Lewis Hamilton clinched a comfortable win at round three of the 2020 F1 season at Hungary as Mercedes proved to be the fiercest and fastest car once again on the gird, giving competitors a lot to think about.
But thanks to a committed drive from Max Verstappen, Red Bull was able to split the two Mercedes as the Dutchman pipped Bottas to a strong second.Â
Further down the grid, Ferrari finally endured a trouble-free race as Vettel took fifth even as teammate Leclerc gathered a lowly eleventh.
The McLarens suffered from mixed fortunes and there was no last-lap drama for Norris or Sainz unlike what we witnessed at the Styrian GP, with Norris finishing Thirteenth and Sainz placing his McLaren behind Ricciardo, on Ninth.
But what were the key talking points from the Hungarian GP of 2020?
Hamilton raises the game at Hungaroring
It was “Hammertime” at Hungaroring as the usual order of the day prevailed!
Lewis Hamilton’s sensational eighth win at Hungaroring was, without a doubt, among the big talking points from the Hungarian GP of 2020.
A clinically controlled drive from Hamilton saw the six-time (and defending) world champion race away to a win from pole position.
So far off from the pursuers was he that at one stage, upon boxing for fresh rubber, Hamilton was nearly 15 seconds in the lead from Verstappen, stationed on second.
In bagging a fine victory, Lewis also notched up his third successive win at the famous Hungaroring, beginning from 2018.
Overall, his eighth win at the Central European surface took him on course to a whopping 86th career victory, which enabled him to draw level with Michael Schumacher.
In the end, a fine performance also enabled the Briton to open up a 5-point advantage over second-placed Bottas in the driver’s championship. Is a seventh title just a matter of time?
Verstappen’s solid drive for Second
On Saturday, Verstappen seemed a little match to challenge either of the Mercedes drivers, being down in seventh, struggling throughout to put a cracker of a lap in qualifying.
But this wasn’t the case during the race as the attacking Dutchman dived into a fantastic position, seconds from the start, moving up into third, gaining on Leclerc’s Ferrari, the Monegasque driver himself getting off to a flier.
But as the race progressed, Verstappen would control his race with focus and diligence placing himself on second before the race approached the mid-way stage.
Though he was under relentless attack from Bottas’s Mercedes at the closing stages, the Red Bull finding little pace on the straights compared to the Silver Arrows’ domineering speed. But Verstappen held on and defied the Finn to collect a valiant second.
Although, none of that would’ve been possible had Red Bull’s mechanics not had done the job as the Dutch driver slipped into the barriers- something we don’t often see- in the formation lap stage.
Strong race for Lance Stroll and Racing Point
In 2019, Lance Stroll was able to place his Racing Point Mercedes on Ninth during the end of the qualifying battle at the same venue. But upon completion, he would fall out points, garnering twelfth.
But this wasn’t the case this time around as the famous Canadian driver zipped along to gather a strong fourth, though falling a place down from a strong third, gathered a day earlier in qualifying.
The quicker of the two Racing Point drivers, Lance Stroll’s great race result was no stroll and a fluent drive as it notched up 12 points for a team amid the recent clamor surrounding the controversial car components being used by the team for this year’s machine.
An able performance, therefore, was undoubtedly one of the key talking points from the Hungarian GP.
A decent finish for Renault’s Daniel Ricciardo
Daniel Ricciardo is one of the fastest and most exciting names on the grid. So it’s really a thrill when the competitive Aussie scores points, which was the case at the Hungaroring.
But was that always possible as Ricciardo, in his eleventh during qualifying was stationed behind much competitive cars such as both McLarens, Gasly’s Alpha Tauri, and even Leclerc and Vettel’s Ferrari (though these aren’t the fastest cars this year)?
On race day, though, Ricciardo, as it often happens, turns up a different driver- attacking and focused. Accomplishing a resilient drive and being the quicker of the two Renaults, the Honeybadger kept himself in business.
He was quick to jump into a point’s place right at the start and would control the 70-lap contest with unflinching consistency, in the process of which he contributed to one of the talking points from the Hungarian GP all thanks to his brilliant defending from Sainz’ McLaren.
The Spaniard, contesting in a quicker machine, wasn’t able to breach past Ricciardo’s defenses. In the end, Ricciardo, who had originally finished Ninth, gained from the penalty imposed on Magnussen and finished with a fine P8 for the French constructor.
Spare a thought for Haas
At the completion of the 2020 Hungarian Grand Prix, emotions ran wild for Haas driver Kevin Magnussen who did an excellent job of fetching the first points for the American team, when he passed the checkered flag on Ninth.
But the ecstasy was short-lived and agony soon kicked in with both Haas drivers- Danish Magnussen and Swiss-French driver Grosjean being summoned to the stewards for a penalty.
Both drivers were stuck with a 10-second penalty, added to their race-times, in lines with breaching Article 27.1 of F1’s sporting regulations.
It was later found out that the duo was contesting with driver aides added to the car right at the start of the 2020 Hungarian Grand Prix.
Nevertheless, Magnussen demoted to tenth as a result of penalization, was able to notch a solitary point which was better than scoring none whatsoever at the race, but the imposition of penalty became one of the talking points from the Hungarian GP.
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