Hamilton on pole to win championship

25 July 2016 - 09:37 By DANIEL JOHNSON

Rosberg was 43 points clear after five races, but has seen that lead disappear since the two crashed in Barcelona, Spain, in May.Having won five of the last six rounds, Hamilton now leads by six points. His fifth victory at the Hungaroring, a record-breaking feat, was not straightforward.The three-time champion had to seize the lead from second on the grid, and navigate his way through the traffic, with Rosberg never too far behind.It would take a brave man to bet against him becoming a four-time champion by year-end.There is never an easy moment for the Mercedes engineers, even if Hamilton and Rosberg are not fighting relentlessly over the same piece of road.In the second stint, there was more than a hint of Hamilton driving deliberately slowly in an ultimately unsuccessful attempt to force Rosberg into Daniel Ricciardo's clutches. For a time Hamilton was lapping half a second slower than Ricciardo.Once the Australian had pitted, Hamilton was able to dramatically up the pace by nearly a second a lap. Coincidence?The team was clearly anxious. Several times they asked Hamilton to up the pace, before this more lengthy radio exchange.Pete Bonnington [Hamilton's engineer]: "OK Lewis, Ricciardo is about to get on the back of this train, so we really need to open this gap up."Hamilton: "I'm driving to the best of my ability with these tyres."Bonnington: "If the cars bunch up, we'll be bringing Nico in first."Hamilton: "Why would they do that? It's not like I'm driving slow, I'm trying."Bonnington: "The risk is we're putting the win in jeopardy."It has been the reigning champion's one Achilles heel this year. Poor starts ruined his chance of victory in Australia and Bahrain in particular, and caused him a big headache in Canada.Here it was not perfect compared to the Red Bulls behind, but, most importantly, he was quicker than Rosberg off the line. Hamilton had a big slide and he struggled to control the car into turn one, but he positioned his car perfectly to take the lead.Rosberg had to concede, briefly losing second to Ricciardo too. But a confident move round the outside into turn two ensured Red Bull were on the back foot.The German is not always the most decisive of drivers in wheel-to-wheel combat, but here he showed not a hint of caution. If he was to have any chance of winning this race, it was vital he cleared Ricciardo to at least put him in the fight with Hamilton.The Australian was a little cautious on the brakes, while Rosberg swept round the outside of the long left-hander. A superb, bold move. © Daily Telegraph..

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