Daniel Ricciardo claimed his second Formula One victory at yesterday’s Hungarian Grand Prix, leading home Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton.
The Australian overtook the pair in the closing laps in similar fashion to his maiden victory at last month’s Canadian Grand Prix.
Ricciardo took advantage of a Marcus Ericsson triggered safety car on lap eight, pitting immediately, to undercut those ahead of him – including Nico Rosberg, team-mate Sebastian Vettel and Valtteri Bottas.
The 25-year old managed his afternoon from there, pitting for the final time on lap 54, resuming in fourth, and quickly regaining time on Alonso and Hamilton.
By lap 63, the trio were separated by a second, and while it appeared Alonso was destined to hold on for a spectacular victory, Ricciardo made decisive moves on laps 67 and 68 to snatch the lead.
Ricciardo remains the only man outside of the Mercedes duo to stand on the top step of the podium this season.
Alonso’s second place represented his and Ferrari’s second podium of a wanting campaign, and an outcome which can’t have harmed the Spaniard’s status as the best driver on the grid, as he held off Hamilton – boasting superior machinery, in the closing stages.
Having started from pitlane and an opening lap spin on cold rubber, Hamilton’s third place reduces the margin to his teammate to 11 points, with a fast-finishing Rosberg unable to snatch the final podium place following a late stop.
Felipe Massa claimed some much needed points with fifth place, as did Kimi Räikkönen in sixth – by far the Finn’s best return in his forgettable campaign.
Vettel could do no better than seventh despite his promising start, having said that, the German endured a near miss on pit-straight – in an almost carbon copy of Sergio Perez’s demise, on lap 32, while Bottas came home eighth – left to rue the timing of his pitstop following the initial safety car deployment.
Jean-Eric Vergne and Jenson Button rounded out the top ten, while Adrian Sutil just missed out on opening the account of Sauber’s lacklustre season.
Light rain led to nervous proceedings in the opening stages, as Romain Grosjean followed Ericsson into retirement just as the safety car was set to come in.
Nico Hulkenberg retired for the first time this season following a run-in with teammate Sergio Perez on his fifteenth tour. It is the first time the German failed to register points this campaign, while the Mexican Perez crashed heavily into pit wall eight laps later, triggering the second safety car of the afternoon.
The category now takes its traditional month-long convalescence, with the Belgian Grand Prix on August 24.
Standings
1. Nico Rosberg 202
2. Lewis Hamilton 191
3. Daniel Ricciardo 131
4. Fernando Alonso 115
5. Valtteri Bottas 95
Bayden Westerweller
Roar Guru
Yep a lot of variables will come into the equation following the break, and a lot of teams will drop off altogether as they turn full attention to next season. Lewis vs. Nico is bound to explode sometime soon, Monza or Singapore perhaps, something's gotta give, whether it's a collision, more tactics, or ignorance of team-orders, things will be getting very spicy... Ricciardo is in with a sneaky chance if he remains up there heading to the finale.
Jawad Yaqub
Roar Guru
Exactly, but with the power unit and gearbox components only limited to five units per season, some of the drivers are going to start showing damage limitation to avoid the penalties and what not. Still Lewis said after the race that he was 'shocked' that the team would even make a call like that. After that it's surely going to be every man for himself to the end.
Bayden Westerweller
Roar Guru
He was fortunate in his timing, but he didn't put a foot out of place from there, made the overtakes which weren't handed to him on a platter, so there's no doubting his worthiness.
Bayden Westerweller
Roar Guru
At this rate you can bet on at least one car being compromised by the time the lights go out on Sunday. Which is a pity as it robs us of an engrossing duel that we've seldom seen but when it does - there are fireworks i.e. Bahrain. At the same time it's nice that it allows Ricciardo, Alonso, whoever is in position to take advanrage on the day, to enjoy some success. I don't think Merc has much chance implementing team-orders based on yesterday, it's every man for himself.
Rodney Gordon
Expert
Ricciardo was very lucky to undercut the leaders when the safety car came out. Frontrunners like Rosberg were pretty unlikely to miss out, in the end it was a pretty decisive moment in the race. Not that Daniel didn't earn it, that overtake on Hamilton was epic.
Jawad Yaqub
Roar Guru
Reliability is really starting to become a threat to Mercedes AMG now, not enough I think to cost them the championship. But enough to upset either driver and potentially send more victories to the door of Red Bull and maybe Williams and Alonso in the second half of the season. And what about the 'team orders' again from Mercedes? The next eight races is going to be a grueling test of their management skills for both drivers.