[image=http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2511/3940393525_6141341a26_o.jpg]
Formula 1 - 2011 Hungarian Grand Prix
Grand Prix---------Winning Driver-------Winning Constructor
[link=http://boards.ign.com/formula_one_racing/b5763/200983541/p1/?18]Australian Grand Prix[/link] - Sebastian Vettel - Red Bull Racing
[link=http://boards.ign.com/formula_one_racing/b5763/201397620/p1/?16]Malaysian Grand Prix[/link] - Sebastian Vettel - Red Bull Racing
[link=http://boards.ign.com/formula_one_racing/b5763/201584480/p1/?10]Chinese Grand Prix[/link]- Lewis Hamilton - Mclaren-Mercedez
[link=http://boards.ign.com/formula_one_racing/b5763/202174432/p1/?10]Turkish Grand Prix[/link] - Sebastian Vettel - Red Bull Racing
[link=http://boards.ign.com/formula_one_racing/b5763/202527780/p1/?11]Spanish Grand Prix[/link] - Sebastian Vettel - Red Bull Racing
[link=http://boards.ign.com/formula_one_racing/b5763/202661675/p1/?12]Monaco Grand Prix[/link] - Sebastian Vettel - Red Bull Racing
[link=http://boards.ign.com/formula_one_racing/b5763/203025708/p1/?10]Canadian Grand Prix[/link] - Jenson Button - Mclaren-Mercedez
[link=http://boards.ign.com/formula_one_racing/b5763/203344961/p1/?8]European Grand Prix[/link] - Sebastian Vettel - Red Bull Racing
[link=http://boards.ign.com/formula_one_racing/b5763/203690687/p1/?13]British Grand Prix[/link] - Fernando Alonso - Ferrari
[link=http://boards.ign.com/formula_one_racing/b5763/204014733/p1/?12]German Grand Prix[/link] - Lewis Hamilton - Mclaren-Mercedez
Driver Standings
1 S. Vettel 216.0
2 M. Webber 139.0
3 L. Hamilton 134.0
4 F. Alonso 130.0
5 J. Button 109.0
6 F. Massa 62.0
7 N. Rosberg 46.0
8 N. Heidfeld 34.0
9 M. Schumacher 32.0
10 V. Petrov 32.0
11 K. Kobayashi 27.0
12 A. Sutil 18.0
13 J. Alguersuari 9.0
14 S. Buemi 8.0
15 S. Perez 8.0
16 R. Barrichello 4.0
17 P. di Resta 2.0
18 N. Karthikeyan 0.0
19 J. Trulli 0.0
20 T. Glock 0.0
21 H. Kovalainen 0.0
22 K. Chandhok 0.0
23 P. Maldonado 0.0
24 J. d'Ambrosio 0.0
25 D. Ricciardo 0.0
26 R. Kubica 0.0
27 P. de la Rosa 0.0
28 V. Liuzzi 0.0
Constructors
1Red Bull 355.0
2McLaren 243.0
3Ferrari 192.0
4Mercedes GP 78.0
5Renault 66.0
6Sauber 35.0
7Force India 20.0
8Toro Rosso 17.0
9Williams 4.0
10Team Lotus 0.0
11Hispania Racing 0.0
12Virgin Racing 0.0
Valencia may have been a disappointment, but the other circuit in F1's theatre of hate, the Hungaroring, is unlikely to be.
A pretty rash prediction, but let me tell you why I've made it (apart from consuming the prescription medication). For a start the FIA has scheduled that the main straight is a DRS zone and even without it last year Rubens was able to get past Michael.
Admittedly Barrichello's Life Assurance agent had a heart attack in the process, but his client managed to make it through with all of his car intact. Even if Michael's reputation was a little bit dented. Secondly there is the addition of KERS, and Red Bull's will probably stop working by Lap 43. Thirdly, the tarmac at the Hungaroring - unless they've resurfaced it - is usually gnarly and tyre-wearing, so the Pirellis may not last that long and/or teams will adopt different strategies.
Everyone will be thankful for a bit of 'Budapest heat' or even 'Budapest mildly warm'. Whatever happens it cannot be as cold as last weekend which will be good news for Ferrari who were very close to winning in conditions that really didn't suit them. As we all saw, Lewis Hamilton beat the odds to record his best win in the last three years.
Lewis says the next race can't come soon enough. Maybe he hasn't looked at the calendar. For Sebastian Vettel the summer break can't come soon enough. What he really needs is a positive nerve-steadying result at the Hungaroring. Because the last thing you would want on your mind for the four weeks of August is the prospect of McLaren and Ferrari using their mighty R&D departments to out-develop your car over the summer. It might be like Jenson's 2009 Brawn season all over again.
