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Hamilton Wins 1st Grand Prix Of Season In Hungary
- Updated: July 28, 2013
BUDAPEST, Hungary- After nearly waiting eight months to win another grand prix race after
switching teams, Lewis Hamilton finally made it work Sunday afternoon as the
Englishman won his Fourth Grand Prix of Hungary, his first race win of the
year, and his 22nd career triumph. Hamilton’s quartet of wins here
ties the record of Michael Schumacher for all time victories at this circuit.
In a tight battle, Kimi Raikkonen just edged Sebastian Vettel for second place.
“It is an
incredible feeling and my team just did an incredible job, we were hoping that
things would finally work for us.” Said Hamilton. “We did not know that it
would work well for us, and we just took care of the tires”.
Hamilton
made a great getaway at the start of the race, catching Vettel off guard, but
right at the first turn Nico Rosberg and Felipe Massa collided, sending debris
all over the place, but both drivers were able to continue. Hamilton kept
Vettel in check for the first nine laps with just a lead of only under two
seconds before many drivers came in early for tires. Hamilton regained the lead
again on lap 27, but one of the chances for Romain Grosjean had all year was
eliminated when the Frenchman struck Jenson Button while passing him and had to
serve a drive through penalty that ruined any chance of getting onto the
podium.
However, it
was easy for Hamilton as the Mercedes driver never felt any threat for the rest
of the day and went on to win his fourth race at the Hungaroring, his first
since the United States Grand Prix last November in Austin, Texas.
Mark Webber
started his Red Bull from 10th but finished an impressive fourth,
while Fernando Alonso had a quiet day, taking fifth. Grosjean finished in
sixth, while Button was seventh, Massa eighth, Sergio Perez ninth, and Pastor
Maldonado rounded out the top ten.
Only four
retirements happened all day with Adrian Sutil becoming the first victim with
hydraulic issues, followed by Estaban Gutierrez and Valterri Bottas, who pulled
his smoking Williams off the main straight. The final incident happened when
Rosberg ended his day ten laps from the end with his Mercedes catching fire in
the back.
However, for
Hamilton, with a month off for summer break, it was a nice way to get back into
the season.
“This is one
of the most important grand prix wins of my career to move to a new team and
the guys have done a great job and I am so glad to be a part of this team and I
could not have been more happier.” He said.
The world
championship now sees Vettel lead Raikkonen by 38 points with Alonso just back
in third one point behind the Finn. The next race is scheduled for August 25th at the legendary Spa Francochamps circuit in Belgium.
Mark Gero has written formula one racing stories since 2002 on the Internet for such sites as Motorsport.com, Racing Information Service News and for a brief time at the Munich Eye newspaper in Munich, Germany along with Autoweek online. Mark also has a diploma in journalism from the London School of Journalism in London, England and in addition a Bachelor’s degree in Journalism and Mass Communication from Ashford University in Clinton, Iowa.