Budapest, July 31:

McLaren’s Kimi Raikkonen revived his world title hopes with an impressive victory at the Hungarian Grand Prix. Michael Schumacher held up the Finn for the race’s first half but Raikkonen made his second pit stop a lap later. That allowed him to get ahead of the Ferrari, and Schumacher could not keep up. Raikkonen’s win reduced his deficit to championship leader Fernando Alonso to 26 points as the Renault driver finished out of the points in 10th.

Alonso lost his front wing in a collision with Ralf Schumacher’s Toyota at the start, and spent the rest of the race stuck in traffic on a track where overtaking is notoriously difficult. The younger Schumacher survived the incident to finish third following the retirement of Raikkonen’s teammate Juan Pablo Montoya, who was also in the lead battle. The second Toyota of Jarno Trulli was fourth, ahead of BAR’s Jenson Button and the two Williams cars of Nick Heidfeld and Mark Webber. Button’s teammate Takuma Sato took the final points position in eighth place. Jordan-Toyota’s Narain Karthikeyan of India finished 12th. Montoya was on course to win the race when his driveshaft failed on lap 41 while he was leading by nine seconds. Montoya was on a two-stop strategy, while Raikkonen and Schumacher were making one more, and all three drivers had one stop remaining.