What a race in Hungary as Jenson Button goes across the line to win his second race at the Hungaroring. It was a thrilling race with a record 88 pit stops, and changing conditions which suited his smooth, mistake proof driving style. In fact the only mistake he made over the whole weekend was running wide at turn 2 and even then he did not lose a place.
I will begin by going through who was at the front. Then i will discuss other drivers races who made stand out performances.
The start was coming up and the track was damp and greasy. There was no doubt but to start on intermediates. The 5 lights went out and Vettel made a great start. Lewis had a great start compared too others starting on the dirty right hand side. Jenson also had a good start and was alongside his team-mate but had to back out. Further back the Mercedes cars had great starts to jump to 4th for Rosberg and 5th for Schumacher before sliding down the field. On the run to turn 2 Button had a look at Hamilton but with the extra grip around the outside Hamilton kept him at bay. Webber was battling to get back through after falling from 6th to 8th on the first few corners, he got past Massa for 7th.
The cars twitched and skidded into lap two, with Vettels lead ever decreasing by the corner. Hamilton was on fire and Button was holding on well, but dropping back slightly. Alonso had fell to 6th on the first lap, with Massa right behind faring off worse. But Alonso got past both Mercedes to be 4th at the end of Lap 2.
Lap 3 and Hamilton was still trying to get past Vettel after numerous attempts. This helped Button close slightly. The Cars where twitching like mad, and they where all struggling for grip on the still greasy track. Alonso was a man on the move and he was setting fastest sector times. He was drawing in the lead pack. Schumacher who had been up to 5th had already been passed by Alonso, Massa and Webber so was down to 8th with Di Resta and Kobayashi hanging on behind.
Lap 4 and it got increasingly intriguing as the cars still struggled. Alonso made a mistake at turn 2 throwing all the ground he made up away, and returning to the track behind Rosberg. DRS was activated so race control obviously felt it was safe to race with it. The following lap however turn 2 created a new casualty, Vettel who gifted the lead to Hamilton and came under fire from Button behind. There was no question that Red Bull did not have the Mechanical grip in these conditions, unlike Mclaren.
Mclaren tell Jenson to use the yellow button and push to get past Vettel. Hamilton started building a lead but could not relax and had to stay on the ball in the tricky conditions.
Lap 6 and positions stay the same, HAM, VET,BUT,ROS,ALO,MAS,WEB. However going into turn 12 Alonso runs wide and gifts Massa 5th. Going onto the pit straight Alonso uses DRS to get past and Massa does not try and defend going into lap 7. Following lap, and Massa spins at turn 2, but instead of Alonso and Vettel tries to save it and does a full 360, before clipping the barrier and continueing in 9th place. The following lap Alonso uses DRS again but to pass Rosberg, and pushes on to hunt down the top 3, who are unchanged.
The pit stops begin as Webber becomes the 1st of 88 stops this afternoon on lap 11. Massa soon follows as they put on slicks and struggle out of the pitlane. The next lap in comes Button and Di Resta, and the following lap come Vettel, Hamilton and Alonso. Re-joining from the track Hamilton is well clear of his team mate but Vettel isnt and come cropper to Button in turn 2 with his warmer tyres. Alonso also gets taken by Webber. Schumacher briefly led after the pit stops until he then pits for slicks.
After the stops its HAM, BUT, VET, WEB, ALO, ROS, DIR, SCHU and MAS.
The order stays like this for some time. During this break Heidfield goes out with a spectacular fire after apparently revving for too long in his pit stop, after a wheel nut problem, and the engine overheated and caught alight. He proceeded down the pit exit only to stop, and when the marshals came it exploded, hitting a marshal who limped away. Trulli also retired earlier in the race due to an oil leak.
Lap 28 see's the second stops from Hamilton first, and all the rest file in. The top 5 are unchanged.
Schumacher retires on lap 29, the cause is not known at the time.
Perez is given a drive through penalty for overtaking under yellow flags, Kovalianen had been under investigation but it was decided no action to be taken.
Massa moves up to 6th after getting past Kobayashi ,Rosberg, and Di Resta. Vettel starts his charge and puts in some fast laps.
Lap 36 and Alonso pits for the third time and puts on super softs, showing he will need to stop again. Hamilton is told his tyres need to last 9 more laps. Webber follows but puts on the harder soft compound, showing he is not stopping again.
