With the half way mark of the 2012 F1 season been and gone, the 2nd half of the season has alot to live up to.
With back to back races in Germany and Hungary, can the Ferrari of Fernando Alonso win again? Or can Mclaren, Red Bull or Lotus beat them to it? Read on to find out.
The scorching Hungary weather welcomed the F1 circus to the Hungaroring, one of Formula 1's classic circuits. But showers were expected for the weekend. The layout has split opinion for years, boring or flowing? No matter what, some drivers have fond memories from the circuit.
FP1
The first 1 hour 30 minute practice session held at the Hungaroring was a busy one, with teams desperate to test new parts ahead of the summer shut down.
Mclaren laid down a terrific bench mark, taking another Free Practice 1-2. Lewis Hamilton led the way, with a 1m22.821 being the best lap he could put together. It was still 1 tenth faster than team mate Button, who looked happier in the car. Alonso trailed the Mclaren's by about 4 tenths, but many of the teams mixed up the running. The order was not a true representation.
Raikkonen and Grosjean finished the session 5th and 8th, both around the 1 second deficit mark to the Mclaren's. Red Bull's driver duo Webber and Vettel ended the day 13th and 15th, keeping a low profile. There were a few odd off track excursions, with Maldonado having to avoid a slowing Kovalainen by taking a trip through the gravel.
FP2
Rain disrupted play for FP2, just as it did in Germany and at Silverstone. The rain stopped teams from running in the dry, adjusting set ups and doing long fuel runs. However, the weather looks similar for Sunday so drivers experimented with runs on the wet and intermediate tyres.
Lewis Hamilton topped the session for the 2nd time in a row. After topping FP1, he replicated that feat but in a very different session. His best time of 1m21.995 was 2 tenths faster than the nearest challenger, Raikkonen. His Lotus team mate Grosjean ended the session in 9th. Hamilton's fellow British team mate Button set his best time early on before the rain came, 7 tenths off in 6th.
The rain came out and, just like last week, Schumacher binned it in the wall. This time, he aquaplaned in the wet conditions at turn 11. A number of drivers also went off track in the wet, excluding Grosjean who ended up hitting the barrier early on in the dry. He was able to continue after a nose change.
Red Bull had another low key session, with Vettel moving up to 8th and Webber ending up 14th.
FP3
Scorching temperatures and soaring sun welcomed F1 on Saturday for the final 1 hour session of practice.
The session was busy, with drivers trying to fit in as much running as possible after losing out in FP2. Mark Webber topped the time sheets, being the only person to top Hamilton in practice. The Aussie set his best time of 1m.21.550 to go fastest, just 0.093 faster than Lewis in the Mclaren. Vettel finished the session in 3rd place.
Bruno Senna cemented William's good pace by finishing the session in 4th. Ferrari ended the session in 5th and 8th, Alonso ahead of Massa. Hamilton's team mate Jenson Button ended up in 10th after doing some different running. Schumacher and Rosberg ended up in 17th and 18th as they focused on long runs. Meanwhile, Lotus upped the game with another top 10 ending performance, Raikkonen and Grosjean setting the 6th and 7th fastest times.
Qualifying
Q1
Qualifying kicked off at the Hungaroring, with the first 20 minute session getting underway. The top teams chose to do some longer runs, testing and checking set ups, while others frantically went round attempting to make it into the top 17.
A mixture of tyre compounds shook up the order as the chequered flag fell for Q1. Lewis Hamilton topped the session, on the hard tyres, with a lap of 1m21.794. He was 2 tenths faster than Di Resta and team mate Button who moved onto the soft tyre.
The normal suspects were knocked out in Q1. Karthikeyan propped up the times in 24th, with team mate De La Rosa 5 tenths faster in 23rd. Glock set the 22nd fastest lap time, 2 tenths behind team mate and rookie Charles Pic. Petrov ended 20th for Caterham, behind team mate Kovalainen. Daniel Ricciardo was the midfield driver kicked out, disappointing for the Toro Rosso driver after he said they need to pick up the pace.
