Hamilton’s honour earns credit

Lewis Hamilton knows giving third place back to Valtteri Bottas at the Hungaroring on Sunday might cost him in the Formula One title battle but insisted it was the right thing to do. He has been applauded for doing so and rightly. In the cut-throat business of a championship fight, few drivers would have felt it necessary. Indeed Sebastian Vettel showed his ruthless streak in doing the opposite by overtaking Mark Webber at Malaysia in 2013 during the “multi-21 incident”. Hamilton may regret it come the end of the season and Mercedes may equally regret not throwing their weight behind one driver as Ferrari have so clearly done but they insist it is not how they go racing. One further outcome seems likely, however. With his gesture Hamilton is assured that, should it come to the time when Mercedes chose to back him fully, he has established a good enough relationship to ensure co-operation from his team-mate – which might pay off handsomely when it really matters.

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Max holds up his hands

Max Verstappen has not been forward in admitting errors or apologising in the past, perhaps most notably in insisting he had done nothing wrong after blocking Kimi Räikkönen on the Kemmel Straight in Spa last year. This year his racecraft has been much better as he demonstrated recently in defending against Vettel at Silverstone. In Hungary, however, he was once again trying too much, too soon and it cost him the chance of a podium place and, worse still, took out his Red Bull team-mate Daniel Ricciardo. The Australian was furious, believing Verstappen had simply showed poor judgment having lost the place going into turn two and, without doubt, the Dutch driver had overcooked it. The team principal, Christian Horner, said Verstappen would not have made the corner had he not hit Ricciardo, who called his team-mate an amateur and a sore loser. Yet Verstappen proved he is growing in maturity as he accepted responsibility and apologised. The pair have spoken privately and cleared the air, showing the 19-year-old finally did the right thing.

Alonso can still enjoy himself

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Few would have put money on a McLaren setting the fastest lap of the race in Hungary but Fernando Alonso did just that as he made the most of one of the few tracks at which his Honda-powered car is not shown up for its lack of horses. He has not looked so relaxed since opting to miss Monaco in favour of the Indy 500 in May. That the weekend went according to plan only pleased him more. The Honda engine proved reliable for once and the Spaniard put it to great use. Knowing he had to nail his compatriot Carlos Sainz soon after their joint pit stops, Alonso made the move of the race going round the outside at turn two. He and his team-mate Stoffel Vandoorne then concluded McLaren’s first double points-scoring finish of the season, though Alonso’s sixth place is likely to be as high as he can expect to achieve on merit this season. “Let’s go into the summer break with smiles on our faces,” he said. McLaren have said they will make a decision on their engine supplier in the next five weeks and how that pans out will be crucial in whether they can keep Alonso on board.

Passing not possible

The Hungaroring had thrown up some interesting races of late and was just beginning to throw off its reputation as a procession circuit along the lines of Monaco but without any of the thrills Monte Carlo affords. 2014 was a particular highlight with Ricciardo throwing his Red Bull past opponents with happy abandon. Although fears the new regulations on aerodynamics would make passing much harder have not been quite realised, the effect was clearly on display in Hungary. Cars could get close but overtaking proved all but impossible, with Budapest’s combination of short straights and slow-to-medium speed corners combining to enforce a largely nose-to-tail run to the finish. Indeed the order of the top five did not change from qualifying. The race is very well-attended, with 199,000 spectators at the track over the course of the weekend, but with the current formula set to run until 2020, Hungary as a race does not look as if it is going to rate well with fans watching at home.

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Di Resta proves a point

Being parachuted into the Williams at the 11th hour was a hugely daunting prospect for Paul di Resta, as he freely admitted. He has not driven the new generation of F1 cars, bar one short run in the 2014 Williams some time ago, and his last race was at the end of his three-year stint with Force India in Brazil in 2013. The Briton has kept busy since then, returning to the German DTM series for Mercedes that he had won in 2010, but powerful as the tin-topped touring cars of the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters are, they remain a world away from F1. At the weekend he rose to the challenge with great skill.

Confirmed to take over from the unwell Felipe Massa only after final practice, he was clean in qualifying and only seven-tenths of a second off his team-mate, Lance Stroll.

His race was equally assured. The Williams was off the pace but Di Resta had it in hand until an oil leak forced his retirement on lap 60. Last week there was a realignment of priorities in motorsport, with Porsche pulling out of the World Endurance Championship to enter Formula E and Mercedes announcing they were to leave DTM to switch likewise to the electric championship. Di Resta made a strong case that he should not be left without a drive when they do.