Formula One: Hungary GP- Webber Snatches the Top Position Back
Another exiting and dramatic race of Formula One calendar unfolded this Sunday at the Hungaroring amidst a lot of action and thrill. Mark Webber of Red Bull turned the table around, snatching the race from his teammate, Sebastian Vettel’s hands and the top position in the Drivers’ Championship from Lewis Hamilton.
The front position if the race was held tightly by Vettel right from the start of the race after having it started from the pole position but at 15th lap, Webber was quick enough to grab the opportunity as the safety car slowed Vettel down.
Both Vettel and Ferrari's Fernando Alonso initially pulled hard for the first slot, while Webber was engaged trying to beat Felipe Massa the other Ferrari man and at the same time Renault’s Vitaly Petrov was struggling with McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton at the third place.
As the safety car came out to clear the debris, Webber was the only front runner who did not stop for a pit till it seemed that he would hang out to dry. Therefore, he was able to keep his pace all through the day and was finally able to achieve his target as he made lead of 23.7s by the time he went for pit on the 43rd lap.
Alonso’s frustration and disappointment kept increasing, while Vettel kept struggling as hard as he could to get back to the top position.
Above all, the day was disastrous for McLaren. As the day began, Lewis Hamilton was quick to pick off Petrov and soon grabbed fourth place from Massa as well, however, he went short of luck as his MP4-25 rolled to a halt on the 24th lap and he had to retire.
Rubens Barrichello of Williams pushed hard with his harder tyres, while staying in the fifth place till he came out behind Michael Schumacher’s Mercedes for lap 55 on soft tyres after a pit stop. On Lap 66 Schumacher moved so close to him, that he was almost put into the pit wall, for which the race stewards handed Schumacher a 10-place grid penalty for the upcoming Belgian Grand Prix.
Other than Webber, the happiest man after the race was Vitaly Petrov of Renault, who ended the race brilliantly for fifth place, one place ahead of Nico Hulkenberg, who was the leading driver of Williams.
Renault’s Robert Kubica was another unlucky man of the day, as he was hit by Adrian Sutil’s Force India, just when he came out of the pit, resulting in retirement of both the drivers from the race. Nico Rosberg was added to the list of retired racers after his rear wheel fell off his Mercedes on the 15th lap when he was struggling for the sixth position.
The day was another ordinary one for Michael Schumacher who ended at eleventh place being chased by Sebastien Buemi of Toro Rosso.
The two virgin men Timo Glock and Lucas di Grassi sandwiched Bruno Senna for sixteenth and seventeenth place of the race, whereas Sakon Yamamoto was the last driver to have the race wrapped.
With this victory, Webber has moved back to the peak of the championship points tally with his 161 points, while Hamilton follows by 157, whereas Vettel with 151 and Alonso on 141 hold the third and fifth places respectively. With Sunday’s results, Jenson Button had fallen down to fourth place from his initial second bagging a total of 147 points.
Looking on the other side of the picture, Red Bull has moved to the top of the Constructor’s Championship pushing McLaren one place down, while the two have 312 and 304 points successively, Ferrari follows its tail with 238.
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