Categories: F1 News, Reports and Race ResultsMercedes

Hamilton had 'a nightmare' in Hungary - Wolff

Mercedes boss Toto Wolff says Lewis Hamilton had "a nightmare" in the Hungarian Grand Prix but appreciates it was a good race for F1.

Hamilton started from pole position having dominated the weekend at the Hungaroring, but found himself in fourth place by Turn 1 after a poor start. Attacking team-mate Nico Rosberg, on the opening lap, Hamilton then went off at the chicane and dropped to tenth place.

Having tried to recover through the field, Hamilton collided with Daniel Ricciardo's Red Bull and earned a drive through penalty, eventually coming home sixth.

Speaking to the official Formula One website, when it was put to Wolff that Hamilton's weekend was like a fairytale that turned in to a nightmare, Wolff replied: "Yes, it was a nightmare for him, but a good day for Formula One - unfortunately just not for us.

"But that’s racing - and sometimes you have a crappy time in the office. Sometimes that goes for a whole team."

While Ferrari looked extremely quick in the opening stint as Sebastian Vettel eased away and eventually secured victory, Wolff says Mercedes' race was ruined on the opening lap.

"I think in English they call it a cr*ppy day in the office! We’ve had more incidents in one single race than at all the previous races put together. And if you have such a bad start - and that’s not for the first time - then you get pushed into a corner that you definitely do not want to be in.

"And then the unhappy situation between Nico and Lewis - and I would really call that an unhappy situation - then you are on the road from bad to worse."

Click here for F1i's driver ratings following the Hungarian Grand Prix

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Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.