Hungary: Flashback 2018 and Winner Predictions
Hungary is a Grand Prix with two sides, which can offer very competitive races if the weather conditions intervene or a boring procession due to the nature of the track. Before the first free practice sessions, let's look back at the 2018 edition of the race and take a look at the editorial team's predictions.
2018 in brief: A few drops during qualifying and Lewis Hamilton achieved a spectacular comeback.
Last season, the Mercedes were dominated during the free practice sessions on a dry and high-temperature Hungaroring track.
However, the rain made an appearance during the qualifying phases and this was beneficial for the Germans, who took advantage of their edge to monopolize the front row. Lewis Hamilton took the opportunity to extend his pole position record to 77 by beating Valtteri Bottas by 0.260 seconds.
Sebastian Vettel, who seemed untouchable on slick tires, managed to distance his rivals on intermediates at the beginning of Q2 but proved less sprightly under the heavy rain. He had to settle for 4th place, more than half a second behind Hamilton and also outpaced by his teammate Kimi Räikkönen.
From the start of the race, Vettel gets the better of Räikkönen and finds himself in second place when Bottas makes an early pit stop on the fifteenth lap.
Hamilton leaves the lead of the race to Vettel when he makes his pit stop. The Ferrari driver, stuck in traffic, fails to build a sufficient lead. He pits on the 39th lap but the mechanic with the pneumatic gun for the front left wheel takes too long, and Vettel comes out behind Bottas.
As Hamilton heads toward the 67th victory of his career and his fifth success of the season, Vettel manages to overtake Bottas with five laps remaining, as the Mercedes tires are in agony. The two cars rub against each other, and the Mercedes loses a piece of the front wing. Bottas, then overtaken by Räikkönen and subsequently by Daniel Ricciardo who came back from twelfth place, finishes fifth.
Leading from the first corner, Lewis Hamilton secured a timely victory before the summer break, without ever being challenged.
The Editorial Team’s Prediction:
As with every Grand Prix, the writers at Motors Inside have racked their brains to try to predict the winner of the race. After much deliberation, Lewis Hamilton stands out as the favorite for the victory, even though quite a few of us can see Max Verstappen clinching a second consecutive win.