Q2
15 minutes of running was all that stood between progressing through to the top 10 shoot out, and having to settle with a grid slot between 11th and 17th.
Lewis Hamilton topped the table with a stunning lap time of 1m21.060 to put him top on the soft tyres. He was the only driver to stay in the pits, as others went onto their 2nd runs. As the chequered flag fell, Hamilton's nearest challenger was Sebastian Vettel on a 1m.21.407. Maldonado, Massa, Raikkonen and Alonso also progressed, as did Button, Hulkenberg, Grosjean and Senna.
Out in Q2 were Webber in the Red Bull, Di Resta, Rosberg, Perez, Kobayashi, Vergne and Schumacher. The first and last drivers were surprising, but Webber had not looked comfortable all weekend. Mercedes never made an impact but focused more on their race pace, leading to Schumacher and Rosberg's disappointing grid positions.
Q3
The last 10 minutes of Qualifying for the Hungarian Grand Prix influenced the grid positions from 1 to 10. It was the last qualifying session before the summer break, with all to play for.
Drivers mixed it up with worn or new soft tyres. They also mixed it up with strategy for the short session, going for 1 and 2 runs respectively. The Williams and Force India car of Hulkenberg only set sector times to save tyre life. With the half way mark gone it was Hamilton leading Grosjean, Button and Hamilton. Those 4 were the only drivers to set a lap time early on.
Drivers emerged for their 2nd runs, or 1st runs for Hulkenberg and the Williams drivers, and as the chequered flag fell to end the last qualifying session before the summer shut down, it was Lewis Hamilton who improved his previous benchmark to qualify on pole.
Romain Grosjean impressively went 2nd, with Vettel pitting early and dropping to 3rd. Button went well in 4th, with Raikkonen, Alonso, Massa and Maldonado rounding out the top 8. Senna and Hulkenberg finished the top 10 off.
Pos Driver Team Time Gap
1. Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1m20.953s
2. Romain Grosjean Lotus-Renault 1m21.366s + 0.413
3. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1m21.416s + 0.463
4. Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 1m21.583s + 0.630
5. Kimi Raikkonen Lotus-Renault 1m21.730s + 0.777
6. Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1m21.844s + 0.891
7. Felipe Massa Ferrari 1m21.900s + 0.947
8. Pastor Maldonado Williams-Renault 1m21.939s + 0.986
9. Bruno Senna Williams-Renault 1m22.343s + 1.390
10. Nico Hulkenberg Force India-Mercedes 1m22.847s + 1.894
Q2 cut-off time: 1m21.697s Gap *
11. Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault 1m21.715s + 0.655
12. Paul di Resta Force India-Mercedes 1m21.813s + 0.753
13. Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1m21.895s + 0.835
14. Sergio Perez Sauber-Ferrari 1m21.895s + 0.835
15. Kamui Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari 1m22.300s + 1.240
16. Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m22.380s + 1.320
17. Michael Schumacher Mercedes 1m22.723s + 1.663
Q1 cut-off time: 1m22.948s Gap *
18. Daniel Ricciardo Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m23.250s + 1.456
19. Heikki Kovalainen Caterham-Renault 1m23.576s + 1.782
20. Vitaly Petrov Caterham-Renault 1m24.167s + 2.373
21. Charles Pic Marussia-Cosworth 1m25.244s + 3.450
22. Timo Glock Marussia-Cosworth 1m25.476s + 3.682
23. Pedro de la Rosa HRT-Cosworth 1m25.916s + 4.122
24. Narain Karthikeyan HRT-Cosworth 1m26.178s + 4.384
The Race
Rain was predicted for the race start, with some looking confident on the prospect of slippery conditions, but as the race time closed in the rain stayed away.
Scorching temperatures meant tyre degradation was key. Lewis Hamilton had dominated the weekend up to the race start, but others were hoping to change that. The Hungaroring has been unchanged since its debut in 1986, with overtaking always proving a challenge. Webber and the Mercedes duo were hoping it would be different for 2012.
