Budapest Travel Blog

As a race, the 70-lap Hungarian Grand Prix is always somewhat processional and this year was no exception. However, the race was spiced up by some unexpected issues that took both Lewis Hamilton and Felipe Massa out of contention and handed Heikki Kovalainen the race win in the very final stages of the race.

Felipe Massa made an electric getaway from third position on the grid passing Kovalainen on the run to turn one and then braking late, passed Lewis Hamilton for the lead around the outside of turn one. It was a tremendous aggressive move and showing that his record breaking pace in the second round of qualifying yesterday was no fluke, the Brazilian was able to pull out a small advantage from Hamilton, a gap of four to five seconds he retained though the first round of pits stops.

Hamilton did not look to have an answer to Massa’s pace but the championship leader’s race took a further nose-dive as the front-left tyre failed on lap 42. Hamilton made his way slowly back to the pits and took the soft tyre for the remainder of the race.

Out front, Massa controlled the pace and allowed Kovalainen to slowly close the gap. It all looked to be perfectly under control until two laps from home when the Ferrari V8 failed in dramatic fashion handing the race win to Kovalainen and leaving Massa distraught.

It was certainly Kovalainen’s lucky day as he recorded his first Grand Prix victory.
The Finn did not have the pace of McLaren Mercedes team-mate Hamilton nor Massa in the Ferrari. Still, it was an error free run which launches his championship tally to within striking distance of the BMW Sauber duo of Nick Heidfeld and Robert Kubica.

Timo Glock drove what is by far the strongest race of his career to finish second for Toyota, Starting from fifth position, Glock made the jump on Kubica and ran with Kovalainen for much of the race and while second position was perhaps a little fortunate, he was a contender throughout the race on pure pace and not a safety car intervention or an abstract fuel strategy.

Kimi Raikkonen finished in third position having followed Fernando Alonso for two-thirds of the race without making much of an impression. Some rapid pit work from the Ferrari crew gave him the track position and he was then able to close the gap to Glock before backing off in the latter stages following team-mate Massa’s engine failure. The result moves Raikkonen ahead of his unfortunate team-mate in the championship race.

It proved to be a pretty good day for the Renault team with Alonso and Nelson Piquet taking the chequered flag in fourth and sixth positions with Hamilton recovering from his puncture to finish in fifth position and score four valuable points. Despite his problems, Hamilton retains the championship lead with 62 points.

Jarno Trulli started ninth and finished in seventh position in the second Toyota while it was a disappointing day for the BMW Sauber team with Robert Kubica sliding back at the start of the race and then in the pit stops to finish in eighth position. Team-mate Nick Heidfeld opted to take a one stop strategy and finished in tenth position from 15th position on the grid.

Red Bull Renault lost further ground to Toyota in the constructors’ championship with Mark Webber finishing in ninth position and David Coulthard 11th behind Heidfeld. Glock’s eight points move Toyota nine clear of Red Bull in the battle for fourth position in the championship.

Jenson Button finished a lap down in 12th position in the leading Honda while Rubens Barrichello made early progress in the second RA108 only for a refuelling issue to drop the Brazilian veteran back down the order to finish 16th. In between, Kazuki Nakajima used a one stop strategy to take the flag in 13th position ahead of Williams-Toyota team-mate Nico Rosberg and the Force India Ferrari of Giancarlo Fisichella.

Massa was classified in 17th position and now drops eight points behind Hamilton in the championship and three behind team-mate Raikkonen.

Sebastien Bourdais also suffered a refuelling problem and finished three laps down in 18th while team-mate Sebastian Vettel ran wide at the start of the race heading into the final turn on the first lap and dropped down the order. It would matter little as the STR3 soon ground to a halt with yet another mechanical problem. Adrian Sutil suffered a puncture late in the race in the second Force India and retired the VJM01 a few laps later.

Formula One now takes a short break before reconvening in Valencia in three weeks time.

