Lewis Hamilton already held the record for most Formula 1 victories in the Hungarian Grand Prix, so his 67th career victory last weekend, and sixth at the Hungaroring, served only to increase his record.
It was the 81st victory for Mercedes, which is now tied with Lotus for fourth-place on the list of most wins by team.
Hamilton took his sixth pole position at the Hungaroring, which leaves him one shy of Michael Schumacher’s record seven pole positions at the track.The reigning world champion’s fifth with of the season means he goes into the summer break with a 24-point lead, which is the highest any driver has managed all season. But it’s a sign of how much closer this year’s title fight is than recent seasons that Hamilton’s tally of 213 points after 12 races is the lowest for a championship leader since 2012, when Fernando Alonso had 164 points after the first dozen rounds.
With 225 points available from the remaining nine rounds, the title can still be won by any driver in the field, including the point-less Sergey Sirotkin.
Sebastian Vettel had to settle for second place. This was his 106th podium finish, which means he is now level with Alain Prost in terms of both podiums, race wins (51) and world championships (four). Vettel’s 210 starts is 11 more than Prost made in his career.
Kimi Raikkonen started third and finished third for the third race in a row. Since his last win in the 2013 Australian Grand Prix he has now appeared on the podium 30 times – 14 more than the next-longest such streak.
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In a similar vein, it’s now more than two years since Raikkonen failed to reach Q3 in a qualifying session, but he’s only taken one pole position during that time.
At a circuit where overtaking is notoriously tough, Daniel Ricciardo did well to climb from 12th on the grid to finish fourth. Nigel Mansell memorably won the 1989 Hungarian Grand Prix from that starting position and in 1994 Jos Verstappen, father of Ricciardo’s team mate Max, bagged his first podium finish from 12th.
There were no points for the younger Verstappen last weekend. Both Red Bull drivers have failed to score in four of the opening 12 races, which has wrecked their chances of getting into the championship fight.
Ricciardo also claimed the fastest lap of the race. This was the 13th of his career, putting him level with Jacky Ickx, Alan Jones and Riccardo Patrese. Red Bull have set the fastest lap in half of this year’s races so far.
McLaren had finished ‘best of the rest’ behind Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull at the Hungaroring for the last three years in a row, but it was Toro Rosso’s turn this year. Sixth place for Pierre Gasly is their second-best result at this track after Verstappen’s fourth place in 2015.
Finally, Marcus Ericsson managed to out-qualify Charles Leclerc for the first time in nine races. But Stoffel Vandoorne remains yet to out-qualifying Fernando Alonso, and gearbox failure snatched away his shot at a first points finish since the Azerbaijan Grand Prix in April.
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Review the year so far in statistics here:
- 2018 F1 championship points
- 2018 F1 season records
- 2018 F1 race data
- 2018 F1 qualifying data
- 2018 F1 retirements and penalties
- 2018 F1 strategy and pit stops
Have you spotted any other interesting stats and facts from the Hungarian Grand Prix? Share them in the comments.
2018 Hungarian Grand Prix
- No win for Raikkonen in his last 30 podium appearances
- Top ten pictures from the 2018 Hungarian Grand Prix
- 2018 Hungarian Grand Prix Star Performers
- Hamilton extends points lead as Mercedes contain Ferrari
- Vettel doubts slow pit stop ended his victory shot
Klon (@)
2nd August 2018, 12:49
Time to sink a cheeky fiver on Sirotkin. The odds must be enormous and if a miracle happens, you could cash in big.
bernasaurus (@bernasaurus)
2nd August 2018, 14:11
Believe!
ColdFly (@)
2nd August 2018, 15:07
So no team orders at Williams yet :P
Vettel fan 17 (@)
2nd August 2018, 15:21
With both drivers in the hunt for a title and only separated by four points, it will be interesting to see how Williams manage this
GeeMac (@geemac)
2nd August 2018, 16:37
@vettelfan17 If I close my eyes say that sentence out loud I can almost imagine it was 1996 again…
reg (@reg)
2nd August 2018, 19:02
22 years goes by in a heartbeat…
Thomas Bennett (@felipemassadobrasil)
2nd August 2018, 19:15
@geemac nine years before I was born, 22 years really does go by in a heartbeat.