The revs started to rise, the lights came on and they were racing. Off the grid it was another formation lap. Michael Schumacher's Mercedes was stranded on the grid, as the drivers went round for another tour. For the second time, the engine revs rose and the cars pulled away from the grid. Off the line, it was Hamilton who got the cleanest of starts. Grosjean was slow away as Vettel and Button attacked. Jenson challenged Vettel going into turn 3 and the Brit got past by going round the outside, getting the switchback for turn 4. Webber had made up 5 places through the first few corners. He was one of the only drivers to start on the medium Pirelli tyre.
Hamilton had a 1.4 second lead by the end of lap 1, while Grosjean and Button settled into a rhythm. The DRS was enabled on lap 3 as Schumacher was given a drive through penalty for pit lane speeding. Timo Glock brought out a brief yellow on lap 4 after a spin.
By lap 8, the 2 lead drivers were matching each other on the time sheets and started to pull away from Button and co. Alonso had a train of cars forming, a radio message to Webber explaining that he could be saving tyres for later on. The 2 stop window for pitting opened on lap 13, with drivers beginning to feel the degradation on the tyres. Jenson Button was the first leader to pit on lap 16, taking on 4 fresh medium Pirelli tyres. Vettel and Red Bull did not respond but instead waited 2 laps before re-emerging from his stop on the soft Pirelli rubber. Alonso also pitted on that same lap and failed to clear the slower car of Perez.
Race leader Hamilton pitted on lap 19 and emerged in clear air, on the same tyre as his team mate. The Lotus team reacted a lap later and pitted Grosjean, fitting fresh option rubber. Grosjean was held in the pits for the odd few seconds, leading to the Lotus team losing a few seconds to leader Hamilton. However, the Lotus E20 of Grosjean started to close in as the two teams split strategy. It was a similar story in the fight for 3rd and 4th, with Button losing time to Vettel on the slower Pirelli compound.
By lap 25, Grosjean had closed in to within a second of Hamilton. A few seconds back, Vettel had mimicked Grosjean's move and was well within the DRS zone of Button. Both Mclaren drivers had their mirrors full as the cars crossed the line for lap 32. Grosjean and Vettel were visibly faster than the Mclaren cars ahead, but that was due to strategy.
Mclaren radioed Jenson Button on lap 33 to explain "we have to go to plan B Jenson". As the race went to half distance, Button pitted for a 3 stop strategy. His stop was 2.8 seconds and he emerged just behind Bruno Senna. Hamilton also heard the same message, plan B being a 3 stop strategy. Meanwhile, despite his fast stop Button started to lose time behind Bruno Senna. As Vettel and Raikkonen behind started to set fastest laps, Button was falling back.
Vettel pitted at the end of lap 38 and emerged ahead of Button, as the Brit was still stick behind Senna. Grosjean pitted on lap 40 and came out on the medium compound tyre, with Vettel extremely close to the Lotus. Hamilton pitted on lap 40 and emerged well ahead of Grosjean and the traffic. The leading 2 were both on the same tyre, neutralising the strategy for the final stint. Raikkonen took over the lead and was quietly putting in the fastest laps of the race. Senna eventually pitted on lap 43 to release Jenson Button.
Raikkonen pitted on lap 45 and emerged alongside team mate Grosjean. Going into turn 1, Grosjean got bumped off track by his more experienced team mate. Button also stopped for the 3rd time and fitted the medium tyres. On lap 52 Pastor Maldonado was gifted a drive through penalty for barging Scott Paul Di Resta off the track. As the last 10 laps closed in, Raikkonen swept into the 1 second DRS zone against Hamilton.
Mark Webber pitted for the 3rd and final time to put on the soft tyre compound. He emerged just ahead of Massa in 8th. With 12 laps remaining, all the 24 cars were still running on track. David Croft noted on the Sky Sports F1 Commentary that if the full field of runners remained in place, it would be the 4th time of finishing last and in 24th place for Narain Karthikeyan. Shockingly, with 10 laps left of the race Sebastian Vettel pitted and merged in on used soft tyres. The 2010 and 2011 world champion returned to the track just ahead of fellow double world champion Alonso.
