Sebastian Vettel overcame handling issues to clinch victory in the 2017 Hungarian Grand Prix ahead of his Ferrari team mate Kimi Raikkonen. It's his 46th career win, and his second time coming out on top in Budapest.
However it was a tense, rather uncomfortably close-run thing in the end. Vettel's margin over Raikkonen at the end was a mere nine tenths of a second. Valtteri Bottas took the remaining podium place in the final corner, when Lewis Hamilton complied with team orders to hand over the position.
The result means that Vettel now holds a 14 point lead in the world championship over Hamilton, as Formula 1 goes into its traditional summer shutdown.
Max Verstappen overcame a penalty for an on-track collision with his Red Bull team mate to take fifth place. He finished ahead of McLaren's Fernando Alonso, who got the better of Toro Rosso's Carlos Sainz. Force India duo Sergio Perez and Esteban Ocon put in another solid day's work to finish in the points. Rounding out the top ten was Stoffel Vandoorne, who picked up a further point for McLaren.
The top three on the grid had all got away well when the lights went out, but Hamilton found himself swallowed up by the two Red Bulls. Verstappen then ran wide in turn 1 and then locked up into the second corner, slamming into the side of his team mate. Daniel Ricciardo's car was mortally wounded and he spun out seconds later, trailing oil and water across the track and triggering a safety car.
When the race resumed on lap 5, Vettel comfortably led Raikkonen, Bottas and Verstappen across the line. Hamilton maintained fifth ahead of Carlos Sainz who had gained three spots to leap ahead of Fernando Alonso. Sergio Perez had also got off to a good start, having moved up five spots to divide Alonso and Vandoorne.
Ocon was rounding out the top ten ahead of Renault's Jolyon Palmer, who had been within inches of being caught up in Ricciardo's spin. Palmer was eventually instructed to cede 11th to his team mate Nico Hulkenberg. Immediately behind them, Haas' Romain Grosjean was told to pit early after telemetry picked up a slow puncture. The setback turned to outright disaster with a crossed wheel nut that forced Grosjean to pull over and retire.
Vettel quickly pulled out and maintained a three second margin over Raikkonen, who in turn had five seconds in hand over Bottas. Hamilton found himself increasingly losing ground stuck behind Verstappen. The first round of pit stops finally saw the Dutch driver taken out of play serving a ten second penalty for his collision with Ricciardo.
Raikkonen started to close back up on Vettel, as the race leader reported a worsening problem with the steering on his car. The gremlins were also busy at Mercedes, compromising the team's communications with its drivers. Bottas' pit stop on lap 30 was slower than usual for the team due to a slight problem with the wheel gun on the left front. Hamilton's stop next time by was better, allowing him to close up on his team mate.
The Ferraris pitted next over successive laps, Vettel narrowly retaining the lead from Raikkonen. The order of the top four was unchanged after the stops, but less than six seconds now covered them all with Verstappen 17s further back in fifth. Hulkenberg climbed to a distant sixth before finally making his very late pit stop on lap 45. Problems removing the front right tyre. handed the place to Alonso, who had won a spirited battle for position with compatriot Sainz.
Mercedes finally overcame its communications problems. Hamilton was soon broadcasting pleas for the team to order Bottas to let him pass. They duly did, and Hamilton set to work hunting down Raikkonen for second place. That in turn gave the Finn the hurry-up, and he started to turn the screws on Vettel.
Ultimately no one could break the deadlock on the tight and twisty Hungaroring, and dirty air trumped the boost from DRS. With Hamilton unable to pass Raikkonen, Mercedes honoured their earlier promise to Bottas to 'reinvert' their cars on the final lap despite the threat of a rapidly closing Verstappen.
Kevin Magnussen took 11th for Haas, but then dropped two places due to a five second penalty for pushing Hulkenberg wide in turn 2 late in the race. Hulkenberg himself had retired from the race with three laps to go with a technical issue.
Magnussen's penalty promoted Toto Rosso's Daniil Kvyat into 11th ahead of Palmer, with Williams' Lance Stroll in 14th ahead of the Saubers of Pascal Wehrlein and Marcus Ericsson. Williams' late-notice stand-in driver Paul di Resta calmly completed 62 of the 70 laps of the race, before retiring the FW40 with an issue.
Hungarian Grand Prix - Race results
| Pos | Driver | Team | Gap | Stops |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sebastian Vettel | Ferrari | 70 laps - 1:39:46.713s | 1 |
| 2 | Kimi Räikkönen | Ferrari | + 0.908s | 1 |
| 3 | Valtteri Bottas | Mercedes | + 12.462s | 1 |
| 4 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | + 12.885s | 1 |
| 5 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | + 13.276s | 1 |
| 6 | Fernando Alonso | McLaren | + 71.223s | 1 |
| 7 | Carlos Sainz | Toro Rosso | + 1 lap | 1 |
| 8 | Sergio Pérez | Force India | + 1 lap | 1 |
| 9 | Esteban Ocon | Force India | + 1 lap | 1 |
| 10 | Stoffel Vandoorne | McLaren | + 1 lap | 1 |
| 11 | Daniil Kvyat | Toro Rosso | + 1 lap | 1 |
| 12 | Jolyon Palmer | Renault | + 1 lap | 1 |
| 13 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas | + 1 lap | 1 |
| 14 | Lance Stroll | Williams | + 1 lap | 1 |
| 15 | Pascal Wehrlein | Sauber | + 2 laps | 2 |
| 16 | Marcus Ericsson | Sauber | + 2 laps | 2 |
| 17 | Nico Hülkenberg | Renault | + 3 laps | 2 |
| 18 | Paul di Resta | Williams | DNF | 2 |
| 19 | Romain Grosjean | Haas | DNF | 1 |
| 20 | Daniel Ricciardo | Red Bull | DNF | 0 |
GALLERY: F1 drivers' wives and girlfriends
Keep up to date with all the F1 news via Facebook and Twitter
