F1 2019: Lewis Hamilton wins Hungary Grand Prix

The Hungaroring has delivered some cracking races in its illustrious history but few were as thrilling as this year’s edition, as Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen had a race-long ding-dong battle for the lead, with Mercedes playing a strategy masterstroke and Hamilton doing his bit by brilliantly hunting down the Red Bull driver to clinch a sensational victory.

Hamilton has been the class of the field in this era of F1, while Verstappen has emerged as the driver to take his mantel. As Red Bull have closed the gap to Mercedes this year, the chances of the duo fighting wheel-to-wheel have increased and in Hungary, we were treated to the kind of battle for the lead that we expect to see much more of in the future.

Verstappen led away from pole position, but Hamilton made things exciting bypassing Valtteri Bottas at Turn 2 before setting off in pursuit of the Dutchman. Red Bull looked to have nailed the strategy when they pitted Verstappen six laps before Hamilton and ended up with a six-second lead, with both drivers running the hard tyres. But then things got exciting.

The Briton chased down Verstappen, who was forced to stay out because had he reacted to the stop, he would have rejoined behind in second. That meant he had to make his hard tyres last – but it was too tall an order and with three laps to go, Hamilton made the pass to take the lead, going on to take his seventh Hungarian GP win.

Verstappen was forced to pit, having run out of tyres, and came back out in second. He promptly pumped in the fastest lap, to get the extra bonus point, and crossed the line 17.7s adrift with Sebastian Vettel passing Ferrari teammate Charles Leclerc late on for third, but he was a staggering 61.4s down on the race winner.

Carlos Sainz continued his sensational run of form with a brilliant fifth for McLaren, albeit it one lap down, ahead of Red Bull's Pierre Gasly and Alfa Romeo's Kimi Raikkonen. Bottas, who was forced to pit early on for a new nose after contact with Hamilton and Leclerc, recovered to eighth, with McLaren's Lando Norris and Toro Rosso's Alexander Albon completing the top 10.

F1 2018: Sebastian Vettel wins Bahrain Grand Prix

Sebastian Vettel hung on from Valtteri Bottas to take victory, Kimi Raikkonen hit his mechanic during a pit stop, Lewis Hamilton fought back and there was a miserable few seconds for Red Bull. Vettel controlled proceedings from the start, but the race opened up when Ferrari and Mercedes opted for differing strategies at their first pit stops. Ferrari chose the soft tyres, Mercedes the mediums.

While Mercedes could go to the end comfortably, it was more of a stretch for Vettel, allowing Bottas to close up and create a grandstand finish. Ultimately, Bottas ran out of laps and Vettel held on to secure his 49th victory in his 200th Grand Prix start. Hamilton crossed the line third, with Gasly finishing a sensational fourth to give Honda their best result since returning to F1 and give Toro Rosso only their 10th top-five finish. Magnussen took an impressive fifth for Haas, ahead of Hulkenberg while McLaren scored double points finish for the second successive race with Fernando Alonso and Stoffel Vandoorne seventh and eighth respectively.

Hamilton delivered a brilliant comeback drive from ninth on the grid to complete the podium, but there was heartbreak for Red Bull as Daniel Ricciardo and Max Verstappen retired for separate reasons within minutes of the race starting. Vettel led away from pole, with Bottas making use of starting on the clean side of the grid to beat Raikkonen to Turn 1 to take second.

Hamilton, who had started ninth after a five-place grid penalty, kept his nose clean at the start, but was passed by Alonso and then came under attack from Verstappen. Verstappen launched his Red Bull up the inside into Turn 1 and gave Hamilton the squeeze. But in running the Mercedes driver out of road, the duo made contact and Verstappen picked up a puncture.

Daniel Ricciardo wins Malaysia Grand Prix

Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo held off hard charging team mate Max Verstappen to win an incident filled 2016 Formula 1 Petronas Malaysia Grand Prix, after long time leader Lewis Hamilton retired following a fiery Mercedes engine failure. In the second Mercedes Nico Rosberg came through the pack after early drama to finish third and extend his championship lead over Hamilton to 23 points.

That was despite Rosberg picking up a 10-second time penalty for a mid-race clash with Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen, who finished fourth. Williams’ Valtteri Bottas took fifth ahead of the Force India’s of Sergio Perez and Nico Hulkenberg, split by McLaren’s Fernando Alonso, who came from the back row to take seventh. Team mate Jenson Button was ninth in his 300th Grand Prix, as fellow Briton Jolyon Palmer took his first F1 point with 10th for Renault.

Ricciardo finally got his payback for his Monaco loss earlier in the year, as he came through a brutal battle with Verstappen which became one for victory after Hamilton’s Mercedes had blown up when well ahead on the 41st lap. It was the fourth win of his F1 career. Bottas executed a fine one-stop strategy for Williams in a race in which his team mate Felipe Massa started from the pit lane and finished 13th after his car stalled at the start of the formation lap.

Carlos Sainz was 11th for Toro Rosso ahead of Marcus Ericsson’s Sauber, Massa, brake-troubled Daniil Kvyat in the second Toro Rosso, and the battling Manors of Pascal Wehrlein and Esteban Ocon, the latter having picked up not one, but two five-second time penalties for speeding in the pit lane. Romain Grosjean spun into the gravel and retirement on Lap 9 after a suspected brake failure on his Haas coming into the final turn, and team mate Esteban Gutierrez looked to have similar issues when the left-front wheel flew from the Mexican’s car at speed on lap 42. Renault’s Kevin Magnussen and Sauber’s Felipe Nasr were the other non-finishers.