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2019 Hungarian Grand Prix talking points

Writer's picture: Andrew ZarbAndrew Zarb

Hamilton has won the Hungarian Grand Prix for a seventh time, and won his eighth race of the season.

The 2019 Hungarian Grand Prix, the last before the traditional summer break for Formula 1 teams and drivers, was somewhat inevitably less entertaining/crazy than in Hockenheim, though that is not to say that it does not produce any excitement whatsoever - with Lewis Hamilton coming out on top yet again after some brilliant work by his team. Mercedes play absolute blinder and outfox Red Bull strategically In what was a two-horse race between Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton and Red Bull's Max Verstappen for the race victory. Verstappen led throughout the first part of the race, and even after the pitstops he led ahead of Hamilton. However, with 20 laps remaining, Mercedes decided, to many people's surprise, to call Hamilton in for a second pitstop as they would have comfortably re-emerged ahead of third and would have had fresher tyres than Verstappen. The call paid off as Hamilton benefited from greater pace and younger tyres and managed to get past Verstappen for the race win after a brilliant strategic call by Mercedes chief strategist James Vowles. After a disastrous last race for the Silver Arrows, this was the ideal way for the team to bounce back and they proved that in life, it's not about never falling, but in how one gets himself up after a fall.

Verstappen demonstrates that he is a driver in form Despite ultimately being unable to convert his maiden pole position into victory, Verstappen still drove a brilliant race and ultimately was only undone by a genius call by the Mercedes strategy team. In the last four races, it is worth pointing out that no driver has scored more than his 81 points, and one can certainly say that Red Bull have developed the car brilliantly and have benefitted massively from switching to Honda engines from Renault. Whilst Lewis Hamilton boasts a massive advantage in the World Championship this season, one would be foolish to rule out Verstappen from finishing second ahead of the other Mercedes driver Valtteri Bottas (more on him in just a moment); if Red Bull are able to hit the ground running next season from the opening race, then one would certainly back Verstappen to mount a title challenge next year.

Bottas does his prospects of a Mercedes seat little good Valtteri Bottas' contract with Mercedes runs out at the end of the current season, with the team having an option to extend that for a further year. It is understood that Toto Wolff will make a decision over whether to renew Bottas' contract or replace him with Frenchman Esteban Ocon over the upcoming summer break. On today's evidence, Bottas did very little to justify a contract extension in a race where he damaged his prospects on the opening lap, as he locked up twice, lost position to Lewis Hamilton and made front wing contact with Ferrari's Charles Leclerc; then limiting the damage in recovering to an eighth place finish. It will certainly be a tough decision for Wolff to make over the summer, and if there was one driver under more pressure than anyone, it was undoubtedly Bottas and he simply failed to deliver. Vettel ultimately proves his experience gives him an advantage over Leclerc

In what was a very lonely race for Ferrari today in third and fourth place, Sebastian Vettel stayed calm, patient and was ultimately rewarded with his second consecutive podium finish. During the opening stint, Charles Leclerc was running ahead of Vettel, before the former made his pitstop on lap 28 for a set of hard tyres. Vettel then opted to stay out with the benefit of clean air and managed his tyres brilliantly to extend his opening stint by an additional 12 laps to be able to switch onto soft tyres, and then with his pace advantage managed to overtake Leclerc for the final podium spot. These last two races have demonstrated that, whilst Leclerc is a very talented driver and may well earn many wins in the future - anyone who suggests that Leclerc is a better driver than Vettel at this stage is rushed.

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