Lewis Hamilton was alerted to a tear in his suit after battling for another podium finish at the Hungarian Grand Prix on Sunday. The Briton fought bravely up to second place, and might even have had the chance to scrap with Max Verstappen for the top spot had the rain interrupted the final laps.
Most Mercedes bets were placed on George Russell after the former Williams star took his first pole position – and the team’s first – of the season on Saturday. Despite holding off the challenge of Charles Leclerc impressively during the early stages of the race, things eventually got away from Russell and the strategy favored his more experienced team-mate.
While Verstappen stole the show by battling from 10th on the grid to claim another win, it was also an excellent afternoon for Hamilton, who moved up from seventh to second after his last round of qualifying was derailed by a DRS problem. Late pace on soft tires saw him weave through the pack and he might even have challenged the Dutchman if the Grand Prix had lasted longer.
“Now I don’t know where the speed is coming from,” Hamilton told Sky Sports. “I was struggling at the start of the race but little by little I got more comfortable with the balance. I want to acknowledge my team for never giving up during this tough year.
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“For both cars to be on the podium twice is special for us. George was very unlucky today. The other guys still have the lead but we are closing the gap. Hopefully we can take more after the break and start to fight with they. in front of
“Being cooler seemed to work better for us, I don’t know why. I was hoping it would rain at the end so I could challenge Max, but we ran out of laps. Two second places in a row, I’m very happy. Thanks to the fans for the incredible support. [Over the summer break] I will train, focus, refocus and make sure we come back strong in the second half of the season.”
At the end of the interview, David Coulthard collected a tear in Hamilton’s suit on his elbow. The Briton, perplexed by the discovery, explained: “It’s probably just hitting the side of the cockpit. I’ve never seen that before, but my arm is fine.”
While Mercedes will no doubt be delighted with a second consecutive double podium, the afternoon once again belonged to Verstappen and Red Bull. A spirited fight from the 24-year-old saw him further extend his lead over Leclerc, who was 63 points ahead of the start of the race. The Ferrari star was once again hampered by questionable calls from his team, going from leading the race at one stage to finishing sixth.
“I was hoping I could get close to a podium,” Verstappen said. “Very complicated conditions but we had a great strategy. We did some good laps and in the end we won.”
In a mid-race spin that could have gone horribly wrong, he added: “I was struggling with the clutch and shifting, we had to change a few things to not burn the clutch. That cost me some performance and I catch With that corner, luckily I did a 360 so I only lost one spot.
“I was fighting with a lot of guys so it was really fun out there. Charles was fighting on the hard tires. It was a crazy race and I’m really happy to win it.”