Sebastian Vettel showed why he is the current leader in AutoSportsNation’s driver rankings as the four-time Formula One world champion made a deft move at the start of the 2015 Hungarian Grand Prix and passed the Mercedes power duo of Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg to lead the race from start to finish and claim his first-ever win at the Hungaroring. Surprisingly, neither current season points leader Hamilton nor his teammate Rosberg were able to even finish on the podium as the Red Bull tandem of Daniil Kvyat and Daniel Ricciardo claimed second and third for that team’s first podium finishes of the year.
The race began as oddly as it ended with Williams’ Felipe Massa lining up improperly – which forced a parade lap and then a restart where both Vettel and his Ferrari teammate, Kimi Raikkonen, jumped Hamilton and Rosberg at the start. While Rosberg was able to maintain his composure, Hamilton was not, and made a driving error that sent him into the gravel, dropping him even further behind – to 10th position – on the opening lap. That error all but sealed his fate for the race as he never caught up to a podium placing position.
Hamilton eventually caught up to fourth with the assistance of a Nico Hulkenberg crash that brought out the safety car and condensed the field, but after bashing into Ricciardo on the restart, he was penalized and was not a factor for the remainder of the race, ultimately finishing sixth. Meanwhile, a mechanical issue forced Raikkonen out of the race and an ill-timed flat tire late in the race cost Rosberg a podium position – opening the door for Kvyat and Ricciardo to claim the remaining podium positions – and sent him reeling to eighth.
With the results, Hamilton maintains his overall lead in the 2015 Formula One points standings with 202 points to Rosberg’s 181 points and Vettel still holding his iron grip on third with 160 points.
The 2015 Formula One season continues with the Belgian Grand Prix at Spa-Francorchamps at 5 a.m. [PDT] on NBCSN on August 23, 2015.
2015 Hungarian Grand Prix Results
Position Points Time Speed
1 Sebastian Vettel – Ferrari 25 1:46:09.985 170.816
2 Daniil Kvyat – Red Bull 18 +15.748 Sec 170.394
3 Daniel Ricciardo – Red Bull 15 +25.084 Sec 170.146
4 Max Verstappen – Toro Rosso 12 +44.251 Sec 169.637
5 Fernando Alonso – McLaren 10 +49.079 Sec 169.51
6 Lewis Hamilton – Mercedes 8 +52.025 Sec 169.432
7 Romain Grosjean – Lotus 6 +58.578 Sec 169.259
8 Nico Rosberg – Mercedes 4 +58.876 Sec 169.251
9 Jenson Button – McLaren 2 +1:07.028 Sec 169.037
10 Marcus Ericsson – Sauber 1 +1:09.130 Sec 168.982
11 Felipe Nasr – Sauber 0 +1:13.458 Sec 168.868
12 Felipe Massa – Williams 0 +1:14.278 Sec 168.847
13 Valtteri Bottas – Williams 0 +1:20.228 Sec 168.691
14 Pastor Maldonado – Lotus 0 +1:25.142 Sec 168.563
15 Roberto Merhi – Marussia 0 – 165.136
16 Will Stevens – Marussia 0 – 163.359
17 Carlos Sainz Jr. – Toro Rosso 0 – 167.27
18 Kimi Raikkonen – Ferrari 0 – 165.956
19 Sergio Perez – Force India 0 – 166.148
20 Nico Hulkenberg – Force India 0 – 173.807