Button had another disappointing race in Germany and has said that his title race is over. If he really means that then he's going to start moving over whenever Lewis is behind him...and I can't see that happening quite yet. Especially at the circuit where he scored his maiden win for Honda and his 200th race.
What was most impressive about last weekend was the calm displayed by Fernando's engineer Andrea Stella, who radioed to his man in the most casual way on Lap 14, "Tell me about tyres...when you can." He sounded like he was wearing loafers and a polo shirt, waiting for a café latte at a Milan bar rather than sat on the pitwall trying to find out VITAL information. Alonso was in for tyres two laps later. "Ciao bambino" Andrea waved from his position by Stefano. Probably.
Calm is not what is happening over at the Renault team. Renault boss Eric Boullier is sounding more and more like the teacher who really hates one of his pupils when referring to Nick Heidfeld. The man they are talking up in his place is Romain Grosjean. Okay, Nick had a poor start at the German GP, but he's still a better all-round package than Vitaly Petrov and a much better bet if the team are serious about challenging Mercedes.
Hungary is normally the race where a lot of Poles make their F1 pilgrimage and like the Norwegians flocking to the Tour de France, they'll probably be showing up in force and showing the big love for Robert Kubica. It's not such great news that he's still got an elbow operation to come and frankly I would be amazed if he got into a car this season, but it would be nice to get an update if we could.
With the potential for multiple stops, the onus will again be on the pitcrews to turn their cars round in under four seconds. In the last two races we've had a race ended and a fourth place and points lost by bungled/delayed tyre changes plus the wrong tyres being brought out. As we predicted in the pre-season preview, with tyres close to the edge, the guys in the garages can't sit back and relax like they used to. They need to be poised. And they must long for the days of refuelling when they could change tyres slowly with a nonchalant air and still beat the fuel hose.
Last year, as alluded to already, there was almost a spectacular incident between F1's two 'old gits', Schumi and Rubinho. This year, with the DRS in place, we're unlikely to see such stubborn resistance down the straight. Valencia wasn't a success but Hungary should be. And if it's not, then they'll just have to make 90% of the circuit a DRS zone. That should excite the forum...
Formula 1 - 2011 Hungarian Grand Prix
Grand Prix---------Winning Driver-------Winning Constructor
[link=http://boards.ign.com/formula_one_racing/b5763/200983541/p1/?18]Australian Grand Prix[/link] - Sebastian Vettel - Red Bull Racing
[link=http://boards.ign.com/formula_one_racing/b5763/201397620/p1/?16]Malaysian Grand Prix[/link] - Sebastian Vettel - Red Bull Racing
[link=http://boards.ign.com/formula_one_racing/b5763/201584480/p1/?10]Chinese Grand Prix[/link]- Lewis Hamilton - Mclaren-Mercedez
[link=http://boards.ign.com/formula_one_racing/b5763/202174432/p1/?10]Turkish Grand Prix[/link] - Sebastian Vettel - Red Bull Racing
[link=http://boards.ign.com/formula_one_racing/b5763/202527780/p1/?11]Spanish Grand Prix[/link] - Sebastian Vettel - Red Bull Racing
[link=http://boards.ign.com/formula_one_racing/b5763/202661675/p1/?12]Monaco Grand Prix[/link] - Sebastian Vettel - Red Bull Racing
[link=http://boards.ign.com/formula_one_racing/b5763/203025708/p1/?10]Canadian Grand Prix[/link] - Jenson Button - Mclaren-Mercedez
[link=http://boards.ign.com/formula_one_racing/b5763/203344961/p1/?8]European Grand Prix[/link] - Sebastian Vettel - Red Bull Racing
[link=http://boards.ign.com/formula_one_racing/b5763/203690687/p1/?13]British Grand Prix[/link] - Fernando Alonso - Ferrari
[link=http://boards.ign.com/formula_one_racing/b5763/204014733/p1/?12]German Grand Prix[/link] - Lewis Hamilton - Mclaren-Mercedez
Driver Standings
1 S. Vettel 216.0
2 M. Webber 139.0
3 L. Hamilton 134.0
4 F. Alonso 130.0
5 J. Button 109.0
6 F. Massa 62.0
7 N. Rosberg 46.0
8 N. Heidfeld 34.0
9 M. Schumacher 32.0
10 V. Petrov 32.0
11 K. Kobayashi 27.0
12 A. Sutil 18.0
13 J. Alguersuari 9.0
14 S. Buemi 8.0
15 S. Perez 8.0
16 R. Barrichello 4.0
17 P. di Resta 2.0
18 N. Karthikeyan 0.0
19 J. Trulli 0.0
20 T. Glock 0.0
21 H. Kovalainen 0.0
22 K. Chandhok 0.0
23 P. Maldonado 0.0
24 J. d'Ambrosio 0.0
25 D. Ricciardo 0.0
26 R. Kubica 0.0
27 P. de la Rosa 0.0
28 V. Liuzzi 0.0
Constructors
1Red Bull 355.0
2McLaren 243.0
3Ferrari 192.0
4Mercedes GP 78.0
5Renault 66.0
6Sauber 35.0
7Force India 20.0
8Toro Rosso 17.0
9Williams 4.0
10Team Lotus 0.0
11Hispania Racing 0.0
12Virgin Racing 0.0
Valencia may have been a disappointment, but the other circuit in F1's theatre of hate, the Hungaroring, is unlikely to be.
