Budapest, Hungary - Lewis Hamilton strengthened his push for a fifth world title by increasing his championship lead to 24 points on Sunday as he claimed a convincing victory for Mercedes in the Hungarian Grand Prix.
The defending world champion came home 17.123s ahead of title rival and fellow four-times champion Sebastian Vettel after the Ferrari driver had survived a collision with Valtteri Bottas in the second Mercedes.
That came on lap 65 of the 70-lap race when Vettel finally passed Bottas, the Finn’s right front wing touching his rear left tyre under braking, wrecking Mercedes’ hopes of a one-two finish.
Kimi Raikkonen finished third, his fifth podium finish in a row, in the second Ferrari ahead of Daniel Ricciardo who surged from 12th on the grid to fourth for Red Bull ahead of Bottas, who finished fifth after a late pit stop.
'Bonus'
It was Hamilton’s record sixth win in Hungary, his fifth this season and the 67th of his career.
"We came here knowing that the Ferrari would be really quick this weekend," said Hamilton. "But to come out with these points, we'll definitely take as a bonus. What a beautiful day and a great crowd – and a great job from the team."
Hamilton now has 213 points to Vettel’s 189 after the 12th of 21 races this year and before the championship takes a European summer break.
Frenchman Pierre Gasly came home sixth for Toro Rosso ahead of Kevin Magnussen of Haas, Fernando Alonso of McLaren, on his 37th birthday, fellow-Spaniard Carlos Sainz of Toro Rosso and Romain Grosjean in the second Haas.
"P2 is not what we really wanted, but the maximum we could get today," said Vettel.
The race, preceded by a minute’s silence for former Ferrari boss Sergio Marchionne, began in sweltering conditions with the air temperature at 34 degrees and a track temperature of 57.
After Saturday’s rain-lashed qualifying, the teams had a free choice of tyres, which saw Ferrari split their strategy - Vettel, like Sainz, choosing softs, while Raikkonen and the rest started on ultra-softs.
Verstappen forced out
The two Mercedes made perfect getaways, Hamilton streaking clear and Bottas staying close to resist attacks as Vettel swept inside into third. Verstappen, who had moved up to fifth, made an early exit, his Renault engine grumbling into retirement on lap six.
After one lap under Virtual Safety Car conditions, Hamilton resumed his charge. He was 4.5 seconds clear of Bottas by lap 10 and 5.7 by lap 14 when Raikkonen pitted, followed immediately by Bottas, both switching to softs. This left Vettel in pursuit of Hamilton, but despite some swift laps, he remained seven seconds adrift of Hamilton before the champion pitted after 25 laps. He rejoined second between the German and Bottas.
In clear air, Vettel pushed to extend his lead to more than 12 seconds by lap 36, with Bottas further adrift and, in turn, ahead of Raikkonen by just 1.2 seconds. Held by traffic and still on his original worn softs, Vettel began to struggle and his lead tumbled to 9.5s by lap 39 when he pitted. A slow stop cost him two seconds and he emerged third behind Bottas.
Not encouraging
Raikkonen had pitted a lap earlier, falling to fifth behind Ricciardo, who had yet to stop. For Ferrari, it was not an encouraging position given their raw speed advantage in practice. The Australian pitted, finally, after 44 laps, switching to ultras.
By lap 45, Hamilton led Bottas by 10 seconds with Vettel a further three seconds adrift and making little impact, despite fresher tyres. On lap 51, Stoffel Vandoorne slowed and retired from an encouraging ninth at Turn 1, causing a Virtual Safety Car to be deployed. On resumption, Vettel closed to within a second of Bottas, but despite tyres that were 24 laps younger, he was unable to find a pass as Raikkonen closed in.
For Hamilton, it was a dream scenario and, with 10 laps to go, he was 18 seconds clear of the unyielding Bottas, who had both Ferraris bottled up behind him, within a second, until Vettel lunged by with five laps to go.
RESULTS
1 Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) - 1h37m16.427s
2 Sebastian Vettel (Ferrari) + 17.123s
3 Kimi Raikkonen (Ferrari) +20.101
4 Daniel Ricciardo (Red Bull) +46.419
5 Valtteri Bottas (Mercedes) +50.00
6 Pierre Gasly (Toro Rosso) +73.273
7 Kevin Magnussen (Haas) +1 lap
8 Fernando Alonso (McLaren) +1 lap
9 Carlos Sainz (Renault) +1 lap
10 Romain Grosjean (Haas) +1 lap
11 Brendon Hartley (Toro Rosso) +1 lap
12 Nico Hulkenberg (Renault) +1 lap
13 Esteban Ocon (Renault) +1 lap
14 Sergio Perez (Force India) +1 lap
15 Marcus Ericsson (Sauber) +2 laps
16 Sergey Sirotkin (Williams) +2 laps
17 Lance Stroll (Williams) +2 laps
Stoffel Vandoorne (McLaren) - DNF
Max Verstappen (Red Bull) - DNF
Charles Leclerc (Sauber) - DNF