Hamilton wins in Hungaryposted in F129 | 07 | 2012
McLAREN'S LEWIS HAMILTON controlled the Hungarian Grand Prix to claim the 19th win of his career, and his third at the Hungaroring. Bathgate's Paul di Resta finished out of the points after his Sahara Force India was barged by the Williams of Pastor Maldonado.
Just seven days after the misery of his 100th grand prix when he suffered a puncture at Hockenheim, Hamilton, was back to his imperious best.
But the McLaren driver, whose team-mate Jenson Button finished sixth, was hounded to the end by the Lotus of a resurgent Kimi Raikkonen.
The two crossed the line separated by just 1.032secs, with the Finn's team-mate Romain Grosjean completing the podium line-up.
With the Red Bull of defending world champ Sebastian Vettel fourth, championship leader Fernando Alonso had to content himself with fifth.
But the Spaniard extended his advantage in the title race to 40 points after the Red Bull of his nearest rival, Mark Webber, could only manage eighth, one place behind the Williams of Bruno Senna.
Ferrari's Felipe Massa and the Mercedes of Nico Hulkenberg completed the top 10. The Sahara Force India dup, Nico Hulkenberg and Di Resta, finished 11th and 12th respectively.
The Scot's race was hampered when Maldonado barged down the inside of him as Turn 12 and forced the Sahara Force India off the track. After investigating the incident, Maldonado was handed a drive-through penalty.
Hamilton, meanwhile, believes he can still win the world championship, despite being 47 points behind Alonso with nine races remaining.
Lewis Williamson fifth in GP3 at Hungaroring
"This weekend shows it is all to play for still," Hamilton, who has now won twice twice this season, and is currently fourth in the title race, said.
"If we can continue this kind of performance we can catch up. We need consistency and we need to improve the car still in many areas, and I'm sure we will do that.
"It's nice to go into the break knowing we have had a win. It's a great feeling. It is very, very important how I manage the summer break.
"We have clearly still got a lot of work to do. We should give ourselves a good pat on the back, but we also must remember we still have a lot of work to do."
Hungary Grand Prix, Hungaroring — Results
1. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1h41:05.503;
2. Raikkonen Lotus-Renault +1.032;
3. Grosjean Lotus-Renault +10.518;
4. Vettel Red Bull-Renault +11.614;
5. Alonso Ferrari +26.653;
6. Button McLaren-Mercedes +30.243;
7. Senna Williams-Renault +33.899;
8. Webber Red Bull-Renault +34.458;
9. Massa Ferrari +38.300;
10. Rosberg Mercedes +51.200;
11. Hulkenberg Force India-Mercedes +57.200;
12. Di Resta Force India-Mercedes +1:02.800;
13. Maldonado Williams-Renault +1:03.600;
14. Perez Sauber-Ferrari +1:04.400;
15. Ricciardo Toro Rosso-Ferrari +1 lap;
16. Vergne Toro Rosso-Ferrari +1 lap;
17. Kovalainen Caterham-Renault +1 lap;
18. Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari +2 laps;
19. Petrov Caterham-Renault +2 laps;
20. Pic Marussia-Cosworth +2 laps;
21. Glock Marussia-Cosworth +3 laps;
22. De la Rosa HRT-Cosworth +3 laps.
Fastest lap: Vettel, 1:24.136
World Championship standings (after 11 of 20 grands prix):
Drivers:
1. Alonso 164
2. Webber 124
3. Vettel 122
4. Hamilton 117
5. Raikkonen 116
6. Rosberg 77
7. Grosjean 76
8. Button 76
9. Perez 47
10. Kobayashi 33
11. Maldonado 29
12. Schumacher 29
13. Di Resta 27
14. Massa 25
15. Senna 24
16. Hulkenberg 19
17. Vergne 4
18. Ricciardo 2
Constructors
1. Red Bull-Renault 246
2. McLaren-Mercedes 193
3. Lotus-Renault 192
4. Ferrari 189
5. Mercedes 106
6. Sauber-Ferrari 80
7. Williams-Renault 53
8. Force India-Mercedes 46
9. Toro Rosso-Ferrari 6
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Jim McGill
Photo: Copyright McLaren F1