5 Talking points from the 2019 Hungarian Grand Prix

It was supposed to have been an evening dominated by Max Verstappen. But, it turned out to be 'Hammertime' instead. After the bitter disappointment of losing out at the Hockenheimring a week ago, Lewis Hamilton hit back at his critics and those who may have taken him lightly here at Hungaroring.

70 laps of spine-bending, nervy excitement of watching Grand Prix racing at its very best saluted the triumph of the magnificent. And boy, did Hamilton and Verstappen give us a contest to savor or not!

The last Grand Prix before the scheduled mid-season break saw Lewis Hamilton extend his points advantage over his rivals as he drove past the checkered flag to collect what turned out to be his eighth win of the season.

With 12 races done and 9 more to go, Lewis will most certainly be the man all would like to stop. That told, what were the 5 key talking points from the 2019 Hungarian Grand Prix?

Excellent performance by both McLarens

If there's been a team that has been consistently scoring points, actually emerging as the best of the rest in the tight midfield battle, then its McLaren. Delivering a strong qualifying on Saturday, both McLarens were placed on seventh and eighth, respectively, with Lando Norris stacking his car in front of teammate, Carlos Sainz Jr.

But on race day, the Spaniard., someone with an experience of 93 Grands Prix entries against his name put all that experience into place as he jumped his teammate and began the race confidently.

As the race progressed, Sainz's job majorly seemed holding onto his grid position, often coming closer toward the slower Ferrari of Charles Leclerc, although without any success, his teammate, however, showed resilience to keep a catching Kimi Raikkonen at bay.

In the end, Norris' P9 and Carlos' P5 were bright performances for a team that is giving the likes of the Haas, Alfas, Renaults a run for their money. Moreover, the Hungarian GP was the second occasion where Sainz matched his season-best fifth-place finish.

The mega Toro Rosso vs Toro Rosso contest

Daniil Kvyat and Alex Albon were driven to out-race one another at Hungary

In a Grand Prix utterly dominated by the likes of Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen, there was hardly any dearth of action from the midfielders. While the likes of Norris, Raikkonen, and Gasly, firmly positioned in sixth, seventh, and eighth for the better part of the contest, were caught up in a scrap to take P6, there was no curtailing the drama taking place at just outside the top ten pack on the grid.

Going wheel-to-wheel, as if buried in an all-out attack on one another, Toro Rosso's Daniil Kvyat and rookie driver Alex Albon, someone who's impressed already this season were embroiled in a scrap for twelfth.

From the onset of Lap 18 to the completion of Lap 19, we saw two very fine drivers engage in a high-quality display of irrepressible and high-speed racing with Kvyat finally jostling ahead of his fighting teammate.

But it wasn't that Kvyat hadn't made the move earlier. Right at the start of Lap 18, the 'Torpedo' lunged into the inside of Albon down at Turn 2 to take the lead, only to see the Thai-British driver recover boldly to emerge ahead. The battle continued for another lap before eventually Kvyat cramped Albon for space and jumped ahead.

Kimi Raikkonen delivering again for the Alfa

F1 Grand Prix of Hungary - where Raikkonen collected a respectable P7

In races where the best drivers of the grid, inarguably, driving faster machines become the toast of F1 and the talk of the town, not an awful lot is reserved for the midfielders. Take Kimi Raikkonen, the most experienced man on the grid, for example.

So far, Raikkonen has been the only man who's been giving the likes of Renault, Haas, and even McLaren, the fastest team in the tight midfield battle, some competition. And more often than not, Kimi has succeeded.

He entered the Hungaroring at the back of a stellar statistic, having graced the podium on 9 separate occasions. While a podium finish have surely have seemed unlikely, but what wasn't was the prospect of seeing Kimi finishing comfortably inside the top ten.

And that's exactly what the Iceman delivered for the Hinwill-based outfit as he collected a cool and reassuring seventh-place on the grid, managing to keep Valtteri Bottas at bay upon the completion of the 70 laps.

Raikkonen jumping a couple of places inside the opening lap to gain control of the eighth position having started from tenth was his best moment of the race.

Lukewarm drive from Gasly?

F1 Grand Prix of Hungary where Gasly finished P6

So far, with 12 races done, we've only gotten used to seeing one Red Bull dominate the charts. We saw that at the team's home racing event at Spielberg. We saw that at China earlier. And we saw that throughout the weekend at the iconic Hungaroring. And it's been Max Verstappen's season all along so far.

One hasn't really seen fireworks from Pierre Gasly's Red Bull. Though he finished with a respectable P6 at the just-concluded 2019 Hungarian Grand Prix, there wasn't an awful lot of thrill associated with arguably, the slower of the two Red Bulls.

Though Pierre Gasly's sixth-place finish, in the end, was a marked improvement over his fourteenth place on the grid, as seen at the Hockenheimring, it can be said, a finish higher up toward the top three or even four would've made his life fairly easier.

In a season where the young Frenchman has copped up some criticism, arguably due to his failure to match the imperious Max Verstappen, it remains to be seen if the driver can capture a podium, to justify his selection at the Christian Horner and Helmut Marko-driven outfit.

The Hamilton versus Verstappen contest

Adding yet another victory to his stellar tally, taking the overall count to 81, Lewis Hamilton changed the entire context and narrative of the 2019 Hungarian Grand Prix.

The famous Briton is now only 10 wins shy of matching the great Michael Schumacher. Not so keen to entertain talks of a possible win on Saturday, when contacted upon the completion of the high-octane qualifying run, Lewis kept it all mum and in control, arguably reserving his best for the race day.

And little did the likes of Martin Brundle get it wrong when they shared that Hamilton attacks like the great shark, waiting to pounce on his opponents. For this is exactly what the five-time world champion did, first up jumping Valtteri Bottas to gain the second place on the grid.

Later, as the battle between Verstappen, firmly in control of the race and Hamilton, wanting to emerge as the race-leader intensified, it was the time for 'Hammertime.' From the onset of Lap 66, with only 4 more to go, Verstappen's gap to a fast-catching Lewis Hamilton was desperately shrinking.

That was exactly when Hamilton notched up a bold move on the younger driver. Hamilton, chasing down the main straights, pulled out from behind and jumped out on the right-hand side of Max to gain the lead of a contest in the very dying moments.

But spare a thought for Verstappen, who became the 100th driver to take the pole position on Saturday.

Edited by Zaid Khan