Lewis Hamilton extended his lead of the championship by four points at the Hungaroring. Sound like the normal turn of events? The Hungarian Grand Prix was anything but.
Hamilton finished sixth, Mercedes team-mate Nico Rosberg two places further back at the end of a race that was a disaster by Mercedes standards. Hamilton apologising to his team afterwards for his worst performance of the season; Rosberg was kicking himself for an incident that cost him a place on the podium – possibly a victory – and the chance to close down Hamilton’s championship lead.
So, who won this incredibly dramatic 70-lap encounter? Sebastian Vettel and Ferrari. And in case you think their second victory of the season came by default, it is important to note that Vettel jumped into the lead at the start, showed very impressive pace throughout – and no one saw it coming.
Having struggled throughout Friday practice and unable to find a rhythm, Ferrari showed their new-found class of 2015 by turning the performance around during Saturday’s free practice, Vettel then qualifying third with Kimi Raikkonen backing that up with fifth on the grid. Then came the start – which is where it all went wrong for Mercedes, and Hamilton in particular.
Until this point, Hamilton had seemed on course for his sixth win in 10 races after a brilliant pole position lap had crushed Rosberg by the huge margin of four-tenths of a second. But that would come to mean nothing when both silver cars – for the second race in succession – were slow off the line.
At Silverstone, Williams had taken advantage, but they were nowhere in Hungary (destined to finish out of the points). This time Vettel, aided by Raikkonen muscling his way through, gave Ferrari a one-two at the end of the opening lap. An even greater surprise was the pace of the red cars as they immediately looked comfortable at the front. Then, with 27 laps to go, things began to go wrong.
Raikkonen had an electrical problem that would spell the end for the unlucky Finn. And the appearance of the Safety Car (caused by a scary front wing failure on Nico Hulkenberg’s Force India) closed up the field and robbed Vettel of a very comfortable 26-second lead. Conversely, it was to offer some salvation for Hamilton who, until this point, had endured a disastrous race.
Slow off the line, he was fourth half way round the first lap when he tried – and failed – to take third from Rosberg. The off-course excursion dropped Hamilton to 10th, from where he slowly but surely began to claw his way back on a tight track where overtaking is more difficult than usual. After the first round of pit stops, he was fifth, the Safety Car period then putting him fourth (following Raikkonen’s problem) and back in the frame.
But the same applied to Ricciardo in fifth place, the Red Bull on form at a track where the Renault power unit’s straight-line speed deficit was not such a handicap. At the restart, Ricciardo was perfectly positioned behind Hamilton and drafted alongside as they reached the first corner, Hamilton then understeering into the Red Bull and prompting a pit stop for a new nose.
This was good news for Rosberg, now second and intent on having a go at Vettel. But Ricciardo, relatively undamaged after the Hamilton incident, had plans to have a go at them both, particularly as he had the benefit of softer tyres.
With five laps remaining, Ricciardo made such a late challenge into the first corner that Rosberg had left the door wide open. The Red Bull locked up and sailed past the Mercedes, Rosberg taking the normal racing line – but failing to leave the recovering Ricciardo enough room on the extreme edge of the corner exit. The left-rear of the Mercedes snagged the Red Bull’s front wing, giving Rosberg an instant puncture and the loss of a handful of points as he struggled back to the pits.
Let off the hook, Vettel aimed for victory ahead of Daniil Kvyat, the Red Bull driver scoring his first podium despite a 10-second penalty for exceeding track limits while overtaking earlier on. Ricciardo was third, ahead of another fine performance as Max Verstappen brought his Toro Rosso home fourth, Fernando Alonso giving McLaren-Honda very welcome points with fifth place.
It was a hugely eventful race – and an emotional one after the drivers had gathered on the starting grid to pay tribute to their colleague Jules Bianchi, who had recently succumbed to head injuries received in the Japanese Grand Prix last November.
“That can’t have been easy for any of them,” said Damon Hill, a former winner in Hungary as he watched the drivers walk back to their cars. “Now let’s have a great race. It’s exactly what Jules would want.” And that’s exactly what we got.