Hamilton decides to come in leaving Button and Vettel out front. He puts on the same Tyres as Alonso. Lap 41 and Vettel comes in for a set of the softs, like his team mate, and hopes to complete the race on those, but loses 3rd to Alonso. Button also files in the the next lap to cover Vettel and puts on the yellow soft or 'prime' tyres.
Lap 47 and rain begins to fall at the back of the circuit. Hamilton clips a kerb and spins, and when he does a spin to face the right way almost connects with Di Resta, who had to take avoiding action off road. Button is gifted the lead as the Mclarens battle and swap positions for a few laps. Button runs wide at turn 2 leaving Hamilton a clear track ahead, with the rain staying over the track for a few more minutes.
Lap 51 is when Button runs wide, as does Vettel. But that same lap Webber comes in for Intermediates and D'Ambrosio does a handbrake style turn in the pit lane which is still quite wet, when he is on dries.
Lap 52 and Hamilton is in the lead, but pits for Intermediates. The rain eases off and it looks like the wrong call. He stays out for a few laps but finds out he has received a drive thru for his near miss with Di Resta. I imagine a fuming Lewis in his helmet on that lap. He pits for the 5th time on lap 55 for dries and for the 6th time the following lap for the drive thru where Lewis's brother Nicolas looks on. This drops Lewis to 6th but he is soon up to 5th after overtaking Massa on lap 58. On that same lap Alonso catches a still damp patch at turn 12 and spins, but does not lose a place.
Lap 60, 10 laps to go and Hamilton sets the fastest lap and is flying. 3 laps later he is past Webber and in 4th. All is calm at the front.
The last lap and Jenson cruises across the line for his second win of the season, his second win in Hungary and on his 200th Grand Prix. It was an amazing race as Vettel goes across the line 2nd, Alonso 3rd, Hamilton 4th, Webber 5th and Massa 6th.
Behind Massa was Di Resta in an impressive 7th after having a good start and keeping up with the top runners pace. Buemi, Rosberg and Alguesuari round out the top 10 with both Torro Rosso's in the points. It could of been better for Alguersuari had he not been hit by Kobayashi at turn 1 when he attempted an overtake. Kobayashi was 11th after never being on the pace due to less pit stops. Petrov, Barrichello, Sutil, Perez and Maldonado finished the mid field entrires. The top new teams where Glock, Ricciardo, D'Ambrosio and Liuzzi after both Lotus Racing cars retired.
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| (c) Octane Photographic |
I will begin by going through who was at the front. Then i will discuss other drivers races who made stand out performances.
The start was coming up and the track was damp and greasy. There was no doubt but to start on intermediates. The 5 lights went out and Vettel made a great start. Lewis had a great start compared too others starting on the dirty right hand side. Jenson also had a good start and was alongside his team-mate but had to back out. Further back the Mercedes cars had great starts to jump to 4th for Rosberg and 5th for Schumacher before sliding down the field. On the run to turn 2 Button had a look at Hamilton but with the extra grip around the outside Hamilton kept him at bay. Webber was battling to get back through after falling from 6th to 8th on the first few corners, he got past Massa for 7th.
The cars twitched and skidded into lap two, with Vettels lead ever decreasing by the corner. Hamilton was on fire and Button was holding on well, but dropping back slightly. Alonso had fell to 6th on the first lap, with Massa right behind faring off worse. But Alonso got past both Mercedes to be 4th at the end of Lap 2.
Lap 3 and Hamilton was still trying to get past Vettel after numerous attempts. This helped Button close slightly. The Cars where twitching like mad, and they where all struggling for grip on the still greasy track. Alonso was a man on the move and he was setting fastest sector times. He was drawing in the lead pack. Schumacher who had been up to 5th had already been passed by Alonso, Massa and Webber so was down to 8th with Di Resta and Kobayashi hanging on behind.
Lap 4 and it got increasingly intriguing as the cars still struggled. Alonso made a mistake at turn 2 throwing all the ground he made up away, and returning to the track behind Rosberg. DRS was activated so race control obviously felt it was safe to race with it. The following lap however turn 2 created a new casualty, Vettel who gifted the lead to Hamilton and came under fire from Button behind. There was no question that Red Bull did not have the Mechanical grip in these conditions, unlike Mclaren.
Mclaren tell Jenson to use the yellow button and push to get past Vettel. Hamilton started building a lead but could not relax and had to stay on the ball in the tricky conditions.
