By Brian Bielanski
(RacingWire) – Jenson Button (McLaren Mercedes) overcame rapidly changing weather conditions to win the Hungarian Grand Prix. The win came in Button's 200th Grand Prix.
A very damp but drying track forced almost all teams to start the race on intermediate tires.
Pole sitter Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull) made a mistake forcing him to go wide on lap five. This allowed Lewis Hamilton (McLaren Mercedes) to move by and Hamilton began to pull away.
On lap 12 Jenson Button was one of the first drivers to come in to change from intermediate rains to super soft dry tires. Hamilton quickly followed to change to dry tires himself.
Nick Heidfeld's Renault went up in a ball of fire on Lap 24 as he exited the pits. Heidfeld exited the car without injury but his day was done.
Hamilton pitted during the local yellow to change tires again. Shortly after Hamilton's pit stop the rain began to fall again.
On lap 47 Hamilton spun allowing Button to get past. Hamilton nearly took out Paul Di Resta (Force India) as he spun around to rejoin the race action.
Then Hamilton briefly retook the lead on Lap 52 but Button was able to fight back and pass him later in the same lap.
With rain beginning to fall again Hamilton pitted on lap 52 for intermediate tires. This turned out to be the beginning of the end of Hamilton's fight for the lead.
The rain soon stopped and Hamilton's times were quickly dropping off. He pitted once again for dry tires and then the dagger in the heart was delivered to Hamilton by the stewards.
Hamilton was penalized with a drive through penalty for his driving after the spin.
Despite six pit stops for tires and a drive through penalty Hamilton fought back for an impressive fourth place finish.
Button, by the way, only stopped three times on the to his second win at the Hungaroring.
While all the drama went on between the McLaren drivers. Vettel and Fernando Alonso (Ferrari) were able to come home with second and third place podium finishes respectively.
