Hamilton explains key changes made to secure Hungarian GP win

Hamilton explains key changes made to secure Hungarian GP win

Mercedes started the Formula 1 Hungarian Grand Prix on the backfoot as both Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas suffered with on track performance on Friday when they were easily the third best team behind Ferrari and Red Bull Racing.

But it changed on Saturday and Sunday though as a wet qualifying played in their hands with Hamilton a pole and Bottas in the front-row, which the British driver converted into a win and Bottas was fifth after his strategy error.

Hamilton did come under pressure at point when Sebastian Vettel on an opposite strategy looked to have a good pace in the race. It would have given him a fighting chance but it was diminished after Hamilton elongated his stint and answered the call.

In addition, Bottas held up Vettel for long enough to help Hamilton pull away and take an easy win in the end. Hamilton explained how he got the better of Vettel in the race on Sunday. "The tyres converge," he started.

"If you draw a line of the tyre life you’ve got the ultrasoft which starts quickest and it drops off at a certain point. There’s a crossover between the soft and the ultrasoft and then there’s the medium which is way off, it’s a terrible tyre. I think somewhere around Lap 8, the soft tyres is going to be faster than the ultrasoft.

"I was taking it quite easy on my tyres at the beginning. I was able to get that gap to Valtteri. I think it was to something like eight seconds. By the time he had pitted, and Sebastian had got clean air, then I was able to react to the times that he was putting in.

"So we were matching times, which, as I said, the team and we definitely didn’t expect. Because, as I said, there’s usually that crossover – but I was able to match his times for a good period of time and that’s really what made the race."

The British also elaborated how Mercedes and he worked on Friday to make those set-up changes to help them get the car back in shape. It didn't work until FP3 but the rain helped their cause on Saturday.

Some luck and a better tyre did the trick on Sunday for him as he heads into the summer break with a 24 points advantage over Vettel. He did thank his teammate Bottas, because of whom the win was made possible.

"Finally sat down and I would like to give praise and thanks to Valtteri Bottas. Without his great drive, the team may not have won today, [it] would have been very tight at the end. But thanks to his fight, [his] help enabled us to come away with three more points as a team than Ferrari.

"Don’t forget, the priority for the team is to win the race and the team championship. So, today he played a key role. As for me, he ultimately helped me in being supportive as a teammate which I want to acknowledge. Huge respect between us," he wrote.

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