2015 Hungarian GP: Vettel wins amid chaos, Mercedes leave empty-handed

Sebastian Vettel settled the 2015 Hungarian GP at the Hungaroring within the first few metres. Starting third, he swept past both Mercedes in his Ferrari and then led every lap but one. Behind him, Red Bull claimed a double podium: Daniil Kvyat finished second for his first ever podium, with Daniel Ricciardo third. After a race full of mistakes and bad luck, the Silver Arrows could only manage sixth and eighth.

The first start was aborted because Felipe Massa had not lined up his Williams correctly in his grid box. After an extra formation lap the race was shortened by one lap, and Massa was handed a five-second penalty. In the end, 69 laps were run.

At the second attempt both Mercedes got away poorly. Vettel went down the inside of polesitter Lewis Hamilton, while Kimi Räikkönen got past Nico Rosberg before Turn 2. That put the two Ferraris at the front. As he tried to fight back, Hamilton ran off the track at Turn 6 and through the gravel. After the opening lap he was down in tenth. It was tight further back too: Ricciardo made contact with Valtteri Bottas at the start and dropped back, whereas Nico Hülkenberg moved into the top five early on in his Force India.

Vettel and Räikkönen pulled away at the front. Hamilton worked his way forward through the midfield in the first phase of the race and was back up to fourth by half-distance (source 2). Vettel made his first stop on lap 21. Räikkönen stayed out one lap longer and so led on lap 22, making him the only driver other than Vettel to lead the race. After that Vettel was back in front, and at half-distance on lap 35 he was eight seconds clear of his team-mate (source 2).

In the midfield, Pastor Maldonado of Lotus F1 picked up no fewer than three penalties. One was for spinning Sergio Pérez round at Turn 1 on lap 19. The other two were for speeding in the pit lane and behind the Safety Car (source 2). His team-mate Romain Grosjean was penalised for an unsafe release from the pits (sources 3, 4).

Then Räikkönen ran into trouble with the MGU-K, the part of the hybrid system that recovers energy under braking. His Ferrari lost a significant amount of power (sources 2, 3).

At the start of lap 42 the front wing broke on Hülkenberg's Force India. He hit the tyre barrier on the approach to Turn 1 but was unhurt. The Virtual Safety Car came out first. Because there was so much debris on the track, Race Control then sent out the real Safety Car (sources 2, 3). The leader and his challengers used the neutralisation to make a pit stop (source 4).

The restart caused chaos. Hamilton collided with Ricciardo at Turn 1, and the stewards held him responsible and handed him a drive-through penalty. Kvyat overtook Hamilton off the track at the restart and was given a ten-second time penalty for it. Max Verstappen in the Toro Rosso ran into the back of Bottas at Turn 5, leaving Bottas with a puncture. Verstappen also had to drive through the pit lane for speeding behind the Safety Car (sources 2, 3). Rosberg and Ricciardo then got past Räikkönen, whose Ferrari by now had barely any power left (source 4).

After the restart Rosberg was second and putting Vettel under pressure. Ricciardo had fresher tyres and was closing in from behind. On lap 64 the Australian tried to go down the inside at Turn 1, and the two made contact. Rosberg picked up a puncture, had to pit and dropped back to eighth. Ricciardo took on a new front wing in the pits and rejoined in third. The stewards ruled the collision a racing incident (sources 2, 3). That handed second place to Kvyat, who had built a big enough gap over Ricciardo to stay second despite his time penalty. Ricciardo also set the fastest lap of the race.

Vettel brought the win home comfortably. Over the radio he dedicated it, in French, to Marussia driver Jules Bianchi, who had died a few days earlier from the injuries sustained in his crash at the 2014 Japanese GP. Before the start, the drivers had held a minute's silence in his memory (sources 4, 5).

Retirements:

• Nico Hülkenberg (Force India): crash after his front wing broke, having completed 41 laps.
• Sergio Pérez (Force India): suspension, after 53 laps.
• Kimi Räikkönen (Ferrari): power unit, after 55 laps. Ferrari tried in vain to restart the system during a long pit stop (source 2).
• Carlos Sainz (Toro Rosso): electrics, after 60 laps. Carlos Sainz had been losing power beforehand (source 2).

Winners of the day: Fernando Alonso gained ten places from 15th on the grid to finish fifth for McLaren. With Jenson Button in ninth, McLaren scored points with both cars for the first time since reuniting with Honda (source 4). Verstappen and Kvyat each made up five places. Verstappen finished fourth despite his drive-through penalty. Marcus Ericsson took a point for Sauber in tenth.

Losers: Räikkönen lost what had looked like a certain podium. For Mercedes it was a day to forget: Hamilton dropped from pole to sixth, Rosberg from second on the grid to eighth. According to source 4, it was the first time since the 2013 Brazilian GP that no works Mercedes had stood on the podium. Bottas was only 13th after his puncture, Massa 12th.

Hamilton remained at the top of the 2015 standings after this race. He had 202 points, with Rosberg 21 points behind on 181. Vettel, third on 160 points, was now just 42 points behind Hamilton. In the constructors' standings, Mercedes led comfortably on 383 points, well ahead of Ferrari on 236.

For the record books, it was Vettel's 41st Grand Prix win. That drew him level with Ayrton Senna in third place on the all-time list. It was also his first win in Hungary (sources 4, 5). For Ferrari it was the second win of the season and their first success at the Hungaroring since 2004 (source 4). With two cars on the podium, Red Bull celebrated their best result of the year.