Vettel wins incident packed race in Hungary

Star of the race and winner

Sebastian Vettel lead practically from start to finish to claim victory in a brilliant Hungarian Grand Prix. Vettel leading all the way has a familiar ring to it, but despite his win in Malaysia earlier this year, he hasn't commanded a race like this since he won his fourth world title in 2013.

It hinged on making a great start and a great start he did indeed make. Both Mercedes for the second race in a row got off their front row grid slots in a sedentary fashion allowing the third placed Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen in the other Ferrari to power into first and second positions respectively.

Vettel was awesome though, he powered alongside Lewis Hamilton and then gradually squeezed him right, forcing the Mercedes to back off, the Ferrari braked later and he was easily through.

Sebastian had Kimi under control from the start and like he used to he gradually built a lead, reeling off fastest lap after fastest lap. From there he controlled the race until the front wing of Nico Hulkenberg's Force India collapsed for no apparent reason sending the German careering into the first turn tyre wall. It brought out the virtual safety car before the actual safety car was released to allow the marshals to clear up the debris.

It closed the pack up leaving the result on a knife edge that had looked tightly in Vettel's grasp. With both Ferrari's now on the medium slower compound tyre, rubber they didn't like and Kimi's power unit down on power due to a failure of its energy recovery system, Mercedes suddenly looked like they had a chance of a win that had looked lost.

But Vettel remained calm, I'm not sure anyone is as good at leading a race from the front. Vettel stole a march on everyone at the restart with 20 laps to go, while behind Rosberg immediately passed Kimi who later retired. Daniel Ricciardo on the soft rubber looked strong and went to pass Hamilton who in defending managed to clatter into the Red Bull requiring a front wing change and later a drive through penalty for the incident.

Ricciardo next attacked Rosberg, this time Daniel wasn't given enough room by Nico and had his front wing damaged but the Mercedes suffered a puncture and was forced to pit. It was a racing incident but Rosberg should have given the Red Bull more space.

It didn't matter to Vettel, he ticked off the laps and brought his scarlet car home for his second victory of the year, also bringing himself to just over 40 points off Hamilton's championship lead. A brilliant drive and a reminder that perhaps he's not out of the title chase yet.

The battles

There were some great battles out there this afternoon, but most to be enjoyed was the Mercedes of Hamilton climbing his way back into contention after a decidedly scruffy first lap, before having to do it all again at the restart when again he messed up.

Hamilton hasn't been at his impetuous best in recent times, his dominance of Formula 1 these past 18 months seemed to have calmed his approach, but here in Hungary he rather let himself down, even apologising to his team during the race.

He was down to fourth from pole position, and then ran wide trying to attack Rosberg into the chicane. He claimed he wasn't given room but it was a rash move leaving him down in 11th. He climbed back up to fourth by the time the safety car came out, and just as victory seemed a possibility he clattered into Ricciardo leaving him fighting to get back into the points once again. That he ended up sixth was testament to just how fast he was here this weekend at a track he loves, but no amount of speed is going to make up for some dodgy race craft. He ended the race sixth.

Rosberg was little better although he made just the one error when he too came to grief with Ricciardo, but his main problem was he just wasn't fast enough. The puncture from his touch with the Red Bull left him behind Hamilton in only 8th when he should have been slashing his team mates championship lead. Not a good day for either Mercedes driver.

The Red Bull's finally came good, but it wasn't without a bit of heat, especially when Daniil Kvyat took exception to having to allow his team mate Ricciardo through after the Australian had a slow start from fourth. In truth Ricciardo was the faster Red Bull driver all weekend, but perhaps it was justice when Ricciardo had to pit for a new nose allowing Kvyat to take his first podium with second while his team mate was relegated to third. However, if not for that bad start it's possible Ricciardo could have had a shot at victory.

Max Verstappen completed a great day for Red Bull teams in his Toro Rosso as he took a career best fourth. A brilliant drive and one he had to work for as he and his team mate Carlos Sainz fought with the McLaren's of Fernando Alonso and Jenson Button who scored a double points finish for the team with fifth and ninth respectively. Marcus Ericsson in the Sauber avoided any incident to score a point in 10th while Romain Grosjean held off Rosberg to claim seventh for Lotus.

