No one gave Mercedes much hope for the Hungarian Grand Prix.
Banned from the young driver test, unable to test the new tyres that arrived
for this weekend, they were expected to struggle despite receiving the tyre
data from Silverstone.
Lewis Hamilton was fairly pessimistic for qualifying. Pole
position therefore came as a major surprise, a fantastic lap from Lewis inched
him just 0.038 ahead of Sebastian Vettel’s Red Bull. Still, Mercedes were
convinced the change of tyres and the heat would leave them unable to manage
the rubber in the race and see them dropping down the field like so many times
before.
Most cars started on the soft compound with the notable
exceptions of Mark Webber, Sergio Perez and Jenson Button who all went for the
medium tyre in the hope of going long and getting into the mix as the soft
tyres went off and forced their owners to pit early.
Grid formation complete, engine notes shrieking, lights out
and Hamilton’s Mercedes shot into the lead well ahead of the close formation
near disasters that can happen on the first lap. Vettel survived an attempt on
his second place and he was soon latched onto the back of the silver car.
Surely the move was going to be made soon. The Red Bull race
pace in practice had been especially ominous, the fact they hadn’t got pole a
big surprise. But no, Hamilton was holding on, in fact he was banging in a few
fastest laps. When were the Mercedes tyres going to wilt? Vettel now had
problems of his own with Romain Grosjean’s Lotus harrying him.
Indeed Lewis Hamilton did pit first on to the mediums and as
feared came out behind a medium tyre shod McLaren of Jenson Button who wasn’t
due to stop for some time. Lewis made his race here, carving passed at the first
opportunity into turn 1.
Now he could use his fresh rubber to attack. A few laps
later and Vettel and Grosjean stopped also emerging behind the McLaren. There
was to be no carving here, Vettel took 12 laps to find a way through, and from
a second behind Lewis before the first stops he was now 13 seconds away; this
was going Hamilton’s way.
He started closing down Webber who had yet to stop. Once the
Australian pitted Hamilton found himself in the lead again, the Mercedes was
working the tyres well, this was a race he could win.
After his second stop he again found himself behind Webber,
but much closer now. As Webber fought with Fernando Alonso, Lewis dived to the
outside of turn 2, swung round the Red Bull and closed him off into turn 3, it
was the sweetest of overtakes. After his final stop he was behind Webber again
and immediately straight out the pits attacked the Red Bull.
It was a more robust move, forcing Webber off the track into
turn 3, but it was done and Lewis was away. He controlled the race brilliantly
throughout and found that with these tyres, the tyres they feared would send
them careering down the field, they actually brought life to the car and to the
driver.
He could push, he could set fastest laps, and yes he had to
look after the car and tyres still as is normal especially once his team mate
Nico Rosberg’s engine expired not far from the end. But he could push more to
the limit than perhaps he’d been able to all year. This was one of the best
drives of the year, the Red Bull and perhaps even the Lotus were faster in race
trim, but Lewis finally had the car underneath him to get the job done, he did
so to score his fourth Hungary victory and first for Mercedes. There’s a fourth
championship contender now, and he looks focused and determined. A Lewis
Hamilton in this frame of mind is one to be feared.
If things had gone
differently
Vettel could have won, so could Kimi Raikkonen and even
Webber who had started down in 10th. It so happened to fall for
Lewis today, but he made it happen too and took his opportunity.
Red Bull were running their cars close to the edge and it
was apparent that they were suffering with the heat, both Vettel and Webber
were asked to drop back or move out of the slip stream when following other
cars so they could cool the car.
If Vettel had dealt with Button quicker then perhaps he
might have got on the tail of Hamilton, if he hadn’t damaged his front wing
against Button then maybe that too might have made a difference. A race I
thought he’d dominate just fell away from him, but yet again despite things
going wrong, he’s still come away with a podium and actually extended his
championship lead.
If Kimi could only qualify higher he might win a few more
races, it’s certainly arguable but he could have won the last two races. Kimi
makes the best of things though and despite spending a fair portion of the race
in the lower reaches of the top 6 struggling to get past Ferrari’s, once Lotus
realised the mediums were not just lasting but still offering decent grip the
race turned for him.
His defence of second from Vettel was great, placing his car
just where it needed to be and extending the gap when he could. It was an
impressive drive after what had looked like a weekend his team mate would
eclipse him on.
Webber took the three stop strategy route like most others
except he would be running the faster soft tyres at the end. Another good start
saw him rise up from his lowly start position and he found himself in the lead
several times as the pit stops went on, it looked like he could be in with a
chance.
After his final stop, the win was out of the question but a
look at the podium was possible. He went about slicing into the lead of Kimi
and Vettel but the grip went and he had to settle for fourth, but it was an
outstanding drive.
Romain Grosjean still
battles himself
The pace he had around the Hungaroring should have brought
him a podium, should have brought him a sniff of victory. In the end it brought
him some fantastic over takes, some dodgy overtakes, a drive through penalty
and a disappointing sixth place.
The good stuff first, the start; he nearly got Vettel and
held off Rosberg well. His move around the outside of Felipe Massa into turn 4
was just breath taking, the fact he got a drive through penalty I thought was
slightly too harsh. Excellence like that should be rewarded but rules are rules
and even if only for a second, he had all four wheels off the circuit.
Massa has since said he doesn’t believe Grosjean deserved a
penalty for the manoeuvre. Grosjean was already ahead before the turn and it
could be justified that he went wide to avoid a potential accident.
