Sebastian Vettel won the Hungarian Grand Prix from team mate Kimi Raikkonen and Valtteri Bottas despite nursing a steering problem throughout the race.
The German led from start to finish, despite a hustling drive from team mate Raikkonen, under pressure himself from Lewis Hamilton in the second half of the race.
Hamilton lost track position after a poor start left him behind both Red Bull drivers at the start. He gained a position back when the Verstappen drove into the side of his team mate in turn 2, causing substantial damage on Daniel Ricciardo’s car which stopped on the exit of turn 3.
The accident brought out the Safety Car, the Red Bull leaking fluid over the circuit. Verstappen would later receive a ten second penalty, the stewards blaming the Dutchman for the accident.
The big movers at the start were Carlos Sainz who had made his way up to sixth, and ahead of Fernando Alonso, with Sergio Perez improving to eighth.
With the safety car coming in at the end of Lap 5, Hamilton got a good run on Verstappen into turn 1, but couldn’t make it work. He tried again at turn 2, but that didn’t work either.
In the battle of the two Spaniards, Alonso was trying to make the same move stick on Sainz, but the pair banged wheels on the exit of turn 1. Settling in to their race pace, there were few battles through the field after the restart, Vettel leading from Raikkonen, Bottas, Verstappen and Hamilton.
While the Ferrari’s were pulling away from the field, Mercedes were grappling with their own IT issues where the team were unable to hear Hamilton’s radio messages.
Nico Hulkenberg, who had earlier collided with Romain Grosjean, was allowed to pass his Renault team mate into turn 1 on Lap 19, an orchestrated move by the team to see him just outside the top 10. He would later retire on the penultimate lap.
Grosjean pitted on Lap 21, the team believing he had a slow puncture and took a set of the soft compound tyres, exiting behind the Saubers who had already pitted. The Haas driver stopped shortly afterwards with a loose wheel, not even making it back to the pit lane.
A problem appeared for Vettel, his steering pulling to the left on the straight, noticeable from the onboard camera on the main straight.
The pitstops started on Lap 30, firstly with Wehrlein after only 25 laps on the soft tyre, one of a few who pitted under the early safety car. He was quickly followed by Bottas, the first of the leaders to take to the pitlane. It was a slow 3.5 second stop, but with Hamilton stopping a lap later he was able to retain his position.
Ferrari pitted Vettel from the lead on Lap 33, coming out on the soft tyre clearly ahead of the two Mercedes drivers. After complaining about the driving of Di Resta over the radio, Raikkonen pitted a lap later than his team mate, coming out only just behind the German.
Having stayed out longer than the leaders, Sainz and Alonso pitted on the same lap, although the order didn’t change. Battling on the out lap, a mistake by Sainz in turn 2 meant Alonso thought about going down the inside at turn 4, before making a mistake at Turn 6. He made the move stick around the outside of turn 2 a lap later.
After the pit stop, Hamilton closed in on Bottas substantially by Lap 38, the pair only three seconds behind Raikkonen, who was also closing in on Vettel. The gap reduced quickly, with Mercedes confirming the German had handling problems with the car.
Raikkonen suggested to the team they should let his pass Vettel, under pressure from the ever closer Mercedes pair. Verstappen pitted from the overall lead for his only pit stop on Lap 43, also serving his 10 second penalty. It brought him out ahead of Hulkenberg who had yet to pit in fifth.
Hamilton got his radio back on Lap 44, and made it clear that he wanted to get ahead of Bottas. He got his wish a lap later, with Bottas slowing down in braking zone to turn 1 to let him ahead.
Verstappen and Hamilton were both a second a lap fastest than the leaders in clear air, with Vettel warned to avoid using the kerbs, still suffering from the steering problem on the Ferrari.
Vettel was asked to push, which matched the pace of Hamilton. He was now just on the back of Raikkonen on Lap 50. Verstappen was also closing in quickly on Bottas in fifth, on a newer set of the soft compound tyres.
Raikkonen started to attack his team mate on Lap 53, with Hamilton falling away from the back of the Ferrari drivers. In traffic, Hamilton caught back up again on Lap 55, given five more laps by the team to overtake Raikkonen, with the team looking to swap the positions back again.
Vettel retained that lead from Raikkonen to take the win, and a 11 point lead going into the summer break. With Hamilton not able to pass Raikkonen, he left it until the very last corner to let Bottas ahead for third, himself under pressure from Verstappen.
Outside of the top three teams, the best of the rest was Fernando Alonso, also setting the fastest lap of the race on the last lap, from Sainz, Perez, Ocon and Vandoorne rounding out the top ten.
Super-sub Paul Di Resta spent most of the race at the back of the field before retiring with a handful of laps remaining.
