Lotus finally proved they are a force to be reckoned with when their cars are working but they had no answer for Lewis Hamilton's McLaren blitzing the Hungaroring to win from Pole.
Lotus finally proved they are a force to be reckoned with when their cars are working but they had no answer for Lewis Hamilton's McLaren blitzing the Hungaroring to win from Pole. Kimi Raikkonen got close to Hamilton after a scrap with his team-mate but was held off by the 2008 Champion who took his 2nd win of the season to close the gap on Alonso before the Summer break. Hamilton got away well at the start with Vettel having a nip at the Lotus of Grosjean but getting pushed out and overtaken by Jenson Button dropping the Red Bull to 4th. Grosjean proved to be a thorn in Hamilton's side as he closed the gap quite quickly whilst on the softs but once he got close he simply couldn't make the advantage count. Raikkonen wasn't having any of that, letting everyone pit and running long on his second set of soft tyres to get as much advantage as he could. He got that advantage, getting a good pit stop in and coming out alongside his team-mate, running wheel to wheel in turn one and almost ruining both their races but both came out unscathed with Grosjean behind Raikkonen and fuming. Vettel drove well, scrapping with Jenson Button for third for a long time and getting rather hot under the collar about it, believing he could run faster and telling the team that on the radio. He eventually got the pit stop he wanted and started to steam through the field, almost catching Grosjean to rob him of 3rd place but only just missing out. Championship Leader Alonso completed a 'good days work' race finishing 5th in front of Button's McLaren which was quick over the weekend. Alonso just seems to be able to drive any car, any condition, Jenson however has to have perfection and struggled with traffic after pit stops today dropping from 4th on the grid to finish 6th. Bruno Senna grabbed some great points for Williams with 7th, taking the reins from his team-mate as he finally feels his car is set up right for him. Webber jumped on a great start, getting himself up to 7th from 11th but eventually had to settle for 8th after a slight issue with the rear of his Red Bull. Felipe Massa was hoping to get a good finish after starting in 7th, to put an end to rumours of him being given the boot from Ferrari. His hopes are pretty much gone now as he scrapped to 9th place, not making a dent in the race at all and people being linked to his drive even before the race started. Rosberg grabbed the last World Championship point in his Mercedes with 10th place, a relatively good result considering their car drove like a dog all weekend. Force India came by in formation, with Hulkenberg grabbing 11th in front of Paul Di Resta in 12th. Maldonado will be left wondering why his team-mate has his usual finish in the Top Ten, looking poor and overly aggressive yet again as he shoved Paul Di Resta off track on his way to finish 13th. Sauber will undoubtedly feel a little off colour, not getting any driver anywhere near the points, Sergio Perez in 14th and Kobayashi classified 18th. Ricciardo and Vergne in the Toro Rosso must still be looking towards their team and wondering if they'll ever get a good car, seemingly being the only team stuck between a back-marker and mid-pack ending up 15th and 16th respectively. Kovalainen in the Caterham proved again that he's a class driver on the lookout for a good drive next season, getting his car in front of Kobayashi's Sauber and taking 17th. His team-mate grabbed 19th, Petrov still trying his best to chase down Kovalainen. The rest came in 2 by 2, the Marussia's of Pic and Glock in front of De La Rosa and Karthikeyan in their HRT's. It does need noting that Pic does seem to be out-performing the more experienced Glock race by race. Michael Schumacher had a few issues at the start of the race, having to be pushed to the Pit Lane to start after seemingly shutting down his car on the grid after the Race Director had a problem in the starting podium. He then got pulled in for a Pit Lane penalty after speeding in the pit lane when he got his car started, eventually he retired after a couple of pit stops and getting nowhere with a loss of telemetry back to the pit wall. So after it was said it would be a boring race as you can't really overtake, people were once again shocked by the 2012 season. An exciting race, but not too much changing at the front, gladly for Lewis Hamilton, who can hopefully head off to a relaxing summer break and come back raring to go!