Half season review - Part 2 - Testgate and Punctures

After the Monaco Grand Prix followed a big discussion if this tyre test in Barcelona was legal or not. Red Bull and Ferrari protested these topic before the race and FIA had to investigate what is going to happen. It also was THE TOPIC at the following Canadian Grand Prix...

Beside the politics the teams and drivers had to face the race in the Montreal. In the rainy qualifying Valtteri Bottas surprisingly managed it to be 3rd. Vettel took the pole ahead of Hamilton.

The German was also able to win a superior race for the first time - even with a few mistakes like missing the braking point into Turn 1. Alonso came from behind and beat Hamilton with a nice overtaking move at the start-finish straight and finally finished second.

Unfortunately a marshal died while recovering a crashed Sauber car.

Ahead of the next Grand Prix Mercedes and Pirelli had to go to court. In the end Mercedes and Pirelli were reprimanded and the German team was suspended from the Young Driver Test (YDT) in July.

The following British Grand Prix showed us that they should argue if a tyre test is legal, more that such a test is necessary.

Hamilton was leading the first couple of laps and than suddenly his left rear tyre was destroyed. He lost his lead, returned into the pit lane to get a new tyre and found himself back at the end of the field.

Massa who had another strong start and gained a lot of positions also became a victim. He lost control in the middle of a corner and spun.

After another tyre failure of Jean-Eric Vergne Charlie Whiting decided to deploy the Safety Car.

All drivers were ordered to avoid using the kerbs to prevent further tyre problems.

At this time Vettel was leading the race ahead of Nico Rosberg. But the German had to stop because of a gearbox failure and caused the next Safety Car deployment. Most of the cars made another pit stop for the final laps at that time.
Shortly after the Safety Car came in Perez got a tyre failure and the parts of the rubber almost hit Fernando Alonsos head who was attacking him.
Mark Webber came closer and closer to Rosberg but he would have needed a few more laps.
The German driver won his second race of the season.

Apart from all these tyre issues announced Mark Webber before the British Grand Prix his retirement at the end of the season. That was the start of the Silly Season....

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.