Half season review - Part 1 - From Multi21 to "Testgate"

We have seen a first half of a season with many twist and turns - but still with Red Bull and current world champion Sebastian Vettel in the lead. Let's take a look back what has happened so far.

The season began as usual in Melbourne, Australia and we saw Red Bull, Ferrari and Lotus very strong, also Mercedes and Force India seemed competitive. McLaren hadn't only lost Lewis Hamilton, also their competitiveness. Also Sauber wasn't as strong as in 2012.

The race itself ended with a winner who didn't need to overtake someone on the track to win. 
Kimi Raikkönen simply won with one stop less than Alonso and Vettel.

In the second race in Malaysia we have had the first controversy of the season. After the last pit stops of the race we saw both Red Bulls very close together, but Mark Webber in front.
Because of uncertainty about the stability of the tyres both drivers were ordered to keep their positions with the now famous command Multi21.
Webber turned the engine down, but Vettel continued trying to pass Webber. He ignored the order and passed Webber in a battle through the first sector. Vettel later excused for disobeying the team order, but weeks later he turned back that he Webber hadn't really helped him in the past.

Also Mercedes had a similar issue in the race, but Rosberg obeyed the order and didn't pass Hamilton ahead and stayed at the fourth position.

In the following we saw Mercedes very strong in the qualifying in China. Lewis Hamilton took his first Pole Position for his new team. Later in the race he saved the third position and Fernando Alonso won his first race of the season.

We came to Bahrain and we saw another Pole Position for Mercedes - this time it was Rosberg. But that was the only highlight for Mercedes that weekend. In the race the German lost many positions in the first stint - he struggled with the tyres in the heat. Vettel eventually won the race ahead of both Lotus which came from bad grid positions from behind.


Then we came back to Europe and Nico Rosberg achieved another Pole Position. Lewis Hamilton completed the silver first row with the second place. But in the race it looked like in Bahrain. Both Mercedes lost positions, Hamilton don't even got any points. Nico Rosberg was able to lead longer than in Bahrain but still just scored a few points. Fernando Alonso finally won his home race ahead of Kimi Raikkönen.

Two weeks later the legendary Monaco Grand Prix took place. Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton filled the first row once again. 
The race had some moments: First, Felipe Massa made the same crash into Turn 1 as the day before in the qualifying. It followed the first Safety Car deployment of the year.
Lewis Hamilton let a too big gap between him and the leading Rosberg and lost his second place at the pits. Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber overtook him this way.
Some laps later a crash between Max Chilton and Pastor Maldonado caused a red flag, because there pushed a barrier at the track.
Sergio Perez who gained a position from Fernando Alonso before the restart because the Spaniard cut the chicane had later an intense fight with Raikkönen. 
The Mexican tried several times to pass the Finn at the chicane, Raikkönen always covered his position until one optimistic move from Perez where both clashed. 
Raikkönen got a puncture, dropped back out of the points. Perez had to give up because he destroyed his brakes.
But the Finn came back, overtook in the last laps both Sauber and his compatriot Bottas and at least scored one point for 10th place.

Rosberg eventually won the Monaco Grand Prix, 30 years after his father Keke.

But the victory had negative connotation because the information that Mercedes conducted a Pirelli tyre test with 2013 cars after the Barcelona race became public...

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.