Narain Karthikeyan was spared of another 24th place finish by Michael Schumacher retiring on lap 61. The fight was on at the front, with Hamilton keeping Raikkonen at bay, just. The yellow flag came out on lap 65 after Karthikeyan hit the Hungaroring barriers and broke his suspension.
The popular British driver showed a return to the top after a disappointing German GP. He controlled the race and made a 2 stop strategy work, looking after his tyres beautifully in the final stint and keep a level head under severe pressure from Kimi Raikkonen. The Lotus driver finished 2nd again, so close to a win. He quietly moved up the field and a long middle stint saw him leap frog his team mate.
Romain Grosjean finished off the podium places after dropping back from his 2nd place grid slot towards the end. After running strongly and making only minor errors, it was an impressive drive and gave Lotus a big haul of points. Vettel pressured Grosjean towards the end and made up the 17 seconds of his last minute stop to cross the line 1 second from a podium. Fernando Alonso finished a low key 5th place, extending his championship lead. Jenson Button dropped back at the start and got held up at key moments of the race, unable to make his 3 stopper work out.
Bruno Senna drove a calm, controlled and impressive race to finish in 7th place and get some good points for Williams, when his team mate faltered. Mark Webber dropped more points to Alonso in the championship after a late stop dropped him behind the slower Williams. Felipe Massa finished 9 seconds further back than his 2 time world champion team mate in 9th, with Rosberg recovering from a poor qualifying in 10th.
Outside the points, Hulkenberg and Di Resta never looked to challenge the points positions. Di Resta ended up 12th, just ahead of Maldonado who received a drive through for knocking the British driver off the track. Perez ended a disappointing weekend in 14th, with the two Toro Rosso drivers finishing outside the points again. After Ricciardo and Vergne in 15th and 16th, Kovalainen beat Kobayashi to 17th. Meanwhile, Petrov finished the race in 19th 2 laps down. Pic ended the day 20th and ahead of his team mate, while De La Rosa was the sole HRT to finish in 22nd.
Classified: Pos Driver Team Time
1. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1h41:05.503
2. Raikkonen Lotus-Renault + 1.032
3. Grosjean Lotus-Renault + 10.518
4. Vettel Red Bull-Renault + 11.614
5. Alonso Ferrari + 26.653
6. Button McLaren-Mercedes + 30.243
7. Senna Williams-Renault + 33.899
8. Webber Red Bull-Renault + 34.458
9. Massa Ferrari + 38.300
10. Rosberg Mercedes + 51.200
11. Hulkenberg Force India-Mercedes + 57.200
12. Di Resta Force India-Mercedes + 1:02.800
13. Maldonado Williams-Renault + 1:03.6
14. Perez Sauber-Ferrari + 1:04.4
15. Ricciardo Toro Rosso-Ferrari + 1 lap
16. Vergne Toro Rosso-Ferrari + 1 lap
17. Kovalainen Caterham-Renault + 1 lap
18. Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari + 2 laps
19. Petrov Caterham-Renault + 2 laps
20. Pic Marussia-Cosworth + 2 laps
21. Glock Marussia-Cosworth + 3 laps
22. De la Rosa HRT-Cosworth + 3 laps
Fastest lap: Vettel, 1:24.136
Not classified/retirements: Driver Team On lap
Karthikeyan HRT-Cosworth 63
Schumacher Mercedes 61
 |
| (c) Octane Photographic |
The scorching Hungary weather welcomed the F1 circus to the Hungaroring, one of Formula 1's classic circuits. But showers were expected for the weekend. The layout has split opinion for years, boring or flowing? No matter what, some drivers have fond memories from the circuit.
FP1
The first 1 hour 30 minute practice session held at the Hungaroring was a busy one, with teams desperate to test new parts ahead of the summer shut down.
Raikkonen and Grosjean finished the session 5th and 8th, both around the 1 second deficit mark to the Mclaren's. Red Bull's driver duo Webber and Vettel ended the day 13th and 15th, keeping a low profile. There were a few odd off track excursions, with Maldonado having to avoid a slowing Kovalainen by taking a trip through the gravel.
