Hunger finally sated in Hungary as Hamilton savours long-awaited win

Published on Sunday 26 July 2009 23:29

LEWIS Hamilton hailed his long-awaited return to the top step of the Formula 1 podium as "incredibly special".

Following a long nine months without success, Hamilton and McLaren savoured the sweet taste of victory champagne after taking the chequered flag in the Hungarian Grand Prix.

You have to go back to China last October for Hamilton's last win, following which he became world champion at the next and final race in Brazil.

But until yesterday Hamilton had been unable to honour that title due to a woefully uncompetitive car. Following a radical revamp, however, McLaren have finally rediscovered the winning formula, and with number one on his car, the 24-year-old duly delivered on that at the Hungaroring.

"It's an incredible feeling to be back here after what feels such a long time away, and after such a struggle for me and my team," said Hamilton.

"I'm just so proud of the guys, especially when I go to the factory and see how hard everyone is pushing.

"Everyone wants to win just as much as I do and they've never given up, which is something very rare to see in such a large group of people.

"Although we have caught up quite a bit of late, we didn't expect to win this weekend. We never felt we had the pace to win. But the car felt fantastic and it is incredibly special to not only be back on the podium, but to get a win. It is amazing.

"So I have to say a big thank you to all the guys and all the fans that have always given me support, who never gave up on me, and to all my family."

Hamilton now hopes this is the start of a renaissance for the team, even if retaining the championship is out of reach as he trails Jenson Button by 51 points with seven races remaining.

"We need to definitely take as much as we can from this weekend and continue to push," added Hamilton. "By no means can we start slowing down, but that is not the way my team work anyway, so we just have got to keep pushing.

"We've still some improvements to make and some work to do to be able to beat these guys (his rivals] on a more regular basis.

"But this is one huge leap for us, and hopefully we are now on the right track, so let's keep going. For sure we hope we can compete for more podiums."

It was the first time this season a KERS-aided car has emerged at the head of affairs, with the device proving beneficial from the start for Hamilton.

With pole-man Fernando Alonso away in his Renault, Hamilton managed to pass the Red Bull duo of Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber on the run down to turn one, taking second from fourth on the grid.

Although Hamilton ran slightly wide, allowing Webber to slot into second, the Briton regained the place at the start of lap five with a move around the outside of the first corner.

Hamilton then inherited the lead on lap 13 following Alonso's first stop, and he was never troubled from then on, going on to claim the tenth win of his 45-race career with McLaren.

Behind Hamilton, Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen offered Ferrari a little light relief from a grave weekend following team-mate Felipe Massa's horror smash in qualifying, by finishing second.

The Finn avoided punishment from the stewards who investigated his collisions with Hamilton and Vettel, who later retired with a front suspension failure because of the accident, in the opening moments of the first lap.

"Even though it has not been an easy weekend for the team, we have got a good result," said Raikkonen. "It is something positive at least this weekend, and hopefully we can keep going like this."

Webber claimed third, with Red Bull also avoiding a penalty following an unsafe release from the pits as he came within inches of colliding with Raikkonen. The stewards issued a reprimand.

Webber is now second to championship leader Jenson Button, 18.5 points adrift, after the Briton finished a season-low seventh in his Brawn GP.

After a weekend which failed to live up to expectations, Button said: "We felt positive we could get a good result, but it turned into damage limitation for our championship challenge.

"The car just doesn't feel like it did a few races ago, but we'll work hard to identify the problems before Valencia."

Williams' Nico Rosberg and Heikki Kovalainen were fourth and fifth, with Toyota duo Timo Glock and Jarno Trulli sixth and eighth either side of Button.

Jaime Alguersuari finished his F1 debut 15th, becoming the youngest driver in the sport's history to compete in a race at the age of 19 years and 125 days, and ahead of Toro Rosso team-mate Sebastien Buemi.