The Hungarian Grand Prix held on the Hungaroring since 1986 was the first Formula 1 race to take place behind the Iron Curtain. The tracks hard to overtake nature makes qualifying extremely important. Lewis Hamilton put in two hot laps which were worthy of pole and took McLaren’s 150th front row grid place for the start on Sunday.
After the race Hamilton said “These are the kind of days, under pressure the whole way where you have to give 100%. The team didn’t flinch and neither did I. It’s good to go into the summer break knowing we’ve had a win.”
Kimi Raikkonen could not deny Hamilton a 19th career win and he finished second just in front of his Lotus team mate Romain Grosjean to the delight of the team. Raikkonen’s impressive drive has led to speculation that he is now a contender for the second Ferrari seat should the team replace Felipe Massa in 2013.
Reigning World Champion Sebastian Vettel narrowly failed to overhaul Grosjean after a late stop for fresh tyres and finished fourth. Championship leader Fernando Alonso finished behind him and increased his lead to 40 points as nearest challenger Mark Webber trailed home eighth.
Jenson Button was unimpressed with his and McLaren’s performance as he had to switch from a two to a three-stop strategy. But found himself stuck behind the Williams of Bruno Senna and it proved costly as Sebastian Vettel, Kimi Raikkonen and Mark Webber all got ahead of him. Button did at least make up a place when Webber pitted to finish sixth.
Eric Boullier the team manager of Lotus was delighted with the teams double podium result but was quick to play down suggestions that their lead driver was planning a move to Ferrari. “It is nice that Ferrari is in the newspapers, but I don't know that Kimi has plans to go back to Ferrari,” explained Boullier, “There is no reason for them to leave” He added.
