TheSportsCampus

< Prev		Next >

Lewis Hamilton took an extraordinarily unlikely win for McLaren-Mercedes, dominating the Hungarian Grand Prix, and firmly indicating that McLaren-Mercedes have shrugged off their disastrous start to the season and are back in the hunt. The reigning world champion led home Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen - a welcome boost for the men from Maranello after Felipe Massa's accident yesterday - and the Red Bull of Mark Webber, the winner of the previous race in Germany.

Hamilton, who had not even made it to the podium this year, made full-use of his KERs to gain a position at the start, and then quickly overtook Mark Webber on lap 4, into turn two. By lap 11, he had caught up with early race leader Fernando Alonso and then took the lead when the Spaniard pitted. Alonso though was unable to capitalize on his pole and early pace, as problems with his right front tyre meant that he was soon out of the race.

Thereafter, it looked like a repeat of last year, as freed of Alonso, the McLaren motored off into the distance. Nobody really had another look at Hamilton thereafter, the car looking beautifully set-up for the tight and twisty Hungaroring circuit.

The closest challenge to Hamilton did not come from the Brawns or the Red Bull cars - the two teams that have dominated the season thus far - but from the Ferrari of Kimi Raikkonen. The Finn was the big mover at the start, muscling his way into 4th place. And by the end of the first round of stops, he was well-clear of the Red Bull of Webber and chasing Hamilton. He never caught the Briton but second was great reward for the Ferrari team, after yesterday's drama.

Mark Webber was the best of the Red Bulls, and third place did not hurt his chances in the world championship hunt on a day when the other front-runners struggled. A strong start was converted to third by the end. The Australian had no answer to the two men at the front but he did well to hold off Nico Rosberg and the McLaren of Heikki Kovalinen in the middle stages of the race; his pace dropped off when the team switched him onto the harder tyre and a longer stint.

His team mate Sebastian Vettel had a disaster of a race. First butted by Raikkonen at the start, he dropped down to 7th, from 2nd on the grid. Then the damage from the incident meant that he never had the pace, and on Lap 27, Vettel came on the radio and told the team that "something is broken, I can't drive." He was in the pits the next lap for a new front wing as the team tried to change things around, but the damage - whatever it was - was terminal and a lap later the German was in the pits for good.

The Brawns had another race where they did not shine. Rubens Barrichello's race was comprised from the start, and he was never going to do great things from 13th, at a track where overtaking is impossible. The team put him on a long first stint (he only pitted on lap 31; the last driver to pit) but he could only haul the Brawn up to 10th. Jenson Button picked up another couple of points in 7th, but he was never happy with the handling of the Brawn, and the update the team brought to the race did not seem to help much, pace-wise.

Nico Rosberg had another strong race and finished 4th. The Williams seems to consistently be able to rack up the points, but looks in no danger to make the break-through that might see it finish at the top step, like McLaren.
Hamilton's team mate Heikki Kovalainen finished 6th, indicating that McLaren's pace is real. Jarno Trulli in the Toyota had a nondescript race that saw him take the final point.

The Force India's had a difficult day. Adrian Sutil was the first driver to retire from the race after just one lap. Team mate Giancarlo Fisichella finished 14th; only the two Torro Rosso's were behind.

Hamilton shared after the race, "It's an incredible feeling after what feels like such a long time away. I'm just so proud of the guys. They never gave up, which is something very rare to see in a large group of people. We didn't expect to win - but the car felt fantastic. It's incredibly special to get back up here."

A slightly disappointed Mark Webber said, "It's a bit of a surprise - we expected to be a little bit quicker. It was a pretty difficult venue for us. We knew we didn't have the advantage we had in the last two races. I'm pretty happy all in all. We're still very much a force."

Webber has climbed to second in the Drivers Championship and is now just 18.5 points behind Jenson Button. Vettel meanwhile lost some ground and is now 4.5 points behind Webber.

Kimi Raikkonen was under investigation by the race stewards for his role in the Vettel incident early on in the race, but was later cleared of any wrong doing.

Interim Classification
1. Lewis Hamilton
2. Kimi Raikkonen
3. Mark Webber
4. Nico Rosberg
5. Heikki Kovalainen
6. Timo Glock
7. Jenson Button
8. Jarno Trulli

File Photograph Copyright: Mark McArdle