McLaren's Lewis Hamilton led the Hungarian Grand Prix from start to
finish on Sunday (August 5) to stretch his championship lead over unhappy team
mate Fernando Alonso to seven points.
The 22-year-old British rookie put behind him a pole position
controversy and spy saga gripping McLaren to take his third win and 10th
podium finish in 11 races and underscore his credentials as title favourite.
Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen finished second, 0.7 behind, with Germany's
Nick Heidfeld third for BMW Sauber.
Spain's double world champion Alonso, who was stripped of pole and
demoted to sixth place on the starting grid for unnecessarily impeding
Hamilton in the final seconds of Saturday's qualifying, finished fourth.
Hamilton said his team mate had not spoken to him since Saturday's
controversy.
As punishment for that same incident, but subject to appeal, leaders
McLaren were barred from scoring points towards the constructors' championship
in the race.
McLaren remained on 138 points, with Ferrari narrowing the gap on 119
with six races remaining.
Ferrari's Felipe Massa, third in the Formula One championship before
Sunday's race, failed to score after starting 14th and slipped to fourth place
overall.
Hamilton has 80 points, Alonso 73, Raikkonen 60 and Massa 59 in a
championship that remains very much a four-way battle with an appeal hearing
into the spy controversy also hanging over McLaren's hopes.
Hamilton was happy to be back on top after his sensational run of nine
podiums in a row ended at the Nuerburgring two weeks ago with ninth place.
The McLaren rookie led all 70 laps of a race that, in contrast to all
the excitement and controversy away from the track in the build-up, was
uneventful and processional until the closing stages when Raikkonen closed
right up on the Briton.
The Finn, pushing hard on a tight circuit that is a nightmare for
overtaking, slotted into second place at the start and remained there
throughout. He set the fastest lap of the race right at the end.
At the news conference after the race Hamilton said: "It would
have been easy to lose focus. It's been a bit of a downer on the team, but the
great thing is that the team remains positive and the energy in the team still
remains. And it just proves that there's nothing that can stop us. So with
that in mind, I'm able to get in the car and do my job and obviously I know
how to win races. I've experienced having Kimi up my tail a couple of times
this year, especially in Malaysia, so with that experience, today was a
slightly easier but still nevertheless it was a hard race."
Poland's Robert Kubica, marking his first anniversary in Formula One
after making his debut here last year, was fifth for BMW Sauber with Toyota's
Ralf Schumacher sixth.
Germany's Nico Rosberg was seventh for Williams with Renault's Finnish
rookie Heikki Kovalainen taking the last point for the struggling champions.
Briton Jenson Button, who took his first grand prix win in a wet
Hungarian race last year after 113 starts, retired his Honda after 38 laps.
Official result from the Hungarian Grand Prix at Hungaroring in Budapest on
Sunday
1. Lewis Hamilton (Britain) McLaren 1hr 35min 52.991
2. Kimi Raikkonen (Finland) Ferrari +00:00.715
3. Nick Heidfeld (Germany) BMW Sauber 00:43.129
4. Fernando Alonso (Spain) McLaren 00:44.858
5. Robert Kubica (Poland) BMW Sauber 00:47.616
6. Ralf Schumacher (Germany) Toyota 00:50.669
7. Nico Rosberg (Germany) Williams - Toyota 00:59.139
8. Heikki Kovalainen (Finland) Renault 01:08.104
9. Mark Webber (Australia) RedBull - Renault 01:16.331
10. Jarno Trulli (Italy) Toyota 1 lap
11. David Coulthard (Britain) RedBull - Renault 1 lap
12. Giancarlo Fisichella (Italy) Renault 1 lap
13. Felipe Massa (Brazil) Ferrari 1 lap
14. Alexander Wurz (Austria) Williams - Toyota 1 lap
15. Takuma Sato (Japan) Super Aguri - Honda 1 lap
16. Sebastian Vettel (Germany) Toro Rosso - Ferrari 1 lap
17. Adrian Sutil (Germany) Spyker - Ferrari 2 laps
18. Rubens Barrichello (Brazil) Honda 2 laps
r. Vitantonio Liuzzi (Italy) Toro Rosso - Ferrari 28 laps
r. Anthony Davidson (Britain) Super Aguri - Honda 29 laps
r. Jenson Button (Britain) Honda 35 laps
r. Sakon Yamamoto (Japan) Spyker - Ferrari 66 laps (r =
retired)
Fastest Lap: Kimi Raikkonen, 1:20.047, lap 70.
Official driver and constructor standings after the Hungarian Grand Prix at
Hungaroring in Budapest on Sunday
Drivers Points
1. Lewis Hamilton (Britain) McLaren 80
2. Fernando Alonso (Spain) McLaren 73
3. Kimi Raikkonen (Finland) Ferrari 60
4. Felipe Massa (Brazil) Ferrari 59
5. Nick Heidfeld (Germany) BMW Sauber 42
6. Robert Kubica (Poland) BMW Sauber 28
7. Giancarlo Fisichella (Italy) Renault 17
8. Heikki Kovalainen (Finland) Renault 16
9. Alexander Wurz (Austria) Williams 13
10. Mark Webber (Australia) Red Bull 8
11. David Coulthard (Britain) Red Bull 8
12. Nico Rosberg (Germany) Williams 7
13. Jarno Trulli (Italy) Toyota 7
14. Ralf Schumacher (Germany) Toyota 5
15. Takuma Sato (Japan) Super Aguri 4
16. Jenson Button (Britain) Honda 1
17. Sebastian Vettel (Germany) Toro Rosso 1
18. Rubens Barrichello (Brazil) Honda 0
19. Scott Speed (U.S.) Toro Rosso 0
20. Anthony Davidson (Britain) Super Aguri 0
21. Adrian Sutil (Germany) Spyker 0
22. Christijan Albers (Netherlands) 0
23. Vitantonio Liuzzi (Italy) Toro Rosso 0
Constructors
1. McLaren - Mercedes 138 points
2. Ferrari 119
3. BMW Sauber 71
4. Renault 33
5. Williams - Toyota 20
6. RedBull - Renault 16
7. Toyota 12
8. Super Aguri - Honda 4
9. Honda 1
10. Toro Rosso - Ferrari 0
11. Spyker - Ferrari 0