Benjamin RIchardson
3rd August 2018, 0:38
@vettelfan17 Can I suggest badly?
Vettel fan 17 (@)
3rd August 2018, 9:27
@Benjamin RIchardson
?
ferrox glideh (@ferrox-glideh)
2nd August 2018, 15:23
I guess that means that Kubica could also possibly win the championship this year too!
Dulin
2nd August 2018, 16:28
Absolutely!
Miguel Bento (@miguelbento)
2nd August 2018, 17:01
Even I can still win this year’s championship!!!
Martin
2nd August 2018, 22:33
I don’t think you have the necessary superlicence points
carbon_fibre (@carbon_fibre)
2nd August 2018, 13:57
I really really really hope Kimi wins Spa.
ferrox glideh (@ferrox-glideh)
2nd August 2018, 15:26
That would be so epic!
Esploratore (@esploratore)
4th August 2018, 4:17
Yes, would be really overdue another win, ok he’s always lacking something, but he also never gets a break luck-wise, had he resisted verstappen in austria during the first lap he’d have won.
mystic one (@mysticus)
2nd August 2018, 14:06
On the contrary to your first comment, it was decided in austria!
check back since merc era… if hamilton not win austrian gp, he won the WDC!
2014 GP Winner Nico – Ham WDC
2015 GP Winner Nico – Ham WDC
2016 GP Winner Ham – Nico WDC
2017 GP Winner Bot – Ham WDC
2018 GP Winner Ver – Hmmmm?
:)
Chances are reset every year… It is pointless statistics… It always skews to your point of view/interpretation
Vettel fan 17 (@)
2nd August 2018, 15:01
@mysticus The winners teammate always wins, so time to put some money on Ricciardo ;)
Martin
2nd August 2018, 22:34
Done
mystic one (@mysticus)
3rd August 2018, 14:58
newdecade
2nd August 2018, 14:24
Slightly different point system back in 2001 though ;)
Jere (@jerejj)
2nd August 2018, 15:41
@newdecade Well, then it’s an error from F1.com.
Bleu (@bleu)
2nd August 2018, 14:42
Räikkönen is seventh driver to achieve podium position on five consecutive races while not winning any of them. Alonso and Hamilton have done it twice.
Both Hamilton’s and one of Alonso’s streak is part of longer podium streak which has also included wins. Maybe it’s not surprising to see Rubens Barrichello holding this record with his seven consecutive podiums – four seconds and three thirds. His team-mate Michael Schumacher won six of those races.
7
Barrichello ESP 2004 – GBR 2004
6
Alonso KOR 2012 – AUS 2013
5
McLaren ITA 1962 – BEL 1963
Gurney NED 1965 – MEX 1965
Frentzen BEL 1997 – JPN 1997
Alonso TUR 2005 – JPN 2005
Hamilton AUS 2007 – MON 2007
Hamilton MEX 2015 – BRN 2016
Räikkönen FRA 2018 – HUN 2018
Jere (@jerejj)
2nd August 2018, 15:01
‘in his F1 career’
Esploratore (@esploratore)
4th August 2018, 4:16
Don’t forget the hungary curse: since 2004 no one won the title after winning hungary race, the last was schumacher, will hamilton break the curse or did he just sign his demise?
Zaros
4th August 2018, 7:39
I think that just shows what an anomaly Hungary is to the rest of the tracks on the Calendar and that a car that is good in Hungary is unlikely to be so good elsewhere unless completely dominant. The fact that Hamilton won despite having a car that wasn’t suited to Hungary makes this stat a bit redundant.
Esploratore (@esploratore)
4th August 2018, 4:21
2nd race in a row that Ricciardo has failed to make Q3 – first time this has happened since he joined Red Bull.
Ahhh, that’s why he left!
Esploratore (@esploratore)
4th August 2018, 4:22
Also, bad chassis for mclaren this year at least!
Mitch
4th August 2018, 23:35
Raikkonen now becomes the 2nd driver after Michael Schumacher to achieve 9 podiums at the same Grand Prix.