Well that’s all from me, thanks for reading. I’ll leave you with our initial race report:
Sebastian Vettel throws his trophy into the air. He now leads Lewis Hamilton by 14 points in the drivers’ championship. “It was a really difficult race,” says Vettel. “I had my hands full. The steering was off. I had to stay focused for the whole race.” Here’s the race classification:
INITIAL CLASSIFICATION (LAP 71/71): A win on his 50th Ferrari start for Sebastian Vettel 👏 #HungarianGP 🇭🇺 #F1 pic.twitter.com/FnGuEQBNeX
— Formula 1 (@F1) July 30, 2017
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Vettel celebrates on top of his Ferrari, punching the air before throwing himself into the mechanics in red. He will enjoy the world championship lead for the next four weeks.
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Hamilton finishes fourth, then, with Verstappen fifth and Alonso a brilliant sixth – he finished with the fastest lap of the race, not bad in that McLaren Honda.
Sebastian Vettel wins the Hungarian Grand Prix!
Vettel has Kimi Raikkonen looming large in his mirrors but holds on to win the race, with his team-mate second ahead of Lewis Hamilton in third – no, he allows Bottas back through right at the very last.
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Lap 69/70 Mercedes haven’t been able to swap Hamilton and Bottas back, an unlikely bonus for the Briton and his championship hopes.
Lap 68/70 Vettel is closing in on another grand prix victory and 25 valuable championship points. He had a worry with those steering issues earlier and put his team-mate under pressure in the process, but they are nearing a crucial Ferrari one-two.
Lap 67/70 McLaren, by the way, are on the verge of sealing sixth and 10th positions, a very good result. Alonso has clear air and he’s enjoying himself, setting one of the fastest laps of the race.
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Lap 66/70 Mercedes are now the ones with a decision to make. They had promised Bottas they would return him to third, after he let Hamilton through earlier. But there is a gap of five seconds between them and Verstappen is flying up behind in the Red Bull. It’s been some race from the Dutch driver considering his ten-second penalty.
Lap 64/70 “We’re going to have to retire the car,” Paul di Resta is told. That’s a shame for Felipe Massa’s stand-in who had been enjoying a steady race in his first taste of the Williams car.
Lap 63/70 Magnussen jams past Hulkenberg and Kvyat aggressively and up to 11th as he chases a championship point. Vettel has opened up a slightly wider gap, now around two seconds. He seems to be over whatever he was struggling with through the middle part of this race.
Lap 61/70 Vettel continues to muddle on, but the turbulent air he’s kicking up is preventing Raikkonen from successfully closing the gap. Hamilton is suffering the same issue, it seems. He tells Mercedes he is waiting for a mistake. The top ten:
1 Vettel
2 Raikkonen +1.5
3 Hamilton +1.0
4 Bottas +5.3
5 Verstappen +3.5
6 Alonso +53.2
7 Sainz +6.3
8 Perez +1.4
9 Ocon +4.3
10 Vandoorne +4.1
Lap 58/70 What a situation Ferrari have got themselves into as we approach the final 12 laps. Vettel, Raikkonen and Hamilton remain only two seconds apart. Raikkonen has stepped off a little, conscious that he is going to wear out his tyres if he keeps trying to close down his team-mate. Hamilton is struggling to get any closer to the Ferraris, though, despite the aid of DRS.
Lap 55/70 The Ferraris are approaching the backmarkers of Magnussen and Hulkenberg, who themselves are scrapping for 11th. They move through the traffic in one of the trickiest parts of the track, the third and final sector approaching the long pitstraight. As Vettel crosses the line he’s only 0.7 seconds ahead of Raikkonen, who is 0.7 seconds up on Hamilton. Bottas can’t keep up right now.
Lap 53/70 Hamilton is chasing Raikkonen, but the Fin is lining up a pass of his own as he attacks Vettel, who continues to struggle a little. He’s within DRS range and these two Ferraris are running round the Hungaroring in close convoy.
Lap 52/70 Hamilton has been told he’s got five laps to get the job done on Raikkonen. Game on. “No pressure then,” Hamilton responds.
