Vettel wins eventful Hungarian Grand Prix

F1 Grand Prix, GP Hungary, Hungaroring

Sebastian Vettel has taken a surprise win at the Hungarian Grand Prix, taking the lead of the race at the start to never give it up. The action happened behind him though, as incidents caused many position changes throughout the race, allowing both Red Bulls to complete the podium.

15 minutes ahead of the start, all drivers took a minute of silence in front of the starting line to remember Jules Bianchi, their French colleague that died last Friday.

At 2:00 local time, the formation lap began as scheduled, but when it was time to effectively start the race, the start was aborted as Felipe Massa apparently was out of position. It seems that he was slightly too much forward on his grid slot, forcing Charlie Whiting to abort the start and add another formation lap in preparation of the actual race.

Next time out, the red lights went out and the race was on, once again with Hamilton not making the greatest of starts. In fact, by the end of the main straight, Vettel took the lead, with Rosberg second, Raikkonen third and Hamilton just fourth, blocked behind his teammate on the inside of turn 1. Raikkonen furthermore managed to move up into second as he had the inside of turn 2.

Behind them, Bottas moved up into 5th, followed by Kvyat, Hulkenberg, Ricciardo, Perez, Massa, Sainz and Alonso.

At the first chicane though, Hamilton was seemingly surprised by Rosberg's braking, and while taking avoiding action, he went onto the grass and into the gravel, rejoining the track down in 10th position.

One lap later Hulkenberg managed to move up into 5th in an easy pass on Kvyat down the main straight. Moments later, Verstappen moved ahead of Alonso in the fight for 12th position.

On lap 10, Ricciardo moved past Hulkenberg after being allowed to get past his teammate. The Australian got shoved off the track in turn 1 at the start by Bottas, and is demonstrating the potential that Red Bull has.

Meanwhile Hamilton moved past Massa in a very brave move on the outside of turn 1. It subsequently took him half a lap to make up the 2 seconds to Perez, but that too is a car with high top speed, hence a difficult one to pass by. Three laps later that was done as well though, putting Hamilton in 8th.

On lap 14, Bottas and Kvyat pit, both switching to medium tyres. The next lap included numerous pitstops, including Massa, Verstappen, Button and Grosjean. Hulkenberg, Alonso and Sainz pit another lap later, all opting for new softs.

On lap 20, Hamilton pitted for used softs and rejoined the track aside of Bottas, but got the upper edge on the exit of the corner. A few blistering laps meant the reigning World Champion is now 5th. One lap later Rosberg pits and changes to new mediums.

Another lap later, Vettel takes on used softs. Ricciardo pitted on the same lap, taking on new mediums and rejoining just half a second ahead of Hamilton. Raikkonen later also took on used softs.

On lap 28, Hamilton gets past Ricciardo to move up into 4th place, using an extra power setting on the main straight. He earlier asked "I can have another lap I guess", a request to use a time-limited overtake setting on the power unit.

Amidst many other pitstops as of lap 36, Alonso pits on lap 39, having been informed by his team that there was a left rear puncture.

By that time, Hamilton has cut his deficit to Rosberg down to 5.5s, eating more than a second away on each pass across the finish line.

On lap 43, Hulkenberg goes straight off the track at the end of the main straight, unable to brake due to a front wing that dropped off of his car. earlier on. The German's front wing simply desintegrated, leaving debris all over the track that initially introduced a virtual safety car, before a real safety came out on track.

Two laps earlier, Raikkonen complained of a loss of power, and indeed, he lapped 3 seconds off the pace, allowing Alonso to unlap himself.

Hamilton immediately pitted, along with many others, while Vettel waited for another lap. Behind the SC, positions are Vettel, Raikkonen, Rosberg, Hamilton, Ricciardo, Bottas, Kvyat, Verstappen, Sainz, Button, Alonso, Massa, Grosjean, Maldonado, Ericsson, Nasr, Perez, Stevens and Merhi.

The restart proved eventful, with Rosberg taking second place from Raikkonen due to the latter's reduced power on his Ferrari engine. Hamilton meanwhile was a bit too close behind Rosberg in the final corner, and as a result understeered and became vulnerable to Ricciardo at the end of the straight. The Aussie took the outside of the corner, but saw Hamilton understeer right into him.

Both men continued on, but both with bodywork damage. Hamilton eventually pitted on lap 52, taking on a new front wing and soft tyres. Ricciardo however did not seem very impacted by the damage on his right hand side barge board as he set the fastest lap on lap 53.

In the same lap, Raikkonen pitted and stalled due to the engine problem. The Ferrari engineers eventually got the car restarted but Raikkonen rejoined down in 16th.

Hamilton meanwhile served a drive through for causing the collision with Ricciardo while Verstappen got a similar drive through due to speeding in the pitlane. This put him just 5s ahead of Alonso who moved up into 6th after passing Sainz. Action is heating upbehind him though with Grosjean, Button and Maldonado all still chasing 5th place.

At the front, Vettel, Rosberg and Ricciardo got joined by Kvyat as well, and with the pressure on, Ricciardo attempted a deep dive onto Rosberg. He initially made it past, but then under acceleration saw Rosberg cut across again, puncturing the left rear of Rosberg and breaking a big chunk off of the Red Bull. Rosberg obviously lost out badly and rejoined in 9th after his stop. Ricciardo limited the damage and rejoined in 3rd, 15s behind Kvyat, but with the latter facing a 10s addition due to a penalty, he was eager to get closer.

Hamilton on the other hand was making great strides after his error and drive through, moving back up into 6th and edging close Alonso's 5th place.

Still, Vettel won the race by staying out of trouble,5 seconds ahead of Kvyat. Ricciardo finished 3rd, ahead of Verstappen, Alonso, Hamilton, Grosjean, Rosberg, Button and Ericsson.