Sebastian Vettel tastes victory at Hungarian F1 Grand Prix

Vettel, however, was all smiles as he chatted with Ferrari team principal Maurizio Arrivabene after the session.

During the second stint, with Mercedes suffering intermittent losses of data on the pit wall, Hamilton requested to be let past Bottas to attack the Ferraris as race leader Sebastian Vettel struggled with a vehicle hampered by a steering issue. For Red Bull Racing, sadly the respect between team-mates and team play was not the agenda on one of their drivers’ mind.

Sebastian Vettel won this race in 2015 and he comes into Sunday’s event as the points leader.

The MercedesAMG drivers swapped places 2x during the race. Front row for us is incredible! “First of all the start was quite average so I couldn’t really attack in Turn One”.

Hamilton was allowed to pass Bottas on the proviso he would hand back the final podium spot if he was unable to pass the Ferrari of Kimi Raikkonen, who finished second. “The initial bit of the start was OK but then I had bad upshift from first to second gear so I lost a bit of momentum and after it was tricky”.

At the end of the race, Lewis Hamiton said in an interview “I don’t know why they were so slow”, who had not yet learned of Vettel’s problems in the race.

Four-times champion Vettel now tops the drivers’ standings by 14 points from Hamilton after recovering from a wobble where he did not win in four races. Had he stayed in third place he would have been three points fewer in deficit of the German. It’s super tight between Ferrari, Red Bull and ourselves at the top of the leaderboard, so it’s looking like it will be an exciting weekend.

Daniel Ricciardo’s reaction to Max Verstappen ending his race on the opening lap was a side to the Australian we aren’t so used to seeing. “Not a great position for him to be in the middle”. The two Red Bull drivers were side by side with Ricciardo slightly ahead when Verstappen’s right wheel collided with the Ricciardo’s vehicle, effectively ending Ricciardo’s race.

“It was amateur to say the least”, Ricciardo added later.

Team principal Christian Horner said that Verstappen had apologized to the team and would do so privately to Ricciardo. Thanks to his overzealous move, Verstappen was handed a 10-second penalty.

Mercedes still hold the advantage in the constructors’ championship with 357 points to Ferrari’s 318.

Sebastian Vettel led a Ferrari 1-2 in the Hungarian Grand Prix taking the Chequered Flag ahead of Kimi Raikkonen.