The other Lotus of Pastor Maldonado took the award for most penalties of the day in a race littered with them for so many drivers. He managed to claim three for hitting Sergio Perez's Force India, speeding in the pit lane and overtaking under the safety car. After a few races where he looked to be finding a bit of decent form he reminds everyone why they were being so critical, not a good day.

Williams' heroics of the last few races were firmly brushed aside as the team left Hungary with no points, Valtteri Bottas suffered a puncture while Felipe Massa just never got going and was another drive to be hit with a pit lane speeding penalty.

The title chase

It could have all been so different for Rosberg, with a few laps left he was in second with his team mate barely in the points. He was so close to the championship lead ahead of Hamilton, but in the end blew it. 

It would have seemed so wrong though, in reality Hamilton has been dominating this year and for him to lose the title lead would have been odd, because in general Rosberg hasn't really been in the same race for a lot of this season.

Still it goes to show that when you're in the best car by far, there will always be chances. Vettel has brought himself back into play too, but despite what could have been, this season is Hamilton's to lose. If he puts in a few more showings like this, maybe he'll do just that.

Things of note

There's been much talk of the driver market these last few weeks. Bottas has been rumoured to be replacing Kimi at Ferrari, with other options for the seat being Ricciardo and Hulkenberg. Button is apparently in the frame to move to Williams to replace Bottas if the Ferrari deal does go ahead. While Kevin Magnussen and GP2 championship leader and McLaren young driver are in line for race seats next season too.

There was a lovely moment as the drivers formed a circle before the race to honour Jules Bianchi with a minutes silence. That they then put on the best race of the season was a perfect way to commemorate one of the bright young stars of the future who was taken far too soon.

all photo's taken from autosport.com

Ricciardo wins Hungarian thriller

It was down to just three for the win. Fernando Alonso could see his chance, just a few laps left to take the unlikeliest of victories in possibly the worst Ferrari they have provided for him in his Scuderia tenure. He was aiming to make his soft tyres last for 32 laps, longer than anyone else, he could do it if he was careful with the rubber; he’d take his first win since the Spanish Grand Prix. He cut over the chicane, no he must have thought, the tyres he’d so carefully nurtured were giving up on him, he could see his efforts coming to nothing.

From the pit lane to victory, it was there for the taking. Chasing the unlikely leader Alonso, Lewis Hamilton on slightly fresher and more durable medium compound rubber was in the mirrors of the scarlet car and searching for a way through. He knew his team mate and championship rival was closing fast, he had to make a move for victory to close the points gap down to the maximum he could today, he just needed to get away from the even fresher rubber of Daniel Ricciardo in the Red Bull, who he’d hope could fend off Rosberg closing at three seconds per lap.

For Ricciardo it was game on. He’d spent a long time in the lead during this race, he and the team had managed to solve a power unit problem as he told the media by getting ‘a bit crazy on the switches’. But it was early on in the damp as they toured round behind the first safety car he’d got on the radio and said they could win this. He knew it could come to him, he just had to keep it all together and push. Trying to get to the end on old tyres he knew they wouldn't make it so called it early to pit and give up the lead to go on the offensive. With just a few laps left, he was behind just two cars and probably with a determined smile behind the crash helmet, he went on the attack.

It could have been any of them, it could even have been the chasing Rosberg who suffered most from the first safety car period, losing a ten second lead and passing the pit entry just as the safety car came out and tumbling into the pack when he did pit. But after making his final stop with just 14 laps left he had the tyre advantage, the car advantage and the instruction to go all out for qualifying laps. He delivered exactly that. It was up to the front three to sort it out before he caught them, Ricciardo was the one who had the advantage and he took it.

Lap 67 the Australian made his move, he’d tried before but this time he made it work against Lewis Hamilton. He came out of turn 1 close behind the Mercedes and dived to the outside of turn 2, holding it alongside to claim the inside to turn 3. Lewis had nothing to respond with, he’d been finding it tough to even get a sniff at passing the fast degrading tyres of Alonso. Immediately the Red Bull latched onto the back of the Ferrari and wasted no time with making the move the very next lap. On to the start finish straight, DRS wide open he dived down the inside into turn 1 and was away. Five seconds to the good by the end of the race just a few laps later, he was elated, possibly more so at having to fight his way to the front.

