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Sebastian Vettel led teammate Kimi Raikonnen home for a Ferrari one-two in Sunday’s Formula 1 Pirelli Magyar Nagydij 2017. With Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton finishing fourth, it means Vettel extends his championship lead to 14 points heading into the summer break. Here is how it all went down...
First Practice
Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo was the surprise fastest in the first practice. The Australian, whose car has a major aerodynamic update, was 0.234 seconds quicker than Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen. Title rivals Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel were third and sixth, Hamilton 0.7 seconds quicker than Vettel. McLaren lived up to their promise to perform better than usual in Hungary because of the relative unimportance of engine power at the track, with drivers Fernando Alonso and Stoffel Vandoorne best of the rest in the seventh and eight places.
Second Practice
Daniel RIcciardo completed a clean sweep of Friday practice at the Hungarian Grand Prix, heading Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel by 0.183 seconds in the afternoon. Lewis Hamilton was struggling for grip on the fastest super-soft tyres and finished down in fifth. Hamilton’s teammate, Valterri Bottas, was third fastest, 0.2 seconds off Ricciardo’s ultimate pace. Max Verstappen trailed Red Bull team-mate Ricciardo by 0.4 seconds and was sixth.
Third Practice
The Vettel resurgence began in the third practice. He set a searing pace in the final practice, setting a new outright circuit record as he lapped half a second quicker than Ferrari teammate Kimi Raikkonen and nearly a second faster than Mercedes’ Valterri Bottas.
Red Bull’s Max Verstappen and the other Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton were over a second adrift of the German in fourth and fifth, with the latter looking especially scrappy on the red-marked rubber.
Qualifying
The Ferrari one-two dominance started in qualifying when Sebastian Vettel took pole position as title rival Lewis Hamilton struggled in fourth. Hamilton, who trailed Vettel by a point before the main race, complained consistently of tyre problems in his Mercedes and had a messy session.
Vettel was 0.254 faster than the fastest Mercedes of Valtteri Bottas, with Ferrari teammate Kimi Raikkonen second. Scot Paul di Resta qualified an excellent 19th after being drafted in as a last-minute stand-in for Williams Felipe Massa. Mercedes struggled for pace all weekend and if not for his problems, Hamilton had the pace to be on the front row, but his Mercedes was not just suited to the tight and twisty Hungaroring. Vettel was in scintillating form as he took his second pole position of the season.
Main Race
Lewis Hamilton suffered a dent in his championship hopes after rival Sebastian Vettel held off Ferrari team-mate to win. Hamilton finished fourth with teammate Valterri Bottas finishing third. Mercedes had earlier ordered Bottas to move out of Hamilton’s way in hope that he might be able to find a way past Raikkonen and potentially Vettel, too. But after Hamilton failed, he sportingly let Bottas back past to finish off the podium.
Max Verstappen, who was penalized 10 seconds for taking his Red Bull teammate Daniel Ricciardo out of the race on the opening lap, finished fifth. Fernando Alonso secured his and McLaren’s best result of the year in sixth winning a race-long battle with fellow Spaniard Carlos Sainz in the Toro Rosso. Kimi Raikkonen was voted the F1 Driver of the day.
Standings
Sebastian Vettel, with his win, has extended his lead over Hamilton to 14 points. He has 202 points compared to Hamilton’s 188. Hamilton’s teammate, Valterri Bottas comes in third with 169 points. In fourth place is Daniel Ricciardo with 117 points and is just a point above Raikonnen who has 116 points.
In the Constructor’s standings, Mercedes still lead with 330 points. Followed by Ferrari and Red Bull with 275 and 174 points respectively.
The teams are now forced to take two weeks off work during the four weeks break. The next race is the Belgian Grand Prix. It is very much a Mercedes track, and it will be a good chance for Hamilton to close up again on Vettel in the Championship.
I think bottas will become champion this year, vettel and Hamilton will fight each other , this may help bottas
HE IS THE COOOLEST GUY .I LOVE HIM
That race was so unfortunate for Riccardo :(
Thanks for sharing ,love F1
I am not a big fan of Hamilton or Mercedes...not sure why, but it is what it is!
actually im big fan of thix guy n i love him
For me, Fernando Alonso is the best Formula One driver. The team is not good.
:)