surprise win in a chaotic, dramatic
and thrilling Hungarian Grand Prix as
Lewis Hamilton finished sixth.
Hamilton had a mighty let-off after an
error-strewn drive because title rival
and Mercedes team-mate Nico
Rosberg finished eighth after a late
puncture.
The result means Hamilton, in the
most unlikely circumstances, extends
his lead over Rosberg to 21 points.
Red Bull's Daniil Kvyat took his first
career podium in second.
Vettel's victory - his second of the
season - came as a huge surprise, and
the German dedicated it to French
driver Jules Bianchi, who died last
Friday and whose funeral Vettel was
one of many active F1 drivers to
attend on Tuesday.
A minute's silence was held for the
former Ferrari reserve driver on the
grid before the race and his family
attended the event.
Vettel said in French over the radio on
his slowing down lap: "Merci, Jules.
Cette victoire est pour toi." (Thank
you, Jules. This victory is for you).
He added in English: "You will always
be in our hearts. We know sooner or
later you would have been in this
team."
There was a further surprise behind
Vettel as Russian Kvyat took second
place despite being one of several
drivers to suffer penalties as a result
of driving transgressions.
He was handed a 10-second penalty
for taking an advantage by going over
track limits but held on ahead of
team-mate Daniel Ricciardo.
Ricciardo was involved in the incident
that dropped Rosberg from second
with four laps to go.
The Australian dived for the inside at
Turn One, ran wide and Rosberg's
trajectory on the inside of the corner
took his left rear tyre into contact
with Ricciardo's front wing,
puncturing it.
Ricciardo had to pit for a new front
wing but managed to take the final
podium position.
Behind him, 17-year-old Max
Verstappen took the best result of his
short career in fourth, ahead of
Fernando Alonso in fifth, by far the
strongest finish of McLaren-Honda's
dismal season so far.
Up front, the events that led to
Vettel's 41st victory - a number that
matches the tally achieved by three-
time champion Ayrton Senna - were
extraordinary and easily the most
exciting race of the season so far.
The win was made at the start, when
Vettel got the jump on both Mercedes
drivers, fought off Hamilton and took
the lead into the first corner.
Behind him, team-mate Kimi
Raikkonen passed Rosberg into Turn
Two for second place as Hamilton
dropped back to fourth.
But the drama on the opening lap was
not over, as Hamilton made a mistake
at the chicane midway around the
track and ran wide, dropping a
further six positions.
It was a most uncharacteristic
mistake by Hamilton, whose season
had until this event been almost
flawless. But the errors were not over.
As the Ferraris dominated at the front,
with Rosberg surprisingly unable to
keep pace, Hamilton set about
recovering lost ground.
He did so with some excellent
overtaking moves on Williams's Felipe
Massa, Force India's Sergio Perez and,
after the first pit stops, Red Bull's
Ricciardo.
Hamilton then set about closing the
gap to Rosberg and had reduced it to
six seconds when a dramatic incident
brought out the safety car on lap 43,
with 26 laps to go.
Nico Hulkenberg's Force India
suffered a total front wing failure on
the main straight, smashing into the
barriers and leaving carbon-fibre
debris all over the braking area for
Turn One.
Many drivers behind the top four
chose to take advantage of the safety
car period to switch to the grippier
soft tyre and, crucially, at the head of
them was Ricciardo in fifth at the
restart, with exactly 20 laps to go.
The Australian got a better exit from
the final corner than Hamilton and as
the world champion defended to the
inside, Ricciardo went for the outside.
Hamilton locked up on the dirty inside
line and slid into the side of the Red
Bull, breaking his front wing and
damaging Ricciardo's bodywork.
After hanging on with the damaged
part for a couple of laps, Hamilton
bowed to the inevitable and pitted for
a replacement.
He rejoined in 12th place, saying over
the radio: "I'm so sorry, guys. I'm
really sorry."
His engineer Peter Bonnington told
him to get his head down and chase
some points, and Hamilton did so,
passing the Saubers of Felipe Nasr
and Marcus Ericsson, Jenson Button's
McLaren and Romain Grosjean's Lotus
to take sixth place and eight points
that could be crucial in the title fight
in the second half of the season.
Raikkonen lost second place when his
engine suffered a hybrid system
failure, dropping him down the field
and eventually into retirement.
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