FIA Formula 1 World Championship 2011

[niky]

After 60 of 60 laps
Position Country Driver Team
1 Great Britain L Hamilton McLaren
2 Spain F Alonso Ferrari
3 Australia M Webber Red Bull
4 Germany S Vettel Red Bull
5 Brazil F Massa Ferrari
6 Germany A Sutil Force India
7 Germany N Rosberg Mercedes
8 Germany M Schumacher Mercedes
9 Japan K Kobayashi Sauber
10 Russian Federation V Petrov Renault
11 Mexico S Perez Sauber
12 Spain J Alguersuari Toro Rosso
13 Great Britain P Di Resta Force India
14 Venezuela P Maldonado Williams
15 Switzerland S Buemi Toro Rosso
16 Finland H Kovalainen Lotus
17 Germany T Glock Virgin
18 Belgium J d'Ambrosio Virgin
19 Australia D Ricciardo Hispania
20 India K Chandhok Lotus
21 Italy V Liuzzi
(ret.) Hispania
22 Great Britain J Button
(ret.) McLaren
23 Brazil R Barrichello
(ret.) Williams
24 Germany N Heidfeld Renault

My analysis:

This race was Webber's to lose, and he lost it. Red Bull were never going to be extremely strong at this track, since it relies more on mechanical grip than aero-grip, which McLaren is good at providing... but in dry, warm conditions, Mark pulled off an absolutely fantastic lap to beat everyone else.

But Webber is always terrible when starting under pressure. And the cold track didn't help. Mark bogged down very badly at the start. Vettel's start wasn't fantastic, either, but it wasn't bad. Hamilton was off like he was shot from a cannon... and he never looked back.

Vettel's off-track exucursion merely punctuated an all-around terrible race for him... passed left and right by other drivers (including Massa right before he pitted) and never coming to terms with the car... he lucked out when Massa had a wheel nut stick in the pits, but really, Massa deserved that fourth place instead of him.

Despite the Ferrari's weakness on cold tires, Alonso fought hard for his second place, and deserved that thoroughly. But nobody fought as hard at the front as Hamilton. He made an early mistake that almost gave the lead away, but he re-passed Webber perfectly, recovering from that kerfluffle quite admirably. But it was through sheer bravado and perfect pit timing (I thought, in fact, that McLaren had flubbed it when they brought him in a lap or two early) that Hamilton was able to outrace both Webber and Alonso at the first two corners. Once on his pit exit, against Mark, and when Alonso exited.

Mark almost regained the win twice... once when he overtook Hamilton, and once when he almost overtook him again on that pit exit. But the RBR is difficult to overtake in thanks to its reliance on aero, and was even worse in these conditions.

Adrian Sutil takes the prize for the best German of the weekend. Terrific drive to bring that Force India in so high up in the points. Michael Schumacher also gets a nod for fighting hard and driving superbly during the race. He spun out, like Vettel, but it looked like we would recover it as he held full opposite lock and drifted that Mercedes halfway through the corner before the spin became terminal. Say what you will about the old man, but he's still a sweet driver when he's inspired.

-

This has got to be one of the most fun races of the entire season, alongside Silverstone. I hope we get more of these as the season winds down.

[CVT]

It looks to me like Ferrari and McLaren were able to play catch-up with Red Bull.

Pero, sa qualifying,- nangunguna pa rin ang Red Bull...

Ang Mercedes?- Olat pa rin....

13.8K:gotcha:

[Ry_Tower]

^ At least the races will be more interesting and we will see how SV reacts!

It'll be fun indeed!

[CoDer]

Dale si SV twice na ah.

[Ry_Tower]

Dale si SV twice na ah.

Pero tingin ko makakabawi pa yan and barring accidents eh siya pa din mag-cha-champion.

[CVT]

Reminder: Like this will be another race weekend....

