Hungarian Grand Prix Review

In another overtone of 1999, the other outstanding feature of this classic Hungaroring weekend was just how hell-bent the two championship protagonists, Fernando Alonso and Michael Schumacher, were in trying to hand the title to the other. The drama started well before the race, when Alonso was docked two seconds from his fastest time in each qualifying segment after he lost his cool with Red Bull's third driver Robert Doornbos in Friday practice, swerving in front of the Dutchman and brake-testing him.

Alonso has shown over the years that he doesn't let pressure affect his own driving of his car too much; he can push to the limit without flying off the track. But that is not all there is to keeping one's cool. The other Fernando hallmark has always been his irritation, petulance, and perhaps arrogance towards drivers in front of him. For goodness' sake, this was Friday practice where nothing was at stake! It was entirely appropriate that he was punished for this boorish behaviour.

Fernando was therefore unlikely to qualify in the top ten at the Hungaroring of all places, and in normal circumstances that would have meant a struggle to get into the points, handing the initiative right over to Schumacher, who was showing no signs that his recent run of form was about to end. Flavio Briatore may have been understandably aggrieved at the inopportune and - to the cynically-minded - suspicious timing of the mass dampers controversy, but he could have no complaints about Alonso's penalty.

Still, the initiative lay with Schumacher, for he had managed to qualify 12th to Alonso's 15th, and when Button changed his engine and dropped in between, Michael was up to 11th. And with the wet conditions on Sunday causing others to approach the first lap cautiously, Schumi and Alonso pounced, with two of the most electrifying first laps in Grand Prix history. In Michael's case it was the leap off the line itself; for Fernando it was the unbelievable car control as he threaded his way through the midfield morass.

But it quickly became clear that the Michelin intermediate was the tyre to have. Mark Webber slid from 5th on the grid to 17th at the end of lap one, found his Bridgestone-shod Williams undriveable, and promptly slid off into yet another retirement the next lap. Rubens Barrichello, who had started on Michelin monsoons, switched to inters. The McLarens of pole-sitter Kimi Raikkonen and Pedro de la Rosa, something of a rain expert, were running away with it at the front.

Alonso cut past team-mate Giancarlo Fisichella, then the lost-at-sea second Ferrari of Felipe Massa, who would find that the combination of the Bridgestone tyre and his own aggressive steering style left him massively disadvantaged in the wet. But then Fernando gobbled up Michael as well, around the outside of a near 180-degree turn! He had simply found more grip on that part of the track whilst Schumi had stuck somewhat stubbornly to more conventional lines.

Michael, stung by having returned the championship free kick on Saturday and then having had Alonso blast past in the early laps, was now determined to keep Fisichella behind. When Giancarlo dived past at turn one, Schumi attempted a criss-cross counter-attack, only to slide and lose his front wing on the Renault. When Fisi on the Michelins was faster, when the Italian would have had the inside line for the next corner anyway, and when there was still so long in the race to go, this was a second brain-explosion.

To add insult, Fisichella crashed soon after as the rain got heavier, rounding off another pathetic weekend in which he did zero to protect his team-mate. As a result of making his first fuel stop early to change his nosecone, Schumi found himself not only passed but lapped by the rampaging Alonso. Fernando had completed a remarkable recovery from his penalty by taking the lead when both McLarens pitted, as well as Button, who by his own charge was showing that he was revelling in the conditions himself.

By starting outside the top 10, Alonso was always going to be heavier-fuelled, and potentially making one fewer stop than the McLarens and Button. Yet that benefit came to naught when the safety car came out after the spectacular collision between Raikkonen and Vitantonio Liuzzi's Toro Rosso. By bunching the field up and essentially providing an opportunity to make a free pit stop, a safety car intervention always disadvantages those who stay out for longer and are making fewer stops.

