Hungarian GP: Lewis Hamilton rues missed win chance but warns rivals that Mercedes are closing the gap

Lewis Hamilton takes second place again but believes he could have won Hungarian GP without his qualifying DRS issues; George Russell third after taking pole; Both Hamilton and Russell confident Mercedes can challenge rivals after summer break

Lewis Hamilton believes he could have fought for the Hungarian GP victory without his qualifying issues but still praised Mercedes after his on-merit second place and insists they’re closing the gap to their rivals.

Hamilton started only seventh on Sunday after a DRS issue ruined his final lap of qualifying, with team-mate George Russell going on to take pole.

But the seven-time champion still came back to finish second behind Max Verstappen – who also enjoyed a brilliant comeback from 10th – and he believes he had the pace to win for the first time this season.

“If we had got our lap yesterday we would have been on the front row, and it perhaps would have been a different result,” Hamilton told Sky Sports F1.

“If the DRS was OK we would have been in the run for the win.”

Hamilton made a strong start, up two places on the first lap, before biding his time and then unleashing furiously fast pace on the soft tyres, overtaking Carlos Sainz and Russell late on.

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George Russell can’t hold off Lewis Hamilton for very long who is now up to P2 at the Hungarian GP.

That made it consecutive second-place finishes for Hamilton, while he has five straight podiums – a clear sign of Mercedes’ progress after such an uncharacteristically slow start to the season.

“We have found something and we have been able to get a little bit closer and been able to compete with the Ferraris,” said Hamilton. “I honestly think in a straight out race we might not be that far behind Max.

“So I am really excited about the second half of the season and proud of my team for not giving up.”

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Lewis Hamilton is flying as he eases past Carlos Sainz and is now up to third!

He added: “I really want to acknowledge my team who have pushed and never given up in this tough year so far.

“To be on the podium, for both cars to be on the podium twice, it is pretty special for us and really unlucky for George today.

“The other guys still have a bit of an edge but we are clearly closing the gap and this is just an amazing way to go into the break knowing that we have this performance.

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Toto Wolff felt that we ‘lost the win on Friday’ with tyre selection but felt Lewis Hamilton’s drive was ‘unbelievable’ finishing in second in Hungary.

“Hopefully we can bring some more into the second part of the season and start fighting with the guys up front.”

Toto Wolff hailed Hamilton’s drive as “unbelievable” as the Mercedes boss said “he was a little bit in the shadows, nobody really looked at where he came from and then suddenly, he was putting in times quicker than the leaders.”

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

Russell confident Mercedes are on the right path

Russell slipped back from pole to third on Sunday – with Mercedes reacting to their rivals’ stops – but was still happy with his race.

“I think we did everything right for all the right reasons,” Russell said. “When I was sat on the gird and rain was on the way and I was on the soft and everyone was on the mediums, I was rubbing my hands together.

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George Russell holds off the Ferraris on the first lap of the Hungarian GP with Alex Albon bringing out the virtual safety car.

“Unfortunately, after about four laps, we’d built a nice little lead, the rain stopped and that tyre wasn’t the best tyre to be on.

“We boxed quite early on both stints, reacting to Max and reacting to the Ferrari’s, and then at the end unfortunately it compromised us substantially when the rain came back again and we were on the really old medium tyres trying to fend off Lewis on the new soft tyres.

“That’s racing, you can’t pre-empt every single thing. We did everything right as a team.

“Nevertheless, pole position, P3 – a lot to be proud about.”

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George Russell believes that there is a lot to be proud about after Mercedes secured another double podium in Hungary.

Russell, however, believes that Verstappen – who holds an 80-point title lead – and Red Bull “are cruising”.

“But, there’s no doubt we’re making progress,” he added. “We were almost a minute behind the race win at the start of the season and it’s been 10 seconds in the last couple of races.

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