Australia’s Daniel Ricciardo has claimed his second Formula One victory of the 2014 season after a thrilling victory at the Hungarian Grand Prix.
Nico Rosberg leads the F1championship with 202 points, followed by Hamilton with 191 and Ricciardo with 131.
With not even a week’s turnaround from the last race in Germany, Formula One treks over to Budapest and the Hungaroring circuit for the Hungarian Grand Prix. Join The Roar for live commentary from 9:30pm (AEST).
If you like, the Hungaroring is Lewis Hamilton country. Why? Because is equal with the great Michael Schumacher with four wins at this circuit, being the most of any driver since the first running of this event in 1986.
Of Hamilton’s four victories, two have come in the last two years and on both occasions he has taken pole position also. The 2013 triumph would have been a memorable one for the 2008 world champion as it was his first win in the Mercedes AMG car.
With his previous successes then in Hungary, Hamilton is the favourite to get one over his teammate Nico Rosberg who still leads the championship by 14 points.
But considering the Briton’s luck in terms of qualifying in the last few events this year, he’ll need a few things to go his way on Saturday first.
The Hungaroring too will be a real test of what affect removing the FRIC suspension systems off the cars has had, with its heavier braking zones than of the Hockenheim circuit. Lotus and Red Bull seemed the most affected by the loss of FRIC in Germany, with the former being worse off.
Heat will once again be a factor this weekend, with temperatures typically set to exceed 30 Celsius. Last weekend in Germany during the practice sessions, there was severe tyre wear on the soft and super-soft compounds in the heat.
Here in Hungary Pirelli will bring the soft and the medium compounds, which if it’s hot on Sunday might mean there could a two to three stop race over the 70 laps.
Formula One’s new ‘Flying Finn’ Valtteri Bottas is in a strong position with his Williams team to take a spot on the podium once again. With his hat-trick of podium finishes in recent races, Bottas has been a threat to Mercedes AMG whenever they’ve put a foot wrong.
Whilst one Williams has been superb, the other has endured a rough time. Could this weekend be where Felipe Massa avoids all incidents and bring home a double points finish for Williams?
And to fill out the other points paying positions, it’s difficult to see any differences from the last grand prix as with the short turnaround there won’t be a great deal of car upgrades. Fernando Alonso and Red Bull should lock horns once again, whilst it remains to how Kimi Räikkönen fares.
Despite McLaren being the most successful team around this circuit with an impressive eleven wins, it’s also difficult to picture them battling anyone other than the Force India’s to round out the points.
With this being the final race before the summer break, it’ll be crucial for Hamilton to close some ground on his teammate in what is still a very delicately poised championship battle.
Jawad Yaqub
Roar Guru
So thanks again everyone for tuning in tonight for our coverage of the Hungarian Grand Prix on The Roar. Hopefully you all enjoyed the race and are relishing in another victory for the young Aussie this season. F1 will be back in late August for the Belgian Grand Prix at the legendary Spa-Francorchamps circuit, but until then enjoy!
Jawad Yaqub
Roar Guru
Hamilton now sits 11 points behind Rosberg in the championship going into the summer break. With that victory, Ricciardo is 60 points in deficit to Hamilton and still a mathematical hope for the championship. Ferrari have also retaken third in the constructors' standings from Williams with that podium from Alonso. Their lead is 7 points.
Jawad Yaqub
Roar Guru
The podium is now underway with the Australian national anthem playing for the winning driver, followed by the Austrian anthem for the winning constructor.
Jawad Yaqub
Roar Guru
A very impressive drive also for Fernando Alonso to pick up Ferrari's second podium of the season. As always he continues to stretch the limits of that F14 T chassis.
Jawad Yaqub
Roar Guru
Ricciardo, Alonso, Hamilton, Rosberg, Massa, Raikkonen, Vettel, Bottas, Vergne and Button make up the top ten. And thanks to being on the right strategy, Ricciardo wins for the second time this season. A stellar drive also from Hamilton, starting from pit land to finish third and take some points away from his teammate in the championship.
Jawad Yaqub
Roar Guru
It's Daniel Ricciardo who wins the Hungarian Grand Prix! The Aussie wins his second grand prix as Alonso hangs on to his dying tyres to finish in second place as does Hamilton who finishes third. What a race!
Jawad Yaqub
Roar Guru
Lap 70: Ricciardo starts the final lap of the race as the two Mercedes AMGs are fighting away closely for third place in this race and also crucial points in the championship.
Jawad Yaqub
Roar Guru
Lap 69: Both Alonso and Hamilton appear to have no grip, but Rosberg on those newer tyres is looking very threatening.
Jawad Yaqub
Roar Guru
Lap 68: Now Alonso is struggling very badly to hang on to even second place and this is allowing Rosberg to close up and challenge for the podium.
Jawad Yaqub
Roar Guru
Lap 68: 3 laps to go and Ricciardo takes the lead!
Jawad Yaqub
Roar Guru
Lap 67: Ricciardo passes Hamilton into Turn 3 for second place as Hamilton locked up AGAIN into Turn 2. Now Ricciardo is in a strong place to catch and pass Alonso.
Jawad Yaqub
Roar Guru
Lap 66: Rosberg's engineer tells him that he could be very well joining this battle for the top three soon at the rapid rate he is closing in. Hamilton locks up once again.
Jawad Yaqub
Roar Guru
Lap 65: And both Hamilton and Ricciardo have a moment which has allowed Alonso a bit of breathing room with 6 laps to go.
Jawad Yaqub
Roar Guru
He's certainly in the best place at the moment.
Jawad Yaqub
Roar Guru
Lap 63: And Alonso makes a mistake and hops over the chicane. He keeps his lead but appears to have lifted off a little to allow his chasers to gain again.
Jawad Yaqub
Roar Guru
Lap 62: Hamilton and Ricciardo in second and third both have the DRS as Alonso hangs on to his lead. It looks like Ricciardo is more of a threat to Hamilton at the moment than he is over Alonso.
Jawad Yaqub
Roar Guru
Lap 61: Hamilton is only 1.2 seconds behind Alonso, but Ricciardo is just under a second behind Hamilton on those fresher tyres.
Jawad Yaqub
Roar Guru
Lap 60: Rosberg dispatches Raikkonen for fifth place and now is behind Massa.
Rob McHugh
Roar Guru
Doesn't look like Ricciardo's having any problems now, what a lap.
Jawad Yaqub
Roar Guru
Lap 58: Ricciardo on his new tyres has set the fastest lap of the race. It's still a mystery as to who will win this race, with Alonso, Ricciardo and Hamilton all in contention at the moment.