The race started on a damp track, rejoice, our first wet race for a long long time. Everyone set off into the unknown of the spray but it was drying pretty quickly, still there were some hairy moments for all. Marcus Ericsson careered into the barriers to bring out the first safety car on lap 9, Romain Grosjean spinning off too during the down time. Sergio Perez, who’d taken a hit from his Force India team mate Nico Hulkenberg which led to the German’s first retirement of the year spun out of control and into the concrete of the pit wall to bring out the second safety car on lap 23.

On a three stop strategy, Ricciardo took advantage of both safety cars to come into the pits and take the lead as the front four missed out. Everyone changed to slicks of varying compounds during the first time except the McLaren’s who gambled on it raining again. Ricciardo quickly despatched Jenson Button who’d overtook at the restart but as the track dried McLaren quickly realised their strategy was the only wrong one in the field.

Ricciardo held the lead fairly comfortably before the second safety car then latched on to the leading group before retaking the lead as others pitted. His third stop came on lap 54, giving up a 10 second advantage, but then the fight for victory began.

Alonso managed to hold off Lewis to finish in a great second place, but once again he dragged a result from the car that it didn’t deserve. To come so close to victory when this machine hasn’t looked capable all season was a fantastic achievement. To lose out in the end is no shame; he was fighting with one hand behind his back; it was a fantastic drive. Like Rosberg he missed out on pitting when the first safety car came out along with Valtteri Bottas and Sebastian Vettel.

Unlike Rosberg, he got back into the fight a lot quicker and to end up ahead of the fastest car on the track is testament to how astonishing Alonso is. As with Hamilton, he made a two stop strategy work for him and led for some considerable time until Ricciardo came through. He was so close to holding out for what would have been a great win, but second place is no mean result either.

Mercedes infighting to begin again?

You knew Hamilton was on a significant charge when in a blink of an eye he went from 13^th to 9^th in just a few corners. It was another fantastic charge from the back after a fuel leak ruined another qualifying leaving his car ablaze and the prospect of starting from the pit lane. To say he was unhappy would be an understatement.

Despite a spin on the first lap he made pass after pass, including an epic round the outside move on Jean-Eric Vergne at the fast turn 4 soon brought him to the head of the field. His final stop on lap 39 meant he relinquished the lead, but due to safety cars he was ahead of Rosberg. The team asked him to move aside so Rosberg’s strategy could play out which meant he had to stop one more time. Hamilton politely refused and to be fair why should he? Rosberg barely got to within a second of him, so why should he give up time. If Lewis had let him through when he was asked to it’s likely Rosberg would have finished ahead.

The team want the best overall result, but to ask Lewis to move aside when it might’ve affected the title chase was a silly call from the team. They’ve got the championship sewn up, and yes they might want to win as many races as they can but they are head and shoulders above the rest and to avoid looking biased in the eyes of the drivers I think it’s better for them to just let it play out from now on. They might site that it’s a team sport but you know Rosberg and Hamilton couldn’t care less about that now, they’re out for themselves so if one of them is behind on a quicker strategy, then it’s up to that driver to get ahead, no time for the team game from now.

What the team might like to do is sort out the reliability problems that are increasingly creeping in. Even today there seemed to be a brief brake problem affecting Rosberg. Anyway, as it was Rosberg didn’t get by and despite charging up after his final stop to latch on to the back of Lewis, #44 Mercedes firmly shut the door on any moves. It was Mercedes’ worst combined result of the year, but 3^rd and 4^th isn’t too bad to go home with.

Williams lose out on strategy

Felipe Massa was towards the front for a long time but Williams in my opinion went the wrong on strategy by fitting the slower medium compound tyres to both Massa and Bottas’ car. Massa held off Kimi Raikkonen in the closing stages to take 5^th, while Bottas ran second early on after starting third at a track many thought wouldn’t suit Williams. The first safety car scuppered any better result as he was one of the front 4 who missed pitting when it initially came out so fell down the pack and could only recover to 8^th.

Raikkonen and Vettel enjoy FRICless future as Vergne shines?

Raikkonen ran as high as third and eventually finished 6^th with Sebastian Vettel 7^th to split the Williams cars. Kimi looked stronger this weekend and if hadn’t been for a terrible call by Ferrari in qualifying to leave him in the pits he’d have started higher than 16^th. In general he looked like he had more speed, many suggesting this was because of the lack of the FRIC suspension.

