Everything about the Hungarian Grand Prix was a surprise to Lewis Hamilton. He was amazed to learn he was on pole position and the Englishman was equally bowled over when he went and won the race.
Hamilton was stunned because this was his first win for Mercedes at a time when he least expected it. The 2008 champion had been on pole position three times before in 2013 but on each occasion the race pace and tyre performance of the Mercedes had deserted him.
He thought the same thing was bound to happen again at the Hungaroring, particularly when the track temperature on this tight and twisting circuit went above 50 degrees C. And even if the car remained under him, previous form suggested nothing would go right in a year when Nico Rosberg had won two races for Mercedes and the best Hamilton could show was a handful of third places. He turned all of that on its head from the moment the red lights went out in Hungary.
The pole lap had been one of those exquisite expressions of Hamilton’s skill as he extracted more from the Mercedes than Sebastian Vettel could manage in a Red Bull that most observers felt was a shoe-in for the prime starting position. But betting for the race was on Mercedes following form by eating rear tyres on the traction-dominated track. That, of course, would not stop Hamilton giving his all while track position was in his favour during the first phase of the 70-lap race.
Initially, Vettel was right with the Mercedes but Hamilton was to receive some respite when the Red Bull came under pressure from the Lotus of Romain Grosjean. The key moment in this race would come immediately after the leader’s first pit stop at the end of lap nine.
Hamilton, having got rid of the Soft tyre, rejoined behind Jenson Button, who had started on the slower but more durable Medium Pirelli and was likely to keep running for several more laps. Knowing he could not afford to be delayed, Hamilton attacked immediately and pulled away despite Button’s best retaliatory efforts with the McLaren.
Two laps later and Vettel faced the same scenario after his first stop. The difference this time was that it would take Vettel 12 laps to get past Button and, as he did so, the two cars touched, causing light damage to the Red Bull’s front wing. By which time Hamilton was 13 seconds up the road; an absolutely crucial development as this would be Hamilton’s winning margin over Vettel – with the added complication of Kimi Raikkonen having slotted between the two.
The Lotus driver, on a two-stop strategy compared to three for Hamilton and Vettel, had gradually come into contention thanks to typically consistent lap times that lifted him to second place as the final pit stops played out.
Mark Webber had been ahead of Raikkonen thanks to the other Red Bull running an alternative strategy as Webber tried to make up for having to start from 10th (thanks to a KERS problem – yet again for the Australian – during qualifying.) A late stop for the Soft tyre dropped Webber to fourth but the anticipated chase after his team-mate didn’t happen as the softer tyre quickly gave up during the final 11 laps.
Vettel was probably relieved about that as he tried everything to get past Raikkonen, a wheel-to-wheel moment with two laps to go causing Vettel to complain that the Finn had been aggressively defensive. Raikkonen just smiled and shrugged when the question was raised – not by Vettel, it should be said – after the race was over. Second place was his and helped a little in Räikkönen’s chase of Vettel in the championship, particularly on a day when Fernando Alonso, second on the points table, could only manage fifth with a Ferrari that was never on the pace all weekend.
As the season reached the halfway mark, Hamilton’s welcome victory had the added benefit of keeping his name on the edge of the championship frame. It was also something to savour as F1 went into the summer break. Ten races and five different winners. In truth, any one of them remains within a shout of a championship that continues to be as unpredictable as this superb result in Hungary.
