Hungaroring, Sunday July 29
“That was one of the toughest races I’ve ever driven – but I’ll savour it all the more for that”
LEWIS HAMILTON
MP4-27A-03
Started: 1st
Finished 1st
Fastest lap 1m25.831s (+1.695s, 10th)
Pitstops Two: laps 18 (3.96s) and 40 (2.76s) [Opt-Pri-Pri]
Points 117 (4th)
“Well, what can I say?! I’m over the moon! The team did a fantastic job! Absolutely brilliant!
“It was a really enjoyable race – but it wasn’t at all easy. In fact, I reckon that it was one of the toughest races I’ve ever driven – but, guess what, I’ll savour it all the more for that.
“I was under a lot of pressure throughout all 69 laps. First, Romain [Grosjean] and then Kimi [Raikkonen] were right behind me, all the way through, and I had to look after my tyres without letting my pace drop, which was pretty tricky at times.
“It isn’t a static situation when a race goes like that. The feel of the car is changing all the time. You get different messages from the tyres with every lap. But they lasted – I managed to make them last.
“It was a case of managing the gap behind me, over the whole lap, every lap. In particular, I had to make sure that, every lap, I always had a big enough gap at the last corner, so that I wouldn’t be overtaken in the DRS zone on the pitstraight. And I managed to do that every time.
“As I say, the team did an absolutely incredible job – and the support we’ve had here in Budapest, not only from the visiting British fans but also from the local Hungarian fans, has been phenomenal.
“And to be able to win a Grand Prix on the weekend that the Olympic Games started in the UK too, well, I feel like we’ve done our part to contribute to what I hope will be many more British successes over the Olympic Games period. Someone has just told me that we’ve scored Britain’s first gold medal of 2012. Well, it isn’t really that, is it? But it’s the first British victory of the Olympic Games period, which is pretty cool.
“Looking at the season as a whole, it’s clear that after the mid-season break we’ll have a lot of work to do. But, for now, let’s celebrate – all of us, family, friends and fans – and put on our Vodafone rocket-red tops, and enjoy the moment.
“Nobody celebrates like we do.”
JENSON BUTTON
MP4-27A-02
Started 4th
Finished 6th
Fastest lap 1m25.677s (+1.541s, 4th)
Pitstops Three: laps 15 (2.86s), 34 (2.60s) and 45 (3.96s) [Opt-Pri-Opt-Pri]
Points 76 (7th)
“First of all, I want to say a big ‘Well done!’ to Lewis and the entire Vodafone McLaren Mercedes team. Fantastic job, guys!
“For me, though, I guess today was quite a bit more frustrating than it was for Lewis. Having said that, I was really pleased to be able to get ahead of Seb [Vettel] on the opening lap, passing him on the outside of Turn Two, and to be able to hold a very solid third place at that point. I was on the leaders’ pace too. In fact, even after the first stop, I could still see the leaders – so we were obviously still pretty close.
“Then we decided to go for a three-stop strategy – but after my second and third stops I encountered traffic, unfortunately, which made things really difficult for me because the traffic I was stuck in was lapping quite a bit slower than I could have been lapping if I’d had a clear track.
“But there are lots of positives to take away from this weekend: our car is obviously quick, as I was able to show at Hockenheim and Lewis was able to confirm here, and in the second half of the season I know that everyone at Vodafone McLaren Mercedes will work as hard as possible to maintain and continue that upward performance development curve.
“Now, as we go into the mid-season break, I’m going to go away and relax. I’m really looking forward to it, in fact.”
For more information check out the Vodafone McLaren Mercedes website.
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