F1 | Gp Hungary, THE POINT by Gian Carlo Minardi “Ferrari must regret two mistakes”
Lewis Hamilton closed the tour-de-force of 4 grands prix in five weeks with another very important win that brings his advantage over his direct rival Sebastian Vettel to 24 points. Hamilton is the driver in the best shape at the wheel of the best car supported also by the most valid squire, Valtteri Bottas who was certainly the protagonist of a great race when he thrashed Vettel, even if he then ruined everything in the final laps when he touched the Ferrari driver and then also Ricciardo. Bottas clearly had problems with his tyres and now we will wait and see what the marshals decide.
Ferrari says goodbye to Budapest with second and third place and more points than expected, even if they must regret the two mistakes in the pit stops that cost Vettel and Raikonnen precious seconds that would surely have allowed them to come back onto the track in front of Mercedes’ Finn driver.
It was a great race by Ricciardo. On this occasion Red Bull did not live up to expectations and also suffered problems of reliability that forces Verstappen to retire. The Australian was very good as he managed in any case to finish at the foot of the podium after the order to Bottas gave him back the position.
It was a very good result also for Toro Rosso reaching sixth place with Gasly and for McLaren that finished in eighth place with Fernando Alonso. I am sorry to see Force India in difficulty as the team had achieved incredible results in the last two years.
Now we have to wait three weeks for the world championship to start once more at Spa-Francorchamps and Monza. However, this Mercedes is now scary, especially in view of two such very fast tracks.
Gian Carlo Minardi