Lewis Hamilton sails to comfortable win in 2020 F1 Hungarian Grand Prix

Lewis Hamilton eased to victory at the 2020 F1 Hungarian Grand Prix with Max Verstappen fending off Valterri Bottas for second place.

Starting Grid

Lewis Hamilton started in P1 as Valtteri Bottas joined him on the front row, Lance Stroll and Sergio Perez beginning on the second-row in P3 and P4.

The two Ferrari’s were on the third row as Sebastian Vettel out-qualified Charles Leclerc with the two drivers in P5 and P6. Max Verstappen was in P7, Lando Norris was in P8, Carlos Sainz was in P9 and Pierre Gasly rounded off the top ten.

Daniel Ricciardo started in P11, George Russell in P12, Alex Albon in P13, Esteban Ocon in P14, Nicholas Latifi in P15, Kevin Magnussen in P16, Daniil Kvyat in P17, Romain Grosjean in P18, Antonio Giovinazzi in P19 and Kimi Raikkonen would start from the back of the grid in P20. The two Haas pitted for different tyres before the race start and started from the pit lane.

Race start

It’s was lights out and away we go for the rainy start of the Hungarian GP. Hamilton had a great start as he led away from Stroll and Verstappen.

Hamilton started to extend his lead right from the off as he gained a three-second advantage over the Racing Point of Lance Stroll.

Kvyat pitted in early for slick tyres as the team did not want him to pit before the race start. Bottas and Leclerc also pitted in for medium as soft tyres respectively.

After lap three, Hamilton pitted in for slick tyres as everyone followed in the race leader for the same tire change.

With five laps gone, Hamilton led away from Verstappen who led from Magnussen. The Haas team looked to be the smart ones as they pitted before the race start.

Stroll cut right across Grosjean and moved into fourth place after the Canadian moved past the French driver into turn one.

Bottas was finally able to clear Leclerc after a second attempt going into turn one with the Ferrari driver complaining about the slick tyres as he said: “These softs are rubbish”. Two laps later, Bottas moved into fifth place as he was able to overtake Grosjean into turn one.

After 15 laps of racing, Hamilton had a ten-second lead over Verstappen in second, Magnussen was third but 13.6 seconds behind the Red Bull, Stroll was fourth, Bottas catching the Canadian and in fifth, Grosjean in sixth, Leclerc in seventh, Albon in eighth, Vettel in ninth and Perez rounded off the top ten.

Stroll was able to overtake the second Haas of Kevin Magnussen and moved into third place as Pierre Gasly became the first retirement of the race.

Bottas was the next driver to move past Magnussen as the Finnish driver started to chase the Racing Point of Lance Stroll.

Albon moved past Leclerc and into seventh place as Bottas started to catch up Stroll for third place in the race. Vettel was able to move past his Ferrari teammate and into eighth place on lap 20.

Kvyat, Russell and Leclerc, the soft tyre drivers at this stage, decided to move onto hard tyres as they looked to finish the race strong.

At the half-way point of the race, Hamilton was 19 seconds in the lead with Verstappen in second and Stroll in third. Bottas followed in fourth, Magnussen in fifth, Albon in sixth, Perez in seventh, Ricciardo in eighth, Sainz in ninth and Grosjean in tenth.

Most of the grid were on hard tyres as the race engineers of every team reported that there could be a possibility of rain closer to the end of the race.

With 20 laps to go, Bottas pitted for new hard tyres as he looked to undercut Verstappen with the Mercedes driver looking to complete a Mercedes one-two.

Ten laps were left in the race with Hamilton 24 seconds clear of Verstappen with the Dutchman under threat from Bottas sub-ten-seconds behind the Red Bull driver. Stroll was fourth, Vettel was fifth, Albon was sixth, Perez was seventh, Ricciardo was eighth, Magnussen was ninth and Leclerc rounded off the top ten.

Five laps to go saw Bottas reeling in Verstappen lap by lap and when the Red Bull driver crossed the line Bottas was five seconds behind.

Albon put his car into fifth place after an overtake past Vettel into turn two with Hamilton stopping for soft tyres.

The final lap of the race started, Hamilton was cruising in the front with Verstappen holding off from Bottas. Hamiton crossed over the line and won the Hungarian Grand Prix with the fastest lap and the win. Verstappen finished second and Bottas finished third

Final Grid Standings

P1- Lewis Hamilton

P2- Max Verstappen

P3- Valtteri Bottas

P4- Lance Stroll

P5- Sebastian Vettel

P6- Alex Albon

P7- Sergio Perez

P8- Daniel Riccairdo

P9- Kevin Magnussen

P10- Carlos Sainz

P11- Charles Leclerc

P12- Daniil Kvyat

P13- Lando Norris

P14- Esteban Ocon

P15- Romain Grosjean

P16- Kimi Raikkonen

P17- Antonio Giovinazzi

P18- George Russell

P19- Nicholas Latifi

Pierre Gasly was the only driver that retired from the race after a problem with his car.

Driver of the Day

Max Verstappen was our driver of the day. After starting in P7, he made his way through the grid and was able to hold off Valterri Bottas on the very last lap to keep ahold of second place after a stellar drive from the Dutchman.