A beaming and also surprising Daniel Ricciardo wins a race in Formula 1 for the second time, this time the Hungarian Grand Prix. Fernando Alonso was very satisfied with his second place, as he has already become a rare guest in the winner's stand. The third-placed Hamilton surprised many spectators with his performance.
by Bruno Fleckenstein
Nico Rosberg had clearly won qualifying and started from pole. Sebastian Vettel had finally made it onto the front row of the grid again with his second-place start and was full of confidence about the race. Lewis Hamilton started from the pit lane, because his car was suddenly on fire, which resulted in this penalty.
The race was turbulent from the start
The rain gave the teams and the drivers a hard time. And it was not clear which strategy was to be expected.
Nico Rosberg got away well from the start and quickly took the lead. Sebastian Vettel, meanwhile, lost a few places right away and had to fight to avoid losing even more places.
It seemed to be business as usual for Nico Rosberg when suddenly Marcus Ericsson lost control of his Caterham in the corner on lap 8 and collided with the track barrier. The parts swirled through the air and the safety car was sent into the race.
Since Rosberg, Vettel, Alonso and Bottas had already passed the pit entrance, they could not change tires until a lap later, while everyone else came in immediately. This completely shuffled up the standings. Still in the pit lane, there was a fight for the places behind the safety car, with Daniel Ricciardo leading the way and then taking the lead.
The wet track put the drivers under pressure. Romain Grosjean overestimated his tires during the safety car phase and retired. Nico Hülkenberg hit his own teammate Perez on lap 16 and had to retire. Pastor Maldonado touched Jules Bianchi on lap 18, forcing both to pit.
Although Hamilton also lost control of his Mercedes twice, as did Sebastian Vettel, who was lucky to escape a collision after spinning, the Briton was the best of all to work his way to the front.
After an accident by Sergio Perez, the safety car came out a second time on lap 22. At the restart on lap 27, Alonso led ahead of Vergne, Rosberg, Vettel and Hamilton.
Alonso's second pit stop paid off
On lap 38, Fernando Alonso made his second pit stop and switched to the soft tires. The situation after lap 45: Ricciardo led ahead of Massa (14.5 sec.), Alonso (15.9) Hamilton (18.4) Rosberg (20.1) and Bottas (31.8).
Hamilton didn't want to let Rosberg pass, although this would have benefited Rosberg because he had to change the tires again. Rosberg then complained to the team.
Nine laps later Ricciardo came in for his final pit stop, leaving Fernando Alonso in the lead and setting off from 4th to chase with fresh tires. Nico Rosberg made his final pit stop on lap 56 and dropped back to 7th.
Now the battle for the podium was on. Fernando Alonso was fighting at the front to keep Hamilton and Ricciardo behind him. But with his old tires, that wasn't quite possible. Ricciardo turned up the heat and overtook Lewis Hamilton in a sensational maneuver and laps later, with the help of DRS, he overtook Fernando Alonso on the start-finish straight, who managed to leave Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg, who was closing in on them, behind him until the end and thus stand on the podium again after a long time.
Ranking GP Hungary 2014
1 Daniel Ricciardo, Red Bull Racing
2 Fernando Alonso, Ferrari, +5.2 sec.
3 Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes, +5.8 sec.
4 Nico Rosberg, Mercedes, +6.3 sec.
5 Felipe Massa, Williams, +29.8 sec.
6 Kimi Raikkonen, Ferrari, +31.4 sec.
7 Sebastian Vettel, Red Bull Racing, +40.9 sec.
8 Valtteri Bottas, Williams, ,+41.3 sec.
9 Jean-Eric Vergne, Toro Rosso, +58.5 sec.
10 Jenson Button, McLaren, +67.2 sec.
11 Adrian Sutil, Sauber, +68.1 sec.
12 Kevin Magnussen, McLaren, +78.4 sec.
13 Pastor Maldonado, Lotus, +84.0 sec.
14 Daniil Kvyat, Toro Rosso, +1 lap
15 Jules Bianchi, Marussia, +1 lap
16 Max Chilton, Marussia, +1 lap
Out of service
Esteban Gutierrez, Sauber, lap 32
Kamui Kobayashi, Caterham, lap 24
Sergio Perez, Force India, lap 22
Nico Hülkenberg, Force India, lap 14
Romain Grosjean, Lotus, lap 10
Marcus Ericsson, Caterham, Lap 7
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