The strategy calls under the safety car were intriguing. Alonso made his first stop, as did Nick Heidfeld and Coulthard, with Fernando retaining his lead because de la Rosa was also making his second stop. Were the Spaniards hoping to complete the remaining two-thirds of the race on one tank of fuel? If the race continued wet throughout, who knows if it may have been possible? Mika Salo ran the entire, albeit rain-shortened, 1997 Monaco GP on the one tank of fuel in his Tyrrell.

More interesting, though, was who did not stop. Button, for one, broke from usual safety car norm and stayed out, moving up to 2nd. More importantly from a championship viewpoint, Schumi did not pit either, unlapped himself, and would have made up even more positions had he not initially been caught and held up by the safety car before he was waved by. Perhaps, in hindsight, there was value in Michael topping up with fuel once he was back on the lead lap, as we will suggest later.

Button's stay in 2nd was inevitably short-lived, despite him closing up on Alonso, as he had to make his second stop. Here Honda pulled a tactical masterstroke, from a team not renowned for their tactical nous. Jenson may have had the option of fuelling to the end, but with the track beginning to dry, the short second stop meant that he would run light, with one more stop at which the team could assess their tyre options. Committing to a long run to the end would mean nothing if he needed one more stop eventually.

That was, until the next twist - Alonso's first retirement in 24 races. Although he put it down to a driveshaft failure, the loose right rear wheel nut parting company before the Renault slew into the wall told the full story. Here too was history repeating itself. Just as Nigel Mansell's loose wheel nut cost him at the 1987 Hungarian GP and was a turning point in that year's championship, whether through human error or mechanical mishap, this looked like costing Alonso dear, his points lead set to be cut further.

Button, de la Rosa, Heidfeld and Barrichello made their final stops and switched to dries. For Jenson, it was perfect timing, as it meant that all race he was on the right tyre for the conditions, with the minimum fuel load. The race was falling perfectly into his hands. But it also elevated Michael back up to 2nd in this see-sawing affair, except he remained on his fading intermediates. Although he valiantly kept de la Rosa at bay for several laps, in truth he was attempting the impossible.

The first incident at the chicane was 50-50. De la Rosa was not fully alongside, but to the naked eye Schumi did appear to gain an advantage by cutting the chicane. If Michael stayed in front of the McLaren at the end, perhaps there may have been post-race ramifications. Second time around the Ferrari conceded to the Spaniard, but when Heidfeld attempted the same move, not quite as forcefully as Pedro had done, the collision damaged Schumacher's steering and forced him out.

From potentially trimming Alonso's points lead to 3 points whilst he was up to 2nd, to making no dent whatsoever - to pulling just 1 point back when Kubica was disqualified. If, when it became obvious that he would be a lamb to the slaughter to those on dries, Michael had pitted he would have dropped to 5th, as Coulthard was a lap down in 6th. If he had simply let de la Rosa, Heidfeld and even Barrichello by, he could have finished also in 5th. Either way the gap to Alonso would be down to 7 points with 5 races left.

Regarded as one of the ultimate opportunists in F1, Michael's performance throughout the weekend in the face of Fernando offering him several gifts had simply been uncharacteristically thoughtless. He got sucked in by Alonso's antics on the Saturday, he fell into the trap of wanting to fight Fisichella, he tried pointlessly hard to hold his position towards the end. After Alonso's Hockenheim award, it is only right to give 'Reject of the Race' this time to Michael Schumacher.

Of course, arguably Schumi could have had other ways out of his predicament at the end. In hindsight, with Michael classified 9th even before Kubica's disqualification, and Massa 8th, could Ferrari not have told Felipe to pull off without having passed his team-mate? Unlikely but theoretically possible. Also, what if Michael had short-fuelled behind the safety car once he had got his lap back, to put him onto a strategy like Button's whereby he had one more stop up his sleeve with which to assess tyre options?

Alternatively, if he had not hit Fisichella in the first place, he would not have had to make his first stop early, and perhaps when time came for his second stop, he would have possibly had the option of switching to dries, in which case he may well have actually won the race or at least definitely finish 2nd. Anyway, all these are the what ifs, and the truth is that in the end, it was a welcome if unexpected podium of Button, de la Rosa scoring his first ever podium, and Heidfeld scoring BMW's first dais finish.

