TROUBLE IN PARADISE; Controversy overshadows another Hamilton win.(Competitions of car racing)

Byline: ALAN HENRY

McLaren-Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton's Hungarian Grand Prix win was probably the best of his three Formula One victories so far, a 70-lap marathon throughout which Kimi Raikkonen's Ferrari kept him on his toes.

From pole position, Hamilton accelerated cleanly into the lead going into the first corner, swinging across the bow of Nick Heidfeld's BMW-Sauber as Raikkonen came charging through from the second row, relegating Heidfeld to third place.

From that point on, Hamilton was never headed in a race where he had to carefully judge his lapping of slower cars, straining to avoid sliding wide on the treacherous marbles that lurked for him off the racing line.

"It was a very emotional race and an eventful weekend,'' said Hamilton. "During the last two weeks, the team has done a great job with the car, and we have definitely made a step forward. However, the Ferrari was also as fast today, and during the final laps, Kimi put a lot of pressure on me.

"I managed to pull out a slight gap in the first stint, but during the last two stints, I had some slight problems with the steering. This meant that Kimi was able to close on me, which made me a little nervous. But the team told me on the radio that all was well, which meant I could push right to the end.''

Behind Heidfeld, Fernando Alonso was well satisfied with fourth, though he blamed traffic for making him miss out on a podium finish. Alonso-demoted from pole position to sixth place on the grid following a qualifying incident-was stuck behind Toyota's Ralf Schumacher for several laps, losing a lot of time to the leaders.