Motorsport journalist and podcaster
Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes have long exhausted the range of superlatives available to describe their various weekends of domination, and Anglo-German pairing dealt another sobering blow to those hoping for a close title fight at the Hungarian Grand Prix.
Hamilton was flawless throughout the weekend. His pole time was a new track record, his lap having squeezed the maximum from his W11, as evidenced by the almost full second gap between him and the closest non-Mercedes challenger, Racing Point’s Lance Stroll.
His race was similarly masterful. He grew his advantage to more than three seconds on the damp opening lap, and once he was on slicks he was untouchable, quick enough to even make a late stop for softs to take the point for fastest lap.
Lewis Hamilton has cruised to a record-equalling eighth victory at the Hungarian Grand Prix to take control of championship standings.
Hamilton was peerless all weekend in Budapest, setting a new track record to take his 90th career pole on Saturday and dominating the race on Sunday.
His lead stretched to almost 30 seconds over the field before a late-race pit stop for fresh tyres to set the fastest lap, which he duly captured with a new lap record. The extra point took him to a five-point lead in the championship standings over teammate Valtteri Bottas.
Lewis Hamilton seized the lead of the Formula 1 world championship with an emphatic Hungarian Grand Prix victory in Budapest. The Briton was totally unchallenged starting from pole, achieved with a new Hungaroring track record, and lapped all but the top five drivers on his way to the checkered flag.
Continue reading on RACERFor the second week in a row Formula One is experiencing a weather-disrupted weekend, which means for the second week in a row the forecast for the race remains shrouded.
The Hungarian Grand Prix has faced a variable forecast from the beginning of the weekend, with heavy showers arriving between Friday practice sessions and washing out FP2. Rain threatened Saturday running but stayed away, and now on Sunday again the risk of showers is high.
One suspects several on the grid would embrace a variable race as an opportunity to make good on paltry weekends to this point.
Lewis Hamilton has taken his 90th F1 pole position with a new lap record at the Hungarian Grand Prix.
The Briton’s best time of 1 minute 13.447 seconds beat the previous best by more than a second on a day Mercedes was peerless over a single lap.
Hamilton’s only competition came from teammate Valtteri Bottas, who ran him close but fell just 0.107 seconds short after completing two laps apiece.