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Formula 1
COOPER: Hungarian GP Team-by-Team
A team-by-team breakdown of the recent Hungarian GP weekend...
Track workers remove the car of Michael Schumacher after the Mercedes crashed at the Hungaroring in Friday's second practice. (Photo: AFP/Getty Images)
The Hungarian GP night not have seen many dramatic overtaking moves – or any dramatic overtaking moves, for that matter – but it was nevertheless a fascinating race, and one packed with tension. Lewis Hamilton was a second ahead of a Lotus after the first lap and a second ahead of a Lotus after 69 laps.
The identity of his pursuer had changed from Romain Grosjean to Kimi Raikkonen, but Lewis never had a chance to relax as he kept up his pace and tried to protect his tires. The nature of the Hungarian track may have made passing impossible, but we did have a moment of excitement when Raikkonen edged his teammate out of the way to secure second as he came out of the pits. Kimi is now a genuine title threat, while behind him the likes of Sebastian Vettel and Fernando Alonso gathered up some priceless points. Here’s what happened among the 12 teams:
Red Bull Racing
Red Bull was off its usual pace on Friday, but Sebastian Vettel recovered to qualify third. Mark Webber was fastest in FP3 but was squeezed down to 11th in Q2. Vettel was passed by Jenson Button at the start, and lost a lot of time behind the McLaren. He got ahead after Button pitted but lost out to Kimi Raikkonen at the second stops. A late third stop put him on new tires for the run to the flag without losing fourth place. Webber started on the prime tire and jumped up to seventh at the start. However, he was slowed by a differential problem that compromised tire wear and led to an extra stop. He finished eighth.
McLaren
A highly motivated Lewis Hamilton was fastest in FP1 and FP2, second in FP3, and top in all three qualifying sessions. Jenson Button wasn’t too far behind for most of the weekend, and qualified fourth. Lewis got away well, although he locked up at Turn One, and stayed safely ahead of Romain Grosjean for the first two stints. In the last, his pursuer was Kimi Raikkonen, but Hamilton kept his tires in good shape and stayed safely ahead. Button passed Vettel and ran third early on but a switch to three stops saw him caught behind Bruno Senna. He lost a lot of time and finished sixth.
Ferrari
Ferrari knew that Hungary would be an exercise in damage limitation as the car was off the ultimate pace. Fernando Alonso was happy enough to qualify sixth, a place ahead of Felipe Massa. Alonso got ahead of Raikkonen at the start, but lost the place at the first stops. Later, Jenson Button’s strategy dropped him behind the Spaniard, who was relieved to take fifth place and some useful points. Despite being on the clean side of the grid, Massa got away badly and lost two spots to Mark Webber and Bruno Senna. He stayed behind them throughout on his way to ninth.
Mercedes
Mercedes really fell off the pace in Hungary, and matters weren’t helped when Michael Schumacher crashed in the rain on Friday. The former champion could not better 17th on the grid, and Nico Rosberg was 12th as both men struggled with understeer. Schumacher erroneously switched off his engine when the start was aborted, started from the pitlane, pitted for a puncture and a speeding drive through, and finally retired after 58 laps. Rosberg had a better day, making up a couple of spots to score a point in 10th.
Lotus
Qualifying has been a Lotus weakness all year but in Hungary the team finally made it onto the front row as Romain Grosjean overcame a Friday crash to earn second, while Kimi Raikkonen didn’t quite get it right and was third. Grosjean slotted into second at the start and pressured leader Lewis Hamilton for the first two stints. Raikkonen, meanwhile, had a KERS issue at the start and lost a place to Fernando Alonso. However, a long and fast second stint saw him emerge from his second stop just ahead of Grosjean. He chased Hamilton hard in the closing laps but could not find a way by as the team claimed second and third.
Force India
Once again, a Force India made Q3 as Nico Hulkenberg took 10th, although he didn’t get a clean lap in when it mattered. Teammate Paul Di Resta started 12th. Hulkenberg stayed 10th in the early stages, but at the first stops, Nico Rosberg got ahead and squeezed him out of the points as he struggled with the balance and tire degradation. As at the previous race in Germany, Di Resta had a poor launch, and dropped two priceless places. He managed to recover by getting ahead of Sergio Perez and Pastor Maldonado to finish 12th, some 5.6 seconds behind his teammate.
Sauber
After a fabulous race in Germany saw the team claim fourth and sixth, Sauber had a poor weekend in Hungary. Usually Q3 contenders, Sergio Perez and Kamui Kobayashi could only qualify 14th and 15th, respectively. Perez gained a couple of spots at the start and ran 12th initially. He tried a long first stint but it didn’t really pay off and ultimately he slipped back to 14th, where he started. Kobayashi, in contrast, made a bad start and lost several places. He struggled on the medium tire and was well out of the points when the team told him to stop on the last lap due to a hydraulic leak.
