Formula 1®

DHL Fastest Lap Award: FORMULA 1 PIRELLI MAGYAR NAGYDÍJ 2017

Key Takeaways

  • Fernando Alonso gets himself onto the 2017 DHL Fastest Lap leader board
  • Fastest race lap in ten years at the Hungaroring
  • DHL Fastest Lap Award: Hamilton goes into the summer break as leader

Fernando Alonso sets the DHL Fastest Lap in the FORMULA 1 PIRELLI MAGYAR NAGYDÍJ 2017 and describes it as “the perfect birthday gift”.

DHL Fastest Lap Predictor Game

Fastest Driver Group 1: Kimi Räikkönen (Ferrari) - 01:20.461
Fastest Driver Group 2: Jolyon Palmer (Renault) - 01:21.589
Fastest Driver Group 3: Fernando Alonso (McLaren) - 01:20.182

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Fernando Alonso takes DHL Fastest Lap in Budapest

Fernando Alonso celebrated his 36th birthday in style at the Hungarian Grand Prix. The McLaren driver secured the DHL Fastest Lap in the last race before the summer break in a time of 01:20.182 minutes and also finished sixth to register his best result of the current campaign.

Alonso benefited from two factors: firstly, the Hungaroring with its many tight corners suits the McLaren, which is why the power deficit is not as important as on other tracks with long straights; secondly, the Ferraris and the Mercedes at the front of the field set a comparatively slow pace, because the ultimate race winner Sebastian Vettel was struggling with a problem on his steering and the field behind were constantly having to brake.

Had this not been the case, Alonso would almost certainly not have been the one to set the fastest lap, which is illustrated by averaging out the ten fastest laps of each driver. On this basis, Alonso was only sixth.

“The fastest lap at the end of the race was a surprise – a gift – but one we’ll take!”, said a delighted Alonso. “There are three or four weekends in a season where we can be competitive, so we need to maximise those and fully capitalise on our potential – and that’s exactly what we did this weekend.”

Fastest race laps: FORMULA 1 PIRELLI MAGYAR NAGYDÍJ 2017

01 Fernando Alonso (McLaren) - 01:20.182 on lap 69
02 Kimi Räikkönen (Ferrari) - 01:20.461 on lap 70
03 Max Verstappen (Red Bull) - 01:20.490 on lap 44
04 Sebastian Vettel (Ferrari) - 01:20.807 on lap 69
05 Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) - 01:20.818 on lap 66
06 Valtteri Bottas (Mercedes) - 01:21.214 on lap 68
07 Jolyon Palmer (Renault) - 01:21.589 on lap 68
08 Nico Hülkenberg (Renault) - 01:21.611 on lap 61
09 Daniil Kvyat (Toro Rosso) - 01:21.631 on lap 42
10 Marcus Ericsson (Sauber) - 01:21.752 on lap 66

History: DHL Fastest Laps in the FORMULA 1 HUNGARIAN GRAND PRIX

Alonso set the fastest race lap since 2007 at the Hungaroring when Kimi Räikkönen clocked a time of 01:20.047 minutes. However, the record for fastest lap set in a race there dates back to 2004 and is held by Michael Schumacher for his time of 1:19.071 minutes. In the qualifying session, however, Sebastian Vettel set a new absolute track record and secured pole position with a time of 01:16.276 minutes.

For Alonso, it was the 23rd DHL Fastest Lap of his career and the first since the 2016 Italian Grand Prix. On the all-time leader board, the Spaniard shares tenth place with Juan Manuel Fangio and Nelson Piquet. Michael Schumacher tops the standings in this particular category with 77 fastest laps.

Hamilton leads the 2017 DHL Fastest Lap Award

In this year’s DHL Fastest Lap Award contest, Lewis Hamilton goes into the summer break with a comfortable lead. The Mercedes driver has scored six fastest race laps this season, followed by Kimi Räikkönen on two, and by Fernando Alonso, Sebastian Vettel and Sergio Perez each on one.

Formula 1 resumes at Spa-Francorchamps in four weeks’ time. Make your forecast for the 2017 FORMULA 1 PIRELLI BELGIAN GRAND PRIX in our DHL Fastest Lap Game and win great prizes!

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