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Hungary analysis - Ricciardo, Alonso, Hamilton share the plaudits

28 Jul 2014

Daniel Ricciardo's inspired drive to victory for Red Bull stole the headlines in Hungary, but the two men he beat - Ferrari's Fernando Alonso and Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton - also shone in a sensational finish to a breathtaking Grand Prix.

For Alonso, an astounding 32-lap stint on the soft tyres yielded a second podium of 2014, and very nearly a first triumph. Hamilton, meanwhile, came close to an unprecedented charge from the pit lane to victory, and while powerless to halt Ricciardo, still gained points on his team mate, title rival and polesitter Nico Rosberg. We take a team-by-team look back at Sunday's formbook after a remarkable race in Budapest…

Red Bull

Daniel Ricciardo, P1

Sebastian Vettel, P7

Quick thinking under the first safety car helped Ricciardo to get into contention, and even though the second wasn't so beneficial he was in play from then on. He was forced to do some judicious juggling mid-race in order to reset things when he feared an imminent power loss, but all was well and after his final pit stop he was able to play catch up on fresh soft rubber, passing both Hamilton and then Alonso in the final four laps to grab his second career victory. He did all of that in great style, and thoroughly deserved the plaudits. Vettel, meanwhile, was also in the thick of the fight for the lead, until he spun exiting the final corner on the 32nd lap and dropped back. He was lucky to get away with that, and later elected to stay out to the finish rather than stop for fresh tyres. The gamble just paid off as he held Williams' Valtteri Bottas at bay for seventh.

Ferrari

Fernando Alonso, P2

Kimi Raikkonen, P6

Alonso drove brilliantly to keep his F14 T in contention right up until the penultimate lap, and never left an opening for Hamilton even though his soft tyres were 32 laps old by the end of the race. He had earlier survived an off-track moment at Turn 1 and kept himself in contention despite the unfortunate timing of the first safety car - an astounding drive which was a massive boost to Ferrari morale. With Raikkonen having a more convincing race than of late to take sixth from 16th on the grid, the Scuderia move back ahead of Williams and into third place in the constructors' championship.

Mercedes

Lewis Hamilton, P3

Nico Rosberg, P4

All things being equal, Mercedes should have walked the race - but things weren't equal. After opening up a lead of nine seconds, Rosberg lost out under the first safety car, got held up chasing after Ricciardo, Massa and Alonso by Vergne, and then to his frustration was also held up by his team mate when the latter declined team requests to let him through so that his three-stop strategy might work. He was phenomenally quick at the finish, closing a 20-second gap in 10 laps to finish right on the tail of Hamilton and Alonso's fight for second. Hamilton, meanwhile, survived a spin and a clash with the barriers at Turn 2 on the opening lap, having been caught out by how cold his brakes and tyres were following his pit-lane start. But when he did get going he used the safety cars well and was even in contention for what would have been an unprecedented charge from pit lane to victory, on an afternoon when many had doubted that a podium would be achievable - even in a Mercedes. The fact that he did scythe his way up the order, and his robust refusal to make life easier for his team mate, were two of the enthralling factors of the race.

Williams

Felipe Massa, P5

Valtteri Bottas, P8

Bottas was one of the four leading drivers to lose out under the first safety car, as timing and traffic dropped him from second to 11th and forced him to play catch-up thereafter. In the end a late tyre stop prevented him from doing better than eighth. Massa drove a tricky race well, and was second before the second safety car, before eventually coming home fifth. The team may have dropped behind Ferrari and into fourth in the constructors' championship, but they can still hold their heads high at the season's midpoint.

McLaren

Jenson Button, P10

Kevin Magnussen, P12

McLaren were undone by their early gamble to re-equip Button with more intermediate tyres at the first pit stop, with their prediction of more rain proving totally wrong. The Briton did at least lead a lap, but his tyres were soon finished and he was forced to pit for slicks and thereafter dropped away. Magnussen, who elected to stay out on his intermediates and therefore moved from the pit lane to fourth in the space of the opening 14 laps, also felt that a chance had been fumbled as he suffered a similar fate.

Toro Rosso

Jean-Eric Vergne, P9

Daniil Kvyat, P14

Vergne's occupancy of second place between laps 24 to 33 was a high point, especially as he was fending off Rosberg, Vettel and Hamilton with aplomb. Thereafter, however, he struggled with brake temperature problems and dropped back to ninth at the flag. Kvyat had a tough time after his engine stalled on the formation lap, forcing him to start from the pit lane and limiting him to 14th in the race.

Sauber

Adrian Sutil, P11

Esteban Gutierrez, Retired lap 33, ERS failure

For a while Sauber looked likely to score their first points of 2014, with Gutierrez having his best race of the year to run eighth from laps 24 to 29 - although he later dropped out with an ERS problem. Then Sutil started harassing Button for 10th, with the pair finishing less than a second apart at the flag.

Lotus

Pastor Maldonado, P13

Romain Grosjean, Retired lap 11, accident

Maldonado spun on one of his warm-up laps before the race, later collided with Bianchi, and was never in contention for the points. Grosjean, meanwhile, crashed at Turn 3 while running behind the safety car on lap 11. Not a happy day for Lotus.

Marussia

Jules Bianchi, P15

Max Chilton, P16

The two Marussia drivers battled throughout, with Bianchi leading Chilton by half a second at the flag. The Frenchman had to cope with a car whose balance was damaged in the collision with Maldonado.

Force India

Sergio Perez, Retired lap 22, accident

Nico Hulkenberg, Retired lap 15, accident

For the first time this season Force India failed to score points. Hulkenberg took off his own front wing and slid out of the race when he collided with Perez in the final corner, an incident for which he subsequently apologised. Eight laps later and Perez was also out, spinning exiting the final corner and trashing his car against the pit wall.

Caterham

Kamui Kobayashi, Retired lap 25, fuel system

Marcus Ericsson, Retired lap 8, accident

Caterham also had a terrible day, with Kobayashi retiring with fuel system gremlins and Ericsson crashing heavily exiting Turn 3 on the eighth lap, triggering the first safety-car intervention.