Hamilton takes first Mercedes victory

Lewis Hamilton has won the Hungarian Grand Prix, his first Grand Prix win of the 2013 season and his first career win as a Mercedes AMG F1 driver.

Dominating from the start, Hamilton was able to fend off the charging Red Bull of triple World Champion Sebastian Vettel on several occasions. Ultimately, it was race strategy and simple outright pace that took the Brit across the finish line in first whilst worries of tyre management on the Mercedes in the heat were non-existent throughout.

Sebastian Vettel, who led the race at various points throughout the afternoon, would settle for third on the podium after being unable to pass the second placed Lotus of Kimi Raikkonen in the final laps.

The Hungarian Grand Prix got off to an exciting start with on-track action from the second the red lights went out. Despite critics’ comments that Hamilton would struggle against Vettel off the line, Hamilton had a textbook start whilst Vettel seemed to be slower to get ahead. Behind, Grosjean, Rosberg and both Ferrari’s surged forward, all challenging for second place going into the first corner. Vettel’s strength prevailed though, putting the squeeze on Grosjean’s challenging Lotus and retaining second position.

Minor contact between Massa and Rosberg was inevitable during the first lap as all drivers fought for track position, but both came off unharmed and continued to race. The hunt was then on for Vettel who started to close the gap on Hamilton ahead, whilst Grosjean chased comfortably in third.

The top eight cars on the grid started the race on the soft Pirelli compound, whilst Perez and Webber in ninth and tenth opted to start on the medium compound and a slightly different strategy than those ahead of them. With temperatures on-track reaching approximately 51C, the Hungarian Grand Prix was always going to be a race that tested not only the durability of the revised Pirelli compounds, but also the delicate tyre management of the drivers.

The first pit stops of the afternoon came just nine laps into the race as tyres started to fall away. Lewis Hamilton was amongst those to pit first changing the soft for the medium compound and releasing both Vettel and Grosjean. Vettel took his first stop 3 laps later on lap 12 for a new set of the mediums, leaving Grosjean to lead the race for another two laps before the Frenchman put on lap 14, also for a new set of the medium Pirelli’s.

Adrian Sutil’s 100th Grand Prix came to an abrupt end when the Force India driver was forced to retire, the first retirement of the race, on the twenty first lap with a hydraulic leak. Mark Webber’s race strategy of starting on the medium compound took him a full twenty four laps before having to stop for the first time, for yet another set of medium tyres which seemed to suit Webber’s Red Bull. Esteban Gutierrez became the second retiree of the afternoon.

The excitement of the initial laps calmed as the race hit the midway mark, with relatively little happening on track as the drivers paced themselves during the high temperature Grand Prix. There were a handful of overtaking manoeuvres though, particularly from Lewis Hamilton on lap 34 when he was able to get his Mercedes past the Red Bull of Sebastian Vettel just as the second wave of pit stops would alter the running order once again. Romain Grosjean, who performed so well throughout the opening stages of the race to stick within the top three, was handed a drive-through penalty after passing Felipe Massa off track; replays clearly showed Grosjean cross the white line of the track.

25 laps to go, and with Lewis Hamilton leading the race a full 14 seconds ahead of second placed Sebastian Vettel, Valtteri Bottas pulled over his Williams on the pit straight with what appeared to be an engine failure and raising question as to whether a Safety Car may be deployed. The Williams was recovered quickly and safely by the marshals though and the race continued without delay.

Lewis Hamilton’s fourth and final pit stop of the afternoon came just twenty laps from the end of the race. Sebastian Vettel would once again take the lead of the Grand Prix for five more laps before having to pit for new tyres himself. This allowed Hamilton to once again take the lead of the race whilst Vettel re-joined in fourth place behind Mark Webber and Kimi Raikkonen. Webber would soon take his final stop of the afternoon and Vettel, who was on much newer tyres than Raikkonen, was left to chase the Finn for second place.

With just three laps remaining, Vettel made what looked like a final charge for second. Attempting a pass on Raikkonen, Vettel ran wide, increasing the gap once more and putting him too far behind to challenge again before the chequered flag fell.

Behind the top three, Mark Webber had a consistent race with little drama, earning him a well placed fourth position with Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso just behind in fifth after an uneventful race for the Spaniard who was unable to challenge for any podium position at any time. Romain Grosjean, who led the race in the early stages and looked poised for a podium finish ultimately did well to finish in sixth after his drive-through penalty.

Both McLaren drivers finished in the top ten; Button worked his way to a seventh place finish whilst teammate Sergio Perez managed to gain just one place from his starting position, crossing the finish line night. The McLaren dup were split by Ferrari’s Felipe Massa, whilst a late engine failure from Mercedes’ Nico Rosberg saw Pastor Maldonado promoted to tenth place in the final laps of the race.

Further down the field, Sauber’s lone running Nico Hulkenberg finished eleventh, with the Toro Rosso duo of Vergne and Ricciardo paired in 12th and 13th respectively. The Caterham’s of Giedo van der Garde and Charles Pic finished 14th and 15th, comfortably ahead of both Marussia cars, who made up the remaining two places of the seventeen cars to cross the finish line.

Sebastian Vettel retains the lead of the Drivers’ World Championship at the season’s halfway mark; he is a full 38 points ahead of second placed Kimi Raikkonen. Red Bull Racing increase their lead to 69 points over Mercedes in the Constructors’ World Championship.

The Formula 1 calendar resumes four weeks from now on the weekend of August 23 – 25 for the 2013 Formula 1 Shell Belgian Grand Prix.