Earl ALEXANDER
© CAPSIS International
source: f1-live.com
photo - Index

Formula 1, 2009 - Bahrain International Circuit

Button Crowned 'King of the Desert' at Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix
Manama, 26th April 2009: Heat, noise and spectacle from the Bahrain International Circuit today gripped the Kingdom and hundreds of millions of TV viewers around the world, as the 2009 Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix hit a heart-stopping climax.
As the biggest sporting and social event in the Middle East, the event drew an unparalleled crowd of 93,682 people throughout the weekend

Labels: Budapest - Hungaroring, Hungarian Grand Prix, Kovalainen, Lewis Hamilton

Posted by Budapest Travel Blog at 4:29 PM | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

Lewis Hamilton has won the Hungarian Grand Prix, claiming the third victory of his Formula One career.

The British driver led from start to finish at the Hungaroring, having been given pole position by the stewards.

They decided to punish world champion Fernando Alonso for holding Hamilton up in the pits during final qualifying and the Spaniard was forced to start from sixth place on the grid despite recording the fastest time.

Kimi Raikkonen finished second for Ferrari, with Nick Heidfeld third and Alonso fourth.

Hamilton has now extended his lead at the top of the drivers championship to seven points ahead of Alonso.

source: www.channel4.com
photo: www.grandprix.com

Labels: Budapest - Hungaroring, Hungarian Grand Prix

Posted by Budapest Travel Blog at 3:23 PM | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

Midnight magic

A little more controversy was just what Formula 1 did not need on Saturday afternoon in Budapest. The sport has gone through the allegations of team orders in Monaco and the whole of the messy and acrimonious Stepneygate business and we were hoping that we could get back to some racing again. But no, the final moments of the qualifying session produced yet more controversy and it took until midnight to sort this one out. And when the decision came, Fernando Alonso saw his pole position disappear as he took a five place penalty on the grid.

For a change Ferrari was not involved. It had been a very poor performance from the Italian team with Felipe Massa embarrassed when his car ran out of fuel as he accelerated out of the pits towards the end of the Q2 session. The Brazilian was already struggling to get the Ferrari working to his satisfaction and somehow or other the mechanics forgot to put fuel into the car as they sent him on his way. One wonders if it might not be a good idea to get Nigel Stepney back in the team, as the team seems to have lost some of its organisation since he fell out with the team management. This meant that Massa had to go out without his tyres properly warmed up and he failed to get through to the top 10 qualifying run-off.

"We made a serious mistake in our management of the second qualifying session for Felipe," said the team's Luca Baldisserri. Massa would start 14th.

Kimi Raikkonen fared rather better but he ended up in fourth place on the grid, behind the BMW of Nick Heidfeld. Raikkonen accepted that the Ferraris were not in a position to match the one-lap pace of the McLarens around the Hungaroring but hoped that in race conditions, the team would be better off. Raikkonen had two decent runs in the final session but complained of huge amounts of understeer towards the end of each of the laps.

"It is a problem we have had all weekend," he said. "We have not managed to solve it."

Normally at the Hungaroring overtaking is a nightmare and starting on the dirty side of the track is also a problem and so being fourth on the grid was not the best place to be.

The big story, however, was in the McLaren camp where Fernando Alonso edged out team-mate Lewis Hamilton for pole position. The problem was that Alonso sat in the pits with Hamilton behind him for rather too long, which meant that Fernando got his final lap in and took pole but Hamilton arrived at the start-finish line to be greeted by the chequered flag. The British driver had seemed the man most likely to be on pole and it looked as though Alonso had deliberately messed it up for him. Hamilton was diplomatic but obviously not very happy.

"Nothing was said to me on the radio," he said. "I was obviously told on the way in that Fernando was doing his stop and I should back off, so I didn't end up having to queue. For some reason he was just held there. His wheels were on, his blankets were off and he was told to wait. I imagine that I probably lost half-a-minute waiting behind Fernando. It definitely needs a good explanation."

The team explained that Alonso had not held Hamilton up deliberately and that mistakes had been made.

"There are definite pressures in the team," Ron Dennis said. "We make no secret of that. They are very competitive. They both want to win and we are doing our very hardest to balance these pressures. We were part of a process that didn't work today."