Scuderia Toro Rosso
The Toro Rosso drivers were happier after setup changes for Saturday worked out. For once, Jean-Eric Vergne outpaced his teammate, also beating Michael Schumacher to claim 16th. Daniel Ricciardo, meanwhile, had traffic and didn’t make Q2 in 18th. The Aussie had the much better first lap, gaining three places, while Vergne lost one. Thereafter both men ran in the middle of the pack for the duration on three-stop strategies. Ricciardo finished 15th while, after an extra stop to clear debris from the sidepod, Vergne was 20 seconds behind in 16th.
Williams
Both Williams drivers showed respectable pace all weekend, and that was reflected with both cars making it to Q3 for the first time. Pastor Maldonado took eighth, while Bruno Senna – as high as fourth in FP3 – was just behind in ninth. The Brazilian had the better Sunday, getting up to eighth at the start and spending a big chunk of the race holding off Jenson Button after a pit stop dropped the Briton behind. He eventually earned seventh. Maldonado dropped back to 12th after a bad first lap and lost time with a drive through after making contact with Paul Di Resta. He finished 13th.
Caterham
There were no big surprises in the Caterham camp as Heikki Kovalainen and Vitaly Petrov earned their usual positions of 19th and 20th, both men reporting that they were happy with the car. As ever, Kovalainen made a good start, getting ahead of Jean-Eric Vergne and Kamui Kobayashi. He later lost out to the Frenchman, and finished 17th and 36 seconds behind the Toro Rosso, having run a three-stop strategy. Petrov also pitted three times but was disappointed to find the car behaving differently from qualifying. He finished 19th.
HRT
As so often in 2012, Pedro de la Rosa and Narain Karthikeyan lined up in 23rd and 24th, respectively, both drivers happy with progress and within a small margin of each other. Both drivers gained a spot on lap 3 when Timo Glock spun in front of them, but ultimately neither was able to stay in front of the Marussia. However, De La Rosa didn’t do too badly and finished only 0.4 seconds behind the German in 23rd, while Karthikeyan suffered a front suspension failure which caused him to pull off and retire on his 61st lap.
Marussia
Once again, Charles Pic qualified ahead of teammate Timo Glock as the pair lined up 21st and 22nd, respectively. The German was not happy with his car after changes following FP3, and hit traffic on his best lap. Pic stayed ahead at the start and pushed Vitaly Petrov for a while. He finished 22 seconds behind the Caterham driver, in 20th. Glock made his life difficult with a lap 3 spin that dropped him behind the two HRTs. Struggling throughout with the balance, he passed Narain Karthikeyan on track and Pedro de la Rosa on the pit stops to claim 24th.
Adam Cooper notched up his 27th season as a racing journalist in 2011. He has written about F1 for SPEED.com since 2005. Follow him on Twitter.
The opinions reflected herein are solely those of the above commentator and are not necessarily those of SPEED.com, FOX, NewsCorp, or SPEED
The identity of his pursuer had changed from Romain Grosjean to Kimi Raikkonen, but Lewis never had a chance to relax as he kept up his pace and tried to protect his tires. The nature of the Hungarian track may have made passing impossible, but we did have a moment of excitement when Raikkonen edged his teammate out of the way to secure second as he came out of the pits. Kimi is now a genuine title threat, while behind him the likes of Sebastian Vettel and Fernando Alonso gathered up some priceless points. Here’s what happened among the 12 teams:
Red Bull Racing
Red Bull was off its usual pace on Friday, but Sebastian Vettel recovered to qualify third. Mark Webber was fastest in FP3 but was squeezed down to 11th in Q2. Vettel was passed by Jenson Button at the start, and lost a lot of time behind the McLaren. He got ahead after Button pitted but lost out to Kimi Raikkonen at the second stops. A late third stop put him on new tires for the run to the flag without losing fourth place. Webber started on the prime tire and jumped up to seventh at the start. However, he was slowed by a differential problem that compromised tire wear and led to an extra stop. He finished eighth.
McLaren
A highly motivated Lewis Hamilton was fastest in FP1 and FP2, second in FP3, and top in all three qualifying sessions. Jenson Button wasn’t too far behind for most of the weekend, and qualified fourth. Lewis got away well, although he locked up at Turn One, and stayed safely ahead of Romain Grosjean for the first two stints. In the last, his pursuer was Kimi Raikkonen, but Hamilton kept his tires in good shape and stayed safely ahead. Button passed Vettel and ran third early on but a switch to three stops saw him caught behind Bruno Senna. He lost a lot of time and finished sixth.
Ferrari
Ferrari knew that Hungary would be an exercise in damage limitation as the car was off the ultimate pace. Fernando Alonso was happy enough to qualify sixth, a place ahead of Felipe Massa. Alonso got ahead of Raikkonen at the start, but lost the place at the first stops. Later, Jenson Button’s strategy dropped him behind the Spaniard, who was relieved to take fifth place and some useful points. Despite being on the clean side of the grid, Massa got away badly and lost two spots to Mark Webber and Bruno Senna. He stayed behind them throughout on his way to ninth.
