BUDAPEST: A masterful Lewis Hamilton won the Hungarian Grand Prix in dominant style and for a record eighth time yesterday to wrest the Formula One championship lead from Mercedes team mate Valtteri Bottas.
Max Verstappen took second for Red Bull, the Dutch youngster awarded ‘drive of the day’ after crashing on the way to the grid in early drama that had his mechanics scrambling to fix the damage before the start.
Bottas, now five points behind Hamilton after three races, finished a close third after battling back from a botched start off the front row.
Hamilton’s 86th career victory, from his 90th pole position and collecting a bonus point for fastest lap, left the six-times world champion five short of Michael Schumacher’s all-time record of 91 wins.
Hamilton had lapped all but three cars by the time he pitted for soft tyres with three laps to go and a lead of more than 26 seconds.
The Briton also equalled Schumacher’s record of winning a grand prix eight times, something the Ferrari great achieved in France between 1994 and 2006.
Hamilton, winner of the Styrian Grand Prix in Austria the weekend before, now has three wins in a row in Hungary, with the next two races on home soil at Silverstone.
Those will also be without spectators in a season overshadowed and delayed by the Covid-19 pandemic.
The day started wet and conditions were still greasy by the time the cars went out, as Verstappen discovered to his cost when he locked up and skidded into the tyre wall at turn 12.
The Dutch driver was amazed by his mechanics’ performance in winning their own race against the clock, giving him a car to drive from seventh place on the grid and zero to hero.
“I thought I was not going to race, so to be second is like a victory for me,” he said.
Canadian Lance Stroll finished fourth for Racing Point, who are racing while subject to a protest from Renault over the legality of their Mercedes-lookalike car.
Alex Albon took fifth for Red Bull in another turn up for a team who appeared to be struggling on Saturday.
Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel was sixth, with Racing Point’s Sergio Perez seventh and Australian Daniel Ricciardo eighth for Renault.
Denmark’s Kevin Magnussen finished ninth on track for Haas but a 10-second post-race penalty dropped him to 10th, with McLaren’s Carlos Sainz moving up a place.