11.8K:gotcha:

[Monseratto]

Qualifying results - 2011 Hungarian Formula 1 Grand Prix


Pos. Driver Team Time Laps
1. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull 01:19.815 14
2. Lewis Hamilton McLaren 01:19.978 12
3. Jenson Button McLaren 01:20.024 15
4. Felipe Massa Ferrari 01:20.350 15
5. Fernando Alonso Ferrari 01:20.365 15
6. Mark Webber Red Bull 01:20.474 16
7. Nico Rosberg Mercedes 01:21.098 12
8. Adrian Sutil Force India 01:21.445 19
9. Michael Schumacher Mercedes 01:21.907 17
10. Sergio Perez Sauber 01:22.157 16
11. Paul di Resta Force India 01:22.256 13
12. Vitaly Petrov Lotus Renault 01:22.284 14
13. Kamui Kobayashi Sauber 01:22.435 16
14. Nick Heidfeld Lotus Renault 01:22.470 14
15. Rubens Barrichello Williams 01:22.684 16
16. Jaime Alguersuari Toro Rosso 01:22.979 10
17. Pastor Maldonado Williams 01:23.847 9
18. Sebastien Buemi Toro Rosso 01:24.070 9
19. Heikki Kovalainen Team Lotus 01:24.362 8
20. Jarno Trulli Team Lotus 01:24.534 7
21. Timo Glock Virgin 01:26.294 10
22. Vitantonio Liuzzi HRT 01:26.323 11
23. Daniel Ricciardo HRT 01:26.479 11
24. Jerome d` Ambrosio Virgin 01:26.510 8

[kihtmaine]

Galeng grabe..

[CoDer]

SV is bacckk.

[CVT]

Ready na ang mga sitserya para sa race mamayang gabi....

13.8K:gotcha:

[Monseratto]

Basa yung tarmac...will an interesting race for a boring track.

[Monseratto]

Galing Hamilton, pressured SV to a mistake. Now pulling away...

[ChunkyLover]

Hehehe... can you imagine it if kung natuloy yung prinopose sa f1 na lahat gawing 4 cylinder engine nalang

[Monseratto]

Daming overtaking, and some of the best teamate vs teamate racing....Button leads!!!
Hamilton has gone from hero to zero...spinning, pit stopped twice for tire change, and penalty drive through.

[Monseratto]

After 70 of 70 laps

Position Country Driver Team
1 Great Britain J Button McLaren
2 Germany S Vettel Red Bull
3 Spain F Alonso Ferrari
4 Great Britain L Hamilton McLaren
5 Australia M Webber Red Bull
6 Brazil F Massa Ferrari
7 Great Britain P Di Resta Force India
8 Switzerland S Buemi Toro Rosso
9 Germany N Rosberg Mercedes
10 Spain J Alguersuari Toro Rosso
11 Japan K Kobayashi Sauber
12 Russian Federation V Petrov Renault
13 Brazil R Barrichello Williams
14 Germany A Sutil Force India
15 Mexico S Perez Sauber
16 Venezuela P Maldonado Williams
17 Germany T Glock Virgin
18 Australia D Ricciardo Hispania
19 Belgium J d'Ambrosio Virgin
20 Italy V Liuzzi Hispania
21 Finland H Kovalainen
(ret.) Lotus
22 Germany M Schumacher
(ret.) Mercedes
23 Germany N Heidfeld
(ret.) Renault
24 Italy J Trulli
(ret.) Lotus

[Ry_Tower]

Looks ike Mclaren and Ferrari are indeed at the heels of RBR but SV just reaffirmed his position to take B2B championships!

[niky]

Jenson Button has Historic Win at 2011 Hungarian GP

It's a historic occasion because this was his 200th ever Formula One race, and the Hungaroring was the site of his first ever victory in F1, many years ago.

Jenson Button started this race in third place... the McLarens being strong at this track since the start of practice. While there was a very clear line between the "number one" and "number two" drivers of McLaren, Ferrari and Red Bull mid-qualifying, the end of Q3 was a surprise result, with Button and Massa punching above their weight.