Vettel is another who is believed to have benefitted from the lack of FRIC. He certainly seemed stronger in qualifying as he outpaced Ricciardo to start on the front row. He was running third when the safety car came round so was one of those who failed to pit which left him behind his team mate. He spun on the start finish straight when he caught a bit of damp astro-turf at the side of the track but avoided the wall. If the safety car had worked differently he probably would have been the lead Red Bull but once again it’s Ricciardo who is making the most of his opportunities while Vettel mostly seems to not get any. Anyway, both Kimi and Vettel seem to have taken positive steps even if the results haven't yet proved that.

Ninth was Jean-Eric Vergne who rose to second at one point and impressed by holding off Rosberg for a number of laps while his Toro Rosso team mate Daniil Kvyat was strangely quiet for most of the race. Button recovered to tenth after the poor pit calls by McLaren. Behind the points scorers Sauber looked a bit more competitive, while both Caterham’s retired, both Marussia’s finished at the back and Maldonado in the Lotus hit someone but finished 13^th.

So once again it was a weekend of action packed racing and thrilling competition all the way down the grid. Why Formula 1’s bosses seem to think there are such problems with the product I don’t know. It occurs to me it’s much more to do with how it’s promoted than anything else, but that’s another story.

We enter the summer break with the championship brilliantly poised and tremendous supporting battles from Williams, Red Bull and Ferrari. Hamilton clawed a few points back on Rosberg to be just 11 behind, but will be wondering about the team instruction and how much more his weekends will be tainted by reliability problems.

Rosberg will be happy to be leading the championship but probably annoyed that the team seem to have let Hamilton ignore an order despite repeated calls to let him through. I think they'll be a lot of meetings after this race at the Mercedes factory. It’ll be interesting to see who comes back the stronger in four weeks-time in Belgium. One thing is for sure, this championship is going down to the wire.

all photo's taken from autosport.com

The Hungarian Grand Prix Forecast

The Hungaroring hosts the Hungarian Grand Prix, tight and twisty with barely a straight worth the name it used to have a reputation of processional grand prix but over the last few years I think it’s held some pretty great racing.

Certainly the nature of the track can lead to bottlenecks as one driver falls off the pace and starts holding people up. I’m not sure the two DRS zones on the start finish straight and between turns 1 and 2 will help too much. There’s hardly time to open the wing between turns 1 and 2 although it will help to get a driver in position to perhaps attack down the relatively straight bit of track between turn 3 and 4.

Pirelli are bringing the soft and medium tyre this weekend, which as predicted last weekend could be redundant come race day as thunderstorms are meant to hit the track. It’s hot all weekend with temperatures ranging from 29C up 31C, so the tyres are going to take a lot of punishment, but the medium should hold up well once the track is rubbered in.  

It’s potentially a crucial race for the championship. Lewis Hamilton needs to win and once again reassert himself against his Mercedes team mate Nico Rosberg before the four week summer break. Good fortune has not shined on him too much this season despite the five wins and a car which when pushed can be up to two seconds a lap quicker than anything else on the track.

So I suppose it’s a curious thing to say but then when you’re only fighting against one other man for the title of world champion and he’s had less mechanical troubles than you, seems to have faster pit stops a lot of the time and when he makes mistakes in qualifying gets away with it, then that aspect of fortune becomes rather focused.

This weekend Hamilton and Rosberg will battle it out once again to take the momentum into the summer break. It doesn’t even matter which one of them is leading the championship at the end of the race it’s all about the psychological advantage of being the last one to win. If Rosberg wins then Hamilton could be left stewing for four weeks thinking the title is getting away from him.

If Hamilton wins, then for four weeks Rosberg will be metaphorically looking over his shoulder for a charging number 44 silver beast chasing him down thinking he’s going to get him because no matter what Rosberg says, he knows Lewis is the faster driver. Rosberg is driving exceptionally well, but if it came down to just natural talent Lewis would win. Fortunately for him, there’s so much more to it to come out on top.

But as we’re talking about fortune, of any race to go into the summer break with, Lewis must like the fact it’s Hungary. Four times a winner here from seven attempts including the last two years. Last season he out performed Rosberg significantly too, something he will be hoping to replicate this time.

To do that he needs to sort his qualifying out. Overtaking at the Hungaroring isn’t as impossible as some people seem to think but it is more difficult than a lot of other places; it once had the title of Monaco without the walls. Last Saturday looked to be going well, it was Rosberg making the mistakes while Hamilton had put a decent banker lap in and was looking to go faster when his brakes failed.

