It was a long, hot afternoon at the Hungaroring, after a long, long first half of the season. But we start the summer in good form, and importantly still leading the Constructors’ Championship.
From the very first corner several things were evident here in Budapest: the Lotus pair were quick and the Hungaroring is still a tight place to attempt an over-take.
Once Jenson had slipped past Sebastian on the second corner, the race settled as Hamilton led from Grosjean, Button and Vettel. Mark made up good ground in the early stages, coming from his starting position of 11th to seventh. Thanks to the pace he had – and some slick pit work – Seb moved ahead of Button in his pitstop, while a resurgent Raikkonen ploughed through the field.
The final 15 laps developed into a battle at the front between the leader Hamilton and a tenacious Kimi Raikkonen who had undercut his own team-mate at the final round of pitstops.
Both Mark and Sebastian made late stops for the softer compound tyre and Sebastian had enough of a cushion to come back out in fourth and for the last ten laps was running at two seconds a lap faster than the third-placed Grosjean. However, he ran out of time, and was unable to clinch a podium place.
Afterwards Christian said: “In the heat of the afternoon, it was a long tough race. It was great work today by the pitcrew and we go into the summer break 53 points in the lead in the Constructors’ Championship and second and third in the Drivers’ with nine races still to go and an awful lot of racing to do. I think everyone deserves a well-earned break and will come back in a month’s time fully re-charged.”
One driver we should all feel a degree of sympathy for however is seven-time champion Michael Schumacher. He failed to leave the grid, started form the pitlane after a second warm-up lap was ordered and then was given a drive-through penalty for speeding in the pitlane. Not one of the races he’ll want to remember.
So we head off for the summer leading the Constructors’ Championship and with Mark in second and Sebastian third in the Drivers title fight. It’s a chance to re-charge, reflect and continue the consistent form of the first half of the year. We’ll be back with you in Belgium in September.
Top Of The Table After A Hot Summer's Racing In Hungary
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Top Of The Table After A Hot Summer's Racing In Hungary