Formula One champion Lewis Hamilton won the Hungarian Grand Prix for the eighth time to equal Michael Schumacher’s single-venue record and take the championship lead Sunday.
Hamilton’s latest victory from pole position was as comfortable as suggested by the nearly 9-second margin over runner-up Max Verstappen, who rebounded well from prerace drama.
The British driver’s 86th victory moved him within five of seven-time champion Schumacher’s record 91 victories in F1. Schumacher won the French GP eight times when it was held at Magny-Cours.
Hamilton, a six-time champion, first won in Hungary as a 2007 rookie, and his first success with Mercedes also came at the Hungaroring track in 2013, the year after replacing Schumacher on the Silver Arrows team.
Verstappen drove superbly to hold off Hamilton’s Mercedes teammate Valtteri Bottas, who finished less than a second behind in third to relinquish the championship lead after three races.
Red Bull just managed to get Verstappen’s car on the grid for the start. About 20 minutes earlier, he damaged the front wing after hitting a curb and sliding into the barriers on a warmup lap.
Team principal Christian Horner looked on anxiously as mechanics replaced it and repaired the suspension, working frantically to get his car ready. They did with just minutes left.
Lewis Hamilton took a record-extending 90th career pole Saturday to match Schumacher’s record for seven poles in the Hungarian Grand Prix on the 4.4-kilometer (2.7-mile) track nestled among rolling hills outside of Budapest.
He made a clean start, but Bottas made a poor one from second and was overtaken by Lance Stroll (starting third), the Ferraris of Sebastian Vettel and Charles Leclerc,and Verstappen from seventh.
In a demoralizing sign of the times for Ferrari, both cars were lapped by Hamilton.
Stroll placed fourth ahead of Red Bull’s Alexander Albon, with Vettel sixth and Leclerc out of the points in 11th.
