Despondent Hamilton rubbishes performance despite boosting lead at

Lewis Hamilton said he had to calm himself down in the latter stages of the Hungarian Grand Prix in order to recover from an error-strewn race and finish sixth.

Prior to the race all 20 drivers, along with the Bianchi family, formed a circle and put their arms around one another as a minute’s silence was conducted in memory of Bianchi.

With Rosberg having capitalised on Raikkonen’s problems – which ultimately forced the Finn to retire – to go second in the chaotic restart, Hamilton was facing the prospect of surrendering his lead in the drivers’ standings unless he could force his way back into the top 10.

“Merci, Jules, cette victoire est pour toi (Thank you, Jules, this win is for you)”, Vettel said in French on his radio seconds after taking the checkered flag.

“It was a very disappointing day”, Rosberg said”.

“We’re always aware of our opponents, but naturally we are both fighting for the race win, so the focus [in Hungary], yes, was on Lewis”.

The Red Bull of Ricciardo held on for third, despite multiple collisions, while his 21-year-old team-mate Daniil Kvyat ended in second place, the best result for a Russian driver in F1.

The lineup to the start was tense enough as Williams Felipe Massa went over his yellow starting marker and the grid had to take one more warm up lap, making the race distance for the day 70 laps instead of the original 71.

“It was a really bad performance from me and I don’t know if it was a lack of concentration or what”.

That left the leaders tightly bunched again but Hamilton, by then up to fourth, collided with Ricciardo after the re-start and dropped down to 13th.

“It was a really bad performance from me, one of the worst in a long time”, Hamilton said.

Penalty points on a driver’s super licence do not have any direct effect unless they accumlate 12 points in a 12 months period, which may result in a one-race ban from driving.

Mercedes drivers were beaten off the grid for the second successive race on Sunday. The Virtual Safety auto came out, he was two corners before the pit, entered into the pit because we called him in and the only tyre available was the hard one. Ricciardo lost a wing and Rosberg had a tire puncture, dropping him down to 10th place.

What might have been Ferrari’s first one-two finish since Germany in 2010 unravelled after 40 of the 69 laps when Raikkonen reported a loss of power and then retired. I pushed and kept trying and never gave up right until the finish line but there were so many obstacles along the way.

“I felt great this morning and then just before the race I had a exhausted moment”.

Wolff, the motorsport boss at German manufacturer, admits he is anxious about the poor starts his team has experienced lately.

After getting past Ricciardo on lap 30, Hamilton was gaining time fast on Rosberg. Ricciardo was penalized and relegated to third place and Kyvat moved into second, with Vettel holding onto the lead.

Max Verstappen, the 17-year-old rookie, finished an incredible fourth with Fernando Alonso in fifth for McLaren, Romain Grosjean seventh, Jenson Button ninth and Marcus Ericsson completing the top 10.