Hamilton needs to get results soon or he’ll be given a team order he won’t much enjoy:
LAP 50: 📻 "Lewis will let you go by if he can't get past Raikkonen."#Teamwork 💪 #F1
— Mercedes-AMG F1 (@MercedesAMGF1) July 30, 2017
Lap 49/70 Hulkenberg is having a terrible pit stop. Smoke appears to be billowing from his front left tyre, and as he pulls away he seems very unsure of whether his car is still road-worthy. Up ahead, Hamilton is attacking Raikkonen – he’s 1.1 seconds down. Raikkonen is 1.1 seconds behind Vettel as it bunches up at the front. Raikkonen is continuing to complain on radio that he should be allowed to pass his team-mate. “Vettel is being told to push, stay with him,” respond Ferrari.
Lap 47/70 Mercedes give the order and Valtteri Bottas pulls wide to allow Hamilton to pass. He sets his sights on Raikkonen and puts the hammer down, immediately setting an absurd fastest first sector.
Lap 45/70 Lewis Hamilton on radio to Mercedes, in teenager mode. “OK man, look, I’ve got a lot of pace. Let me use it. And this radio stuff sucks, my tyres were fine. I didn’t need to come in.”
Lap 43/70 Max Verstappen comes in, serves his 10-second penalty, puts on some fresh shoes and shuffles back out in fifth position behind the Ferraris and Mercedes.
Lap 41/70 An interesting situation has developed at the front. Vettel is struggling and behind him Raikkonen is putting in quick times. Raikkonen wants to be let through to have a go at winning this race, but Vettel is their only championship hope and they don’t want to leave him vulnerable to the two Mercedes chasing. Ferrari HQ has a major decision to make.
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Lap 39/70 Verstappen, the only one of the initial top six not to have stopped, is actually leading this race by 10.6 seconds, so even his 10-second time penalty can’t take that away from him. He’ll be in shortly.
Lap 37/70 Sergio Perez brings that garish Force India into the pits but it’s a pretty poor one and he’s lost some time. Next Alonso is in. He is desperate to get in and out ahead of Sainz, almost colliding with his young Spanish counterpart on exit. A battle ensues as they emerge on to the circuit but Sainz holds on to ninth spot, Alonso running off and on again in his eagerness to pass.
Lap 34/70 Vettel’s pit stop is a little sluggish. Next comes Raikkonen. First he sounds off over radio, telling backmarker Paul di Resta to “get back in the commentary box”. He stops, comes out and nearly holds off his Ferrari team-mate, but not quite.
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Lap 32/70 “Fronts are not in a healthy shape,” says Vettel. “Don’t extend it.” He wants to come in. Hamilton does stop and Mercedes get through it nearly a second quicker than his team-mate’s change of tyres. He returns fifth, such was the huge gap to Carlos Sainz before he came in.
Lap 31/70 Despite the issue with his steering wheel, Vettel seems comfortable enough to continue leading the way, though Raikkonen has closed that gap down from nearly two seconds. Now the stops start: Bottas comes in for Mercedes, a slightly slow one.
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Lap 30/70 Vettel overtakes Ericsson, the first backmarker. Here’s the top ten:
1 Vettel
2 Raikkonen +1.2
3 Bottas +6.6
4 Verstappen +2.6
5 Hamilton +1.5
6 Sainz +22.7
7 Alonso +1.4
8 Perez +3.1
9 Vandoorne +3.4
10 Ocon +4.5
Lap 27/70 We are heading towards the part of the race when we should see a flurry of stops. The supersoft tyre (which most drivers have started with) is significantly quicker than the soft around the Hungaroring, though it doesn’t last nearly as long. There could well be some undercut opportunities here. Meanwhile: “The steering is hanging to the left when I go straight,” complains Sebastian Vettel. “And I think it’s getting worse.”
Lap 24/70 Grosjean’s race is over. He can’t get his crawling car back to the pits and he pulls up to become the second retirement of this race.
Lap 23/70 Well it should have been a long stint. “OK slow down, bring it back,” Haas say on radio. “I think we have a crossed wheel nut.” A replay shows a mechanic give the F1 signal for a crossed wheel nut, holding his arms in the air like he’s just signed for West Ham, only with much sadder eyes.
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Lap 22/70 The front five are well clear of the rest with about 15 seconds splitting Vettel in first and Hamilton in fifth. Further back down the road, Grosjean pits from 16th after suffering a dip in right-rear tyre pressure. He puts on the soft tyre which will set him up for a long stint.