FP2
Rain disrupted play for FP2, just as it did in Germany and at Silverstone. The rain stopped teams from running in the dry, adjusting set ups and doing long fuel runs. However, the weather looks similar for Sunday so drivers experimented with runs on the wet and intermediate tyres.
Lewis Hamilton topped the session for the 2nd time in a row. After topping FP1, he replicated that feat but in a very different session. His best time of 1m21.995 was 2 tenths faster than the nearest challenger, Raikkonen. His Lotus team mate Grosjean ended the session in 9th. Hamilton's fellow British team mate Button set his best time early on before the rain came, 7 tenths off in 6th.
The rain came out and, just like last week, Schumacher binned it in the wall. This time, he aquaplaned in the wet conditions at turn 11. A number of drivers also went off track in the wet, excluding Grosjean who ended up hitting the barrier early on in the dry. He was able to continue after a nose change.
Red Bull had another low key session, with Vettel moving up to 8th and Webber ending up 14th.
FP3
Scorching temperatures and soaring sun welcomed F1 on Saturday for the final 1 hour session of practice.
Bruno Senna cemented William's good pace by finishing the session in 4th. Ferrari ended the session in 5th and 8th, Alonso ahead of Massa. Hamilton's team mate Jenson Button ended up in 10th after doing some different running. Schumacher and Rosberg ended up in 17th and 18th as they focused on long runs. Meanwhile, Lotus upped the game with another top 10 ending performance, Raikkonen and Grosjean setting the 6th and 7th fastest times.
Qualifying
Q1
Qualifying kicked off at the Hungaroring, with the first 20 minute session getting underway. The top teams chose to do some longer runs, testing and checking set ups, while others frantically went round attempting to make it into the top 17.
The normal suspects were knocked out in Q1. Karthikeyan propped up the times in 24th, with team mate De La Rosa 5 tenths faster in 23rd. Glock set the 22nd fastest lap time, 2 tenths behind team mate and rookie Charles Pic. Petrov ended 20th for Caterham, behind team mate Kovalainen. Daniel Ricciardo was the midfield driver kicked out, disappointing for the Toro Rosso driver after he said they need to pick up the pace.
Q2
15 minutes of running was all that stood between progressing through to the top 10 shoot out, and having to settle with a grid slot between 11th and 17th.
Out in Q2 were Webber in the Red Bull, Di Resta, Rosberg, Perez, Kobayashi, Vergne and Schumacher. The first and last drivers were surprising, but Webber had not looked comfortable all weekend. Mercedes never made an impact but focused more on their race pace, leading to Schumacher and Rosberg's disappointing grid positions.
Q3
The last 10 minutes of Qualifying for the Hungarian Grand Prix influenced the grid positions from 1 to 10. It was the last qualifying session before the summer break, with all to play for.
Drivers emerged for their 2nd runs, or 1st runs for Hulkenberg and the Williams drivers, and as the chequered flag fell to end the last qualifying session before the summer shut down, it was Lewis Hamilton who improved his previous benchmark to qualify on pole.
Romain Grosjean impressively went 2nd, with Vettel pitting early and dropping to 3rd. Button went well in 4th, with Raikkonen, Alonso, Massa and Maldonado rounding out the top 8. Senna and Hulkenberg finished the top 10 off.
