The key to victory was at the start for Lewis Hamilton
On a fine run of three victories, Hamilton triumphed this time in Hungary. For the first time, he took command of the world championship, with a 6-point lead over team-mate Nico Rosberg.
Despite starting from the second spot on the grid, Hamilton managed to take the lead at the first corner of this Hungarian Grand Prix. It wasn’t an easy start, with Ricciardo coming close to overtaking both drivers before ultimately yielding. “The start was everything, I got a good one. […] One of the Red Bulls was on the inside, so I was under pressure in turn 1, but the team did a fantastic job with the strategy, the car preparation as always, the guys at the factory who keep pushing hard. A big thank you to them,” Hamilton stated after his victory.
The gap gradually increased between the two silver arrows without ever exceeding a reasonable margin. After his second stop to fit the soft tires, Hamilton seemed less comfortable than his pursuers and was slowing the pace, allowing the Red Bulls and Ferraris to close in lap by lap. This even prompted his team to ask him to speed up. After his last stop, the gap with Rosberg slightly increased.
When asked why the gap with his teammate fluctuated so much, Hamilton responds: « Compared to the practice sessions, we knew the temperature was much higher. I think the temperature was about 43 degrees; on the track, it was 53 degrees today, so it was complicated to know how long the tires would last. So, once I took the lead, I was able to manage my tires, my car, and control the gap, only reacting when I needed to. »
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A small excursion a bit off the track allowed Rosberg to get closer but not for long. « There was no moment when I thought I could lose it (the race) » the British driver explains. « It’s a race where you don’t need a gap of 5 or 10 seconds. I just needed to do what I had to do, even if we didn’t have a big gap. I just needed to maintain a gap within 2 seconds. When I needed to, I pushed my engine where I wanted to save time. »
Following this, the driver pushed hard to increase the gap to more than a second to protect himself from a possible attack by Rosberg and thus finish the race as the winner.
