Hungarian Grand Prix: F1 championship leader Lewis Hamilton in total control and oozing confidence

Lewis Hamilton now leads the Formula One world championship by six points after victory at the Hungarian Grand Prix. Zsolt Czegledi / AP Photo

At a first glance Sunday’s Hungarian Grand Prix looked a close-fought affair.

Other than during the pit stop cycles, race winner Lewis Hamilton never had a lead of more than 4.5 seconds at the front.

Yet he controlled proceedings with confidence as the Briton won for a record fifth time at the Hungaroring to move atop of the drivers’ standings for the first time in 2016.

The race is unlikely to feature in many highlights reels of the season come the year’s end, given the lack of overtaking at the front despite the cars being in proximity, but this was a virtuoso drive by the triple world champion and amplifies the high level of confidence he is in right now.

The race was essentially defined by its opening seconds as Hamilton got the marginally better start from second place in his Mercedes-GP car, and went inside teammate and pole-sitter Nico Rosberg at Turn 1.

Rosberg had also been passed around the outside by the Red Bull Racing car of Daniel Ricciardo, but recovered well to retake that position around the outside at Turn 2.

From then on it was Hamilton v Rosberg. There have been times, most notably at the British Grand Prix two weeks ago and in Monaco in May, where Hamilton has looked a class apart from Rosberg and it is not hard to see why he has three world titles and the German has none.

Sunday’s was not one of those occasions, though, as the pair looked well matched, and throughout the afternoon there were periods when Rosberg looked faster, pulling to within less than a second of Hamilton.

See also:

• Gallery: Lewis Hamilton takes chequered flag and F1 championship lead at Hungarian Grand Prix

• Report: Lewis Hamilton leads Formula One championship after winning Hungarian GP

• Report card: Kimi Raikkonen shines for Ferrari at Hungaroring

Indeed at one stage, following the first round of pit stops, Hamilton was warned to raise his pace by his Mercedes engineer on the pit radio as Ricciardo in third closed in on the two Mercedes cars and moved to within five seconds of them.

But it turned out that Hamilton had it all under control and was merely pacing his way to victory.

Anytime Rosberg got too close for comfort Hamilton raised his pace, and then when Ricciardo pitted early for his second and final tyre change in a bid to leapfrog the Mercedes pair, he responded to emphasise just how much speed he had in reserve.

Fresh rubber, on a hot afternoon in Budapest, should have been worth up to a second-a-lap more, but Hamilton raised his speed by almost 0.7 seconds a lap, despite being on considerably older Pirellis, to ensure that he not only matched, but bettered Ricciardo’s lap times.

The Mercedes is the fastest car on the grid, but to be outpacing your nearest rivals on older tyres is an impressive achievement, but also demonstrates just how comfortable Hamilton was.

He was confident enough to hold only a small lead, knowing that at any stage he could push on if needed, ensuring his tyres remained fresh throughout each stint.

It may not have made for particularly invigorating viewing, but whether the public like it or not the days of drivers going flat out through a race are long gone.

With fragile cars and engines and gearboxes that need to do multiple race distances, the ability to go quick enough to win, while looking after your tyres, is a skill, and won that Hamilton is on top of.

The Briton alluded to that in the post-race news conference: “There was never a moment when I felt that I was going to lose it. This is a race where you don’t need a five- or 10-second gap. I need to do what I just need to do, even if we win by a tenth of a second.

“I was just managing that gap of about two seconds. When I needed some time, I put my engine where it needed to be and I kept the time.”

It was a mature and faultless drive, and ominous for Rosberg, who did not do much wrong, other than the start, as he now trails his teammate by six points, having led by 43 only six races ago.

The momentum is clearly with Hamilton, but Rosberg could take heart from a more competitive weekend against his teammate than he had at Silverstone two weeks ago.

He did his best to put a brave face on the setback as he turned his mind forward to next Sunday’s German Grand Prix at Hockenheim, a race he won the last time it was held at the circuit in 2014.

“It’s very close. It’s been a good season so far. Up to now, it’s been a good battle with Lewis and as I’ve always said, I’m not counting the points. It is still a long way to go and everything is possible,” said the German.

“I just want to focus on winning races. That’s what I wanted to do today. It did not work out unfortunately as I lost out in Turn 1, so now I move my focus on to Hockenheim. It’s my home race and I’m really looking forward to going and racing there and try to win.”

Ricciardo was a distant third, ahead of Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel, with the second Red Bull of Max Verstappen holding off the Ferrari of Kimi Raikkonen for fifth.

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