Pos Driver Team Time Gap
1. Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1m20.953s
2. Romain Grosjean Lotus-Renault 1m21.366s + 0.413
3. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1m21.416s + 0.463
4. Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 1m21.583s + 0.630
5. Kimi Raikkonen Lotus-Renault 1m21.730s + 0.777
6. Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1m21.844s + 0.891
7. Felipe Massa Ferrari 1m21.900s + 0.947
8. Pastor Maldonado Williams-Renault 1m21.939s + 0.986
9. Bruno Senna Williams-Renault 1m22.343s + 1.390
10. Nico Hulkenberg Force India-Mercedes 1m22.847s + 1.894
Q2 cut-off time: 1m21.697s Gap *
11. Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault 1m21.715s + 0.655
12. Paul di Resta Force India-Mercedes 1m21.813s + 0.753
13. Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1m21.895s + 0.835
14. Sergio Perez Sauber-Ferrari 1m21.895s + 0.835
15. Kamui Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari 1m22.300s + 1.240
16. Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m22.380s + 1.320
17. Michael Schumacher Mercedes 1m22.723s + 1.663
Q1 cut-off time: 1m22.948s Gap *
18. Daniel Ricciardo Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m23.250s + 1.456
19. Heikki Kovalainen Caterham-Renault 1m23.576s + 1.782
20. Vitaly Petrov Caterham-Renault 1m24.167s + 2.373
21. Charles Pic Marussia-Cosworth 1m25.244s + 3.450
22. Timo Glock Marussia-Cosworth 1m25.476s + 3.682
23. Pedro de la Rosa HRT-Cosworth 1m25.916s + 4.122
24. Narain Karthikeyan HRT-Cosworth 1m26.178s + 4.384
The Race
Rain was predicted for the race start, with some looking confident on the prospect of slippery conditions, but as the race time closed in the rain stayed away.
Scorching temperatures meant tyre degradation was key. Lewis Hamilton had dominated the weekend up to the race start, but others were hoping to change that. The Hungaroring has been unchanged since its debut in 1986, with overtaking always proving a challenge. Webber and the Mercedes duo were hoping it would be different for 2012.
The revs started to rise, the lights came on and they were racing. Off the grid it was another formation lap. Michael Schumacher's Mercedes was stranded on the grid, as the drivers went round for another tour. For the second time, the engine revs rose and the cars pulled away from the grid. Off the line, it was Hamilton who got the cleanest of starts. Grosjean was slow away as Vettel and Button attacked. Jenson challenged Vettel going into turn 3 and the Brit got past by going round the outside, getting the switchback for turn 4. Webber had made up 5 places through the first few corners. He was one of the only drivers to start on the medium Pirelli tyre.
By lap 8, the 2 lead drivers were matching each other on the time sheets and started to pull away from Button and co. Alonso had a train of cars forming, a radio message to Webber explaining that he could be saving tyres for later on. The 2 stop window for pitting opened on lap 13, with drivers beginning to feel the degradation on the tyres. Jenson Button was the first leader to pit on lap 16, taking on 4 fresh medium Pirelli tyres. Vettel and Red Bull did not respond but instead waited 2 laps before re-emerging from his stop on the soft Pirelli rubber. Alonso also pitted on that same lap and failed to clear the slower car of Perez.
Race leader Hamilton pitted on lap 19 and emerged in clear air, on the same tyre as his team mate. The Lotus team reacted a lap later and pitted Grosjean, fitting fresh option rubber. Grosjean was held in the pits for the odd few seconds, leading to the Lotus team losing a few seconds to leader Hamilton. However, the Lotus E20 of Grosjean started to close in as the two teams split strategy. It was a similar story in the fight for 3rd and 4th, with Button losing time to Vettel on the slower Pirelli compound.
By lap 25, Grosjean had closed in to within a second of Hamilton. A few seconds back, Vettel had mimicked Grosjean's move and was well within the DRS zone of Button. Both Mclaren drivers had their mirrors full as the cars crossed the line for lap 32. Grosjean and Vettel were visibly faster than the Mclaren cars ahead, but that was due to strategy.
Mclaren radioed Jenson Button on lap 33 to explain "we have to go to plan B Jenson". As the race went to half distance, Button pitted for a 3 stop strategy. His stop was 2.8 seconds and he emerged just behind Bruno Senna. Hamilton also heard the same message, plan B being a 3 stop strategy. Meanwhile, despite his fast stop Button started to lose time behind Bruno Senna. As Vettel and Raikkonen behind started to set fastest laps, Button was falling back.