Dennis explained that it was Alonso's turn to benefit from "the longer fuel burn" and that Hamilton should have slowed to allow Fernando to pass him in the Q3 session.

"He did not. He charged off," said Dennis. "That was somewhat disappointing and caused some tensions on the pit wall."

At the end of the session Alonso was being counted down by his engineer.

"He is under the control of that engineer," Dennis said. "He determined when he goes. That's the sequence and if you think that was a deliberate thing, then you can think what you want."

While all this was going on, no-one was paying much attention to Nick Heidfeld, who was third fastest in his BMW Sauber. Like many of the other drivers he was not sure whether to go for the softer tyres and hope that they would last for a lap or to use harder tyres and get a slower time.

"We decided to stay on the prime tyres," said the German. "It is going to be difficult with Kimi behind me but I guess the Ferraris are not as competitive as they have been in other races. We definitely have a good chance."

Things were not quite as good for Robert Kubica, who found himself in seventh place on the grid, half a second slower than his team-mate. The Pole had a software problem which meant that the car was not accelerating cleanly.

Nico Rosberg did well throughout the practice in his Williams-Toyota and he lined up fifth on the grid, just a tenth slower than Raikkonen's best

"I didn't expect to be that far up today," he admitted, "so I'm really happy that it all came together so well. We found a direction that seemed to suit the car and it just got better and better which meant I could really push. Our car also seems to work well on this kind of high downforce track which allows us to close the gap to the others."

Alexander Wurz ended up 13th, his progress not helped by a radio failure.

"We should have made it into Q3," he said. "I was competitive. I'm looking forward to a strong race tomorrow."

The factory Toyotas were both in the top 10 giving the team its best qualifying of the year with Ralf Schumacher sixth and Jarno Trulli ninth. This was a good effort but the team has yet to prove that it has the same kind of pace in the races, when the cars normally seen to fade back through the field.

Renault seemed to be struggling again after a better showing at the Nurburging, with Giancarlo Fisichella eighth and Heikki Kovalainen 12th. The Finn was disappointed.

"I still don't really understand what happened," he said. "Everything went fine in Q1 and then we put on the super soft compound for Q2 before going back to hard tyres. It seemed a logical decision but I couldn't find the same feeling: the car wasn't the same."

If nothing else Renault did manage to beat its customer Red Bull on this occasion with Mark Webber and David Coulthard 10th and 11th.

The best of the Hondas on this occasion was Anthony Davidson in his Super Aguri in 15th place, four places ahead of Takuma Sato.

"The car had a nice balance," said Anthony. "I was comfortably through to Q2 and looking forward to improving my position in the second session but I could only match the time. Fifteenth was the most the car had in it today."

The last of the men to make it through to Q2 was Tonio Liuzzi in his Toro Rosso. This was as good as the car was going to do and Sebastian Vettel was not able to get near Liuzzi's pace in qualifying, making a mistake at a key moment and so ending up 20th.

The factory Hondas were in a real mess with Jenson Button 17th and Rubens Barrichello 18th.

The drivers were disappointed and confused.

"The car felt reasonably good today," said Button. "We didn't expect to be in this position. It's strange to have a car which is feeling so consistent and to still not make it out of the first qualifying session. It seems to be a lack of efficient downforce which is affecting our pace."

Down at the back as usual were the two Spykers with Adrian Sutil's best time being all but matched by new boy Sakon Yamamoto.

"Sakon has done a very good job all day," said Mike Gascoyne. "His application and professionalism has been excellent and it was just disappointing that he was baulked on his last lap by Fisichella. He lost over half a second in Turns one and two compared to his first run."

The paddock was a lively place on Saturday evening as everyone discussed the latest excitement but as the evening wore on, the interest waned. It would be nice, we argued, to be able to concentrate on the racing for a change.

Hopefully Sunday would allow that.

source: http://www.grandprix.com/
photo: MTI

Labels: Budapest - Hungaroring, Formula 1, Hungarian GP

Posted by Budapest Travel Blog at 10:38 AM | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

The two McLarens will start Sunday’s Hungarian Grand Prix from the front row, after Fernando Alonso just pipped Lewis Hamilton to the crucial pole position at the Hungaroring.

