Hungarian GP: Ricciardo wins thrilling race

    Fernando Alonso finished second for Ferrari, with Hamilton getting on the podium after starting from the pitlane.

    Published On Jul 28, 2014 01:13:00 AM

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    Hungarian GP: Ricciardo wins thrilling race

    Daniel Ricciardo made two late overtaking moves on Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso to claim the second victory of his Formula 1 career in a dramatic Hungarian Grand Prix.

    Alonso looked set to end a 15-month victory drought for Ferrari, but ultimately found a mammoth 32-lap final stint on a set of soft Pirelli tyres too much and thus had to settle for second.

    Hamilton reduced the points gap to title rival Nico Rosberg by taking an unlikely podium finish after a pitlane start, just fending off his Mercedes team-mate over the final lap as he battled to the finish on a well-worn set of medium tyres.

    Hamilton survived a brush with the barrier after spinning at Turn 2 on the first lap, and also courted intra-team controversy by holding up team-mate Rosberg during his final stint despite radio requests to let him through.

    Rosberg dropped to seventh after his third and final stop with 14 laps to go, but charged back to fourth to minimise the damage inflicted by two-stopper Hamilton to his championship lead to just three points.

    Poleman Rosberg had dominated the wet early stages, leading Valtteri Bottas, Sebastian Vettel and the fast-starting Ferrari of Alonso, but this quartet had to wait an extra lap before pitting for dry tyres when Marcus Ericsson crashed heavily exiting Turn 3 on lap nine, bringing out the safety car.

    This dropped them into the pack behind Ricciardo's Red Bull and the McLarens of Jenson Button and Kevin Magnussen, and not far ahead of Hamilton, who had made rapid progress through the midfield.

    McLaren gambled on more rain, so fitted Button with new intermediate tyres and left Magnussen out on his original set. This gambled failed and the McLarens were forced to pit for dry tyres in racing conditions.

    A huge crash for Sergio Perez (who had earlier collided with Force India team-mate Nico Hulkenberg) exiting the final corner on lap 23 brought the safety car back out, and Ricciardo and the Williamses of Bottas and Felipe Massa dived for the pits.

    This left Alonso in the lead, but the Spaniard's gamble on a two-stop strategy failed as Ricciardo charged back to the head of the field over the final few laps.

    Massa ran as high as second, but switched to a three-stop strategy and made it home fifth, ahead of Kimi Raikkonen, who scored his best result since returning to Ferrari this season by rising from 16th on the grid to sixth.

    Vettel ran in the top order early on, but spoiled his race with a frightening 360-degree spin after catching the wet kerb exiting the final corner on lap 32.

    The reigning world champion ultimately brought his Red Bull home seventh, ahead of Bottas (who lost out badly in the pits) and the Toro Rosso of Jean-Eric Vergne (who also ran at the front early on).

    Button recovered from McLaren's early strategic blunder to claim the final point for 10th.

    Results - 70 laps:
    
    Pos  Driver             Team/Car                     Time/Gap
     1.  Daniel Ricciardo   Red Bull-Renault         1h53m05.058s
     2.  Fernando Alonso    Ferrari                       +5.225s
     3.  Lewis Hamilton     Mercedes                      +5.857s
     4.  Nico Rosberg       Mercedes                      +6.361s
     5.  Felipe Massa       Williams-Mercedes            +29.841s
     6.  Kimi Raikkonen     Ferrari                      +31.491s
     7.  Sebastian Vettel   Red Bull-Renault             +40.964s
     8.  Valtteri Bottas    Williams-Mercedes            +41.344s
     9.  Jean-Eric Vergne   Toro Rosso-Renault           +58.527s
    10.  Jenson Button      McLaren-Mercedes           +1m07.280s
    11.  Adrian Sutil       Sauber-Ferrari             +1m08.169s
    12.  Kevin Magnussen    McLaren-Mercedes           +1m18.465s
    13.  Pastor Maldonado   Lotus-Renault              +1m24.024s
    14.  Daniil Kvyat       Toro Rosso-Renault             -1 lap
    15.  Jules Bianchi      Marussia-Ferrari               -1 lap
    16.  Max Chilton        Marussia-Ferrari               -1 lap
                                                                 
    Retirements:                                          
                                                                 
         Esteban Gutierrez  Sauber-Ferrari                33 laps
         Kamui Kobayashi    Caterham-Renault              25 laps
         Sergio Perez       Force India-Mercedes          23 laps
         Nico Hulkenberg    Force India-Mercedes          15 laps
         Romain Grosjean    Lotus-Renault                 11 laps
         Marcus Ericsson    Caterham-Renault               8 laps
    
    Drivers' championship:
     1.  Nico Rosberg       202
     2.  Lewis Hamilton     191
     3.  Daniel Ricciardo   131
     4.  Fernando Alonso    115
     5.  Valtteri Bottas    95
     6.  Sebastian Vettel   88
     7.  Nico Hulkenberg    69
     8.  Jenson Button      60
     9.  Felipe Massa       40
    10.  Kevin Magnussen    37
    11.  Sergio Perez       29
    12.  Kimi Raikkonen     27
    13.  Jean-Eric Vergne   11
    14.  Romain Grosjean    8
    15.  Daniil Kvyat       6
    16.  Jules Bianchi      2
    17.  Adrian Sutil       0
    18.  Marcus Ericsson    0
    19.  Pastor Maldonado   0
    20.  Esteban Gutierrez  0
    21.  Max Chilton        0
    22.  Kamui Kobayashi    0
    
    Constructors' championship:
     1.  Mercedes              393
     2.  Red Bull-Renault      219
     3.  Ferrari               142
     4.  Williams-Mercedes     135
     5.  Force India-Mercedes  98
     6.  McLaren-Mercedes      97
     7.  Toro Rosso-Renault    17
     8.  Lotus-Renault         8
     9.  Marussia-Ferrari      2
    10.  Sauber-Ferrari        0
    11.  Caterham-Renault      0
    

     

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