His move on Jenson Button into the turn 6 chicane where they
clashed wheels was rightly penalised after the race. Twenty seconds was added
to his race time although it doesn’t cost him a position. Grosjean said
afterwards he thought the track was wider. But when he’s been pounding around
there all weekend, you’d have thought he’d know?
During the race he was tremendously quick again, especially
in the first half, but yet again we see the two sides of Grosjean coming out to
play. This guy is capable of a win, he’s outperformed his world champion team
mate for two consecutive races, he’s better than this. While the likes of
Rosberg and Massa were hitting each other on the opening lap he was keeping it
clean, but then he’ll hit someone inexplicably. I think this weekend was a
missed opportunity.
Ferrari falling back
as they suffer fine for illegal DRS use
Oh dear Ferrari. Rumours have surfaced that apparently
Ferrari’s wind tunnel is still not calibrated properly, so therefore
developments are not translating well onto the track. Seen as their wind tunnel
has been closed down for some time now as it is refurbished, is there something
more fundamental wrong? They’ve been using Toyota’s highly advanced wind tunnel
for some time now, so surely this shouldn’t be hindering them?
Fernando looks increasingly frustrated. Again this weekend,
he didn’t have the pace to keep up. He targeted a finish ahead of Vettel as the
minimum this weekend, but he couldn’t even finish ahead of other title
contenders Kimi and Lewis. Alonso has now dropped to third in the championship
after his fifth place finish and is currently driving the fourth fastest car.
It could have got worse too when stewards investigated data
that showed the DRS on Fernando Alonso’s car was activated three times when
more than a second behind the car ahead. It was put down to a programming error
and were fined $15,000. Massa could only manage eighth. Things don’t look good
at Maranello.
Teams on the move
Force India look to be on a downward trend too. Two races, two
no scores; Paul di Resta had no excuse for dropping out in Q1 this time, and
the race pace wasn’t exactly scintillating. Adrian Sutil might have had a
chance of points but like di Resta retired with hydraulics problems. They won’t
be a top 5 team for much longer on this form.
Especially as moving in the opposite direction is McLaren.
They want to be fighting for wins but a fairly competitive race performance
will raise a bit of a smile from the Woking team. Seventh and ninth isn’t
anything to write home about, but in performance terms it’s an improvement.
Finally a quick note on a few other teams; Pastor Maldonado
took Williams first point of the year which will give them a bit of a cheer.
Perhaps it was only because Nico Hulkenberg suffered a drive-through but still
a point is a point. Toro Rosso disappointed in the race after another
impressive Daniel Ricciardo Q3 appearance, only managing 12th and 13th.
Marussia also dropped way off the back of even Caterham.
Tyres
The new tyres were thankfully good and I think over the rest
of the season we can move away from constant tyre chatter. The order at the
front hasn’t been upset too much if at all. Red Bull and Mercedes can run
stronger for longer but Lotus can still make them last longer. It seems to have
altered the midfield the most with significant performance drops for the likes
of Force India and Marussia.
A few thoughts
We now enter a four week summer break with an enforced two
week factory shut down for all the teams. Of course they’ll all be working hard
to bring new updates for the races ahead.
Sebastian Vettel was a bit disappointed today, but yet he’s
still come away with another podium, his consistency is what is keeping him
ahead, that and the fact he has double the wins of anyone else this year.
It looks like Alonso is dropping away, Ferrari just don’t
seem to be operating at the level they were last year. Alonso said a result
ahead of Vettel this weekend would give the team renewed motivation as they head
into the break. They didn’t manage it and now Alonso looks ahead to perhaps a
seventh year without a third title unless they can find something remarkable
with the car.
After two bad races, Kimi has now scored three top 5
finishes including 2 podiums. But they need to win; he’s now second in the
championship, but he lies 38 points behind, only wins will take him to the top
though.
Lewis Hamilton looks like the man to take a few more wins
this year. Can that turn him into a championship challenger? Only if he’s
backing it up with other podium finishes too. After a little bit of advantage
Rosberg in the Mercedes team, Hamilton has now scored three consecutive pole
positions and is beginning to assert his authority at the team. He’s within two
race wins of Vettel, and if he can get on a roll who knows what could happen.
It’s very much advantage Vettel, he’s driven better than
anyone this year, but it’s still all to play for when the F1 circus returns to
Belgium, Spa-Francorchamps, the greatest track of all.
Final Result:
1. Lewis Hamilton - Mercedes
2. Kimi Raikkonen - Lotus
3. Sebastian Vettel - Red Bull
4. Mark Webber - Red Bull
5. Fernando Alonso - Ferrari
6. Romain Grosjean - Lotus
7. Jenson Button - McLaren
8. Felipe Massa - Ferrari
9. Sergio Perez - McLaren
10. Pastor Maldonado - Williams
11. Nico Hulkenberg - Sauber
12. Jean-Eric Vergne - Toro Rosso
13. Daniel Ricciardo - Toro Rosso
14. Geido van der Garde - Caterham
15. Charles Pic - Caterham
16. Jules Bianchi - Marussia
17. Max Chilton - Marussia
R. Paul di Resta - Force India - Hydraulics
R. Nico Rosberg - Mercedes - Engine
R. Valtteri Bottas - Williams
R. Esteban Gutierrez - Sauber
R. Adrian Sutil - Force India - Hydraulics
all photo's taken from autosport.com
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