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Hungarian Grand Prix saw a number of drivers showing their class, no matter where they were racing. While Sebastian Vettel lost the race after being struck behind Jenson Button for over ten laps, Hamilton put on some great moves right after his pit stops to prevent the time lost in the traffic. A number of drivers, including Jenson Button and Pastor Maldonado, turned their poor qualifying into good results following great starts. Meanwhile, Kimi Raikkonen held Sebastian Vettel for latter part of the race to take second place. They all featured in our top 5 drivers of the race.
Lewis Hamilton – 10/10
Lewis Hamilton did everything right in Hungary to take his 22nd Grand Prix victory and first as a Mercedes driver. Unlike Germany, he got a clear start and held the lead at turn 1. He then extended the gap to Vettel to over a second before DRS was activated on lap 2. From there he controlled the race and made pit stops at the right time. His overtaking moves over Button and Webber were of top calibre. But the key to his victory was the time his rival Sebastian Vettel lost behind Jenson Button after first round of pit stops.
Kimi Raikkonen – 9/10
After a poor qualifying session, Kimi Raikkonen executed a two stop strategy beautifully to finish in second place, one place ahead of championship leader Sebastian Vettel. After losing a spot to Felipe Massa at the start, he climbed his way to second place after three stoppers had made their final stops. During this final stint, he did a great job of keeping Vettel at bay, despite the German being on much fresher tyres. The result moves him second in the championship ahead of Alonso.
Mark Webber – 8/10
After being at par with Vettel throughout practice, a KERS and gearbox issue prevented Webber from challenging for pole position. Instead, he had to start the race from 10th place. But since the Australian didn’t set any lap times in Q3, he was given a free tyre choice for start of the race. And Webber chose the medium tyres on which he moved into 7th place by the very first lap, ahead of any other medium tyre starter. This helped him in running in lead and more importantly in clean air for some part of the race, once soft tyre starters had made their pit stops. He finally switched to soft tyres on lap 60 for a short stint, hoping to catch Vettel for final spot on the podium. But he just didn’t seem to have the pace to overcome a 12 second gap and had to ultimately settle for fourth place.
Jenson Button – 7/10
Jenson Button had a disappointing qualifying session. Not only was he out qualified by his teammate Sergio Perez, he also failed to make into Q3. However in the race, he instantly moved into 8th by the end of first lap. From there, he executed a two stop strategy brilliantly to finish in seventh place and reduce the gap to Force India to just two points.
Pastor Maldonado – 7/10
Pastor Maldonado was another drive who made a great start, gaining four places on the very first lap. He moved into 10th place after Rosberg retired from the race due to an engine failure, thus scoring his and the team’s first points of the season.
