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After nine-long race weekends, the Formula 1 paddock arrived in Budapest to compete in the 10th Grand Prix of the year at the Hungaroring.
This race marks the halfway point in the season and after a three week-long break, teams will get an additional four weeks off in the month of August. Lets take a look at how the race weekend panned out.
Practice:
Free Practice 1 began with the Red Bull’s on top with Sebastian Vettel followed by Mark Webber. They showed really good pace from the beginning with Lotus and Ferrari right behind. Mercedes, meanwhile, were no where to be found. Both their drivers felt that the car just wasn’t there.
Later that day in Free Practice 2, it was Red Bull again who topped the session with a 1-2 with Vettel on top again. Again it was Lotus and Ferrari who looked better than the Mercedes team, who at this point where struggling to get the grips of the new tyres.
In Free Practice 3 it was Lotus’ Romain Grosjean who topped the session followed by Ferrari’s Alonso. The Bulls were a little way back and Mercedes began to show some pace. The surprise of this session was McLaren’s Sergio Perez putting in the third best time of the session.
Qualifying:
Q1 saw the usual suspects in the form of Marussia and Caterham dropping out. Caterham’s Charles Pic put in a time which was almost eight-tenths faster than the fastest Marussia.
Caterham have surely stepped up their game this year against their rivals. The shock of the session was to see Force India’s Paul Di Resta drop out. The Scot complained about the lack of grip on his car. Sauber’s Gutierrez qualified in 17th.Q2 gave us a good battle. In the end, both Williams’ drivers along with Vergne, Hulkenburg, Sutil and Button failed to qualify for the final session. Button remained positive about his car’s performance.Q3 started and Mark Webber, who was suffering from a KERS issue, decided not to go out. Vettel, initially put his car on top by over eight-tenths. In the final minutes, it was Hamilton’s amazing lap that put him on top. He eventually stayed on top to take his third consecutive pole this year.
The Briton beat Vettel’s time by just 0.038s to take his 30th career pole. Grosjean put his car in third alongside Rosberg and ahead of Alonso and Raikkonen. Ricciardo impressed with eighth and Perez put his McLaren in ninth.
Hamilton surprised everybody with this pole and said he needed a miracle to win.
Race:Lewis Hamilton drove amazingly from start to finish to claim his first victory for the Mercedes team and his 23rd career win. Hamilton had a great start and was able to hold of Vettel in the beginning.This was one part of his job done.
Hamilton made two important moves that proved successful – the first being his pass on McLaren’s Jenson Button soon after his pit stop and the next one on Mark Webber into Turn 3. Both these moves put him into clear air and helped him take the lead and eventually win the race.
Lotus’s Kimi Raikkonen drove another great race, finishing second after starting in P6. Raikkonen was one of only four drivers to stop only twice. He had a great battle with Vettel in the closing stages. The Finn gave Vettel no room to overtake and took another second place finish at this circuit.
Vettel came here looking very strong but was beaten by Hamilton in qualifying. Everybody expected him to overtake Hamilton quickly but that wasn’t the case. The German was stuck behind Button for over 12 laps which cost him a lot of time. This in turn affected his charge for the win and eventually he could manage a third place finish.
Mark Webber, who had a disastrous qualifying because of a KERS issue, showed us his true form by pushing hard during the race. He finished fourth, 5.5 seconds behind his teammate Vettel. Webber was right behind Hamilton in second position before pitting for option tyres in the closing stages. Surely, the Australian will be happy with his performance.
Ferrari disappointed again. They desperately need to give Fernando Alonso a car he can win with. Alonso must be getting frustrated to watch his Championship rivals increase their lead. He could manage only fifth, which was probably the best his car could do. His teammate Felipe Massa finished eighth.
Romain Grosjean looked really quick in the beginning, but his aggressive driving style once again cost him a podium. Grosjean went over the white line while making his move on Button and this cost him a post-race 20-second penalty. He was also penalized during the race with a drive through penalty for his aggressive move on Massa into turn 4. He finished sixth even after the penalty.
Romain Grosjean had an eventful Hungarian GP
McLaren seem to have turned things around after putting both their cars in the points today. Jenson Button finished in seventh and Sergio Perez finished ninth, with both stopping only twice and overtaking quite a lot of cars. Their immediate rivals Force India had a disastrous day as neither car managed to finish the race.
Adrian Sutil’s race was over on the 19th lap after a suspected hydraulics issue, ending his 100th Grand Prix early. Di Resta’s car was wheeled into the garage four laps before the end. This now moves the Mclaren team just two points behind Force India in the Constructors Championship.
Williams driver Pastor Maldonado scored for his team their first championship point this year after finishing in 10th. This is probably their worst start to a season and they can only hope to turn things around next year when they switch to Mercedes power.
Sauber had another bad day after failing to score points in the race. Their driver Nico Hulkenburg could manage only 11th whereas his team-mate Esteban Gutierrez’s race was over on lap 30. The team has managed to score points in only four of the 10 races so far.
Torro Rosso did not have a good day after neither driver finished in the top 10. Their drivers Jean Eric Vergne and Daniel Ricciardo finished 12th and 13th respectively. Ricciardo impressed after qualifying in 8th but disappointed in the race.
Caterham’s Giedo Van Der Garde finished 14th to equal his team’s best performance this season, ahead of his team-mate Charles Pic in 15th.
Marussia’s Jules Bianchi and Max Chilton were the last two finishers 16th and 17th respectively.
Mercedes driver Nico Rosberg, who had a bad start after dropping back to 12th because of contact with Massa, ended his race early on lap 66 when fire and smoke started emanating from his engine. He was quick to park his car in the run off area down at turn 2 and escaped unhurt. This is his third retirement of the season.
Results:
After the race, Vettel increased his lead to 38 points over Raikkonen and 39 points over Ferrari’s Alonso. This margin seems quite a lot but in F1 anything is possible.
Next up is the legendary Belgian Grand Prix at the Circuit de Spa Francochamps in late August. There are four long weeks to go before the drivers return to the track. The teams will now return to their bases and take a well-deserved break.
As always though, the factories will shut down but not the engineering acumen.
Red Bull may announce who drives for them alongside Vettel next season. Will it be Raikkonen or Ricciardo or maybe even Alonso after recent developments? We will have to wait and find out.