It wasn’t his fault but it adds to the last few sessions when it has been him making mistakes, he hasn’t had a pole position since the Spanish Grand Prix and that surely must rankle with him. He wants to be perceived as the fastest out there, having this car gives him the opportunity to show just how quick he can be but he hasn’t delivered, in fact Rosberg has out-qualified him 6-4 and that’s something he won’t like, perhaps it’s why he’s been making the mistakes.

Lewis made no secret of his annoyance that Sebastian Vettel was racking up the pole positions simply because in his opinion he had the best car. Now Lewis has that same opportunity and he’s not taking it so far. He wants to dominate Rosberg, but Rosberg is too good for that. Better for Lewis just to concentrate on getting the best out of himself rather than thinking of Nico, I think it only holds him back, at least on the Saturday. Whatever happens, it’s once again going to be a tense atmosphere in the Mercedes garage.

Once again Williams will be looking for their now traditional podium slot this season. They’re now targeting second place in the constructors championship ahead of Red Bull. Previously I might have said that I wouldn’t expect them to do well in Hungary given the fact it’s a high downforce track and they seemed to be lacking earlier in the year.

But I thought that about Silverstone and Valtteri Bottas charged from 14^th to second so they’ve made some progress. They’re bringing an update to Hungary which should help them even more, in fact Williams Performance Chief Rob Smedley told autosport that this ‘should allow it to keep up its strong form’.

Felipe Massa will surely be hoping so after three crashes in the last four grand prix. Admittedly you could argue they weren’t really his fault, but he’s the one getting involved in them, not Bottas. A strong weekend and result for Massa and it’ll all be forgotten, it’s about time he got a podium too. Bottas though is on a strong run of form and really showing his potential. He was saying last weekend podiums are not enough anymore, at this this rate of progress could we see Williams occasionally challenge Mercedes for victory this year? Maybe, but probably not here.

Will we get another Fernando Alonso vs the Red Bulls battle? I really hope so, Alonso hasn’t let the lack of a winning car from Ferrari affect his racing, he still gives it everything, as does Sebastian Vettel who despite not winning everything and being beaten by his team mate is still proving how hard he can battle too, just to show he’s still got something while he sorts himself out.

While Daniel Ricciardo in the other Red Bull has shone brightly this year, Alonso even describing the young Australian as brilliant. While these guys are finding it difficult to get into the hunt for wins, the battles they’re having for the lower points places makes you wish they were fighting for the world championship.

I expect more of the same this weekend as despite being over 60 points ahead of Williams, Red Bull have slipped behind them and Alonso’s genius makes sure Ferrari always get a look in somewhere around the top six. With the Red Bull chassis and engine power not so much of an issue in Hungary I actually expect Vettel and Ricciardo to be more of a threat this weekend, I hope Alonso gets pulled along with them.

It would be great if Kimi could also get involved. In Germany he was literally in the centre of some battles, but it looked more like he was just getting in the way. There did look to be some genuine progress though, he topped a practice session and was charging hard before his front wing got squeezed too many times, the damage resulting in poor tyre life. Hopefully we can get two Ferrari’s and two Red Bull’s battling each other this weekend.

It was a shame Kevin Magnussen had that accident with Massa at the first corner in Germany after qualifying so well. Hopefully he’ll be able to continue that form, but I’m not sure McLaren are going to be loving a downforce heavy track, so I guess that means Jenson Button will continue to be a bit gloomy. The other major rookie Daniil Kvyat made his first major mistake last weekend but I feel sure the Toro Rosso driver will bounce back, he has the confidence of youth.

Force India will be racing for the lower half of the points, but I don’t expect the likes of Lotus, Sauber, Marussia or Caterham to be challenging for any points this weekend unless this potential rain does come down heavily. As I said last weekend that would be quite welcome as it’s been a while since we’ve had a wet race, but it’s only rained once at the Hungarian Grand Prix since 1986, so I’m not going to hold my breath.

So Hamilton and Rosberg resume battle, Williams look to charge after them, Alonso vs Red Bull round 3, it’s all looking like another great weekends racing.

all photos taken from autosport.com

Hamilton takes surprise Hungary win

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 10^th. 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 12^th and 13^th. 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

The Hungary Forecast

Scorching, sizzling, boiling, searing are just some of the adjectives to describe the current 36C temperatures that will welcome the Formula 1 fraternity to Budapest for the Hungarian Grand Prix. Hot sums up it up.

