Lewis Hamilton Wins 6th Hungarian Formula 1 GP

Budapest: Reigning Formula One champion Lewis Hamilton of Britain (Mercedes) on Sunday won the Hungarian Grand Prix for the sixth time of his career, increasing his lead in the 2018 driver standings to 24 points ahead of his German rival Sebastian Vettel (Ferrari).

Four-time world champion Hamilton started from pole and finished with a commanding 17.123-second lead over Vettel, 20 seconds ahead of Kimi Raikkonen of Finland (Ferrari), earning his second straight win and his fifth this season after 12 of 21 races, reported Efe.

"What a beautiful day," Hamilton said following his 67th career victory here at the Hungaroring circuit. "A big thank you to everyone back at the factory."

Australia's Daniel Ricciardo (Red Bull) came fourth, ahead of Finland's Valtteri Bottas (Mercedes), while Spaniards Fernando Alonso (McLaren) and Carlos Sainz (Renault) were eighth and ninth on the timesheet respectively.

"It was a tough race," Vettel admitted. "P2 was not what we wanted this weekend, but I think it was the maximum today."

Vettel lost precious seconds due to a botched pit stop on Lap 40, and also touched his Mercedes rival Bottas while passing.

Toward the end of the race, Bottas had his own incident when he knocked Ricciardo off the track as the Red Bull driver was attempting to overtake. Race stewards ruled it an honest error.

Ricciardo was named Driver of the Day by Formula One for advancing to a fourth-place finish after starting from the 12th position.

Formula One's next race is to be the Belgian Grand Prix, scheduled for August 26.

(IANS)