Lewis Hamilton makes Red Bull claim after Max Verstappen 'spin and win'

Hungarian Grand Prix

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Hamilton makes Red Bull claim after Verstappen 'spin and win'

Hamilton finished second to Verstappen in Hungary

Sam Hall

Monday 1 August 2022 05:00

Lewis Hamilton has claimed Max Verstappen's Hungarian Grand Prix 'spin and win' tells you all you need to know about the strength of the Red Bull.

Verstappen secured an against-the-odds success in Hungary after a power unit problem in qualifying resulted in the Dutchman starting from 10th on the grid.

Red Bull's reigning champion carved his way through and took the net lead after Ferrari switched Charles Leclerc onto hard tyres, but within a lap dropped back after spinning at turn 13.

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Hamilton eventually finished second, 7.8secs behind his former title rival, with team-mate George Russell third following his pole heroics on Saturday.

Assessing Verstappen's latest success and the RB18 beneath him, Hamilton said: “If you look at Max’s race, he started 10th, spun, and still won.

“That says pretty much everything about his car.”

Mercedes 'working towards wins'

Hamilton is enduring his longest wait into a season for his first win, with his previous record drought being 10 races in 2009 and again in 2013.

The seven-time champion is the only driver to have claimed a win in each of his years racing in the sport.

Asked if he could keep this record alive, Hamilton added: "I hope so. It's what we are working towards.

"This weekend there was potential for a win. You saw George [Russell] on pole.

"If we had both been up there we could have worked a bit better together as a team, one of us would have been able to support the other strategy-wise.

"But if we're able to take this pace into the second half of the season, for sure, we can start to fight with these guys."