With the track slippery, everyone started on intermediate tyres. While Rosberg
and the rest on the grid made it through the first lap without major drama,
Hamilton was in the wars from the second corner. His brakes still cold after
being sat in the pit lane, he span at turn two. It was a heart-in-mouth
moment. This time, he brushed the barrier and got away with it. He re-joined
the track and soldiered on.
Out front, Rosberg was amassing a healthy lead in the opening laps, although
by the eighth time round Hamilton had may his way to 13th. The Briton was
then dealt his first bit of good fortune.
Rookie Marcus Ericsson, not for the first time this year, lost control and
crashed spectacularly at turn three. The resulting safety car was bad news
for Rosberg and the three behind him: they were unable to dive into the pits
in time and lost places as a result.
The pace car had been due in on lap 11, but Romain Grosjean embarrassingly
lost control to prolong its stay on track. It was when it came in two laps
later that Hamilton was really able to turn the tables on Rosberg.
Within the space of a lap, he had scythed his way from 13th to ninth, while
Rosberg fell back to fifth. A few minutes later, they were on the same piece
of track, separated only by Sebastian Vettel.
Out front, Jenson Button, with memories of his great first victory here, had
elected to go for another set of intermediate tyres. It allowed him to
challenge Ricciardo for the lead momentarily, until he realised his mistake
and dove into the pits.
By lap 23, held up by Jean-Eric Vergne, Hamilton was firmly in the hunt.
Another safety car closed the pack up once more. This time, it was Sergio
Perez who single-handedly ended both of the Force Indias’ afternoons.
Earlier he had crashed into his team-mate, Nico Hulkenberg. On this
occasion, he lost control coming out of the last corner and ploughed into
the wall on the start-finish straight.
Once the debris had been cleared, anyone of Ricciardo, Alonso, Hamilton and
Rosberg were in with a shout.
The Spaniard, who always seems to find a way in these situations, had the lead
for now. Even though his stock could not get much higher, his reputation in
Formula One was given even more of a boost on this cloudy Budapest
afternoon.
In the next round of stops, from lap 32, both the Mercedes pair had slow
stops, but it was more costly for Rosberg. Staying out for an extra few
laps, Hamilton pulled off the pass of the race, round the outside of Vergne
at the high-speed turn four. It was a stunning piece of bravery and skill.
After a brief lull, a rare thing for this scintillating race, the latest round
of inter-team bickering at Mercedes blew up. Rosberg, on older and less
durable tyres, closed up to the back of Hamilton. The team told the Briton
not to hold his foe up and let him through. Knowing what was at stake, he
did not.
“Why is he not letting me past?!” Rosberg complained twice in as
many laps. “He’s been told,” came the reply. In Hamilton’s
defence, it was not as if his team-mate was right on his gearbox. The Briton
seemed in no mood to ease off.
With 13 laps remaining, when Rosberg made his final stop, it was anyone’s
guess. Alonso, on old tyres, was leading from Hamilton. Ricciardo had
stopped for the third time and was lighting up the timing screens. Rosberg,
in seventh, was doing his best to harry his way past Kimi Raikkonen and
Felipe Massa.
With seven laps remaining, Alonso, Hamilton and Ricciardo were separated by
little more than a second ahead of a grandstand finish. On lap 65, the
Australian made a late lunge at turn two but ran wide. While the front three
were battling it out, Rosberg was like a homing missile eating into their
lead at the rate of three seconds a lap behind.
Now with just three to go, Ricciardo was a man possessed. First, he
brilliantly dispatched Hamilton round the outside of turn two. The next time
around, he dove down the inside of Alonso at turn one to superbly take the
lead. While the victory was now decided, the last few miles offered more
drama for who would take the final two podium slots.
On the final lap, Rosberg in his gearbox, Hamilton squeezed the German onto
the grass at turn three. It was incredibly firm, and just about fair. He
held on for third, with Rosberg fourth. Alonso ended up a superb second.
What a race.
Final positions after race (70 Laps):
1 Daniel Ricciardo(Aus) Red Bull 1hr 53mins 05.058secs
2 Fernando Alonso(Spa)Ferrari 1:53:10.258
3 Lewis Hamilton(Gbr)Mercedes GP 1:53:10.858
4 Nico Rosberg(Ger)Mercedes GP 1:53:11.358
5 Felipe Massa(Bra)Williams 1:53:34.858
6 Kimi Raikkonen(Fin)Ferrari 1:53:36.458
7 Sebastian Vettel(Ger)Red Bull 1:53:45.958
8 Valtteri Bottas(Fin)Williams 1:53:46.358
9 Jean-Eric Vergne(Fra)Scuderia Toro Rosso 1:54:03.558
10 Jenson Button(Gbr)McLaren 1:54:12.258
11 Adrian Sutil(Ger)Sauber-Ferrari 1:54:13.158
12 Kevin Magnussen(Den)McLaren 1:54:23.458
13 Pastor Maldonado(Ven)Lotus F1 Team 1:54:29.058
14 Daniil Kvyat(Rus)Scuderia Toro Rosso at 1 Lap
15 Jules Bianchi(Fra)Marussia at 1 Lap
16 Max Chilton(Gbr)Marussia at 1 Lap
Not classified:
17 Esteban Gutierrez(Mex)Sauber-Ferrari 32 Laps completed
18 Kamui Kobayashi(Jpn)Caterham 24 Laps completed
19 Sergio Perez(Mex)Force India 22 Laps completed
20 Nico Hulkenberg(Ger)Force India 14 Laps completed
21 Romain Grosjean (Fra)Lotus F1 Team 10 Laps completed,
22 Marcus Ericsson(Swe)Caterham 7 Laps completed