LEWIS IS KING OF THE TRACK
Brit goes on holiday with 24-point title lead
LEWIS Hamilton packed his bags for a summer holiday with his mother, sister, nephews and nieces after this ruthless victory in Hungary put him 24 points clear at the top of the drivers’ standings.
The world champion stood on his car, his arms wide, soaking up the success on a weekend when he was due great credit twice over.
First, for his web-footed brilliance in the rain- spiced qualifying session, which secured him an important pole position. Secondly, for driving serenely all yesterday afternoon — zipping away cleanly from the grid, opening up a lead that put him beyond attack and then relentlessly plugging away, lap after lap.
Sebastian Vettel, his rival in the race to become a quintuple world champion, finished a pale second after passing Valtteri Bottas five laps from the end.
Given the supposed superior pace of the Ferrari in hot, dry conditions on this twisting circuit, Vettel was most people’s favourite for the china trophy they hand to the winner. The track was an egg-frying 57C (134F) at the start.
But Hamilton is extraordinary for being able to conjure magic from nowhere. In practice he might as well have been wearing L-plates. Yet, moving through the gears as the competitive action hots up, he is peerless.
‘I switch into a different mode on Sundays,’ he said, somewhat slandering his own Saturday heroics. ‘We could only dream of being in this position. Ferrari have more pace than us.’
Yet he took victory by 17 seconds to claim his fifth win of the season and second in succession, to carry him through the long wait for the Belgian Grand Prix on August 26.
Vettel, who plans a quiet break fishing and bike riding in the Swiss mountains, must wonder how on earth he can stop this man. Not least as Hamilton traditionally grows into the season — again, a reflection of his bloodthirsty spirit. Both of them talked afterwards of pendulums swinging, of nine races remaining. Vettel came from fourth on the grid to second, although a different tyre strategy failed to get him anywhere near Hamilton. Indeed, a pit- stop error by the Ferrari crew looked to have cost him the runner-up spot when his front-left tyre was slow going on.
The change took about two seconds longer than is ideal, enough of a delay to condemn Vettel to emerge from the pits not only behind Hamilton but behind Bottas.
Vettel was soon all over the back of the Finn and made his attack at the start of lap 65. He overtook him cleanly. Defending his position at Turn Two, Vettel was caught by the man he had just passed — something to excite the senses in a largely uneventful race.
Kimi Raikkonen, driving with no drinking water in his cockpit, capitalised on Bottas’ minor damage to push through for third. Bottas then locked up and caught Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo at the first corner. Ricciardo, who was shoved off the track, made his second move stick on the final lap and his fourth place was impressive after starting 12th. Bottas ended fifth despite a 10- second penalty for his skirmish with Ricciardo.
Toto Wolff, Mercedes’ team principal, called Bottas an ‘excellent wingman’. It was meant as a compliment, but the recipient was hurt by the remark.
Wolff later elaborated, saying: ‘Valtteri just drove a sensational race and helped Lewis build the lead.’
It was a maddening day for Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, the victim of his team’s second mechanical failure in consecutive weekends. Team principal Christian Horner was furious with engine suppliers Renault, saying: ‘Sometimes words betray you. Cruel luck for Max. It’s an engine issue. I suppose no surprise, really.
‘I’m not going to get drawn into saying too much. We pay multimillions of pounds for these engines, for firstclass, state- of- the- art products and you can see it’s quite clearly some way below that. I’ll let Cyril (Abiteboul of Renault) come up with the excuses.’
Are Red Bull still being given top-notch engines having announced their switch to Honda next season?
Verstappen was also furious, letting out an expletive-laden tirade over the radio. ‘ What a f****** joke,’ he said.
The victory was Hamilton’s sixth at this track, more than any other driver. But not since Michael Schumacher in 2004 has the winner of this grand prix gone on to win the title.
The prediction here is that for Schumacher in 2004, read Hamilton in 2018.