Formula One: Hungarian Grand Prix - Hamilton battles to take victory from Verstappen

Championship leader Lewis Hamilton took once step closer to his sixth world title with a late overtake on Max Verstappen for victory in Hungary.

Photo from BBC Sport

Lewis Hamilton won his eighth Grand Prix of the season in Hungary after passing Max Verstappen in a thrilling race.
Mercedes and Red Bull staged a brilliant tactical battle played out by their drivers, with Brit Hamilton edging ever closer to a sixth world championship.
He came close to a brilliantly brave overtake for the lead on the outside of the 150mph Turn Four, after which he closed a 20-second deficit in less than 20 laps to pass the Dutchman with three laps to go.
That was after Mercedes gambled to make an extra pit stop, giving Hamilton the faster tyres for the closing stages - a gamble that paid off.
Hamilton now has a lead of 62 points over his team-mate Valterri Bottas, there is nine races to go and a maximum of 234 points available if someone were to win all of those races - meaning his sixth world title is as good as won.

Photo from BBC Sport

The fight today represented the first battle for a grand prix win between the greatest driver of the generation in Hamilton, and the person who is most likely to take the baton into the next in Verstappen.
The Ferraris were more than a minute behind on the finish, with Hamilton's team-mate Bottas put out of contention after an impact with Hamilton, before Ferrari's Charles Leclerc broke the Finn's front wing.
Dutchman Verstappen converted his pole position into a lead at the first corner, with Hamilton going into second by passing Bottas into the second corner.
Heclosed in on Verstappen as the pit stops approached, forcing Red Bull into an early stop on lap 25 to ensure Mercedes couldn't undercut them into the lead.
Hamilton stayed out for six more laps, with his team relying on him being able to reap the rewards of fresher tyres later on in the race.
He rejoined the race six seconds behind, but had made up the ground within four laps and attacking to try and get past.
But the Hungaroring is a track upon which overtakes are notoriously difficult, so Hamilton improvised.
On lap 38 Hamilton was a close as he had been through the whole race through the first three corners, before trying a bold move around the outside of the fourth.
But for a flick of oversteer he would have pulled it off, as it was he ran wide allowing Verstappen to restore his lead.

After 10 more laps of being hot on Verstappen's tail, Mercedes took a risk by calling Hamilton in for fresh medium tyres on lap 48, with 22 to go, with the aim to come back at Verstappen with the fresher tyres as the race came to its conclusion.
The plan appeared to have backfired when he was 20 seconds adrift of Verstappen as he rejoined, and only managed to make up four seconds in the next seven laps.
But with 13 laps to go Hamilton upped his pace and put the pressure back on Verstappen, and after the next three laps he was only 11 seconds behind.
Five laps later again and he was back on Verstappen's tail, and such was the superiority of his closing speed that Hamilton easily swept into the lead around the outside of Turn One on lap 67.

Photo from BBC Sport

The Ferraris were in their own separate race, losing a second a lap on the leaders throughout.
Leclerc sat in third for most of the race, but team-mate Sebastian Vettel was never far behind and he ran long on his first stint and fitted soft tyres for his second stint, while Leclerc was on hards.
Vettel began to close in in the second stint, passing Leclerc with two laps to go.
McLaren's Carlos Sainz was the best of the rest in fifth, impressively beating Red Bull Pierre Gasly who finished sixth.
Alfa Romeo's Kimi Raikkonen came in seventh ahead of Bottas in eighth, with the latter having climbed up from last place after an early stop to replace the broken front wing.
McLaren's Lando Norris took ninth after Sainz passed his team-mate early on, while Alexander Albon passed Racing Point's Sergio Perez for 10th in the closing laps to take the last point.

