Bridgestone Hungarian GP race report
Reigning world champion Lewis Hamilton (Vodafone McLaren Mercedes) used a super soft – super soft - soft tyre strategy to score his first race win of the season after a thrilling and tactical Hungarian Grand Prix. Hamilton finished ahead of Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro driver Kimi Raikkonen who used the same tyre strategy to achieve his best finish of the season. Mark Webber (Red Bull Racing) used a super soft – soft – super soft strategy for his second third placed finish of the year.
Hiroshi Yasukawa – Director of Bridgestone Motorsport, said, "Congratulations to Lewis Hamilton and Vodafone McLaren Mercedes for taking their first win of the year. They have worked very hard for this result and it is good to see another winner this season. Well done to Ferrari too for their best result of the season with Kimi Raikkonen on what has been a very difficult weekend for everyone. Of course, our thoughts are with Felipe Massa who we wish a speedy recovery.”
Hirohide Hamashima - Bridgestone Director of Motorsport Tyre Development, said “Lewis Hamilton and McLaren have shown that it is possible for a KERS car to win, even on a very slow circuit, which was a great achievement today. The track conditions continued to improve through the race and we saw Mark Webber set the fastest race lap five laps before the chequered flag.
“It was interesting to see different tyre and fuel strategies through the field. Both Bridgestone tyres worked well. Some cars suffered from oversteer and we did see some rear tyre graining today, particularly on the super soft. Those who could manage this achieved good results. Overall, our tyre allocation was correct for this circuit. After what we have seen today I think we will see a very interesting end to the season after the summer break.”
