Hungary: The F1 Grand Prix race seen from the pits

Red Bull

Daniel Ricciardo – Winner

Sebastian Vettel – 7th

Christian Horner, Team Principal: « A fantastic Grand Prix and Daniel’s performance today was truly sensational. With the wet start, he benefited from being a little further back and was able to come in for slicks during the first safety car intervention and then managed very well to make the strategy work with the softs until the final moments of the race. We knew we would have to make a final stop, which placed us behind Alonso and Hamilton who were trying to go to the end. But he closed the gap quite quickly and then, with fantastic overtaking maneuvers in the last five laps, secured a great victory, his second in his career and our second this season.

Sebastian’s afternoon was much more frustrating. Unfortunately, after a good start and some great battles, he got the same message as Daniel to pit after the Caterham crash, but he was too far into the last corner to come into the pits. He then had to stop under the safety car, which meant he lost a few places. He made progress but then spun and managed to avoid the pit wall, although he damaged his tires and had a problem at the new start. It was a matter of limiting the damage, trying to go the distance with the mediums, and he did a phenomenal job keeping Bottas behind him.

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Ferrari

Fernando Alonso – 2nd

Kimi Räikkönen – 6th

Marco Mattiacci, Team Principal: It was a great race and very pleasing to see our team come back after an extremely complicated Saturday. Kimi and Fernando just demonstrated what they are capable of, and the whole team was present. However, this result is just a step in our journey that began a few months ago.

The second place of Fernando is a confidence booster and a sign that the significant effort everyone is making to bring Ferrari back to the top is going in the right direction, however, we must be realistic. Here, the weather and the track leveled the performances and that is why we must not lull ourselves into illusions.

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Mercedes

Lewis Hamilton – 3rd

Nico Rosberg – 4th

Toto Wolff, Executive Director: « Today’s conditions made the race very difficult. The safety car interventions worked well for some and less for others. If you look at the top three cars before the safety car, they finished 4th, 7th, and 8th – and that’s really what cost Nico, as he was held up by the safety car and couldn’t return to the pits. Our result was obviously due to the brilliant driving by Lewis and Nico. Finishing 3rd and 4th on a circuit where overtaking is always very difficult is probably the best we could hope for today, given the challenges we faced.

Once again, we had reliability issues with Lewis’s car and we had difficult decisions to make during the race. Obviously, we need to meet, discuss, and analyze the moment when Lewis was instructed to let Nico pass—but as always, we will do this calmly in our own way, without confusion or misunderstanding. There were so many factors that influenced the decisions made, and we need to determine whether it was right or not. We are not satisfied with finishing 3rd and 4th today, so we will analyze everything and try to improve for the next race.

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Williams

Felipe Massa – 5th

Valtteri Bottas – 8th

Rob Smedley, Head of Performance: « We used to fight for podiums recently, so today was a bit different. The car’s pace wasn’t fantastic, which we can accept on a circuit as short and tight as this one. We did what we could, placed both our cars in the points, and increased the gap on McLaren and Force India in the championship. We are happy to be 4th in the constructors’ championship before the break, and we have some good races coming up, so we will come back hungry for podiums at Spa and Monza. »

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Toro Rosso

Jean-Eric Vergne – 9th

**Daniil Kvyat** – 14th

Franz Tost, Team Principal: « We showed a very good performance in qualifying, starting the race with JEV in 8th and Daniil in 10th. JEV had a fantastic race in the wet, and also as the track was drying, when he was 2nd behind Alonso and holding off Rosberg, Vettel, and Hamilton behind. It was clear that with a completely dry track, we wouldn’t be able to keep this place. But we scored points again at the end which is positive.

Daniil’s engine stalled at the start. We had never encountered this before. We will investigate the reason for this to prevent it from happening again. Given that Daniil had to start from the pit lane, he had a good race. Thanks to the team for doing a great job all weekend, and congratulations to Red Bull and Daniel Ricciardo for their fantastic victory.

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McLaren

Jenson Button – 10th

Kevin Magnussen – 12th

Eric Boullier, Racing Director: « Formula 1 put on a great show for its fans today, but unfortunately, it wasn’t a great afternoon for the team. We worked hard to make the most out of the tricky conditions at the start of the race – but it didn’t go our way. It’s frustrating, but at the same time, it’s racing, it happens often. We made the wrong choices, but in such a turbulent wet track race, sometimes the margin for error is very thin. We did our best today, but it just didn’t work out: it’s a shame for Jenson and Kevin because they both drove very well under these difficult circumstances. »

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Sauber

Adrian Sutil – 11th

Esteban Gutierrez – Abandonment

Monisha Kaltenborn, Team Principal: « It was a great performance by the whole team but unfortunately, it was not rewarded. Esteban drove very well, and it’s really frustrating that he encountered an issue with his energy recovery system, forcing him to retire. Adrian also drove very well, but unfortunately, he wasn’t able to secure the decisive position on the track. The entire team delivered an impeccable performance in very difficult conditions. »

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Lotus

Pastor Maldonado – 13th

Romain Grosjean – Retirement (accident)

Federico Gastaldi, Deputy Team Principal: « It was a race full of twists and turns for us and for many teams as well! Romain was unlucky to be caught out by the conditions as he had good potential for the race, but as we saw, many drivers went off track today. It was good for Pastor to see the checkered flag in such an action-packed Grand Prix. The team worked very well all weekend and now we have a week to apply all the lessons learned in these last two races before the well-deserved summer break. »

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Marussia

Jules Bianchi – 15th

Max Chilton – 16th

John Booth, Team Director: « A difficult start with the downpour that came just as we were getting ready to go to the grid, however, it was quite clear that intermediate tires would be required for the race. It took longer than expected for the track to dry, but with the arrival of the safety car, it was clear that we wanted to make two stops at that point.

Jules was doing well at the back of the pack when Maldonado hit him. Unfortunately, this effectively ended his ability to race in that position in the pack, as his car was significantly damaged, which cost him some downforce. Max had a less eventful race, performing well to avoid incidents […] and he got the best out of his car in difficult conditions to follow Jules home.

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Caterham

Kamui Kobayashi – Retirement

Marcus Ericsson – Retirement (accident)

Cedrik Staudohar, Renault Track Operations Manager: « Today’s weather presented an opportunity, but there are unnecessary risks with this type of condition, and unfortunately, Marcus [Ericsson] fell victim to it. Everything was going well for Kamui until a fuel system problem cut his race short. Now, we will recharge our batteries during this small summer break and come back stronger to fight again at Spa. »

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Sahara Force India

Nico Hülkenberg – Retirement (Collision)

Sergio Perez – Retirement (Accident)

Vijay Mallya, Team Principal: It’s really disappointing to leave this Grand Prix with nothing, especially with a race that seemed to be shaping up well for us. Checo [Sergio Perez] and Nico [Hülkenberg] were on course to finish in the points, but it wasn’t our day. Sometimes, that’s how it goes in motorsport. But a negative result should not distract us from our superb first half of the year, because this is the first race in /f1/actualite/18243-dimanche-ricciardo-glane-une-nouvelle-victoire-vettel-frustre-chez-red-bull.html where we haven’t scored points.

Despite the missed opportunity, we remain in fifth place in the Constructors’ Championship. It was also a fantastic Formula 1 race with wheel-to-wheel battles and a great show for the fans. We now have the summer break, a chance to regroup and come back stronger in Belgium, and be ready for the last eight races.

– Read the drivers’ statements