Mercedes AMG’s Lewis Hamilton is now in the lead of the 2016 Formula One World Championship after an impressive run during Sunday’s Hungarian Grand Prix.
It’s the first time this year that the reigning championship has been in the lead, though his teammate Nico Rosberg isn’t far behind and there’s still plenty of races to go this season.
Rosberg started the race on pole but a better start from Hamilton saw the Briton take an early lead. Hamilton controlled the race from there, hindered only at a few points due to traffic and running wide at a turn. The gap between him and Rosberg came in at under 2.0 seconds at the finish.
There was another good battle for third place between Red Bull Racing’s Danial Ricciardo and Ferrari’s [NYSE:RACE] Sebastian Vettel. By the end of the race Vettel was less than a second off the pace of Ricciardo, though both were more than 27.0 seconds behind the winner, proving once again the superiority of Mercedes’ design.
Yet another good fight was between the other drivers of Red Bull and Ferrari, Max Verstappen and Kimi Räikkönen, respectively. Once again it was the Red Bull driver that performed better, with Verstappen securing fifth place and Räikkönen sixth.
Mercedes AMG at the 2016 Formula One Hungarian Grand Prix
The rest of the drivers finished more than a lap behind the winner, highlighting the sizeable gap between the top teams and the rest of the field. McLaren’s Fernando Alonso finished seventh, ahead of Toro Rosso’s Carlos Toro Sainz in eighth and Williams’ Valtteri Bottas in ninth. Renault’s Jolyon Palmer looked set to secure his first career points with a 10th-place finish but spun towards the end and lost the position to Force India’s Nico Hulkenberg. Palmer had to settle for 12th as his teammate Sergio Perez also managed to pass him during the spin.
There were few other dramas at the Hungaroring. McLaren’s other man Jenson Button was the only driver failing to finish. The Briton suffered from several issues during the race including brake and steering problems and finally an oil leak.
Thanks to his latest win, Hamilton moves into the 2016 Drivers’ Championship lead with 192 points. Rosberg drops down to second with 186 points while Ricciardo moves up to third with 115 points. Mercedes leads the Constructors’ Championship with 378 points ahead of Ferrari with 224 points and Red Bull with 223 points. The next race is the German Grand Prix scheduled for this coming weekend at the Hockenheimring.
In other F1 news, it’s been confirmed that cash-strapped Sauber F1 has been sold to Swiss investment firm Longbow Finance SA. Peter Sauber, who in 2010 took back control of the team he founded in the 1970s, after BMW ended its collaboration, has stepped down. Current Team Principal Monisha Kaltenborn is still running the team but is also expected to step down.
Hit the next page for the full results of the 2016 Formula One Hungarian Grand Prix.
Mercedes AMG’s Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton at the 2016 Formula One Hungarian Grand Prix
Below are the full results for the 2016 Formula One Hungarian Grand Prix:
1) Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes AMG
2) Nico Rosberg, Mercedes AMG +1.977 seconds
3) Daniel Ricciardo, Red Bull Racing +27.539 seconds
4) Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari +28.213 seconds
5) Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing +48.659 seconds
6) Kimi Räikkönen, Ferrari +49.044 seconds
7) Fernando Alonso, McLaren +1 lap
8) Carlos Sainz, Toro Rosso +1 lap
9) Valtteri Bottas, Williams +1 lap
10) Nico Hulkenberg, Force India +1 lap
11) Sergio Perez, Force India +1 lap
12) Jolyon Palmer, Renault +1 lap
13) Esteban Gutierrez, Haas +1 lap
14) Romain Grosjean, Haas +1 lap
15) Kevin Magnussen, Renault +1 lap
16) Daniil Kvyat, Toro Rosso +1 lap
17) Felipe Nasr, Sauber +1 lap
18) Felipe Massa, Williams +2 laps
19) Pascal Wehrlein, Manor +2 laps
20) Marcus Ericsson, Sauber +2 laps
21) Rio Haryanto, Manor +2 laps
Ret) Jenson Button, McLaren
