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Hungarian GP: Top 10 drivers quotes after the race

Lewis Hamilton today took his 48th career victory - his fifth at the Hungaroring and fifth of the 2016 season so far

Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes AMG F1 W07 Hybrid

Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes AMG F1 W07 Hybrid

XPB Images

Podium: winner Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes AMG F1 Team
Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes AMG F1 W07 Hybrid leads team mate Nico Rosberg, Mercedes AMG F1 W07 Hybrid
Podium: second place Nico Rosberg, Mercedes AMG F1 Team
Podium: third place Daniel Ricciardo, Red Bull Racing
Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari SF16-H
Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari on the grid
Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing on the grid
Kimi Raikkonen, Ferrari on the drivers parade
Fernando Alonso, McLaren MP4-31
Fernando Alonso, McLaren MP4-31
Carlos Sainz Jr., Scuderia Toro Rosso STR11
Valtteri Bottas, Williams FW38
Valtteri Bottas, Williams
Nico Hulkenberg, Sahara Force India F1 VJM09
ClaDriverChassisEngineTimeGap
1 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes Mercedes -  
"I don't know what the secret is here. Naturally, having a great team and everything coming together is key. But it's a track that I think really works well for an aggressive driver. Today was one of the hottest races I can remember here. Looking after the tyres in those conditions was really hard, so I'm glad I managed. Thank you to everyone in the team for all their hard work - and to all the fans I have here. I don't know why but, when I go to Budapest, I always seem to have a lot of support. I love it here so it makes for a great week. I didn't know how long the tyres were going to last, so trying to spend the money wisely in terms of tyre life and being able to push when I needed to push was a tricky balance to find. The race was going really well and I was just thinking "huh, no mistakes so far" when I managed to lock up and went off at T12! At that point I was like "hey, stay focused and get back on it!" which luckily I managed to do. I've not really thought about the standings much but it's definitely a good feeling to get the job done here - particularly as it's not been my strongest weekend. Not as strong as Silverstone, for example. But it's been an awesome few races and I've just got to keep that kind of form up for the rest of the season."
2 Nico Rosberg Mercedes Mercedes 1.977 1.977
"Really, I lost the win in the first corner when I dropped down two positions, so I'm disappointed as I wanted to win the race and was confident I had a strong possibility to do so. It wasn't the best start from me, so it was good to catch Daniel directly in T1 and get P2 back. But behind Lewis it was impossible to overtake on this track. I had great pace in the race, which is very positive - but unfortunately I wasn't able to make the most of it. It's great that my second home race is coming up so soon. I look forward to Hockenheim and will be pushing flat out to repeat the win from 2014."
3 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull TAG 27.539 27.539
“I’m really pleased with a podium today, I don’t think we could have got a win. We tried at the start; we had a good run off the line and at the apex the Mercs were in my blind spot, so I thought I was in the lead, but on the exit I was done by Lewis (Hamilton) and then Nico (Rosberg) got me round the outside of Turn Two. I think even if we had got the lead, their pace was good so they could have even over-cut us if they stayed out an extra lap. Third was the best we could do and Seb (Vettel) got really close in the last three laps; my tyres were getting towards the end, so coming over the line in third was good. Three podiums in a row here is great, it’s a good place for me. I feel really good. Fridays and Saturdays have been really good for us from the start of the season but the last few Sundays, for whatever reason, I haven’t been that satisfied with, so it was important to put it together from Friday to Sunday this weekend and I believe I did that. And now we’ve got another in seven days, so that’s another chance to be happy again!
4 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari Ferrari 28.213 28.213
“I was hoping for more today. I had a good start, maybe too good, because the run into Turn 1 is very long, so I had to get out of the tow a bit too early. It was bit of a shame because I was stuck in fifth position from then onwards. Then I knew everything would have to go through strategy and pitstops and so we overcut Verstappen. We were much stronger at the end of the race, maybe a couple of tenths, but unfortunately not quick enough to pass. If I had been able to, I would have done more, but I tried everything until the end, we were on a good strategy, we had more pace at the end but as I said this is one of the most difficult tracks for overtaking. With a better position yesterday, I think we could have finished P3 without any problem. We are not happy to finish fourth, because we have to win, we need to improve here and there, but I think the difference with Mercedes is not that big as it looks. They seem to be better managing their tires and that makes for a big gap over a number of laps.”
