Budapest (AFP)
Britain's Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) won his second straight success in three innings in Hungary since the start of the Formula 1 season and takes the lead in the World Championship on Sunday at the Budapest Hungaroring.
The poleman of the day is accompanied on the podium by the Dutchman Max Verstappen (Red Bull), author of an excellent flight from 7th position on the grid despite an accident fifteen minutes from the start, and by the Finn Valtteri Bottas (Mercedes) .
Hamilton, who also collected the point for the best lap in the race, therefore regained the lead in the world championship, five points ahead of Bottas.
The Briton, who is aiming for a 7th world title in pilots to equal the German Michaël Schumacher, totally dominated this 3rd meeting of the season.
Only the first five cars in the race finished in the same lap as Hamilton.
Dutchman Max Verstappen had a rowdy but ultimately productive weekend, with this 2nd place.
He who started from afar, a 7th place on the grid which had annoyed him quite a bit, smashed his car by joining the starting grid, even before the warm-up lap.
Result: a good sweat for its mechanics, who managed to repair in 15 minutes a car in bad shape, but ultimately solid.
"A big thank you to the mechanics. They saved the day, you guys are legends," said Verstappen on the radio when the line was crossed.
On the French side, Pierre Gasly (Alpha Tauri), 10th on the grid but who had to change the engine could not go very far, forced to retire again on a gearbox problem from the 17th lap.
Esteban Ocon (Renault) took 14th place, just ahead of Romain Grosjean (Haas) in 15th.
After the first three intense weeks of recovery, Formula 1 is now out for a few days. Before finding its closed bubble, Covid-19 requires, for three new chained events in three weeks: the GP of Great Britain (August 2), the 70th anniversary of Silverstone (August 9), then the GP of Spain (August 16).
© 2020 AFP