Kimi Antonelli relieved at 'damage limitation' Hungarian GP as title grip strengthened

Kimi Antonelli has expressed his relief at a "damage limitation" Hungarian GP, in which he finished third to extend his points lead to 50 heading into the summer break.

From seventh on the grid after a three-place penalty in qualifying, Antonelli attempted to go off-sequence and one-stop the race, but this was abandoned as the pace of the Mercedes brought him into podium contention.

He eventually finished third after a late squabble with a penalised Lewis Hamilton for another podium finish, with Hamilton dropping to fifth after a pit-lane speeding sanction. 

This, coupled with George Russell's tricky race after bogging down with anti-stall at the start and seventh place finish, meant Antonelli has 219 points to his name, with Hamilton on 169 and Russell nine further back on 160. 

Reflecting, Antonelli felt his race was "damage limitation."

"It was a tough race; it was really hard to overtake, so we had to do something with strategy, and initially, we tried to go for the one stop," said Antonelli. 

" I tried to go for one stop, but then they told me that the tyre was too much on the limit, so we stopped, and then with the virtual safety car, the two Ferraris boxed, and I knew it would be hard as they were on softs, I was on hards, but luckily, we kept them behind. 

"It is the best way to go into summer break. I think today was big damage limitation, and we got to keep pushing because the second half is going to be hard, but we will try our best."