And that’s before the drivers put on their thick fireproof gear, pull on their balaclava, squeeze into their crash helmet and climb into the tight confines of a 200mph Formula 1 machine with just around a litre and a half drinks bag to help them through the 70 laps of the Hungaroring.

This track has no real chance to relax either with no long straights and constant corner after corner, it’s often described as Monaco without the walls. Therefore it’s going to be tough to pass, although it can be done and this year they’ve helped out a bit more with two DRS zones. One will be on the start finish straight with the other a short run from turn one to two. Strategy options will also be affected by the reduced pit lane speed limit from 100kph to 80kph due to the tyre hitting cameraman incident in Germany.

Of course the main talking point will be? Yes, Pirelli’s tyres. They've brought the medium and soft compounds but with a whole new construction. After the tyre blow outs at Silverstone something had to be done so in between Germany and Hungary we had the young driver test taking place at Silverstone which Pirelli provided the new tyres to be used for the rest of the season. All teams apart from the banned Mercedes squad took part in trying them out; Pirelli say they are confident they will be fully functioning inflated balls of rubber. Or words to that effect.

The main alterations over the tyres the teams have been using so far this year are that they’re switching the construction to the 2012 tyre whereby the steel belt running round the tyre has gone back to Kevlar and there is a tougher join to the sidewall. The 2013 compounds will still be used, but the result of this should mean the tyres are longer lasting meaning the drivers can drive more to the limit without having to almost immediately think about looking after the tyres once the race has started.

This at first glance plays into the hands of Red Bull and Mercedes, teams which had campaigned that the 2013 tyres degraded too fast. With the tyres lasting longer it should allow them to exploit their cars potential far more than they’ve been able to thus far. Of course despite receiving the data from the test Mercedes will be at a crucial disadvantage at getting the best out of the tyres immediately.

On the other hand it isn’t all doom and gloom for the teams which used the tyres best like Ferrari, Lotus and Force India. With the tyres lasting longer and their cars able still gentle on them, it will enable them to perhaps go for alternative strategies. One put forward in a James Allen analysis is that they will be able to use the softer option tyres for longer periods of the race, which generally will have a speed advantage over whatever harder compound they’ve brought something teams like Red Bull might not be able to do as they use the tyres more aggressively.

It’s not going to be all Red Bull’s way. Having said that who do I expect to win this weekend? Well I think Sebastian Vettel was the clever one in regards to the title challengers. He tested the tyres at the test whereas Fernando Alonso and Kimi Raikkonen didn’t attend so he’ll have a working knowledge of the new Pirelli’s. I think Vettel is on for pole position and the race win. It would be his first time winning in Hungary, but he’s already had a few firsts this month; first win in July and first German Grand Prix win. Vettel is driving better than anyone else and I don’t see how you could tip someone ahead of him.

Of course that’s not to say there won’t be others in contention for the victory. Vettel’s team mate Mark Webber has won here before, he’ll be a contender again and if he can get away at the start like he did in Germany he’ll be a podium challenger at least.

I’m not sure what to think about Ferrari, they’ve dropped way off the pace in qualifying which isn’t such a surprise but they’re not coming back in the race quite as strongly as they once did. If the same thing happens in Hungary I can see Fernando Alonso’s championship charge shuddering to a halt. He needs to make points on Vettel before the four week summer break.

The most likely contenders to Red Bull will surely be Lotus. Kimi and Romain Grosjean finished second and third respectively last year and I have an unqualified hunch that they’ll be good again this year. They certainly seem to be reacting nicely to hotter temperatures, and Hungary is going to be the hottest race since Bahrain where they finished second and third again.

Both the Lotus drivers are contenders for the podium but for the championship you’d ideally want Kimi to be ahead of Grosjean. That won’t necessarily be easy for Kimi though (apart from when the team tell Romain to move over), Grosjean showed great form last time out and if he wants to keep his seat he’ll have to consistently do that. Kimi maybe third in the points but this weekend he comes into the race as the strongest challenger to Vettel, a definite win chaser.

Mercedes could struggle this weekend. They’ve been affected by some of the tyre restrictions put in place such as swapping the tyres on to opposite sides of the car. Team principal Ross Brawn said this was partly to blame for their tyre woes in Germany after having looked strong for the past few races.

