Hungarian Grand Prix memories

The Hungarian Grand Prix is the infamous race where it is hard to win from a bad grid position because of the less passing opportunities. But that doesn't mean it's impossible. Especially after the new rules since 2011 with the usage of DRS and KERS and the new tyre supplier Pirelli with its unpredictable compounds the races have become more exciting.

But let's take a look back at some historical races and incidents happened in Budapest.

If you think about races at the Hungaroring you surely remember the rarely rainy races like in 2006 and 2011 both won by Jenson Button.

In 2006 the championship contenders both Michael Schumacher and Fernando Alonso received penalties in form of seconds added to their lap time. They had to start from bad positions in the grid.

Alonso was in a good position to win this race with the superior car and Michelin tyres, he gained a lot positions. But finally he had to retire after he lost his wheel because of a unfixed wheel nut after a pit stop.
Raikkönen, also in a great position, crashed into a car he was about to lap because he looked in his mirrors at that time.

Michael Schumacher struggled with his Bridgestone tyres, stayed out on the Intermediate compound in the final stint where the track was already almost dry. He had to defend against Pedro de la Rosa and Nick Heidfeld coming faster from behind. Schumacher damaged his suspension and had to retire after a collision with his German compatriot. Button won his first ever race.

Five years later, at his 200th Grand Prix, Button won another Formula One race in the rain. Hamiltons spun and following drive-through-penalty helped him.

Massa at his last race before his crash in 2009

Felipe Massa has two really bad memories about Hungary. In 2008 he took the lead after a fantastic start into the first corner. Later he had retire because of an engine failure a few laps before the end of the race.
The win in Budapest took Heikki Kovalainen which was his first and only Formula One victory.

One year later in the 2009 qualifying of the Hungarian GP Massas head was hit by a part of Rubens Barrichellos car. He became unconscious and ended up in the tyre wall. The Brazilian driver was seriously hurt, almost lost his eye. But he had luck and could recover for a comeback in the following season.

The race in 2010 also had interesting topics. After the Safety Car was deployed a lot of cars went into the pits. But there was chaos: Rosberg lost a wheel after joining the fast lane (looked like the Webber incident last race in Germany) and Kubica and Sutil crashed into each other.

Later, when the Safety Car came in, Vettel missed the restart and let a too big gap between him and his team-mate Webber who hadn't pitted. The German got a drive-through-penalty which couldn't understand in the heat of the moment. He complained with his hands during the drive through the pit lane.

In the final moments of the race we saw a really hard fight between two former team-mates:
Michael Schumacher (Mercedes) and Rubens Barrichello (Williams). The Brazilian, on fresher tyres faster than his old Ferrari mate, was closing in and began his move at the start-finish-straight.
Both cars went to right side close to the pit wall, Barrichello almost hit it. In the last moment Schumacher moved back on the other side, else it would have been a heavy crash.
Barrichello said that was 'horrible" and urged a 'black flag' for the Mercedes driver. But it was too late for that, so Schumacher received a 10-place-grid-penalty for the following Grand Prix.

Also dramatic the 'almost-victory' of Damon Hill in 1997 where he had a big gap until the last laps but a gearbox problem let his former team-mate Jacques Villeneuve close in. The Canadian took in the lead in the final lap, Arrows driver Hill could at least finish second.

The most successful driver has been Michael Schumacher with four victories,  most remarkable was his drive in 1998 where he made a lot of qualifying laps in a row on a different strategy.

Let's see if this weekend can give us another memorable race.

The Silly Season 2013

Every year there are questions marks about some seats for the following season and rumours spread around.
Mark Webber made the first step and decided to leave Formula One for another category...

Vettels new team-mate and Raikkönen's decision 

After everyone knew that the second seat at Red Bull Racing is available almost everyone thought about Raikkönen. Red Bull officially confirmed interest. The other two candidates were the two Toro

Where will Kimi sign?

Rosso drivers Jean-Eric Vergne and Daniel Ricciardo, the latter was even suggested by his Australian compatriot Mark Webber and got a chance to drive the tyre test for Red Bull Racing at the Young Driver Test last week. It looks like Vergne won't get the chance and it will be a decision between Raikkönen and Ricciardo. Lotus definitely wants to keep the Finn but at the end of the day it's Raikkönen's decision. It is expected that we will know more in August, maybe before the Belgium Grand Prix..

Sauber struggled financially and is now finally saved - But what will Hülkenberg do?

Nico Hülkenberg expected different things than he saw this year. The team struggled financially and wasn't as competitive as the year before where the Swiss achieved four podium positions. The German driver was obviously failed to be payed by the team in the last months and he canceled his contract. He can leave whenever he wants. Lotus is an option if Raikkönen really leaves the team for Red Bull Racing. Ferrari could only be an option if they will no longer support their Brazilian driver Felipe Massa. A comeback to Force India would be weird but not impossibile. Sutil also hopes for chances at a team like Ferrari or Lotus. At least Sauber was financially saved by mid-July through a Russian partnership. For 2014 Sauber will try to let a now 17-year-old Russian racing driver driving for them. The only thing he need is the license.. 

