Sebastian Vettel extends F1 lead after victory in Hungary

Sebastian Vettel has extended his lead at the top of the Drivers’ Championship to 14 points after winning the Hungarian Grand Prix.

Teammate Kimi Raikkonen finished second ahead of Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas.

Steering problems affected Vettel’s performance but the German remained in front. Raikkonen was catching him but team orders saw Vettel stay in first.

Communication issues plagued the Mercedes team throughout. Lewis Hamilton had pulled a three-second gap to Raikkonen to 0.8 seconds but the Finn held.

Botta had let Hamilton through earlier in the race to have a go at Raikkonen on the proviso that Hamilton had five laps to make the overtake. That overtake did not come though and Bottas took third place back on the final corner.

Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo was taken out of the race by his teammate Max Verstappen in turn two of the opening lap. Verstappen’s car locked up and went straight into Ricciardo who spun out the race.

The safety car came straight out and a steward’s enquiry then punished Verstappen with a 10-second penalty.

Verstappen led the race briefly before coming out of the pit on lap 42 in fifth. The Red Bull was the fastest driver on track in the closing stages and would have finished on the podium without the penalty.

Both McLarens finished in the points with Fernando Alonso setting the fastest lap of the race.

Hungarian Grand Prix full result in full:

1. Sebastian Vettel (Ferrari)
2. Kimi Raikkonen (Ferrari)
3. Valtteri Bottas (Mercedes)
4. Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes)
5. Max Verstappen (Red Bull)
6. Fernando Alonso (McLaren)
7. Carlos Sainz Jr (Toro Rosso)
8. Sergio Perez (Force India)
9. Esteban Ocon (Force India)
10. Stoffel Vandoorne (McLaren)
11. Kevin Magnussen (Haas)
12. Daniil Kvyat (Toro Rosso)
13. Jolyon Palmer (Renault)
14. Lance Stroll (Williams)
15. Pascal Wehrlein (Sauber)
16. Marcus Ericsson (Sauber)
DNF Nico Hulkenberg (Renault)
DNF Paul di Resta (Williams)
DNF Romain Grosjean (Haas)
DNF Daniel Ricciardo (Red Bull)

Cover Photo: Ferrari SF17-JB / Sebastian Vettel / GER / Scuderia Ferrari by Artes Max used under license by CC BY-SA 2.0.