First win for Merc, thanks to Hamilton

Britain's Lewis Hamilton seized his first win for Mercedes in the Hungarian heat yesterday while Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel forged 38 points clear in the FormulaOne championship after finishing third.

"This is probably one of the most important grand prix wins of my career," Hamilton said after his fourth win at the Hungaroring circuit in seven years, but his first with a team other than McLaren.

Kimi Raikkonen, who could be Vettel's team-mate next season, took second place for Lotus - 10.9 seconds behind Hamilton - after doing one stop fewer and holding off the German in the tense closing laps to the delight of thousands of Finns in the crowd.

Hungary marks the midpoint in the season and after 10 of the 19 races Vettel goes into the August break with 172 points to Raikkonen's 134.

Ferrari's Fernando Alonso lost ground and now has 133 points after finishing fifth. Hamilton is on 124.

Hamilton, the 2008 world champion, who won in Hungary for McLaren last season, led from pole position on a day when track temperatures reached 50C to secure the 22nd win of his career. "I was hungry for it today, I was going all out," said the Briton.

He joins now-retired predecessor Michael Schumacher as the only drivers to have won four times in Hungary.

"Usually I get stuck in traffic and today I was going for every move I could," Hamilton said.

The Briton had started on pole for the third race in a row and made a good start.

But his team-mate, Nico Rosberg, who retired with flames shooting out of the rear of his car four laps from the end, plunged from fourth to 12th after one lap.

There were two occasions when Hamilton could have been stuck behind Vettel's team-mate Mark Webber after pit-stops but he dealt with the situation aggressively.

Vettel had slotted in behind Hamilton in second place at the start with Raikkonen's teammate Romain Grosjean third and Alonso in fourth.

Grosjean's forceful treatment of Ferrari's Felipe Massa, running off track to keep position, left him with a drive-through penalty.

The Frenchman ended the race under investigation after another incident with McLaren's Jenson Button.

Vettel then lost time behind Button after a pit-stop while Hamilton pulled away at the front and was able to control the race and manage the new Pirelli tyres, his biggest concern before the start.

The tyres were changed after a spate of blowouts at last month's British Grand Prix, one of which cost Hamilton a likely victory from pole, threw the sport into crisis.

Australian Webber, who had started on the harder tyre, finished fourth for Red Bull, after starting 10th, while Grosjean ended up sixth.

Button, twice a winner in Hungary, was seventh, while Massa took eighth ahead of McLaren's Mexican Sergio Perez. - Reuters