Lap 20/70 Hulkenberg has been given a free pass by Jolyon Palmer, his Renault team-mate. The Briton started 10th but has slipped back to 12th.
Lap 19/70 Hamilton, in fifth, has upped his pace in the past couple of laps, setting the fastest opening sector of the race and opening a gap between his Mercedes and the Toro Rosso of Sainz behind him of around 12 seconds – the biggest in the race.
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Lap 17/70 Here’s a huffy Daniel Ricciardo, who doesn’t hold back with his thoughts on Max Verstappen’s opening lap: “It was what it was. I saw I had a good run out of one, I thought I’ll just go here and protect that place, and felt it hit. For sure it’s not on, that was amateur to say the least. I don’t think he likes when a team-mate gets in front of him. It was a very poor mistake. For sure, we’ll sort it out. I don’t think there’s an excuse for it. He got the line taken away from, he sees me go past, and it’s like ‘I’ve got to fix this’ and that’s it.”
Lap 14/70 Grosjean and Hulkenberg’s bump, a moment I haven’t seen much of, has been dismissed by the stewards as a racing incident. Yellow flags are out again briefly in sector one but are back in their holsters almost immediately. Vettel’s lead is already up to 3.4secs, but the biggest gap in the top six is between Raikkonen in second and Bottas in third of 5.6secs.
Lap 12/70 Clears signs of degradation on Lewis Hamilton’s rear tyres, but his priority at the moment is communication with Mercedes who are having some system issues in the garage – though soon enough they get in touch to say it’s fixed. “Good to have you back,” says Hamilton.
Lap 11/70 After a helter-skelter start things have settled a little in the Hungarian sunshine. Vettel has established a lead of more than two seconds from Raikkonen, with Bottas, Verstappen, Hamilton and Sainz making up the top six.
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Lap 9/70 The stewards have come down on Max Verstappen over the incident with Ricciardo, dishing out a 10-second penalty. An opening lap bump between Grosjean and Hulkenberg is also being investigated.
Lap 7/70 Fantastic battling between Perez, Alonso and Sainz with the latter jumping past the former world champion and up to sixth, one place behind Hamilton. Back in the paddock, Ricciardo is watching a replay, his famous grin nowhere to be seen.
Lap 6/70 That Verstappen lock up was unfortunate but Ricciardo will still be fuming that his team-mate took such an aggressive line. The safety car comes in, and Vettel zips away with Raikkonen on his tail. Hamilton attacks Verstappen and they’re wheel to wheel through the first few corners, but the teenager won’t yield!
Lap 4/70 The safety car is out and leading Vettel round the Hungaroring, followed by Raikkonen, Bottas, Verstappen, Hamilton, Sainz, Alonso, Perez, Vandoorne, and Ocon in 10th.
Lap 2/70 Yellow flags as Ricciardo’s car is dealt with. The replay shows Hamilton try to hold the inside line on the tight turn one and get swamped by both Red Bulls, but on turn two Verstappen seems to lock up slightly, slamming into the side of his team-mate. A moment later Ricciardo is spinning across the track, and very fortunate not to take a big hit as he spun.
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Lights out!
Vettel cuts off Raikkonen into turn one and holds on to the lead. Behind them is the action as Hamilton gets a sluggish start and Verstappen overtakes him. On turn three Ricciardo spins, he’s out! “Someone hit me, Max I think it was,” says Ricciardo, of his Red Bull team-mate. Sainz is up to sixth, Perez all the way up to eighth.
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Here we go...
A reminder of the grid:
1 Sebastian Vettel (Ferrari) 2 Kimi Raikkonen (Ferrari)
3 Valtteri Bottas (Mercedes) 4 Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes)
5 Max Verstappen (Red Bull) 6 Daniel Ricciardo (Red Bull)
7 Fernando Alonso (McLaren) 8 Stoffel Vandoorne (McLaren)
9 Carlos Sainz Jnr (Toro Rosso) 10 Jolyon Palmer (Renault)
11 Esteban Ocon (Force India) 12 Nico Hulkenberg (Renault)
13 Sergio Perez (Force India) 14 Romain Grosjean (Haas)
15 Kevin Magnussen (Haas) 16 Daniil Kvyat (Toro Rosso)
17 Lance Stroll (Williams) 18 Pascal Wehrlein (Sauber)
19 Paul di Resta (Williams) 20 Marcus Ericsson (Sauber)
The drivers are all set for the formation lap. It’s 30C at the Hungaroring, 55C on the track, and Lewis Hamilton has been making clear on team radio that he doesn’t back a one-stop strategy; he thinks tyre degradation is going to force a two.