Not only was it Button's first win, one which finally got the proverbial monkey off his back and rid him of the unwanted title as the man with the most points and podiums without a victory, but it was Honda's first since 1967 and the first for this version of the team, the outfit formally known as BAR. It was a simply sensational performance, smooth and strategically-brilliant, keeping their heads while many others lost theirs. Usually, with Honda, it's the other way around.

REJECT OF THE RACE
Michael Schumacher
Butchered chance to close the title gap

Coulthard used all his experience to finish a fine 5th, extending Red Bull's gap over Williams for 7th in the constructors' championship to 6 points. Ralf Schumacher came in 6th having struggled on his Bridgestones as much as anyone else. Tellingly, he two-stopped like his brother, but he went to dries at his second stop - which had only been one lap after Michael's last stop. Michael, are you cringing even more at how you squandered a massive opportunity this weekend?

It was an eventful debut for Kubica, featuring an early spin, a closely-fought battle with Scott Speed and Ralf whilst holding up Barrichello behind, a crash that knocked off his nosecone, an eventual 7th place across the line nevertheless, only to be disqualified for being underweight, denying him a place on the list of those who scored points on debut. Still, having qualified in the top 10 on his first outing, all of this was enough to seal Jacques Villeneuve's fate.

At first, Villeneuve's decision to sit out the Hungarian GP after his German GP shunt looked a curious one. All year we've been saying that he can match and beat Heidfeld for speed, but he just can't get the results that matter. Why was he allowing Kubica a free chance to prove himself? Had BMW kicked him out already straight after Hockenheim? If so you would have expected more sound-bytes from the Canadian; he after all is a man who does not slink off quietly into the night.

Villeneuve said nothing before Budapest; perhaps he was hoping that giving Kubica a baptism of fire would show the BMW bigwigs that the Pole, the first man from his nation to start a Grand Prix, was not quiet up to the task as yet. If that was the aim then it spectacularly backfired, as Jacques has now been dumped by BMW for the rest of this year, let alone for next year. A sad and inglorious end to the former World Champion's F1 career you would suspect - you can't see any other team offering him a ride.

The MF1s took 9th and 10th, and Tiago Monteiro and Christijan Albers deserve a lot of credit for soldiering through, making hardly any errors in the tricky conditions. Despite a most inconsistent season so far, Monteiro shone in qualifying by making it through comfortably into Q2. Like at Spa last year in the wet conditions when he came through to finish 8th in the points, with hardly anyone noticing he almost repeated the dose here. If Michael hadn't limped back to the pits, that last points spot would have been Tiago's.

Speed gambled early to go onto dries, and wrongly, but it was brave of him to roll the dice at any rate. Jarno Trulli in the second Toyota also struggled as much as his team-mate, but he would have been in a similar position as Ralf at the end if his engine had not given way towards the end, yet another mechanical problem to add to Jarno's litany this year. Takuma Sato was also classified in the Super Aguri despite continuing niggling problems that you'd expect for an untested new car.

Nico Rosberg went into the wall but quickly blamed an electrical fault, but it confirmed Williams' 8th straight pointless race, equalling the streak in late-1984 and early-1985. You'd have to dig even further back to see if Williams have ever had as bad a run within the one season, or if they've ever had an even longer dry-spell. There's no reason to expect that Webber, who has been confirmed as going to Red Bull next year alongside Coulthard, or Rosberg will score in Turkey.

The man Webber will depose, Christian Klien, started from the pits and crashed early, but his 2007 fate had apparently been sealed even before Hockenheim, if not even earlier. Meanwhile the unfortunate Sakon Yamamoto ended his second F1 start still without having completed more than one race lap! We said after his horror debut in Germany that he would have to forget about that and treat Hungary as his real first race. Now make that Turkey!