Ferrari driver Sebastian Vettel started at the pole position and eventually won the Hungarian Grand Prix. Vettel’s teammate Kimi Raikkonen took second place while Mercedes’ teammates Valtteri Bottas and Lewis Hamilton came in 3rd and 4th respectively. Meanwhile Red Bull continues its misfortunes as Daniel Riccardio was forced to retire.
Vettel earns 4th win of the season for Ferrari
Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel stamped his class in the Hungarian Grand Prix finishing 0.908 seconds ahead of teammate Kimi Raikkonen despite encountering mechanical issues throughout the race.
The Mercedes’ pair Valtteri Bottas and Lewis Hamilton finished some 12 seconds behind the Ferraris.
Vettel and Raikkonen started at the front row and got off to a beautiful start. It was clear from the get go that everyone is going to be hard-pressed to catch up with the two Ferraris as the Italy-based outfit got away cleanly at the first turn.
Meanwhile, Lewis Hamilton, who started at the fourth position, was very honest with his assessment that the Hungarian Grand Prix is really Ferrari’s race to lose. While Mercedes has won three of the last four races, the three-time world champion Hamilton revealed before the race that it is going to be difficult to overtake the Ferraris in a circuit such as the one in Hungaroring, Budapest.
Hamilton, who proved that he is a team player, allowed Bottas to pass him on the final lap to enable the Finn to secure third place. Hamilton came in at fourth place.
Meanwhile, the Formula One race wasn’t as clean as the Ferrari would have liked. While they led most of the way, there was some kind of mechanical malfunction with Vettel’s steering wheel.
Vettel was only 1.9 seconds ahead of Raikkonen when he reported that his steering wheel was slightly out of place at the start of the 26th lap.
With Vettel having mechanical issues, Raikkonen reportedly requested his team that he be allowed to pass Vettel for a chance to win the race. Max Verstappen, meanwhile, took the race lead after the Ferraris went into their pit stops but had to surrender the lead after pitting himself.
Vettel’s win in the Hungarian Grand Prix increased his lead in the Driver’s Championship standings with a total of 202 points. Hamilton stays at second place with 188 points while his Mercedes teammate has 169 points. Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo didn’t add any point and stayed at 117 points with Ferrari driver Kimi Raikkonen cutting his lead to a solitary point.
Red Bull has internal issues?
Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo was knocked off at the Hungarian Grand Prix, ironically, by his teammate Vax Verstappen. The Australian Ricciardo actually started in the 6th position but got ahead of Verstappen after the first turn.
Verstappen tried to slip past the leaders going wide left that put him out of position as Ricciardo took the right flank and eventually got past Verstappen.
The two Red Bull drivers were side by side with Ricciardo slightly ahead when Verstappen’s right wheel collided with the Ricciardo’s car, effectively ending Ricciardo’s race.
📝There's been more trouble for Verstappen as he's handed a 10-second time penalty for causing a collision with his teammate Ricciardo #C4F1 pic.twitter.com/WvzoIZc20B
— Channel 4 F1® (@C4F1) July 30, 2017
Ricciardo was livid, saying that Verstappen’s maneuver was an amateur’s mistake. “There was no room to pass,” Ricciardo said. Verstappen, who actually got past Lewis Hamilton for fourth place, was given a 10-second time penalty for causing the collision.
Mercedes still leads Constructor’s Championship
The 1-2 finish allowed the Ferrari team to cut the lead of Mercedes in the Constructor’s Championship.
Mercedes currently has 357 points with Ferrari trailing behind with 318 points. The seemingly dysfunctional Red Bull team is at third position with 184 points. The Ferrari team will have a chance to narrow down Mercedes’ lead at the next race - the Belgian Grand Prix in August.
