Lewis Hamilton took an unprecedented fifth win in the Hungarian Grand Prix yesterday to seize the championship lead from team-mate and title-rival Nico Rosberg for the first time this season
An ecstatic Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton poses with the trophy after winning the Hungarian Grand Prix in Budapest yesterday.
Lewis Hamilton took an unprecedented fifth win in the Hungarian Grand Prix yesterday to seize the championship lead from team-mate and title-rival Nico Rosberg for the first time this season.
An ecstatic Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton poses with the trophy after winning the Hungarian Grand Prix in Budapest yesterday. Pic/AFP
Hamilton crossed the line less than two seconds ahead of the German, who shadowed him all race long matching lap times with the Briton, but was unable to find a way past.
"The start was everything," said Hamilton, who started second alongside Rosberg but rocketed off the line to seize the lead. "This is a great result for the team. What a day."
Sunday’s win was the 48th of Hamilton’s career and fifth of the season. The reigning champion can also now claim the accolade for most successful driver in Hungary for himself, which until now he shared with seven-time champion Michael Schumacher.
"I grew up watching Michael so to have a similar number, and now one more than he had here, is incredible," said Hamilton.
Hamilton now leads the championship by six points at the halfway stage of the record 21-round season having won five of the last six races, including the last three.
Daniel Ricciardo finished third for Red Bull. The Australian, hoping to score his first win of the season and second in Hungary this weekend, had at one stage appeared a threat to Mercedes with the world champion team asking Hamilton to pick up the pace.
But nosing ahead of the two Mercedes into the first corner at the start was the closest he came to beating the dominant silver cars.
Sebastian Vettel, also a former winner in Hungary, finished fourth for Ferrari. The German sounding frustrated over the team radio at times by the slower cars he was lapping.
Max Verstappen in the second Red Bull held off a feisty Kimi Raikkonen for fifth. The Finn had started fourteenth but a long first stint saw him challenging the Dutchman for a top-five finish.
The battle between the pair provided one of the few moments of excitement of an otherwise uneventful race, with Raikkonen clipping the back of the Verstappen’s Red Bull and damaging his front wing in an attempt to pass the 18-year-old.
Fernando Alonso was the sole surviving McLaren in seventh.
The former champion squad’s hopes of challenging for a strong result after recording their best qualifying performance since renewing their engine partnership with Honda were dashed early.
Jenson Button fell down the order with hydraulics problems in the opening laps of the race. The 2009 world champion was also hit with a drive-through penalty for a breach of radio rules before finally retiring late in the race.
Rosberg, who has also won five races so far this year, may have lost the championship lead but will have the chance to seize it back in his home German Grand Prix.
The race at Hockenheim, absent from the calendar last year, takes place in just a week’s time.
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