F1 - Hungarian Grand Prix - Sunday, July 26th 2015,



Sebastian Vettel wins thrilling Hungarian Grand Prix

By Lawrence Barretto
http://www.autosport.com

Ferrari Formula 1 driver Sebastian Vettel took victory in a dramatic Hungarian Grand Prix, as Mercedes duo Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg suffered their worst race of the season.

It was the German's first victory at the Hungaroring and second of the season, bringing his career tally to 41 to equal three-time world champion Ayrton Senna's mark.

It was also the first time since the 2013 Brazilian Grand Prix, a run of 29 races, where Mercedes failed to score a podium finish with either car with Hamilton sixth and Rosberg eighth.

Hamilton was on course to lose his championship lead, first after running wide at the chicane on the first lap when he felt Rosberg crossed his line and then losing time when he pitted for a new wing and then having to a drive-through penalty after contact with Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo.

But in defending second with a few laps to go, Rosberg clashed with Ricciardo at Turn 1, giving the Mercedes a puncture and damaging Ricciardo's front wing.

Rosberg was forced to pit and rejoined eighth, two places behind Hamilton who had fought his way back through the field to increase his championship lead to 21 points.

Hamilton and Rosberg both bogged down from the front row at the start, allowing Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen to get ahead, with Rosberg running third ahead of Hamilton.

Ferrari looked on course for its first one-two since the 2010 German Grand Prix before a MGU-K problem cost Raikkonen power. He eventually retired after the team were unable to fix it.

The virtual safety car was called into action when Nico Hulkenberg's Force India suffered a front wing failure, pitching the German head-on into the tyre barrier at Turn 1.

When it became clear there was too much debris on the track, the real safety car was sent out, bunching the field up to cost Vettel his sizeable lead - setting up a thrilling finale.

Daniil Kvyat scored a career-best second, to become the youngest driver to score a podium since Vettel in Italy 2008, the Russian benefitting from Ricciardo's clash with Rosberg late on.

Ricciardo survived the contact, which the stewards decided to take no further action on, with Rosberg to give Red Bull a double podium with third.

Toro Rosso's Max Verstappen, who had a drive-through penalty for making contact with Williams' Valtteri Bottas, battled his way up to a career-best fourth place.

The drama in the second-half of the race allowed Fernando Alonso to finish fifth, scoring McLaren-Honda's best result of the season, with Jenson Button finishing ninth.

Romain Grosjean was seventh in the Lotus while Marcus Ericsson gave Sauber an unlikely point with 10th, a few seconds clear of team-mate Felipe Nasr.

Williams failed to score for only the second time this season, with Massa - who was given a time-penalty for being out of position on the grid and forcing an aborted start - 12th and Bottas 13th.

RESULT
PosDriverCarLapsGap
1Sebastian VettelFerrari691h46m09.985s
2Daniil KvyatRed Bull/Renault6915.748s
3Daniel RicciardoRed Bull/Renault6925.084s
4Max VerstappenToro Rosso/Renault6944.251s
5Fernando AlonsoMcLaren/Honda6949.079s
6Lewis HamiltonMercedes6952.025s
7Romain GrosjeanLotus/Mercedes6958.578s
8Nico RosbergMercedes6958.876s
9Jenson ButtonMcLaren/Honda691m07.028s
10Marcus EricssonSauber/Ferrari691m09.130s
11Felipe NasrSauber/Ferrari691m13.458s
12Felipe MassaWilliams/Mercedes691m14.278s
13Valtteri BottasWilliams/Mercedes691m20.228s
14Pastor MaldonadoLotus/Mercedes691m25.142s
15Roberto MerhiMarussia/Ferrari672 Laps
16Will StevensMarussia/Ferrari65Vibration
-Carlos SainzToro Rosso/Renault60Power Unit
-Kimi RaikkonenFerrari55Power Unit
-Sergio PerezForce India/Mercedes53Brakes
-Nico HulkenbergForce India/Mercedes41Wing

DRIVERS' CHAMPIONSHIP
PosDriverPoints
1Lewis Hamilton202
2Nico Rosberg181
3Sebastian Vettel160
4Valtteri Bottas77
5Kimi Raikkonen76
6Felipe Massa74
7Daniel Ricciardo51
8Daniil Kvyat45
9Nico Hulkenberg24
10Romain Grosjean23
11Max Verstappen22
12Felipe Nasr16
13Sergio Perez15
14Pastor Maldonado12
15Fernando Alonso11
16Carlos Sainz9
17Jenson Button6
18Marcus Ericsson6
19Roberto Merhi0
20Will Stevens0

CONSTRUCTORS' CHAMPIONSHIP
PosConstructorPoints
1Mercedes383
2Ferrari236
3Williams/Mercedes151
4Red Bull/Renault96
5Force India/Mercedes39
6Lotus/Mercedes35
7Toro Rosso/Renault31
8Sauber/Ferrari22
9McLaren/Honda17
10Marussia/Ferrari0

F1 - British Grand Prix - Sunday, July 5th 2015

Lewis Hamilton takes hard-fought home Formula 1 win

By Lawrence Barretto
http://www.autosport.com


Lewis Hamilton won the British Grand Prix for the third time with a battling drive to victory in a rain-hit race Silverstone Formula 1 race initially led by Williams.

Mercedes' F1 champion recovered from a poor getaway, in which he dropped from pole position to third, and then drove confidently when rain fell in the second-half of the race before timing his switch to the intermediate tyre well.

Nico Rosberg finished second, the German able to pass both Valtteri Bottas and then Felipe Massa, who struggled in the wet conditions after leading the first stint for Williams, to limit the loss to Hamilton in the championship, with the gap now 17 points.

Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel benefited from an early switch to the intermediates to leapfrog both Williams as the rain intensified to finish third.

Massa made an explosive start from third on the grid, slicing through the middle of the slow-starting Mercedes to take the lead into Abbey, with Bottas slotting into second ahead of Hamilton and Rosberg.

Hamilton reclaimed second with a pass on Bottas into Village, but the race was then neutralised when the safety car was called into action following collisions in the midfield.

The Lotus of Romain Grosjean appeared to tangle with the Red Bull of Daniel Ricciardo, which speared the Frenchman into his team-mate Pastor Maldonado, putting both out of the race.

That incident caused a secondary accident behind with Fernando Alonso taking avoiding action and hitting his McLaren team-mate Jenson Button, which put the Briton out of the race and left Alonso needing to pit for a new nose.

At the restart, Hamilton launched an attack on Massa into Club, but ran wide as the Williams defended the lead.

That opened the door for Bottas to nip in and take second, with Hamilton having to fend off Rosberg.

Bottas closed on Massa and while the team initially told both drivers to work together, it then allowed

Bottas to attack but the Finn could not find a way through.

Hamilton was the first to pit, crucially rejoining in front of the longer-running Force India of Sergio Perez, with Massa and Rosberg pitting together the next time around.

Massa exited his pitbox alongside Rosberg and kept his nose in front on the exit but by then, Hamilton had gone through.

Bottas then pitted and rejoined between Massa and Rosberg, meaning Hamilton inherited the lead, the Briton leading for the 18th race in succession to break Sir Jackie Stewart's 45-year-old record.

The rain added a further headache later, but gave Rosberg a chance to fight pass both Bottas and Massa before closing on Hamilton.

The leader then timed his switch to intermediates perfectly and re-established a gap over Rosberg, who came in one lap later and had to settle for second.

Williams's race unravelled when the rain came, with Massa and Bottas struggling for pace and ending up fourth and fifth, jumped by Vettel as Ferrari made an earlier dive for intermediates and then pulled clear.

Red Bull's Daniil Kvyat was sixth and nearly caught Bottas at the end.

Nico Hulkenberg and Sergio Perez ensured Force India's B-spec car had a double-points haul on its debut by finishing seventh and ninth respectively, with Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen splitting the duo, the Finn losing ground by taking intermediates too soon.

Alonso, who was one of several cars who pitted for intermediate tyres early, scored his first point of the season - after four successive retirements - with 10th.

It was a disastrous race for Toro Rosso, which had showed such strong pace early in the weekend.

Max Verstappen's weekend ended in the gravel when he spun off on cold tyres after the early safety car came in.

Carlos Sainz Jr was running ninth when he stopped out on track at the final corner, banging the steering wheel in disbelief, with the virtual safety car being called into action briefly as a result.

Sauber's Marcus Ericsson, who ran in the points for much of the race, struggled in the wet conditions and dropped to 11th with Manor's Roberto Merhi and Will Stevens - who required a late nose change after an off in the wet - the last of the finishers in 12th and 13th respectively.

Ricciardo retired his Red Bul before the halfway point with what he suspected was an electrical problem.

Felipe Nasr did not make the start after the Sauber driver stopped on one of his reconnaissance laps on the way to the grid. The team was unable to fix his problem in time.

RESULTS - 52 LAPS:
PosDriverCarGap
1Lewis HamiltonMercedes1h31m27.729s
2Nico RosbergMercedes10.956s
3Sebastian VettelFerrari25.443s
4Felipe MassaWilliams/Mercedes36.839s
5Valtteri BottasWilliams/Mercedes1m03.194s
6Daniil KvyatRed Bull/Renault1m03.955s
7Nico HulkenbergForce India/Mercedes1m18.744s
8Kimi RaikkonenFerrari1 Lap
9Sergio PerezForce India/Mercedes1 Lap
10Fernando AlonsoMcLaren/Honda1 Lap
11Marcus EricssonSauber/Ferrari1 Lap
12Roberto MerhiMarussia/Ferrari3 Laps
13Will StevensMarussia/Ferrari3 Laps
-Carlos SainzToro Rosso/RenaultElectrical
-Daniel RicciardoRed Bull/RenaultElectrical
-Max VerstappenToro Rosso/RenaultSpun off
-Jenson ButtonMcLaren/HondaCollision
-Romain GrosjeanLotus/MercedesCollision
-Pastor MaldonadoLotus/MercedesCollision
-Felipe NasrSauber/FerrariNot started

DRIVERS' CHAMPIONSHIP:
PosDriverPoints
1Lewis Hamilton194
2Nico Rosberg177
3Sebastian Vettel135
4Valtteri Bottas77
5Kimi Raikkonen76
6Felipe Massa74
7Daniel Ricciardo36
8Daniil Kvyat27
9Nico Hulkenberg24
10Romain Grosjean17
11Felipe Nasr16
12Sergio Perez15
13Pastor Maldonado12
14Max Verstappen10
15Carlos Sainz9
16Marcus Ericsson5
17Jenson Button4
18Fernando Alonso1
19Roberto Merhi0
20Will Stevens0

CONSTRUCTORS' CHAMPIONSHIP:
PosConstructorPoints
1Mercedes371
2Ferrari211
3Williams/Mercedes151
4Red Bull/Renault63
5Force India/Mercedes39
6Lotus/Mercedes29
7Sauber/Ferrari21
8Toro Rosso/Renault19
9McLaren/Honda5
10Marussia/Ferrari0

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