Sebastian Vettel did a superhuman lap in his Red Bull to secure pole position from Lewis Hamilton in the other McLaren, as the Red Bull doesn't seem suited to these conditions, and, indeed, with Sunday starting wet, Vettel soon lost his lead to the charging McLarens.

From then on, it was a topsy turvy race. Vettel, Alonso, Hamilton, Webber and Massa all had their moments in the rain, but it seemed like Lewis was the master of all, with a pace at the start on intermediate wet tires that no one could match. He had a moment that allowed Button to catch and pass him, but he took that place back when Button went a bit wide a lap later. It was very wet out on track.

It all went horribly wrong for Lewis mid-race as the rain came pouring down yet again. McLaren decided to keep Lewis out a little bit longer on the super-soft slick tires, in order to give him breathing room on the last stint, but that backfired as he spun out on track. As he tried to bring the car back around, he almost collided with Paul di Resta's Force India car. He finally came in, lead lost, and switched back to intermediate tires. A move that puzzled all, as Mark Webber at Red Bull had come in for intermediates, and was posting lap times that were awfully slow.

Immediately Lewis lost position to Alonso's charging Ferrari. Soon, he had to pit again for tires, this time the "prime" slicks. Then he had to serve a drive-through penalty for his unsafe re-joining in front of DiResta (a move which he apologized for later). His race was finished. His only consolation was that his natural pace enabled him to leapfrog Massa and Webber and end up back in fourth place.

Vettel and Button, on the other hand, had got the tire strategy right, with Button leading Vettel in the closing stages of the race. Vettel managed to get within three seconds of the McLaren, but then Button put down the hammer and pulled out an impressive nine second lead to seal the race victory.

And it was a scrappy victory. He'd had to overtake Lewis twice, Vettel once, and he'd been pushing so hard that he lapped most of the field twice. Vettel did a fine job recovering from an early race spin to maintain second, and Alonso was a distant third, probably disappointed that he wasn't closer to the front, given the natural pace of the Ferrari.

Hamilton did a good job to salvage something out of that disaster of a race, while Webber's disastrous stint on intermediates nearly cost him everything. Massa's race was one to forget. His Ferrari never seemed in contention compared to the other cars in the top six.

Other notable events were Paul di Resta's amazing drive to seventh on a wet and wild Sunday. He just missed out on making Q3 in qualifying, and he was on fire during the race, leapfrogging Renaults, Torro Rossos and Mercedes GPs in his Force India car. It was not such a great day for Renault's Nick Heidfeld, who really was on fire after a long pit stop caused his car to overheat and go up in flames right at the pit exit. As the stewards tried to put it out, a hydraulic reservoir exploded, showering one steward with shrapnel. It's a fair bet that the FIA will be investigating and possibly banning Renault's innovative and controversial forward facing exhausts over the summer break.

Going into that break, Vettel extends his lead in the championship. It's unlikely anyone will catch him now, but with McLaren and Ferrari in resurgence, it's a sure bet the racing itself will stay as exciting as these past three races have been.

[docgorio]

Jens has this knack for listening to his instincts and not his race engineers... He's defied orders from the pits more than once and paid off handsomely in the end... Thanks to his very smooth driving style his tyres last a lot longer than the others. I was very fortunate to watch him drive in Monaco twice while seated at Tabac; just by listening to his engine notes and the attitude of the car his style is very smooth indeed...

[niky]

Too true... he has the knack. If deciding his own tire strategy contrary to team orders had only won him this race, you could put it down to luck... but this isn't the first time that Button has out-strategized his team.

When Button retires, McLaren would do well to hire him in another capacity.

[Monseratto]

Here's an interesting trivia, the only team to have both of it drivers not retire so far (fingers crossed) from a race in 2011 is Red Bull.