Webber Wins a Surprisingly Good Hungarian GP!

After all the disappointments and controversies surrounding the last race, and after such a boring qualifying session yesterday, it was really refreshing to see Formula One go off on it’s holidays with a great race and top winner behind them.

It all could have been so different though and when it really comes down to it we were all saved by a vital tiny moment on lap 16.

The start was tense to say the least.

Alonso sped off the line fantastically and pushed his way up into P2 past a struggling Webber.

A little further back, Petrov made a daring move stick on Hamilton and whilst Button slipped the wrong way, Schumacher and rocket man Kobayashi made fine getaways.

Hamilton fought back though and quickly passed his more inexperienced Russian foe.

So lap two and the positions were as follows:

Vettel, Alonso, Webber, Massa, Hamilton, Petrov, Rosberg, Kubica, Barrichello, Hulkenberg, de la Rossa, Sutil, Schumacher, Luizzi, Button, Kobayashi, Trulli, Buemi, de Grassi, Kovalainen, Glock, Senna, Yamamoto (Alguersari was trailing behind with smoke poring out from his car).

Ok, so from this stage onwards the race looked absolutely finished.

Vettel was pulling ahead by almost a second a lap, Alonso was holding up Webber, and the only thing worth reporting was Button’s excellent racing mind.

(The McLaren man radioed his team to state that he saw Barrichello, five places ahead of him, with the primes on. This meant the team was going to need to assess their strategy. Knock Button all you like, he is unquestionably a smart driver.)

Anyway, back to the ‘race’ and by lap six, Vettel was 5.046 seconds ahead of Alonso. By lap 9, he was almost 8 seconds clear.

Now this continued until that crucial lap. Lap 16…

Button decided to pit on lap 15, but he was joined by Liuzzi minus a front wing? Suddenly the camera panned in on the missing part of the Force India slap bang in the middle of the track.

I can’t remember ever being told quite what happened, but the important thing is that the saftey car was deployed and what followed was mental!

Everyone bar Webber and Barrichello desperately legged it to the pits. I have never seen such unorganised mayhem in F1 before!

Whilst the cameras were focusing on the important stuff like Vettel and Alonso’s stops, the screen suddenly shot to a Renault and a Force India trying to mate in the pit lane!? Then all of a sudden, Rosberg was at the pit exit missing a right rear wheel!!

The mechanics had been so flustered by the sudden stops that Kubica had been released straight into Sutil, and Rosberg’s tyres hadn’t been correctly fitted. What much needed excitement this all added!

Back to the race now and after all this madness, here’s how the grid looked:

Webber, Vettel, Alonso, Hamilton, Massa, (oh yeah in all the action I forgot to mention that Hamilton beat Massa out of the pits), Barrichello, Petrov, Hulkenberg, de la Rossa, Button, Schumacher, Kobayashi, Buemi, Trulli, Liuzzi, Kovalainen, Glock, Senna.

The safety car went back to the pits on lap 17 and this is when the pressure fell on Webber.

The Australian had been confusingly kept out of the pits under the safety period, but he had to put that to one side and drive his ass off to stay in contention for a podium.

Boy did he drive!

On lap 19 poor old Kubica was given a stop go penalty for the pit incident, but after taking the punishment, the Pole decided to call it a day and end a disappointing weekend.

A few laps later, Hamilton’s hard work was ruined when the Championship leader was forced to quit with gearbox troubles.

The McLaren man had been worried about his breaks before the race and to be honest I’m not certain how sure the team were that all was well in car number 2.

By this stage, again I thought the race was over but of course I was less angry because of the great laps around the safety car period.

Still, I didn’t exactly complain when Vettel was handed a drive through penalty for ‘exceeding 10 car lengths behind the safety car.’

The German furiously took his penalty on lap 32 and the action started again. Could Webber do enough to stay ahead of Alonso? Could Vettel (now in P3) take a fight to the Spaniard?

I’m not going to lie to you and tell you the last stint of the race was edge of your seat stuff. In the end Webber pulled out a very comfortable lead and with today’s cars it is very hard to pass. However, I will say it was at least far from boring.

Webber’s stop on lap 43 was an anticlimax (as he rejoined in P1), but further back Vettel was all over Alonso and after his long awaited stop on lap 56, Barrichello found himself right behind Schumacher and itching for a fight.

The Vettel, Alonso fight boilled on quite nicely, but we could all smell blood when it came to Barrichello vs Schumacher!

The Williams driver stalked his Mercedes prey like a friendly Shark (come on, we’re all on Barrichello’s side right?)

It was close right up to lap 66 when Barrichello took his chance and darted up the inside of his old foe on the start straight. What followed was both exciting and frankly disgusting.

Never knowing when to stop and still proving he is as big a cheat as ever, Schumacher un-gloriously pushed Barrichello right up to the barriers, into the pit exit and almost onto the grass before finally giving up.

Fantastic to see Barrichello win that fight and great to hear that Schumacher will be seeing the stewards for his reckless and pathetic behaviour!

The race finished nicely with a triumphant, unexpected victory for Red Bull’s nice guy Webber, a strong second for Alonso, and an amusingly angry Vettel in third. (I’m sorry Vettel fans, I just can’t warm to him).

Thank God for this Grand Prix is all I can say.

As we head into a two week break from the sport, I don’t think we could have wished for anything more from a traditionally dull race.

I imagine most of the negative fallout from last weekend will be glossed over by a popular win. Also worth a mention, all three of the new teams finished for the first time ever.

So a great end to a mixed first half of the season, the title is pretty open and it’s Spa next!!!

 

Drivers’ Top Three

Mark Webber 161

Lewis Hamilton 157

Sebastian Vettel 151

 

Constructors’ Top Three

RBR-Renault 312

McLaren-Mercedes 304

Ferrari 238

 

RESULT

1 Mark Webber RBR-Renault

2 Fernando Alonso Ferrari

3 Sebastian Vettel RBR-Renault

4 Felipe Massa Ferrari

5 Vitaly Petrov Renault

6 Nico Hulkenberg Williams-Cosworth

7 Pedro de la Rosa BMW Sauber-Ferrari

8 Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes

9 Kamui Kobayashi BMW Sauber-Ferrari

10 Rubens Barrichello Williams-Cosworth

11 Michael Schumacher Mercedes GP

12 Sebastien Buemi STR-Ferrari

13 Vitantonio Liuzzi Force India-Mercedes

14 Heikki Kovalainen Lotus-Cosworth

15 Jarno Trulli Lotus-Cosworth

16 Timo Glock Virgin-Cosworth

17 Bruno Senna HRT-Cosworth

18 Lucas di Grassi Virgin-Cosworth

19 Sakon Yamamoto HRT-Cosworth

Ret Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes

Ret Robert Kubica Renault

Ret Nico Rosberg Mercedes GP

Ret Adrian Sutil Force India-Mercedes

Ret Jaime Alguersuari STR-Ferrari