	70	+17.796s	0
3	5	Sebastian Vettel	FERRARI	70	+61.433s	0
4	16	Charles Leclerc	FERRARI	70	+65.250s	0
5	55	Carlos Sainz	MCLAREN RENAULT	69	+1 lap	0
6	10	Pierre Gasly	RED BULL RACING HONDA	69	+1 lap	0
7	7	Kimi Räikkönen	ALFA ROMEO RACING FERRARI	69	+1 lap	0
8	77	Valtteri Bottas	MERCEDES	69	+1 lap	0
9	4	Lando Norris	MCLAREN RENAULT	69	+1 lap	0
10	23	Alexander Albon	SCUDERIA TORO ROSSO HONDA	69	+1 lap	0
11	11	Sergio Perez	RACING POINT BWT MERCEDES	69	+1 lap	0
12	27	Nico Hulkenberg	RENAULT	69	+1 lap	0
13	20	Kevin Magnussen	HAAS FERRARI	69	+1 lap	0
14	3	Daniel Ricciardo	RENAULT	69	+1 lap	0
15	26	Daniil Kvyat	SCUDERIA TORO ROSSO HONDA	68	+2 laps	0
16	63	George Russell	WILLIAMS MERCEDES	68	+2 laps	0
17	18	Lance Stroll	RACING POINT BWT MERCEDES	68	+2 laps	0
18	99	Antonio Giovinazzi	ALFA ROMEO RACING FERRARI	68	+2 laps	0
19	88	Robert Kubica	WILLIAMS MERCEDES	67	+3 laps	0
NC	8	Romain Grosjean	HAAS FERRARI	49	DNF	0

 

Formula 1 2019 World Driver’s Championship Standings – Top 10

1. Lewis Hamilton – 250 Points.
2. Valtteri Bottas – 188 Points.
3. Max Verstappen – 181 Points.
4. Sebastian Vettel – 156 Points.
5. Charles Leclerc – 132 Points.
6. Pierre Gasly – 63 Points.
7. Carlos Sainz – 58 Points.
8. Kimi Raikkonen – 31 Points.
9. Daniil Kvyat – 27 Points.
10. Lando Norris – 24 Points.

 

Formula 1 2019 World Constructors Championship Standings

1. Mercedes AMG Petronas Motorsport – 438 Points.
2. Scuderia Ferrari – 288 Points.
3. Aston Martin Red Bull Racing-Honda – 244 Points.
4. McLaren-Renault F1 Team – 82 Points.
5. Scuderia Toro Rosso-Honda – 43 Points.
6. Renault F1 Team – 39 Points.
7. Alfa Romeo Racing – 32 Points.
8. SportPesa Racing Point F1 Team – 31 Points.
9. Rich Energy Haas F1 Team – 26 Points.
10. ROKiT Williams Racing – 1 Point.

 

Round 13 of the 2019 FIA Formula One World Championship returns to the legendary Circuit De Spa-Francorchamps in Stavelot, Belgium for the Formula 1 Johnnie Walker Belgian Grand Prix 2019 from Friday August 29-Sunday September 1 after the sport’s traditional summer break.