Lewis Hamilton wins 2018 Hungarian Grand Prix

The 33-year-old Mercedes AMG Petronas driver from Hertfordshire started today’s race from pole position – and finished it in first place.

The Silver Arrows star took the chequered flag at the Hungaroring to enter the summer break top of the F1 World Drivers’ Championship.

Following his victory last time out in the German Grand Prix, Hamilton now leads the championship by 24 points from Vettel.

Ferrari’s Vettel took second place in Hungary with Kimi Raikkonen third in the provisional race results.

Hamilton said: “We came out this weekend knowing Ferrari would be really quick. We’ll take these points as a big bonus. A big thank you to the whole team back at the factories.

“I’m so grateful to the team for all their hard work and their continued efforts. They’ve really earned this break and I hope they get to enjoy a holiday now.”

It was Hamilton’s 67th career F1 victory, his fifth in 2018 and sixth at the Hungarian Grand Prix.

He now leads the Drivers’ Championship with 213 points from Vettel’s 189 points, while Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport (345 points) top the Constructors’ Championship by 10 points ahead of Ferrari.

After claiming pole position in the rain on Saturday during a wet qualifying session, the Mercedes driver was aware of the threat posed by the faster Ferraris on the second row.

However, Hamilton and Silver Arrows colleague Valtteri Bottas both made clean starts to keep Kimi Raikkonen and Sebastian Vettel at bay on the long run to the first corner.

Vettel, who lined up fourth on the starting grid alongside Raikkonen, did overtake his Finnish Ferrari team-mate, but Bottas did a great job defending second place as Hamilton pulled clear at the front of the field.

The four-time F1 champion from Stevenage was 3.5 seconds ahead of Bottas after six laps, with Vettel a further 1.4s further back.

Bottas was the first of the Mercedes men to box for new tyres, switching to a set of Softs, and emerging in P4. The Finn soon took Gasly for third place behind Hamilton and Vettel.

Hamilton then switched from Ultras to Softs in another sharp Mercedes stop, with the world championship leader returning to the track 13 seconds behind Vettel, who was still on his first set of Soft tyres.

Lewis took a chunk out of Vettel’s lead when the Ferrari driver hit traffic, with the gap being cut to 10 seconds.

A slow pit stop by Vettel then cost the German precious time, with Bottas climbing into second place behind Mercedes mate Hamilton with 30 laps remaining.

With 15 laps to go, Hamilton led the race by 13.8 seconds from Bottas in second ,with Vettel within DRS range in P3.

Hamilton pulled further ahead of Bottas to lead by nearly 18 seconds entering the final 10 laps, with Vettel and Raikkonen closing in on the Finn.

Vettel and Bottas collided heading into Turn 2 with the Mercedes driver suffering damage to his car.

Both Vettel and Raikkonen overtook the struggling Mercedes to take P2 and P3 behind Hamilton, with Bottas also crashing into Daniel Ricciardo on his way to fifth in the provisional results.