Lewis Hamilton claims victory in Hungarian Grand Prix

MOGYOROD - The defending world champion and four-time world champion Lewis Hamilton (GB, Mercedes) claimed victory of the 33rd Formula One Hungarian Grand Prix here on Sunday with a time of one hour 37 minutes and 16.427 seconds, before also four-time world champion Sebastian Vettel (Germany, Ferrari) and Kimi Raikonnen (Finland, Ferrari), who came at the second and third places respectively.

This is the sixth win for the 33-year old Hamilton in Hungary, a record. And his Sunday victory was the 67th of his amazing career.

With this victory, Hamilton increased his lead in the driver's standing to 24 points. After the Hungarian Grand Prix, Hamilton is leading by 213 points, followed by Vettel (189 points) and Raikonnnen (146 points).

While in the constructor's standings, Mercedes is at the top with 345 points, followed by Ferrari (335 points) and Red Bull (223 points).

The race took place under a heat wave, the air temperature was 33 degrees Celsius while the track 50.

Before the race, there had been a one minute silence, in hommage to the recently deceased President of Ferrari: Segio Marchionne.

The start was a good one for Hamilton, who launched from the first place, while Valterri Bottas (Finland, Mercedes) passed Kimi Raikkonnen. In the second turn, Sebastian Vettel also bypassed Raikkonen.

In the second lap, Charles Leclerc (Monaco, Sauber) had to give up the race, with his Sauber.

In lap number 6, the car of Max Verstappen (Red Bull) slowed down, showing lack of power and he gave up the race as well. Next year, the Red Bull cars will race with Honda engines, abandonning Renault.

In lap number 10, the advantage of Hamilton grew to 4.4 seconds, while in lap 14, Raikonnen stopped to change tyres.

At lap 22, Hamilton and Vettel were still leading, followed by Bottas and Raikonnen.

The defending world champion was only five laps later on fresh tires, but Vettel, who was heading for the race, was still kept out on the track for a while to improve the difference.

In lap 32 his lead was 14.5 seconds, but when he drove to the box in lap 39, it shrank to 7.8 seconds.

Twenty laps before the end, it was clear that if there were no accident or technical defeat, only Vettel's third place could be realistic, or overtaking Bottas, since Hamilton's advantage grew steadily.

In the end, Vettel attacked Bottas with great impetus, and although Bottas was slower, he kept on trying to keep his position.

The German competitor eventually managed to overtake his Finnish rival, but the two cars collided during the maneuver, and the right edge of the Mercedes's first wing broke, but the left rim of Ferrari remained intact.

The Sunday race was the 220th of Hamilton's, and the 210th of Vettel's career.

The Formula One competition will return in one month, after a summer pause, in Belgium.