Lewis Hamilton finished the Hungarian Grand Prix fourth after facing radio communication issues for most of the race, causing him to remain stuck behind his team mate and losing time that would have helped him to attack the Ferrari drivers. After Valtteri Bottas eventually let him past to put pressure on Kimi Raikkonen, the Brit was unable to pass and gave Bottas the place back in the final corner.
The Mercedes driver remains second in the Drivers’ Championship, 14 points off Sebastian Vettel (202 points).
"I tried my best out there. It's tough when you push so hard and you work so hard and you end up in the same place that you started", says Hamilton.
"When the radio didn't work, I was thinking that the team was worried about the tyres not going the distance. So maybe they were going slow so that they could speed up later. I was pushing and I had all this pace, but I was stuck behind Valtteri and I couldn't tell the team because of the radio.
"But in the final laps, I kept my word. I said that if I couldn’t pass Kimi then I would let Valtteri back. I have said through this year that I want to win this title in the right way – and perhaps I will look at it in a different way if, at the end of the season, I lose out by a small margin – but I believe in doing the right thing and that when you put good things out there, they come back to you.
"I was 20 points behind before, but down to one, and now back to 14. We have lost quite a few points in the first half of the year – but I know that we can win it, once we come back even better after the summer break."
Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport (357 points) leads the Constructors’ Championship by 39 points from Ferrari (318 points) in P2.