Hamilton breaks Mercedes duck
Lewis Hamilton ended weeks of expectation and frustration on Sunday when he finally won his first race for Mercedes by claiming a dominant text-book triumph in the Hungarian Grand Prix.
The 28-year-old Briton led from pole position to the chequered flag, apart from three short spells for pit-stops, as he secured his fourth victory at the Hungaroring in sweltering conditions.
It was the 22nd win of his career and a success that restored him among the challengers for this year’s drivers’ championship.
Hamilton came home 11 seconds clear of Finn Kimi Raikkonen of Lotus and third-placed defending triple world champion German Sebastian Vettel of Red Bull, who was unable to force his way into second place in the closing laps.
Australian Mark Webber finished fourth in the second Red Bull ahead of two-time champion Spaniard Fernando Alonso of Ferrari and sixth-placed Frenchman Romain Grosjean of Lotus, who endured a familiar race of incidents and penalties.
Briton Jenson Button came home seventh for McLaren ahead of Brazilian Felipe Massa in the second Ferrari and Mexican Sergio Perez in the second McLaren.
Venezuelan Pastor Maldonado delivered the Williams’ team’s first point of the season by finishing 10th.
Hamilton’s pole was his third in successive races but the previous two had seen him unable to exploit the advantage — a spectacular tyre failure at Silverstone wrecking his hopes while leading the British Grand Prix.
But this time, in Mercedes’ 350th race as engine suppliers in Formula One, he enjoyed some of the luck that had been missing elsewhere to mark his 120th Grand Prix with a well-taken win.
Sutil fails to finish in 100th GPAdrian Sutil’s 100th Grand Prix ended in a big disappointment as he failed to finish the race even as Sahara Force India’s lead over McLaren was reduced to just four points after a no-points show.
Paul di Resta, who began 17th on the grid, finished 18th which meant that for the second time in a row Force India have not added any points to their kitty.
In lap 19, Sutil’s car suffered a hydraulic leak and after making a contact with Felipe Massa in the next lap he went to pitlane and the team decided to retire the car.
Post new comment