The first three races of the 2020 F1 season took place consecutively over three weeks in July. The first two races were held in Austria, followed by the third race in Hungary, which has become Lewis Hamilton’s favorite venue. During the qualifying session on Saturday, the two Mercedes drivers secured the top two starting positions, while surprising third and fourth positions were taken by the two Racing Boy drivers with Mercedes engines. The fifth and sixth positions went to the two Ferrari drivers.
Just before the race, heavy rain caused a lot of changes in the teams’ strategies. Most of the drivers started the race with intermediate tires, except for the two Haas drivers. However, this strategy had to be quickly abandoned due to the changing weather conditions. The early tire change resulted in significant position changes for the drivers, except for Hamilton who maintained his lead.
Leading the race for most of the time, Hamilton not only showed his superior strength but also demonstrated better tire management compared to his rivals. With only four laps left, victory was within Hamilton’s reach, allowing him to make a pit stop and change to the red tires in order to secure the fastest lap of the race. The reigning champion made no mistakes and earned a full 26 points from the race at Hungaroring.
Hamilton secures his second consecutive victory and his eighth win in Hungary.
After a pit stop to switch from intermediate to dry tires, Aston Martin’s Max Verstappen clinched second place and successfully defended it against fierce competition from Mercedes’ Bottas. Surprisingly, it was Max Verstappen who won the “Driver of the Race” award, not Hamilton. The Red Bull Aston Martin driver had a dramatic incident on his way to the starting line. Starting in seventh place, Verstappen managed to finish in an impressive second place.
Mercedes’ other driver, Bottas, started the race in second place but had a poor start and quickly dropped back. Despite his strong efforts to recover, Bottas ultimately finished in third place. With 15 points, Bottas was surpassed by his teammate Hamilton in the championship standings. After three races, Hamilton now has a total of 63 points, Bottas is in second place with 58 points, and Verstappen climbed up to third place with 33 points.
Despite their efforts, the two Racing Boy drivers could only manage fourth and seventh places after starting the race in such promising positions. Sandwiched between them were Albon from Aston Martin Red Bull and Vettel from Ferrari. Vettel’s teammate, Charles Leclerc, had a disappointing race and finished in 11th place, failing to score any points.
With this comfortable victory, Hamilton has now matched Michael Schumacher’s record of eight wins in a single race. Both drivers have achieved this feat at different venues – Hamilton in Hungary and Schumacher in the French GP, with his victories in 1994, 1995, 1997, 1998, 2001, 2002, 2004, and 2006.
After the third race, the drivers will have a two-week break before the fourth race, which will take place in England on August 2nd.
Hoang Huy (Forum.autodaily.vn)
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