Mercedes
Valtteri Bottas
"That was a tough race. Obviously starting second on the grid, you aim to win the race, but I had a bad start and lost a few positions. I reacted to a light on my dash that went off, instead of the start lights, which then meant the car went into anti-stall and I had to do the start again. I lost some ground there and that made the race very difficult for me, as I was fighting right to the very end. It was pretty close with Max and I think the gamble to pit late on was definitely worth taking, as it gave me the difference in tyre life. But it didn't quite pay off today. Still, I scored a good haul of points and there's plenty to learn from this weekend, heading to Silverstone."
Lewis Hamilton
"What an incredible race. Honestly, that was one of my favourites that I've raced, even though I was on my own for the majority, it's a very different kind of challenge and I was pushing hard out there - particularly for the fastest lap at the end. I want to say a huge congratulations to everyone back home at the factory in Brackley and at HPP in Brixworth, they've done such a fantastic job developing and improving for this year and this team just continues to amaze me. I love working with them and I'm grateful to be able to perform for them on weekends like this. We had great pace today, brilliant pit stops, a fantastic strategy and then, as I was managing those Mediums for a long, long time, at the end it was the perfect time to get on fresh tyres and take that extra point for fastest lap. Everything has just been on point throughout the weekend, so we need to try and keep it up. I can't wait for Silverstone now, although I'll miss the energy the fans bring, so I hope I can perform for them there as I know they'll be watching from home."
Toto Wolff, head of Mercedes-Benz motorsport
"A 1-3 result is really satisfying, especially on a track that hasn't always been our favourite in the past. A great result for the team! Lewis had a really good start in those tricky conditions and from there, he was in control of the race, managing his pace and dealing with the curveballs the weather threw at us. For Valtteri, obviously he had a difficult start and that dropped him into the midfield, but he fought back well to finish P3. We leave the Hungaroring with three wins out of three races and very happy. The car seems to be in a good place but to maintain it, we know we need to keep working hard and adding performance. Now we're looking ahead to Silverstone in two weeks and we're looking forward to be back there."
Andrew Shovlin, chief race engineer
"It's great to finish this first triple-header with a third win and be able to further extend our lead in the Championships. Lewis put in another masterclass, he was able to control the race from start to finish and build enough of a gap to give us some margin to cover the uncertain weather and any risk of Safety Cars. Valtteri had a busy afternoon. He nearly went before the lights but pulled the clutch and managed to avoid a jump start. However, that cost him a load of time and he was down in seventh exiting Turn 1. Valtteri called first to switch to dry tyres which was a good call, but he was stuck behind the Charles and lost a bit of the benefit to the cars that went one lap longer. Lewis didn't need to take risks so went a lap further before stopping. Valtteri did a good job passing Charles and both Haas cars on track but by mid-race, the talk on the pitwall was all about the weather. We could see a shower moving towards us very slowly, but it looked like it would be short-lived and not heavy enough to take us to Intermediates. With Valtteri, we used it as the opportunity to undercut Lance by putting him on fresh tyres just before the rain started to fall. That worked nicely and he quickly was able to start closing down Max. His extra stop was a bit of a gamble and a shame it didn't work out, but there was no downside to trying. With Lewis we had the margin to wait until the others had stopped and from there he was just looking after the car and tyres to the finish. The car has been really strong all weekend, good in the corners and on the straights and it's run here without any reliability concerns. It's great that the sport has been able to get the season underway and as much as we're looking forward to a few days at home, we're also excited about getting back on track at Silverstone in twelve days' time."
