Hamilton wins Hungarian Grand Prix

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Hamilton wins Hungarian Grand Prix

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Lewis Hamilton completed the Formula One race in 1 hour, 41 minutes, 5.503 seconds.

30 July,2012 07:33 am

Lewis Hamilton won the Hungarian Grand Prix on Sunday, prolonging McLarens dominance on the slow and winding Hungaroring circuit.Hamilton completed the Formula One race in 1 hour, 41 minutes, 5.503 seconds more than a second ahead of Lotus driver Kimi Raikkonen. Romain Grosjean, also of Lotus, was third. It was McLarens sixth win here in eight years.Rounding out the top 10 were defending champion Sebastian Vettel of Red Bull, overall leader Fernando Alonso of Ferrari, McLarens Jenson Button, Bruno Senna of Williams, Mark Webber of Red Bull, Ferraris Felipe Massa and Nico Rosberg of Mercedes.It was Hamiltons third win in Hungary and second of the season. His victory from pole position again demonstrated the advantage of starting first on a track that has few opportunities for passing.The British driver led for all but eight laps of the race briefly falling back after two tire changes despite strong challenges from the Lotus pair.Grosjean was often less than 2 seconds behind Hamilton until he was passed by Raikkonen as the Finn came out of the pit lane after his final tire change on lap 45.Raikkonen kept the pressure on Hamilton until the end.For Grosjean, who returned to F1 this season after seven races with Renault in 2009, it was the third podium finish of the year.Grosjean was diplomatic about Raikkonens maneuver at Turn 1, when the 2007 world champion practically pushed him off the track to take over second place.Alonso has 164 points, followed by Webber with 124 and Vettel with 122. Hamilton is fourth with 117, ahead of Raikkonen with 116.Alonso was able to accomplish his main goal other than victory to keep the Red Bulls firmly behind him. The Spaniard extended his lead over Webber by six points and lost only two points to Vettel.The race was cut to 69 laps from 70, after an extra positioning lap was added when Michael Schumacher switched off the engine on the starting grid, worried about the overheating of his Mercedes.It was a dreadful race for the seven-time world champion, who was given a drive-through penalty for speeding on pit lane and retired after 58 laps while in 18th place.