Couple that with the lack of testing the new tyres and they’re definitely on the back foot. Having said that Lewis Hamilton can drag a car to positions it really ought not to be, so Lewis for pole? Not that unlikely I reckon, it’s the race they’re really going to be worrying about. It’s going to be a tough time for Nico Rosberg and Hamilton on the Sunday.

Other quick predictions:

Toro Rosso are definitely the midfields form team, they should be on for Q3 and points. Daniel Ricciardo had a test with Red Bull last week, if he wants to help his cause for the 2014 vacancy he’ll need to continue his good form here. Cue team mate Jean-Eric Vergne having a stellar weekend.

McLaren showed at Silverstone they have a superb young driver called Kevin Magnussen who set the fast time on the first day of the test while being brilliantly consistent. Of course he could well be the future, at the moment Jenson Button and Sergio Perez are stuck with what they’ve got, which is not a lot. Maybe some fighting points, as they did look stronger in Germany with the first stage of the tyre alterations; perhaps this tyre change is just what McLaren need to help get them further up the grid.

I’m ditching my continued prediction of a Force India podium, but I do expect them to return to fighting for points, but having said that McLaren and Toro Rosso are edging them at the moment. If they don’t then the tyre changes will have hurt them the most.

While Sauber cosy up to Russian money and a way too young 17 year old potential 2014 driver Sergey Sorotkin, Nico Hulkenberg will be driving out of his skin for the rest of the year to try and get out of there. He’s had some good races and I think this is just the kind of track where Hulk can hustle the car in to the points.

Williams, Caterham and Marussia all to fail to score. It’s sad to lump Williams in with the bottom 2 teams but unfortunately they’re still yet to score. I am going to say Valtteri Bottas will out do Pastor Maldonado this weekend though.

Formula 1 is in for a big weekend, the tyres are unraced, the temperatures are high; how much will the order be mixed up if at all? Only a few days to find out.

all photo's taken from autosport.com

Hamilton holds off Kimi for Hungarian glory

Lewis Hamilton took a brilliantly controlled victory in Hungary today. In many ways it was reminiscent of how Fernando Alonso won in Germany a week ago.

He always had that slight edge as potentially quicker cars behind him tried to have a go at grabbing the win from him. It was in the final sector where Hamilton was just able to keep enough of a gap so no one could touch him in the DRS zone down the start finish straight.

Leading from pole position he immediately got a gap out to Romain Grosjean’s Lotus, but it was never more than a few seconds. It was a hot day in Budapest, conditions that were ideal for the Lotus cars. Grosjean pegged that gap then started to close, getting to within a second.

But Lewis never had to defend from the Frenchman, and as they completed the second pit stops on lap 40 he was three seconds to the good. The challenge was over, well at least from that Lotus.

Ahead of him Kimi Raikkonen was finally into clear air and charging. The Finn, never happy this season without a win shot straight in to the 1.25s as he sought to build a gap.

He had started in fifth and lost a place to Alonso, but through the first pit stops he managed to jump the Ferrari and tagged onto the back of Sebastian Vettel’s Red Bull. He was obviously quicker, but despite the Pirelli tyres and the DRS zone this race would not be an overtaking fest.

Unless it rains in Hungary there’s unlikely to be much chance of overtaking. As soon as Vettel pitted Kimi was unleashed and started taking seconds out of everyone else as they battled through traffic.

He got the gap up to 14 seconds, but after 5 laps Lewis had got his tyres working as Kimi’s degraded and the gap began to fall. He boxed instantly and had done just enough to get ahead of his team mate Grosjean.

Exiting alongside, he locked up his right front pushed Grosjean wide into turn one and was through. It was crucial. Three seconds behind Lewis, he pushed as hard as could. With five laps worth of fresher tyres he caught the McLaren easily, but as he admitted over the radio he needed Hamilton’s tyres to fail.

They didn’t, Lewis looked after them superbly as when he needed to, he pulled out a quick lap just to show the Lotus that he still had some pace there.

Hamilton crossed the line less than a second ahead of the Lotus, but the pace that McLaren’s updates have brought was finally demonstrated with his second victory of the year.

He’s still a long way off championship leader Alonso, but took a significant 15 point chunk out of the Spaniard’s lead. Hamilton isn’t out of the title equation yet, and as they head into the summer break he’ll be optimistic having taken pole position and victory in a very assured manner.