A pretty rash prediction, but let me tell you why I've made it (apart from consuming the prescription medication). For a start the FIA has scheduled that the main straight is a DRS zone and even without it last year Rubens was able to get past Michael.
Admittedly Barrichello's Life Assurance agent had a heart attack in the process, but his client managed to make it through with all of his car intact. Even if Michael's reputation was a little bit dented. Secondly there is the addition of KERS, and Red Bull's will probably stop working by Lap 43. Thirdly, the tarmac at the Hungaroring - unless they've resurfaced it - is usually gnarly and tyre-wearing, so the Pirellis may not last that long and/or teams will adopt different strategies.
Everyone will be thankful for a bit of 'Budapest heat' or even 'Budapest mildly warm'. Whatever happens it cannot be as cold as last weekend which will be good news for Ferrari who were very close to winning in conditions that really didn't suit them. As we all saw, Lewis Hamilton beat the odds to record his best win in the last three years.
Lewis says the next race can't come soon enough. Maybe he hasn't looked at the calendar. For Sebastian Vettel the summer break can't come soon enough. What he really needs is a positive nerve-steadying result at the Hungaroring. Because the last thing you would want on your mind for the four weeks of August is the prospect of McLaren and Ferrari using their mighty R&D departments to out-develop your car over the summer. It might be like Jenson's 2009 Brawn season all over again.
Button had another disappointing race in Germany and has said that his title race is over. If he really means that then he's going to start moving over whenever Lewis is behind him...and I can't see that happening quite yet. Especially at the circuit where he scored his maiden win for Honda and his 200th race.
What was most impressive about last weekend was the calm displayed by Fernando's engineer Andrea Stella, who radioed to his man in the most casual way on Lap 14, "Tell me about tyres...when you can." He sounded like he was wearing loafers and a polo shirt, waiting for a café latte at a Milan bar rather than sat on the pitwall trying to find out VITAL information. Alonso was in for tyres two laps later. "Ciao bambino" Andrea waved from his position by Stefano. Probably.
Calm is not what is happening over at the Renault team. Renault boss Eric Boullier is sounding more and more like the teacher who really hates one of his pupils when referring to Nick Heidfeld. The man they are talking up in his place is Romain Grosjean. Okay, Nick had a poor start at the German GP, but he's still a better all-round package than Vitaly Petrov and a much better bet if the team are serious about challenging Mercedes.
Hungary is normally the race where a lot of Poles make their F1 pilgrimage and like the Norwegians flocking to the Tour de France, they'll probably be showing up in force and showing the big love for Robert Kubica. It's not such great news that he's still got an elbow operation to come and frankly I would be amazed if he got into a car this season, but it would be nice to get an update if we could.
With the potential for multiple stops, the onus will again be on the pitcrews to turn their cars round in under four seconds. In the last two races we've had a race ended and a fourth place and points lost by bungled/delayed tyre changes plus the wrong tyres being brought out. As we predicted in the pre-season preview, with tyres close to the edge, the guys in the garages can't sit back and relax like they used to. They need to be poised. And they must long for the days of refuelling when they could change tyres slowly with a nonchalant air and still beat the fuel hose.
Last year, as alluded to already, there was almost a spectacular incident between F1's two 'old gits', Schumi and Rubinho. This year, with the DRS in place, we're unlikely to see such stubborn resistance down the straight. Valencia wasn't a success but Hungary should be. And if it's not, then they'll just have to make 90% of the circuit a DRS zone. That should excite the forum...
