Lewis Hamilton declared his Sunday afternoon drive to victory as “one of my favourite races to have” at the Hungarian Grand Prix.
After pulling out an early lead over Lance Stroll and then Max Verstappen, the six-time Formula 1 champion was dominant, lapping everyone up to Sebastian Vettel in fifth in the Mercedes.
Such was his advantage, Hamilton even had the luxury of making an extra stop for tyres to push for fastest lap, rounding off a simply flawless weekend.
“Honestly, it was one of my favourite races to have,” he told Martin Brundle post-race.
“Whilst I was on my own for the race, it was just a different kind of challenge, and of course we had great pace.
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“But it couldn’t have been without these great guys that are working, doing great pit stops, great strategy, and right at the end, because I was managing those mediums for a long, long time, right at the end it was perfect to get on the fresh tyre and get the extra point.
“I think this weekend [we were] just on point throughout the weekend, so we need to try to keep this up.”
His second win in a week has also seen Hamilton to the top of the Drivers’ standings for the first time this season, the ideal response after a tricky first race in Austria.
“I definitely feel round one was multiple different punches that I wasn’t perhaps ready for, but I refocused, which I try to do between every race, and the last two have been fantastic,” he added.
For teammate Valtteri Bottas, he faced another recovery drive around the Hungaroring for the second straight year, this after almost jumping the start and then failing to get a good launch.
LAP 1/70
Bottas fluffs his lines at the start and drops down to P6 ?
Stroll up to P2 and Verstappen up to P3 #HungarianGP ?? #F1 pic.twitter.com/1Tr9HGSU8s
— Formula 1 (@F1) July 19, 2020
“It was a pretty bad race, to be honest,” he conceded. “Starting second, you aim to win the race but I lost it at the start. I reacted to a light on my dash that went off.
“I don’t know what it was but something changed on my dash so I just reacted to that instead of the start lights, so I had anti-stall and had to do the start again. I lost it there.”
Bottas would work his way back up to third but, unlike last weekend, he couldn’t quite catch and pass Verstappen to complete the Mercedes 1-2.
“We lost many places and made the race very difficult for me. Fighting until the end, it was pretty close with Max, but it’s still good points,” he admitted.