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Max Verstappen, by the way. What a cool customer. Just time for Giles Richards’s take on the 19-year-old’s stop-start season:
It’s a long run at Hungary down to the first corner, which should help negate a pile-up on the opening lap but also offers plenty of opportunity to overtake, something which becomes an awful lot harder once into the meat of the race. Getting off the grid well will be crucial.
Ted Kravitz grabs a word with McLaren’s Fernando Alonso: “It should be the day for both McLarens to be in the top ten. Hopefully we execute.”
And Red Bull’s Max Verstappen: “I don’t know what we’re going to do. You can make plans but things can change. I’m just going to feel my way into the race.”
Here’s Renault’s Jolyon Palmer: “It’s a good position to be in [starting P10]. I think we need to make a good start and that will decide the race. The track feels good, the car feels good. I’m confident for a good race.”
And finally acting’s Ashton Kutcher: “I’m just here as a fan, man.”
F1 managing director Ross Brawn is enjoying the sunshine on the grid, and he’s excited for this grand prix. “Ferrari have come back again here – [their form] is circuit dependent I think, because I understand there’s no great change to cars. It doesn’t look like Mercedes had a great qualifying but what’s great is we don’t know who’s going to win.”
Sky Sports’ F1 team are depleted today. Martin Brundle is in Belgium I hear while Paul di Resta has stepped up to replace the unwell Felipe Massa for Williams. Quite a switch from commentary box to cockpit. In Brundle’s stead, Ted Kravitz will take on The Grid Walk.
The grid
1 Sebastian Vettel (Ferrari) 2 Kimi Raikkonen (Ferrari)
3 Valtteri Bottas (Mercedes) 4 Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes)
5 Max Verstappen (Red Bull) 6 Daniel Ricciardo (Red Bull)
7 Fernando Alonso (McLaren) 8 Stoffel Vandoorne (McLaren)
9 Carlos Sainz Jnr (Toro Rosso) 10 Jolyon Palmer (Renault)
11 Esteban Ocon (Force India) 12 Nico Hulkenberg (Renault)
13 Sergio Perez (Force India) 14 Romain Grosjean (Haas)
15 Kevin Magnussen (Haas) 16 Daniil Kvyat (Toro Rosso)
17 Lance Stroll (Williams) 18 Pascal Wehrlein (Sauber)
19 Paul di Resta (Williams) 20 Marcus Ericsson (Sauber)
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Preamble
After his dominance of Silverstone, Saturday was supposed to be the moment Lewis Hamilton equalled Michael Schumacher’s record of 68 poles, which had stood untouched for 11 years. Instead, those expecting Hamilton to drive off into the distance with the championship got a surprise – and a welcome one for fans of a title dust up.
Ferrari were much too quick for Mercedes around the Hungaroring, where Sebastian Vettel qualified on pole for today’s race alongside his team-mate Kimi Raikkonen second. “The car was phenomenal and when I saw it was two reds up front I let out a big scream,” said Vettel after qualifying. “It’s only Saturday of course and the big challenge comes tomorrow, but after all the talk after the last race [that Ferrari were finished] it was good to give the answer on the track.” If Hamilton is to claim a sixth win at one of his favourite circuits, and overturn his one-point deficit at the top of the drivers’ championship, he will have to do it the hard way.
The three-time world champion starts fourth behind his team-mate Valtteri Bottas in an all-Mercedes second row who help to make up a nicely symmetrical front eight; Max Verstappen leads Daniel Ricciardo in an all-Red Bull third row, and Fernando Alonso starts ahead of Stoffel Vandoorne for the resurgent McLaren who occupy the fourth row – their finest grid positions of the season. Formula One takes its summer break after Hungary, making this a pretty handy moment to land a telling blow. Vettel is in position to do just that.
Lights out: 1pm BST, 2pm local time
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