Hungarian Grand Prix: Lewis Hamilton wins
Lewis Hamilton resisted long pressure from Kimi Raikkonen to win the Hungarian Grand Prix and extend his championship lead back up to seven points. After his post-qualifying penalty, Hamilton’s McLaren teammate Fernando Alonso could only manage to come through to fourth, right behind Nick Heidfeld as BMW took their second podium finish of the season.
Felipe Massa also struggled to make progress at the sinuous Hungaroring – spending the entire afternoon in heavy traffic and finishing 13th.
The weekend of controversy continued in the post-race ceremonies, as the stewards decreed that no one from McLaren should be allowed to collect the winning constructors’ trophy in light of the team’s appeal against the decision not to allow them to score points in the race. That moment aside, the race was relatively uneventful compared to the arguments of the preceding 24 hours.
Raikkonen immediately passed Heidfeld for second at the start of the race, as the BMW struggled for traction on the dusty side of the track, but he could not keep pace with Hamilton early on and soon fell four seconds behind. Meanwhile, Alonso ran out of room on the inside at the first corner and lost sixth to Robert Kubica, then ran wide at the final corner and was passed by Mark Webber as well. Two straightforward passes into Turn 1 on subsequent laps took Alonso back past Webber and Kubica and into sixth, where he would remain until the first stops. McLaren opted to put both drivers on long middle stints before shorter runs on the difficult super-soft tyres. Raikkonen had a shorter first stop and was able to close to within a second of Hamilton. He proceeded to stalk the championship leader throughout the rest of the race – staying right behind Hamilton even though the McLaren benefited from four additional low-fuel laps prior to his final stop. But Raikkonen was never close enough to attempt a pass and had to settle for second, as Hamilton celebrated the third win of his short Formula One career.
Alonso spent the middle stages trapped behind Ralf Schumacher in sixth. His two-stop strategy allowed the Spaniard to vault most of the three-stoppers around him and move up to fourth, but Heidfeld – who had run third for most of the duration – stayed far enough ahead to emerge in front of Alonso after his last pit stop. The champion pushed hard to the finish, running wide several times as he tried to get on terms with Heidfeld, who was able to resist the McLaren.
Kubica brought the second BMW home fifth, followed by Schumacher. Nico Rosberg ran in the top four on several occasions, but the short stints of his three- stop strategy did not pay off and he fell to seventh. Heikki Kovalainen used a two-stop plan and a long run on the super soft tyres to beat Mark Webber to the final point, with Jarno Trulli holding off David Coulthard for 10th after a poor start. Felipe Massa could only chase Giancarlo Fisichella home in 13th place.
Last year’s winners Honda had a dreadful weekend – with Jenson Button retiring with an engine failure and Rubens Barrichello finishing last after a very uncompetitive performance. The two newcomers had mixed fortunes. Sebastian Vettel came home 16th for Toro Rosso, while Sakon Yamamoto crashed his Spyker after five laps.
Source: autosport
Hungarian GP Final (Race) Standings:
- L. Hamilton (McLaren Mercedes)
- K. Raikkonen (Ferrari)
- N. Heidfeld (BMW Sauber)
- F. Alonso (McLaren Mercedes)
- R. Kubica (BMW Sauber)
- R. Schumacher (Toyota)
- N. Rosberg (Williams)
- H. Kovalainen (Renault)
- M. Webber (Red Bull)
- J. Trulli (Toyota)
- D. Coulthard (Red Bull)
- G. Fisichella (Renault)
- F. Massa (Ferrari)
- A. Wurz (Williams)
- T. Sato (Super Aguri)
- S. Vettel (Toro Rosso)
- A. Sutil (Spyker)
- R. Barrichello (Honda)
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