2019 Hungarian Grand Prix Results

#		DRIVER	team	LAPS	TIME/RETIRED	pts
1		L Hamilton	MERCEDES	70	1:35:03.796	25
2		M Verstappen	RED BULL	70	+17.796s	19
3		S Vettel	FERRARI	70	+61.433s	15
4		C Leclerc	FERRARI	70	+65.250s	12
5		C Sainz Jr.	MCLAREN	69	+1 lap	10
6		P Gasly	RED BULL	69	+1 lap	8
7		K Räikkönen	ALFA ROMEO	69	+1 lap	6
8		V Bottas	MERCEDES	69	+1 lap	4
9		L Norris	MCLAREN	69	+1 lap	2
10		A Albon	TORO ROSSO	69	+1 lap	1
11		S Perez	RACING POINT	69	+1 lap	0
12		N Hulkenberg	RENAULT	69	+1 lap	0
13		K Magnussen	HAAS	69	+1 lap	0
14		D Ricciardo	RENAULT	69	+1 lap	0
15		D Kvyat	TORO ROSSO	68	+2 laps	0
16		G Russell	WILLIAMS	68	+2 laps	0
17		L Stroll	RACING POINT	68	+2 laps	0
18		A Giovinazzi	ALFA ROMEO	68	+2 laps	0
19		R Kubica	WILLIAMS	67	+3 laps	0
NC		R Grosjean	HAAS	49	DNF	0

Formula One Driver's Championship Standings

#/Driver/Team/Points/Wins/Podiums
1/L Hamilton/Mercedes/250/8/10
2/V Bottas/Mercedes/188/2/9
3/M Verstappen/Red Bull/181/2/5
4/S Vettel/Ferrari/156/0/6
5/C Leclerc/Ferrari/132/0/5
6/P Gasly/Red Bull/63/0/0
7/C Sainz Jr./McLaren/58/0/0
8/K Räikkönen/Alfa Romeo/31/0/0
9/D Kvyat/Toro Rosso/27/0/1
10/L Norris/McLaren/24/0/0
11/D Ricciardo/Renault/22/0/0
12/L Stroll/Racing Point/18/0/0
13/K Magnussen/Haas/18/0/0
14/N Hülkenberg/Renault/17/0/0
15/A Albon/Toro Rosso/16/0/0
16/S Pérez/Racing Point/13/0/0
17/R Grosjean/Haas/8/0/0
18/A Giovinazzi/Alfa Romeo/1/0/0
19/R Kubica/Williams/1/0/0
20/G Russell/Williams/0/0/0

2019 Races and Results
Australian Grand Prix
Melbourne, 15-17 March
1. Bottas, 2. Hamilton, 3. Verstappen

Bahrain Grand Prix
Sakhir, 29-31 March
1. Hamilton, 2. Bottas, 3. Leclerc

Chinese Grand Prix
Shanghai, 12-14 April
1. Hamilton, 2. Bottas, 3. Vettel

Azerbaijan Grand Prix
Baku, 26-28 April
1. Bottas, 2. Hamilton, 3. Vettel

Spanish Grand Prix
Barcelona, 10-12 May
1. Hamilton, 2. Bottas, 3. Verstappen

Monaco Grand Prix
Monte Carlo, 23, 25-26 May
1. Hamilton, 2. Vettel, 3. Bottas

Canadian Grand Prix
Montreal, 7-9 June
1. Hamilton, 2. Vettel, 3. Leclerc

French Grand Prix
Le Castellet, 21-23 June
1. Hamilton, 2. Bottas, 3. Leclerc

Austrian Grand Prix
Spielberg, 28-30 June
1. Verstappen, 2. Leclerc, 3. Bottas

British Grand Prix
Silverstone, 12-14 July
1. Hamilton, 2. Bottas, 3. Leclerc

German Grand Prix
Hockenheim, 26-28 July
1. Verstappen, 2. Vettel, 3. Kyvat

Hungarian Grand Prix
Budapest, 2-4 August
1. Hamilton, 2. Verstappen, 3. Vettel

Belgian Grand Prix
Spa-Francorchamps, 30 August-1 September

Italian Grand Prix
Monza, 6-8 September

Singapore Grand Prix
Marina Bay, 20-22 September

Russian Grand Prix
Sochi, 27-29 September

Japanese Grand Prix
Suzuka, 11-13 October

Mexican Grand Prix
Mexico City, 25-27 October

United States Grand Prix
Austin, 1-3 November

Brazilian Grand Prix
Sao Paulo, 15-17 November

Abu Dhabi Grand Prix
Yas Marina, 29 November-1 December

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