Another chance for Massa?

Since Alonso joined Ferrari and Massas comeback in 2010 the things weren't the same as before. Especially after the race of the 'team order' in Germany where Massa lost a possible win for his team-mate, he somehow lost the pace.
But at the end of 2012 it seems that Massa could gradually return to his old form where he constantly scored points and sometimes even beated his Spanish team-mate in qualiying.

It has looked like a sequel at the begin of this season where he had a good start with points and podium finishes, despite having some punctures in Bahrain, Felipe Massa qualified ahead of Fernando Alonso a few times.

His problems began in Monaco, where he had both in qualifying and race a same-looking crash. It was later confirmed that only in the qualifying it had been his own mistake.
Problems continued in Montreal: In the wet qualifying he threw his car in the wall and got a bad grid position for the race where he at least got some points.

In Silverstone Massa was also victim of the cars having a puncture. Until then he had a brilliant start, gained many positions, including his team-mate, from 11 to 5. The puncture threw him at the end of the field.
At the last race - the German Grand Prix - the Brazilian made in the first couple of laps an embarrassing mistake and spun while braking into the first corner. Unfortunately the gearbox failed and he couldn't shift back to the first gear following he had to switch off the engine.

But Massa currently has the pace to be competitive and helpful for Ferrari in the Constructors championship.
He just have to be more consistent and his seat won't be in danger.
I think we can expect Ferrari will confirm Massa in October when he found back his consistency, else Hulkenberg and Sutil are possible options for a replacement.

Finally Raikkönen's decision will be the start of the domino effect, the other decisions will be a consequence of this. Let's see what will happen.

F1 German GP 2013 race report

Sebastian Vettel has finally achieved his first home victory in Germany and has defeated his Juli curse because he also had never won a Grand Prix in this month.

After Lewis Hamilton took the Pole Position on Saturday, Vettel managed it to qualify on second place. His team-mate Mark Webber started from third place ahead of both Lotus. Ricciardo achieved another good Top Ten position in front of both Ferraris. Rosberg failed to get into Q3 because of a strategy error of the team.

Today both Red Bulls had a fantastic start and were able to pass Hamilton before turning into the first corner. Vettel leaded the race ahead of Webber.

After a few laps Massa suddenly spun in Turn 1. He kept stuck in the 5th gear and was unable to downshift which forced him to retire. Such a shame after he already passed Ricciardo and being ahead of his team-mate.

The first pit stops came and also Webber went to the pits. Accidently the right rear wheel wasn't fit properly and the Australian driver was released too early. He lost the wheel a few metres after he continued driving - the wheel hit a cameraman. As it was later confirmed, the FOM worker has 'only' some broken bones and a concussion.

Webber stopped at the end of the pitlane and the team pushed him backwards to the pits where he got another wheel. He lost more than one lap because of this incident.

Meanwhile, both Lotus showed a strong pace closing in on Vettel. Obviously the hot temperatures helped the Lotus again to show their potential. By this time Vettel led ahead of Grosjean and Raikkönen.
A few laps later the Marussia of Jules Bianchi had a massive engine failure before the NGK chicane. He stopped on the grass and yellow flags were waved.

 While the marshals were saving the car it rolled backwards over the other side of the track. Luckily the leaders just came a few seconds later to this corner. Too dangerous for the race control - Safety Car was deployed. The most of the drivers decided to make a pit stop.
This was a lucky situation for Mark Webber, because he was allowed to 'unlap'.
After the restart he could easily gain some positions.

In the front Vettel kept leading the race until Grosjean made another pit stop forcing the German to cover him, which let Raikkönen alone in front.

It first looked like the Finn tried to stay out until the end but he decided to pit around 10 laps before the finish with another set of soft tyres. Alonso, who started with a different strategy, took his first set of soft tyres. They both were approaching Vettel and Grosjean.

Lotus ordered Grosjean to let Raikkönen pass because he was on better tyres. Raikkönen closed in to Vettel down to one second and Alonso was also very close to Grosjean.
But the positions remained the same through the finish but it was close.

Mercedes had another race to forget - comparable to Bahrain or Barcelona. Hamilton dropped down the positions, had awesome battles with his former team-mates Alonso and Button and finally crossed the line as 5th. Rosberg finished 9th ahead of Nico Hulkenberg who took the last point. Mark Webber recovered after his failed first pit stop and scored as 7th six additional points.

Williams has failed another time to finish in the points this season although Maldonado was in a good position until his last pit stop - it took long to fit a tyre. Force India was also unable to score points, they were obviously struggling with the new tyres, tyre rules or the temperatures.

But luckily this time - no punctures! Looks like the new tyre rules has helped so far.