5 Max Verstappen Red Bull TAG 48.659 48.659
“The pace was there for a podium today. I felt like I had a good start and got close to Lewis into Turn One but then ran out of track and couldn’t brake late. After the first stop it was very frustrating to be behind a Ferrari at the start on the fresher tyres. It was a shame because at the beginning we were quick and I tried to create a gap to the Ferraris which lead to me having to back off as I got too close to the car in front. This meant when I pitted I got out behind them both and that was pretty much my race done. Being behind meant I destroyed my tyres trying to find a pass so the opportunities went away as the race went on. Regarding my battle with Kimi I was simply protecting my position. I drove hard and just made sure I didn’t lock up or make a mistake.”
6 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari Ferrari 49.044 49.044
“Today my car was really good and behaving well, we had the speed, but obviously this is not the easiest place to overtake. Unfortunately, after yesterday's qualifying, today we were not in a position that would allow us to get the result we deserved, and this is the most disappointing thing. Regarding the battle with Max, it's not for me to decide but I think that his maneuvers are questionable. The first time he started to move on the right and I went left, but he moved back there too, so I had to try and get out of it because I was hitting him hard on the rear and I lost my front wing, which didn't make it easier to attack again. Then later, every time I managed to make a move and I was committed to somewhere he decided to turn afterwards, and at that point I had nowhere to go. It's not my job to determine if he was correct or not, but I have seen people being penalized for much less. Today we did our maximum, I'm disappointed because I couldn't get past Verstappen and go catch the rest.”
7 Fernando Alonso McLaren Honda 1 lap 1 Lap
“Well, P7 has been my position all weekend! It’s a pity we couldn’t improve this afternoon but still I think we were best of the rest today. Mercedes, Red Bull and Ferrari are out of reach at the moment for everyone – they’re on another level – so, in the other mini-championship we’re racing in, we were quite competitive and I feel we delivered the maximum we could today. There wasn’t much action in the race though. For us, it was a little bit of a boring afternoon at some points – not the usual Hungaroring show – and the only retirement, unfortunately, was Jenson. I’m happy about how the weekend went and hopefully we can keep this up progress. We’ve been more or less competitive here and at Silverstone, on two very different circuits, so I’m looking forward to next weekend at Hockenheim.”
8 Carlos Sainz Jr. Toro Rosso Ferrari 1 lap 1 Lap
“A solid race from us today here in Budapest, I’m satisfied with the result. I’m pretty pleased with the race, even if Fernando Alonso got past us at the start. We were able to keep up with McLaren’s pace, something that during the practice sessions on Friday and Saturday didn’t look like we’d be able to do… It was just impossible to overtake him! If you would have told me I’d finish P8 after the bad start to the weekend that we had, I wouldn’t have believed it! I think we can be very happy and pleased with ourselves – the team did a great job to turn things around and I’d like to thank them for this! We can now go to Germany feeling confident.”
9 Valtteri Bottas Williams Mercedes 1 lap 1 Lap
"The start of the race was really good. It was very important to get ahead of the Force India. After that we pretty much executed our plan. The supersoft tyre was holding on a lot better than we thought it would, so we ran a bit longer in the first stint. After that our pace on the softs more or less matched our predictions. I think we got the maximum points today from the starting position that we had. I’m sure in Hockenheim we can get more points and try to build a bigger gap from Force India."
10 Nico Hulkenberg Force India Mercedes 1 lap 1 Lap
“I am not overly happy with my afternoon because it was a pretty difficult race for us. I found myself in the wrong place at turn one and lost a position, which made things a bit harder for me. The main problem in the race was after our first pit stop, when we fell behind the Toro Rosso of Kvyat and the Williams of Massa, and I just couldn’t get by. It’s so hard to overtake here and as soon as you get close to the car in front, you lose so much downforce and you destroy your tyres. That was the story of my race. I lost a place to Palmer at the second pit stop – that was my mistake actually and I hold my hand up and apologise to the team. During the pit stop I let the clutch slip and that made the car move, so the boys couldn’t fit the tyres properly and it cost us a little time. The next race in Germany should be fairly similar to this one: we have the same tyre compounds and the track has lots of medium-speed corners. We have shown today that even with a difficult race we can bring home points, but we need to do a better job in the coming races to pick up more points.”

 

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