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Defending champion Lewis Hamilton extended his lead over Ferrari driver Sebastian Vettel after an easy victory at the Hungarian Grand Prix on Sunday. Hamilton, who won pole position, now has 24 points ahead of Vettel, second, after two straight wins.
The four-time champion recorded his fifth win of the season and accumulated 213 points in the standings.
The star driver of the Mercedes now hopes to enjoy a break of a month before returning for the next race in Belgium.
"I really could have dreamed that we would be in the position we are right now," he told reporters. "I'm really happy to be in the break, especially with consecutive wins.
"I think this boost will last a long time for our team and it's encouraging for everyone so I'm excited for the break. Added the Briton.
"We certainly had some ups and downs in this championship, it's a roller coaster ride – but the team just stayed strong. "
More of @LewisHamilton https://t.co/FCeXjGTGmr #HungarianGP pic.twitter.com/LIn2pbqA3d
Mercedes-AMG F1 (@ MercedesAMGF1) July 29, 2018
Vettel took the checkered flag 17.1 seconds behind, after surviving a collision with Hamilton's teammate Valtteri Bottas and Daniel Ricciardo, a Red Bull driver.
Ferrari, crying the death of former President Sergio Marchionne, finished third on the podium on a dry and sultry afternoon at the Hungaroring outside Budapest.
The vi ctory was Hamilton sixth of ranking in Hungary and 67th of his career.
In a race actually decided by Saturday's wet qualifying, when Mercedes blocked the front row of the grid against waiting, Hamilton was never challenged
"We came here knowing that Ferrari would be v quick raiment this weekend, so we will definitely take this as a bonus, "said Hamilton in an interview in a pitlane after kissing team members. nice day has been! I am so proud of the hard work, vision and determination of our team. A huge, huge thank you to everyone. The challenges were definitely presented to us this weekend and we overcame them together @ MercedesAMGF1 #HungarianGP # F1 @latimages pic.twitter.com/402taEflvK
Lewis Hamilton (@ LewisHamilton) July 29, 2018
"I am really happy with the solidity of these last two races, we must be strong in the next half," added the 33-year-old. , who won in Germany 14th place on the grid a weekend earlier.
Tire strategies were also crucial on a relatively slow and winding circuit where overtaking is always difficult, with track temperatures around 50 degrees Celsius. He is worried about fast Ferrari, which opts for faster ultrasoft at the beginning but which disappear more quickly.
In fourth place on the grid, Vettel grabbed third place Raikkonen immediately, but could not find a way to pbad Bottas w ho's snuck past Hamilton as a defense against the red threat.
"We were out of position, I think we could have gone with Lewis today with the race pace," Vettel said.
"P2 is not really what we wanted this weekend but I think it was the maximum today."
ANGRY VERSTAPPEN [19659002] Raikkonen, without water during the race, after Ferrari forgot to connect the bottle, made two stops and accepted third – his fifth successive podium – was the best he could have hoped under the circumstances.
caught Bottas after the first stop but there was no chance of doubling. So our option was to stop again and try again. At least we got a place back but far from ideal, "said the Finn.
" I think we had a good speed today. But what can you do? Sometimes it's like that, but you take the points and move on to the next one.
Ricciardo, 12th, was fourth but his Dutch teammate Max Verstappen retired early with a Renault engine failure that infuriated the driver and the team. "We pay millions of pounds for these engines and for first-clbad or state-of-the-art products, and you can see that it's very much lower than that," Horner said. 19659002] Bottas finishes fifth and is penalized 10 seconds after the race against Ricciardo, while Pierre Gasly of France is sixth for Toro Rosso.
Kevin Magnussen is seventh for Haas, raising the US team to fifth place and ahead of Force India, with double world champion Fernando Alonso eighth for McLaren on his 37th birthday
Carlos Sainz took two points for Renault in the ninth and Romain Grosjean insured another for Haas.
( ] Report reproduced with the kind permission of Reuters )
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