Hamilton triumphs in Hungary

Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton has won the Hungarian Grand Prix.

Kimi Raikkonen finished second in his Lotus while Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull) was third.

While Hamilton was able to bring his Mercedes home for his first victory with the team, and 22nd of his career, Raikkonen, who managed to make a two-stop plan work, just managed to keep Vettel at bay over the closing laps.

The Finn has now moved up to second in the championship, albeit 38 points down on Vettel.

Webber was fourth ahead of Alonso, the latter 39 points down, with Grosjean sixth, followed by Button, Massa, the second McLaren of Sergio Perez, with Pastor Maldonado in 10th – giving Williams their first point of the season.

Hamilton managed to hang on to his pole position on the opening lap as Mercedes team-mate Nico Rosberg went backwards.

From the 30th pole of his career, and third in a row for his first time in Formula One, Hamilton was clean away, pulling clear of Vettel on the long run down to the first corner.

Instead, it was triple world champion Vettel the man under pressure from Lotus’ Romain Grosjean and Rosberg.

Rosberg, however, twice went off track on the opening lap and was tagged at one stage by Ferrari’s Felipe Massa, dropping to 12th at the end of lap one.

Hamilton managed to open up a 1.1 seconds cushion to Vettel after the first lap of the 70, but after four laps the cushion was down to 0.9secs.

Grosjean was in close attendance in third, followed by Fernando Alonso in his Ferrari, Massa, Raikkonen and Mark Webber for Red Bull.

McLaren’s Jenson Button jumped five places from 13th to eighth on the opening lap, while Paul Di Resta managed similar in his Force India, going from 18th to 13th.

On lap five Hamilton managed to open up over a second gap to Vettel, so taking him out of DRS range, with the German instead falling into the clutches of Grosjean.

But it was a question of how long Hamilton’s tyres would last given his team’s notoriety for the rubber falling by the wayside, notably in temperatures of 35 degrees, and with track heating up to 51.

The answer arrived at the end of lap nine, Hamilton switching from the soft Pirelli compound to the harder medium and dropping down to ninth behind Button who had started on the prime rubber.

Crucially for Hamilton he cleared Button at the start of lap 11, so when Vettel pitted soon after he was unable to pass the Briton, and instead he also fell behind Button.

After 13 laps, having inherited the lead for two laps, Grosjean took on the medium tyres, but still found himself behind Hamilton and Vettel when he returned to the track.

The Frenchman’s stop allowed Webber to take up the lead, with the Australian 5.3secs clear of Hamilton after 14 laps, but yet to pit after starting on the more durable rubber.

In third, Button was holding off Vettel, with Grosjean closing in on the action, with Alonso sixth and 14.1secs off the pace.

On lap 17 Vettel made a move on Button, but clipped the McLaren and sustained minor damage to his right front-wing endplate, allowing Grosjean to close and attack on lap 19.

To add to Vettel’s woes he was also told to cool his brakes, but on a track where it is notoriously difficult to overtake, Grosjean was finding it hard to pass.

Adrian Sutil’s 100th grand prix ended in retirement soon after due to a hydraulics leak on his Force India at a time when he was running 10th.

From the lead, and at the start of lap 24, Webber finally pitted, allowing Hamilton to regain the lead.

On lap 25, with Button’s tyres rapidly falling away, Vettel finally made his way past, followed swiftly by Grosjean, although he banged wheels with Button as he barged his way through.

The stewards opted to take a look at the matter, with the suggestion Grosjean was strongly at fault.

With Alonso also surging past Button, the latter immediately made his stop, followed by Grosjean a lap later, with their team’s mechanics checking for any damage.

If Grosjean made a dubious move on Button, he partly redeemed himself on lap 29 with a remarkable pass around the outside of turn four on Massa for sixth place.

After 30 laps Hamilton’s lead to Vettel was 11.9 seconds, with the lead duo followed by Alonso, Webber, Raikkonen and Grosjean, the latter 31.3secs adrift.

Hamilton made his second stop after 31 laps, taking on another set of mediums, dropping in behind Webber in fourth.

The stewards then announced a second investigation into Grosjean for ’leaving the track at turn four’, the place where he passed Massa.

On lap 34 Hamilton made a fine move on Webber and then had Alonso in his sights, although on very old tyres the Spaniard pitted, as did Vettel who again dropped behind Button in sixth.

Running fourth, and on lap 36, Grosjean was handed a drive-through penalty for ’leaving the track and gaining an advantage’, which he served on lap 39, falling to sixth.

The stewards also announced their investigation into his incident with Button would now be looked at after the race.

Sauber’s Nico Hulkenberg was also collared by the stewards as the German was given a drive-through penalty for speeding in the pit lane.

From third place, after 42 laps, Raikkonen pitted for a second time, as did Webber a lap later, the latter promoting Vettel back up to second, but 15 seconds behind Hamilton.

Soon after Williams’ Valtteri Bottas pulled off on the exit of the final turn, and as the marshals took their time to move the car out of the way there was the threat of a safety car.

That would have ruined Hamilton’s lead, but mercifully for the Briton it did not materialise.

After 50 laps Hamilton made his third and final stop, taking on another set of mediums and emerging back on track alongside Webber.

With Hulkenberg just ahead, Hamilton took advantage, diving down the inside of the Red Bull at turn three, forcing Webber off track in order to avoid a collision.

With 18 laps remaining, Hamilton found himself 7.6secs behind Vettel, but with the title leader needing to pit again.

After 55 laps Vettel made his third stop, promoting Hamilton back into the lead, followed four laps later by Webber, running second at the time, but taking on the faster soft compound tyres.

With 10 laps to run Hamilton’s cushion to Raikkonen in second was 11 seconds, but with the Finn trying to hold off Vettel directly behind him.

Five laps from home Rosberg’s engine blew via suspected overheating, throwing doubt on Hamilton’s hopes of holding on for the win.