But there was a measure of tension afterwards, as delays getting Alonso away from his second tyre stop - after which the Spaniard set his fastest lap - meant that Hamilton, who had made all the running to that point, was not able to get in his final run.

Alonso lapped in 1m 19.674s, Hamilton had to rely on his previous best of 1m 19.781s.

Saturday afternoon brought bad news for Ferrari. Felipe Massa’s car stopped in the pit lane in Q2, leaving him stranded down in 14th place with a mountain to climb tomorrow, and Kimi Raikkonen, having jumped back up to third place behind the McLarens, got shoved back down to fourth as Nick Heidfeld improved for BMW Sauber right at the end. Heidfeld managed 1m 20.259s, Raikkonen 1m 20.410s.

Nico Rosberg continued his excellent form with fifth place for Williams on 1m 20.632s, chased by Ralf Schumacher on 1m 20.714s in the similarly-engined Toyota. Robert Kubica was seventh in the second BMW Sauber with 1m 20.876s, ahead of Giancarlo Fisichella in the leading Renault on 1m 21.079s. On the fifth row will be Jarno Trulli on 1m 21.206s in the other Toyota, and Nurburgring podium finisher Mark Webber in the Red Bull, on 1m 21.256s.

Webber’s team mate David Coulthard just lost out in Q2, lining up 11th with 1m 20.718s, then came a disappointed Heikki Kovalainen (who was second in practice this morning) on 1m 20.779s in the second Renault. Alex Wurz was 13th for Williams on 1m 21.865s, then came Massa with 1m 21.021s, Anthony Davidson in the lead Super Aguri on 1m 21.127s and Tonio Liuzzi in the only Toro Rosso to get through from Q1, on 1m 21.993s.

Q1 had weeded out the Hondas of Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello, their drivers respectively lapping in 1m 21.737s and 1m 21.877s, Takuma Sato - who had a bit of a wild run to 1m 22.143s in the second Super Aguri, Toro Rosso rookie Sebastian Vettel on 1m 22.177, and the Spykers of Adrian Sutil and Sakon Yamamoto. The German took his round in 1m 22.737s, while his new team mate lapped in 1m 23.774s.

source: http://www.formula1.com/news/headlines/2007/8/6589.html

Labels: Budapest - Hungaroring, Formula 1

Posted by Budapest Travel Blog at 5:24 PM | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

FORMULA 1™ Magyar Nagydíj 2007
Budapest - Hungaroring

Friday 3, August
10:00-11:30 Practice 1
14:00-15:30 Practice 2

Saturday 4, August
11:00-12:00 Practice
14:00 Qualifying

Sunday 5, August
14:00 Race


The Hungaroring track is situated 20 kilometres north of Budapest, so the Hungarian Grand Prix gives you the perfect opportunity to explore one of the most beautiful cities in central Europe. Known as the ‘Paris of central Europe’ and ‘the Queen of the Danube’, Budapest is adorned with beautiful architecture, most of which was built towards the end of the 19th century when the city enjoyed a boom during the industrial revolution. The four ornate bridges that link Buda and Pest were built at this time. The weather is invariably hot around race time, which only adds to the enjoyment of your visit.

“I really enjoy Budapest,” says Kimi Raikkonen. “It’s a very beautiful city, with lots to do - lots of clubs and outdoor bars. Many Finns come to the race because there are some historical links between Hungary and Finland, so it’s the closest I get to a home grand prix during the year. The track is quite slow, but it’s very physical, so it’s a good challenge over a race distance.”

Did you know? Zsolt Baumgartner is the only Hungarian to have competed in his home Grand Prix - for Jordan in 2003 and for Minardi in 2004.

source: formula1.com

Labels: Budapest - Hungaroring, Budapest Formula 1, Magyar Nagydij 2007

Posted by Budapest Travel Blog at 7:56 AM | Permalink | Comments | links to this post