Mercedes
Mercedes really fell off the pace in Hungary, and matters weren’t helped when Michael Schumacher crashed in the rain on Friday. The former champion could not better 17th on the grid, and Nico Rosberg was 12th as both men struggled with understeer. Schumacher erroneously switched off his engine when the start was aborted, started from the pitlane, pitted for a puncture and a speeding drive through, and finally retired after 58 laps. Rosberg had a better day, making up a couple of spots to score a point in 10th.
Lotus
Qualifying has been a Lotus weakness all year but in Hungary the team finally made it onto the front row as Romain Grosjean overcame a Friday crash to earn second, while Kimi Raikkonen didn’t quite get it right and was third. Grosjean slotted into second at the start and pressured leader Lewis Hamilton for the first two stints. Raikkonen, meanwhile, had a KERS issue at the start and lost a place to Fernando Alonso. However, a long and fast second stint saw him emerge from his second stop just ahead of Grosjean. He chased Hamilton hard in the closing laps but could not find a way by as the team claimed second and third.
Force India
Once again, a Force India made Q3 as Nico Hulkenberg took 10th, although he didn’t get a clean lap in when it mattered. Teammate Paul Di Resta started 12th. Hulkenberg stayed 10th in the early stages, but at the first stops, Nico Rosberg got ahead and squeezed him out of the points as he struggled with the balance and tire degradation. As at the previous race in Germany, Di Resta had a poor launch, and dropped two priceless places. He managed to recover by getting ahead of Sergio Perez and Pastor Maldonado to finish 12th, some 5.6 seconds behind his teammate.
Sauber
After a fabulous race in Germany saw the team claim fourth and sixth, Sauber had a poor weekend in Hungary. Usually Q3 contenders, Sergio Perez and Kamui Kobayashi could only qualify 14th and 15th, respectively. Perez gained a couple of spots at the start and ran 12th initially. He tried a long first stint but it didn’t really pay off and ultimately he slipped back to 14th, where he started. Kobayashi, in contrast, made a bad start and lost several places. He struggled on the medium tire and was well out of the points when the team told him to stop on the last lap due to a hydraulic leak.
Scuderia Toro Rosso
The Toro Rosso drivers were happier after setup changes for Saturday worked out. For once, Jean-Eric Vergne outpaced his teammate, also beating Michael Schumacher to claim 16th. Daniel Ricciardo, meanwhile, had traffic and didn’t make Q2 in 18th. The Aussie had the much better first lap, gaining three places, while Vergne lost one. Thereafter both men ran in the middle of the pack for the duration on three-stop strategies. Ricciardo finished 15th while, after an extra stop to clear debris from the sidepod, Vergne was 20 seconds behind in 16th.
Williams
Both Williams drivers showed respectable pace all weekend, and that was reflected with both cars making it to Q3 for the first time. Pastor Maldonado took eighth, while Bruno Senna – as high as fourth in FP3 – was just behind in ninth. The Brazilian had the better Sunday, getting up to eighth at the start and spending a big chunk of the race holding off Jenson Button after a pit stop dropped the Briton behind. He eventually earned seventh. Maldonado dropped back to 12th after a bad first lap and lost time with a drive through after making contact with Paul Di Resta. He finished 13th.
Caterham
There were no big surprises in the Caterham camp as Heikki Kovalainen and Vitaly Petrov earned their usual positions of 19th and 20th, both men reporting that they were happy with the car. As ever, Kovalainen made a good start, getting ahead of Jean-Eric Vergne and Kamui Kobayashi. He later lost out to the Frenchman, and finished 17th and 36 seconds behind the Toro Rosso, having run a three-stop strategy. Petrov also pitted three times but was disappointed to find the car behaving differently from qualifying. He finished 19th.
HRT
As so often in 2012, Pedro de la Rosa and Narain Karthikeyan lined up in 23rd and 24th, respectively, both drivers happy with progress and within a small margin of each other. Both drivers gained a spot on lap 3 when Timo Glock spun in front of them, but ultimately neither was able to stay in front of the Marussia. However, De La Rosa didn’t do too badly and finished only 0.4 seconds behind the German in 23rd, while Karthikeyan suffered a front suspension failure which caused him to pull off and retire on his 61st lap.
Marussia
Once again, Charles Pic qualified ahead of teammate Timo Glock as the pair lined up 21st and 22nd, respectively. The German was not happy with his car after changes following FP3, and hit traffic on his best lap. Pic stayed ahead at the start and pushed Vitaly Petrov for a while. He finished 22 seconds behind the Caterham driver, in 20th. Glock made his life difficult with a lap 3 spin that dropped him behind the two HRTs. Struggling throughout with the balance, he passed Narain Karthikeyan on track and Pedro de la Rosa on the pit stops to claim 24th.
Adam Cooper notched up his 27th season as a racing journalist in 2011. He has written about F1 for SPEED.com since 2005. Follow him on Twitter.
The opinions reflected herein are solely those of the above commentator and are not necessarily those of SPEED.com, FOX, NewsCorp, or SPEED
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