Hamilton: eventful weekend

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Teams

• McLaren

Drivers

• Fernando Alonso

World championship leader Lewis Hamilton has described the Hungarian Grand Prix as "probably one of the hardest" of his young career.

Hamilton's weekend was already clouded in controversy after stewards decided to demote team-mate Fernando Alonso five places from pole position after his delayed pit stop in qualifying prevented the youngster from bettering his time.

And the pressure was ratcheted up in the race itself, with Hamilton - now starting from pole - spending the afternoon fending off the attentions of Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen.

Hamilton nevertheless held his nerve to take the third victory of his F1 career and, with Alonso finishing fourth, his lead over the Spaniard in the drivers' standings has now been increased to seven points.

Eventful

"It's been an eventful weekend, and quite emotional for all the team," said Hamilton, who finished out of the points in the European Grand Prix two weeks ago.

"It's good to be back at the top after an eventful race the last time out.

"With all the drama that has gone on over the weekend, it would have been easy to lose focus.

"It's been a downer on the team, but the team have still done a great job, and I know how to win races.

"It's probably one of the hardest I've had. I had to push that bit extra with Kimi behind.

"It was good to get the points, for me and the morale of the team, to show we can beat anyone."

Problem

Hamilton also had to contend with an ill-handling car, the 22-year-old explaining: "I had a problem with the steering.

"I don't know what that was, so I had to back off, but the team told me there was no problem.

"It was just a case of pushing to the end."

Meanwhile, knowing that passing Hamilton would be extremely difficult at the tight Hungaroring, Raikkonen said it was "a boring race waiting for something to happen".

"We knew they (McLaren) were going to be quick, but they didn't lose as much as we were hoping."