The top three in the championship

The top three in the title chase had quiet afternoons. I think Alonso will be quite happy with his afternoons work after finishing fifth and actually extending his lead in the championship over second placed Mark Webber to 40 points.

He’d already said his main focus was to keep Webber behind him, but after they’d made their second stops Webber had turned out in front. Red Bull however, didn’t believe they’d make it to the end on those tyres and pitted Mark with 13 laps left dropping him to eighth and while he was quick at first he became stuck behind Bruno Senna’s Williams and just couldn’t get by.

Sebastian Vettel was urging his team to find a way past Jenson Button, in the end McLaren did it for him by converting him to a three stop strategy which dropped him from challenging for a podium to 6^th by the end, tucked up behind Alonso. Anyway, it was doubtful he’d have stayed ahead of Kimi.

Vettel too went with a three stopper but by the time he made his final stop he was able to come out ahead of Alonso still, and cruised up to the back of Grosjean for third but didn’t have time to make a move, despite lapping 2 seconds quicker than those in front.

The rest of the top 10

Senna came home in seventh in a fine drive. He was always on the pace during the race, in fact for the entire weekend. It was a good performance, and one he needed as we enter the break as he’s been under pressure. Despite being out qualified by his team mate Pastor Maldonado again, he had actually over shadowed him for most of the weekend, and as Maldonado fell down the field due to another penalty Senna maintained position and actually went forwards.

It should be noted that Senna has actually had more points winning results than his team mate, it’s just that Maldonado had that great win in Spain. Senna needs to up his qualifying form and get himself a shining result to keep his seat because he’s in danger of falling off the radar despite his consistency.

Felipe Massa had a bad start, falling from seventh to ninth by the end. He didn’t do much wrong and was actually fairly close to Alonso by the end of the race, but the start cost him and he couldn’t make any passes to progress, much like everyone else.

Nico Rosberg moved up from 13^th on the grid to grab the final point on another disappointing day for Mercedes. After qualifying only 13^th and 17^th their race day turned worse for Schumacher. As they lined up for the start, the lights flashed to abort the start and he switched off his engine.

Everyone else went round for another parade lap as he got pushed into the pits. He then speeded in the pit lane as he took up his position, made an early stop for tyres, got a drive through, tried to go on a one stop but eventually retired after making progress passed the newer teams but little else. Mercedes have a lot of work to do If they want to get anything else from this season.

After the impressive showing in Germany, Sauber had an utterly anonymous day at the races. Neither drive made much progress from a poor qualifying, they just didn’t have the pace.

The title battle

And so now there is a five week break until the next race at Spa in Belgium. Fernando Alonso has built up almost a two win advantage over Mark Webber, but he’ll be slightly concerned, because in full dry conditions, the Ferrari still doesn’t seem to have the pace of at least three teams.

Alonso will work for every point and no doubt grab the odd win along the way, he’s also an expert in damage limitation, but despite his elevated position he knows there’s a marathon of a fight to come.

Red Bull head the constructors championship by a significant margin as their two drives are separated by just two points. Webber has been a bit lacklustre since his Silverstone win and Vettel gives the impression of becoming increasingly frustrated.

But despite this and the various allegations of stretching the rules that have been thrown at them, they are still probably the quickest car in all conditions. With Adrian Newey pushing the envelope at every given opportunity they won’t let Ferrari rest for a tenth of a second.

Two good results later and McLaren are not being written off anymore. At Silverstone they were down and out, now they’re right back in it. Hamilton is only seven points away from being second in the championship and this win will give a lot of encouragement for the rest of the season. He's been mostly brilliant this year and as McLaren develop well, if they can get Button up there consistently too, they’ll have a lot of words to say as the script is written for the title chase.

Despite not having a win to his name this year Kimi Raikkonen remains the dark horse in the championship. He’s only a point behind Hamilton, and actually has the joint second highest amount of podiums this year.

He could have had at least two wins this year, possibly three. If he can get his act together in qualifying, the wins will come easier. He’s certainly driving well, as is Grosjean, Lotus will win a race this year and it could come from either, but for the championship, they’d wanted it to be Kimi who’s a bit more consistent at bringing the car home, they just need him to qualify like Grosjean.

The win could come at Spa, last time Kimi visited there in 2009 he took his fourth win in Belgium. With nine races left it’s still all to play for, the top teams may have more certainty and control over the tyres but there's a lot more story to be told in this epic 2012 season.