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• Hamilton won the 86th race of his career.
• McLaren had a loss of performance in Hungary.
• Verstappen drove an impeccable race.
• For more motoring stories, go to www.Wheels24.co.za
Sunday (19 July) saw the 34th running of the Hungarian Grand Prix held at the Hungaroring. The race started in damp conditions after rainfall threatened to jeopardise proceedings. At the end of the race, Lewis Hamilton took the 86th win of his Formula 1 career and tied Michael Schumacher's record for eight wins at the circuit - the most in F1 history.
He was followed to the podium by Max Verstappen (Red Bull Racing) and Mercedes team mate, Valtteri Bottas.
Here are some of the winners and losers from the 2020 Hungarian GP.
Winners:
Lewis Hamilton
Hamilton drove a commanding race, building a gap of more than three seconds over Lance Stroll (Racing Point) by the end of the first lap. At the end of lap 66 of 71, Hamilton made a quick dive into the pits for fresh tyres as he set about securing the fastest lap of the race. By doing so, he scored an extra point on top of the 25 for the win.
Hamilton had eked out a gap of 25 seconds over Verstappen when he made the late lunge into the pits, but still won with more than eight seconds in hand.
Hamilton is five wins away from tying Schumacher's record of most wins in F1 (91) and is looking to tie him on seven world championship by season's end.
Max Verstappen
Verstappen very nearly did not make the start of the race. On his way to the starting grid, the driver crashed into a wall and severing his left front suspension and tyre. In what looked like an impossible task, his Red Bull team managed to fix his car with 20 seconds to spare!
Once the race got going, Verstappen went from seventh to third, and after the first round of pit stops, he occupied second place. In the closing stages of the race, he was chased by the fast-charging Mercedes of Bottas, but he kept a cool head to secure second place.
Racing Point
Racing Point had a very good race, securing fourth and seventh places at the end of the race. But for Stroll, it was a special day, finishing best of the rest behind the three front runners. At the end of the race, Racing Point tied with McLaren on 40-points and in fourth position in the constructors' championship.
Though the FIA is investigating the team for directly copying Mercedes' 2019 car, yesterday's results are a sure-win for the team.
Losers:
Ferrari
Ferrari had another horrid weekend, with one car in the top ten and both being lapped by Hamilton. It's almost as bad as the Styrian GP when both drivers exited the race because of a first-lap incident, but at least this time around they walked away with some points.
The updates the team brought to Hungary this past weekend seem to have done their part, but it still wasn't enough to decrease the performance gap to Mercedes, Red Bull, Racing Point, and McLaren.
Ferrari is unlikely to be competitive in 2020, so be sure to see the team featuring in this list more times than not.
McLaren
After two strong races, McLaren scored somewhat poorly in Hungary. Carlos Sainz's tenth-place finish gave the team a solitary point to go home with, while Lando Norris managed 13th. The team struggled to be competitive and finished more poorly than Ferrari.
With the British GP looming in a few weeks, McLaren would be looking for an upturn on their fortunes in their home race.
The British GP takes place from 31 July - 2 August.