Lap 6 and positions stay the same, HAM, VET,BUT,ROS,ALO,MAS,WEB. However going into turn 12 Alonso runs wide and gifts Massa 5th. Going onto the pit straight Alonso uses DRS to get past and Massa does not try and defend going into lap 7. Following lap, and Massa spins at turn 2, but instead of Alonso and Vettel tries to save it and does a full 360, before clipping the barrier and continueing in 9th place. The following lap Alonso uses DRS again but to pass Rosberg, and pushes on to hunt down the top 3, who are unchanged.
The pit stops begin as Webber becomes the 1st of 88 stops this afternoon on lap 11. Massa soon follows as they put on slicks and struggle out of the pitlane. The next lap in comes Button and Di Resta, and the following lap come Vettel, Hamilton and Alonso. Re-joining from the track Hamilton is well clear of his team mate but Vettel isnt and come cropper to Button in turn 2 with his warmer tyres. Alonso also gets taken by Webber. Schumacher briefly led after the pit stops until he then pits for slicks.
After the stops its HAM, BUT, VET, WEB, ALO, ROS, DIR, SCHU and MAS.
The order stays like this for some time. During this break Heidfield goes out with a spectacular fire after apparently revving for too long in his pit stop, after a wheel nut problem, and the engine overheated and caught alight. He proceeded down the pit exit only to stop, and when the marshals came it exploded, hitting a marshal who limped away. Trulli also retired earlier in the race due to an oil leak.
Lap 28 see's the second stops from Hamilton first, and all the rest file in. The top 5 are unchanged.
Schumacher retires on lap 29, the cause is not known at the time.
Perez is given a drive through penalty for overtaking under yellow flags, Kovalianen had been under investigation but it was decided no action to be taken.
Massa moves up to 6th after getting past Kobayashi ,Rosberg, and Di Resta. Vettel starts his charge and puts in some fast laps.
Lap 36 and Alonso pits for the third time and puts on super softs, showing he will need to stop again. Hamilton is told his tyres need to last 9 more laps. Webber follows but puts on the harder soft compound, showing he is not stopping again.
Hamilton decides to come in leaving Button and Vettel out front. He puts on the same Tyres as Alonso. Lap 41 and Vettel comes in for a set of the softs, like his team mate, and hopes to complete the race on those, but loses 3rd to Alonso. Button also files in the the next lap to cover Vettel and puts on the yellow soft or 'prime' tyres.
Lap 47 and rain begins to fall at the back of the circuit. Hamilton clips a kerb and spins, and when he does a spin to face the right way almost connects with Di Resta, who had to take avoiding action off road. Button is gifted the lead as the Mclarens battle and swap positions for a few laps. Button runs wide at turn 2 leaving Hamilton a clear track ahead, with the rain staying over the track for a few more minutes.
Lap 51 is when Button runs wide, as does Vettel. But that same lap Webber comes in for Intermediates and D'Ambrosio does a handbrake style turn in the pit lane which is still quite wet, when he is on dries.
Lap 52 and Hamilton is in the lead, but pits for Intermediates. The rain eases off and it looks like the wrong call. He stays out for a few laps but finds out he has received a drive thru for his near miss with Di Resta. I imagine a fuming Lewis in his helmet on that lap. He pits for the 5th time on lap 55 for dries and for the 6th time the following lap for the drive thru where Lewis's brother Nicolas looks on. This drops Lewis to 6th but he is soon up to 5th after overtaking Massa on lap 58. On that same lap Alonso catches a still damp patch at turn 12 and spins, but does not lose a place.
Lap 60, 10 laps to go and Hamilton sets the fastest lap and is flying. 3 laps later he is past Webber and in 4th. All is calm at the front.
The last lap and Jenson cruises across the line for his second win of the season, his second win in Hungary and on his 200th Grand Prix. It was an amazing race as Vettel goes across the line 2nd, Alonso 3rd, Hamilton 4th, Webber 5th and Massa 6th.
Behind Massa was Di Resta in an impressive 7th after having a good start and keeping up with the top runners pace. Buemi, Rosberg and Alguesuari round out the top 10 with both Torro Rosso's in the points. It could of been better for Alguersuari had he not been hit by Kobayashi at turn 1 when he attempted an overtake. Kobayashi was 11th after never being on the pace due to less pit stops. Petrov, Barrichello, Sutil, Perez and Maldonado finished the mid field entrires. The top new teams where Glock, Ricciardo, D'Ambrosio and Liuzzi after both Lotus Racing cars retired.
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