Vettel pitted at the end of lap 38 and emerged ahead of Button, as the Brit was still stick behind Senna. Grosjean pitted on lap 40 and came out on the medium compound tyre, with Vettel extremely close to the Lotus. Hamilton pitted on lap 40 and emerged well ahead of Grosjean and the traffic. The leading 2 were both on the same tyre, neutralising the strategy for the final stint. Raikkonen took over the lead and was quietly putting in the fastest laps of the race. Senna eventually pitted on lap 43 to release Jenson Button.
Raikkonen pitted on lap 45 and emerged alongside team mate Grosjean. Going into turn 1, Grosjean got bumped off track by his more experienced team mate. Button also stopped for the 3rd time and fitted the medium tyres. On lap 52 Pastor Maldonado was gifted a drive through penalty for barging Scott Paul Di Resta off the track. As the last 10 laps closed in, Raikkonen swept into the 1 second DRS zone against Hamilton.
Mark Webber pitted for the 3rd and final time to put on the soft tyre compound. He emerged just ahead of Massa in 8th. With 12 laps remaining, all the 24 cars were still running on track. David Croft noted on the Sky Sports F1 Commentary that if the full field of runners remained in place, it would be the 4th time of finishing last and in 24th place for Narain Karthikeyan. Shockingly, with 10 laps left of the race Sebastian Vettel pitted and merged in on used soft tyres. The 2010 and 2011 world champion returned to the track just ahead of fellow double world champion Alonso.
Lewis Hamilton Wins the Hungarian Grand Prix
Romain Grosjean finished off the podium places after dropping back from his 2nd place grid slot towards the end. After running strongly and making only minor errors, it was an impressive drive and gave Lotus a big haul of points. Vettel pressured Grosjean towards the end and made up the 17 seconds of his last minute stop to cross the line 1 second from a podium. Fernando Alonso finished a low key 5th place, extending his championship lead. Jenson Button dropped back at the start and got held up at key moments of the race, unable to make his 3 stopper work out.
Bruno Senna drove a calm, controlled and impressive race to finish in 7th place and get some good points for Williams, when his team mate faltered. Mark Webber dropped more points to Alonso in the championship after a late stop dropped him behind the slower Williams. Felipe Massa finished 9 seconds further back than his 2 time world champion team mate in 9th, with Rosberg recovering from a poor qualifying in 10th.
Outside the points, Hulkenberg and Di Resta never looked to challenge the points positions. Di Resta ended up 12th, just ahead of Maldonado who received a drive through for knocking the British driver off the track. Perez ended a disappointing weekend in 14th, with the two Toro Rosso drivers finishing outside the points again. After Ricciardo and Vergne in 15th and 16th, Kovalainen beat Kobayashi to 17th. Meanwhile, Petrov finished the race in 19th 2 laps down. Pic ended the day 20th and ahead of his team mate, while De La Rosa was the sole HRT to finish in 22nd.
Classified: Pos Driver Team Time
1. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1h41:05.503
2. Raikkonen Lotus-Renault + 1.032
3. Grosjean Lotus-Renault + 10.518
4. Vettel Red Bull-Renault + 11.614
5. Alonso Ferrari + 26.653
6. Button McLaren-Mercedes + 30.243
7. Senna Williams-Renault + 33.899
8. Webber Red Bull-Renault + 34.458
9. Massa Ferrari + 38.300
10. Rosberg Mercedes + 51.200
11. Hulkenberg Force India-Mercedes + 57.200
12. Di Resta Force India-Mercedes + 1:02.800
13. Maldonado Williams-Renault + 1:03.6
14. Perez Sauber-Ferrari + 1:04.4
15. Ricciardo Toro Rosso-Ferrari + 1 lap
16. Vergne Toro Rosso-Ferrari + 1 lap
17. Kovalainen Caterham-Renault + 1 lap
18. Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari + 2 laps
19. Petrov Caterham-Renault + 2 laps
20. Pic Marussia-Cosworth + 2 laps
21. Glock Marussia-Cosworth + 3 laps
22. De la Rosa HRT-Cosworth + 3 laps
Fastest lap: Vettel, 1:24.136
Not classified/retirements: Driver Team On lap
Karthikeyan HRT-Cosworth 63
Schumacher Mercedes 61
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