Vettel victorious in Hungary as Hamilton finishes sixth

Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel took a surprise win in a chaotic, dramatic and thrilling Hungarian Grand Prix as Lewis Hamilton finished sixth.

Hamilton had a mighty let-off after an error-strewn drive because title rival and Mercedes team-mate Nico Rosberg finished eighth after a late puncture.

The result means Hamilton, in the most unlikely circumstances, extends his lead over Rosberg to 21 points.

Red Bull’s Daniil Kvyat took his first career podium in second.

Vettel’s victory – his second of the season – came as a huge surprise, and the German dedicated it to French driver Jules Bianchi, who died last Friday and whose funeral Vettel was one of many active F1 drivers to attend on Tuesday.

A minute’s silence was held for the former Ferrari reserve driver on the grid before the race and his family attended the event.

Vettel said in French over the radio on his slowing down lap: “Merci, Jules. Cette victoire est pour toi.” (Thank you, Jules. This victory is for you).

He added in English: “You will always be in our hearts. We know sooner or later you would have been in this team.”

There was a further surprise behind Vettel as Russian Kvyat took second place despite being one of several drivers to suffer penalties as a result of driving transgressions.

He was handed a 10-second penalty for taking an advantage by going over track limits but held on ahead of team-mate Daniel Ricciardo.

Ricciardo was involved in the incident that dropped Rosberg from second with four laps to go.

The Australian dived for the inside at Turn One, ran wide and Rosberg’s trajectory on the inside of the corner took his left rear tyre into contact with Ricciardo’s front wing, puncturing it.

Ricciardo had to pit for a new front wing but managed to take the final podium position.

Behind him, 17-year-old Max Verstappen took the best result of his short career in fourth, ahead of Fernando Alonso in fifth, by far the strongest finish of McLaren-Honda’s dismal season so far.

Up front, the events that led to Vettel’s 41st victory – a number that matches the tally achieved by three-time champion Ayrton Senna – were extraordinary and easily the most exciting race of the season so far.

The win was made at the start, when Vettel got the jump on both Mercedes drivers, fought off Hamilton and took the lead into the first corner.

Behind him, team-mate Kimi Raikkonen passed Rosberg into Turn Two for second place as Hamilton dropped back to fourth.

But the drama on the opening lap was not over, as Hamilton made a mistake at the chicane midway around the track and ran wide, dropping a further six positions.

It was a most uncharacteristic mistake by Hamilton, whose season had until this event been almost flawless. But the errors were not over.

As the Ferraris dominated at the front, with Rosberg surprisingly unable to keep pace, Hamilton set about recovering lost ground.

He did so with some excellent overtaking moves on Williams’s Felipe Massa, Force India’s Sergio Perez and, after the first pit stops, Red Bull’s Ricciardo.

Hamilton then set about closing the gap to Rosberg and had reduced it to six seconds when a dramatic incident brought out the safety car on lap 43, with 26 laps to go.

Nico Hulkenberg’s Force India suffered a total front wing failure on the main straight, smashing into the barriers and leaving carbon-fibre debris all over the braking area for Turn One.

Many drivers behind the top four chose to take advantage of the safety car period to switch to the grippier soft tyre and, crucially, at the head of them was Ricciardo in fifth at the restart, with exactly 20 laps to go.

The Australian got a better exit from the final corner than Hamilton and as the world champion defended to the inside, Ricciardo went for the outside.

Hamilton locked up on the dirty inside line and slid into the side of the Red Bull, breaking his front wing and damaging Ricciardo’s bodywork.

After hanging on with the damaged part for a couple of laps, Hamilton bowed to the inevitable and pitted for a replacement.

He rejoined in 12th place, saying over the radio: “I’m so sorry, guys. I’m really sorry.”

His engineer Peter Bonnington told him to get his head down and chase some points, and Hamilton did so, passing the Saubers of Felipe Nasr and Marcus Ericsson, Jenson Button’s McLaren and Romain Grosjean’s Lotus to take sixth place and eight points that could be crucial in the title fight in the second half of the season.

Raikkonen lost second place when his engine suffered a hybrid system failure, dropping him down the field and eventually into retirement.

BBC Sport