Hungarian GP: Lewis Hamilton regrets missing chance to win but warns rivals Mercedes closing gap

Lewis Hamilton finished second again but believes he could have won the Hungarian Grand Prix had it not been for the qualifying DRS issue. After winning pole, George Russell is third.Hamilton and Russell confident Mercedes can challenge rivals after summer break

Lewis Hamilton believes he could have fought for victory at the Hungarian Grand Prix had it not been for the qualifying problems, but he still praises Mercedes after finishing second, saying he is closing the gap on his rivals. claims.

Hamilton started seventh on Sunday after a DRS issue ruined the final lap of qualifying, with teammate George Russell on pole.

However, the seven-time champion believes he had the pace to win for the first time this season, finishing second behind Max Verstappen, who made a spectacular comeback from 10th.

“If we had been able to record our lap yesterday, we would have been on the front row and maybe it would have been different,” Hamilton told Sky Sports F1.

“If DRS was OK, I would have been aiming for the win.”

Hamilton got off to a strong start, moving up two places on the first lap before being blisteringly quick on the soft tyres, overtaking Carlos Sainz and Russell in the closing stages.

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George Russell won’t be able to pull away from Lewis Hamilton, who is currently second in the Hungarian Grand Prix, for long.

This gave Hamilton his fifth consecutive podium finish, but he also finished second in a row.

“We found something, we got a little closer and we were able to compete with Ferrari,” said Hamilton. “Frankly, in a straight race, I might not be too far behind Max.

So I’m really excited for the second half of the season and proud of the team for not giving up.”

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Lewis Hamilton overtakes Carlos Sainz for third place.

He added: “I want to really thank my team for pushing through this tough year so far and never giving up.

“To be on the podium, to have two cars on the podium twice is pretty special for us and really unfortunate for George today.

“The other guys are still a little bit ahead, but we’re clearly closing the gap and we know we have this performance, so this is a great way to go into the break.

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Toto Wolff felt his tire choice “missed Friday’s victory”, but felt Lewis Hamilton’s drive in Hungary was “unbelievable” and finished second.

“Hopefully in the second half of the season we can bring even more and start fighting the players up front.”

Toto Wolff praised Hamilton’s drive as ‘unbelievable’ and Mercedes boss said ‘He was a little overshadowed. I was recording a faster time than the leader.”

“I think Lewis in Budapest is a success story and I think we lost the race because of him yesterday,” Wolff added.

Russell confident Mercedes is on the right track

Russell slipped from pole position to third on Sunday, Mercedes reacting to rivals’ stops, but he was happy with his race.

“I think we did everything right, for all good reasons,” Russell said. I was rubbing my hands together when I was riding.

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George Russell held off Ferrari on the first lap of the Hungarian Grand Prix as Alex Albon introduced the virtual safety car.

“Unfortunately, after about four laps, we had a little bit of a lead, but the rain stopped and the tires weren’t the best tires.

“We boxed very early in both stints, reacted to Max, reacted to Ferrari and then unfortunately the rain started again and we got away with Lewis on very old medium tyres. When we were about to do that, we made a lot of compromises: a new soft tire.

“That’s racing. You can’t get ahead of everything. We did everything right as a team.”

“But pole position, third place – there’s a lot to be proud of.”

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George Russell thinks Mercedes has a lot to be proud of, with another two podium finishes in Hungary.

However, Russell believes Verstappen and Red Bull, who hold an 80-point title lead, are “on track”.

“But there is no doubt that we are making progress,” he added. “At the start of the season we were almost a minute behind winning races, but in the last couple of races we were 10 seconds behind.

“If we can continue on that path, we will definitely be in the hunt.”