2018 F1 Round 12 Hungarian GP – Hamilton wins, Ferrari claims two podium places

The Hungarian Grand Prix on July 29, 2018 ran over 70 laps. Hamilton controlled the pace after starting from pole and took the chequered flag first in 1:37:16.427, adding another victory to his season and converting pole position into a win.

Ferrari put both cars on the podium, with Vettel second and Räikkönen third. Vettel fell behind during the pit-stop phase but recovered positions with his pace later in the race. Räikkönen delivered a steady run to third, giving Ferrari two of the top three places.

Ricciardo started twelfth and worked his way forward throughout the race to finish fourth. The Red Bull driver also set the fastest lap of 1:20.012, using his consistent long-run pace to recover from the midfield starting position left by wet qualifying.

Bottas helped protect Hamilton’s lead in the first half of the race, then made contact with Vettel and Ricciardo in the closing stages. Vettel moved into second after passing him, while Ricciardo continued and completed a late overtake. The stewards gave Bottas a ten-second penalty for the collision with Ricciardo.

Bottas retained fifth after the penalty, with an official gap of 60 seconds to the winner, compared with 50 seconds at the finish on track. Gasly took valuable points for Toro Rosso in sixth, followed by Magnussen, Alonso, Sainz and Grosjean in seventh through tenth.

Hartley finished eleventh, Hülkenberg twelfth and the two Force India drivers thirteenth and fourteenth. Ericsson was fifteenth, with the Williams cars sixteenth and seventeenth. Three cars failed to finish, with Leclerc retiring first, followed by Verstappen and then Vandoorne.

The race was sunny and hot throughout, putting strategy and tyre management to the test. Overtaking is difficult at the Hungaroring, making starting position and pit-stop windows particularly important. Hamilton held on to the lead in the dry race, while Ferrari’s overall team performance brought a double podium.

The final official F1 classification lists seventeen finishers and three unclassified retirements. Bottas was fifth after his ten-second penalty, with points awarded according to the post-penalty positions. The table below retains all twenty drivers’ lap information, race times or retirement status, and points.