The F1 picture after Hungary
Mark Webber won the Hungary Grand Prix on 1 August, driving his Red Bull car and firmly cementing his position in the drivers challenge. Over the next seven races the top five contending teams will be vying for opportunities to get a head. And with 20 points covering the leading contenders it’s going to be a tight race.
Red Bull
Red Bull was victorious this weekend, with Webber securing the number one spot and teammate Sebastian Vettel coming in third place. At first it seemed Vettel would take first place; he has been the fastest driver in qualifying rounds on Saturday for the seventh time this season, though he has only been able to convert his pole position into two wins this season.
But his own mistake was laziness, and Vettel fell so far back from his position behind Webber that he received a drive-through penalty for dropping more than 10 paces behind. He was waiting for the safety car to leave the track, but didn’t notice when it did and admitted to be “sleeping” on the re-start.
Webber gambled with his pit stops, waiting an additional two laps before heading in. He had a 20-second lead on Fernando Alonso before pitting. His much deserved fourth win of the season has him in the lead for the championship race as well as in the constructor’s competition.
The real test of Red Bulls’ staying power will be in the coming races. They’ve done well at Spa-Francorchamps in the past and finally have the lead over McLaren. The intensity between these two teams is going to be explosive, with Red Bull likely to lead again at the next grand prix.
Ferrari
Alonso and Felipe Massa came in second and fourth place respectively. Both drivers were able to keep pace with each other, though Red Bull’s Milton Keynes cars were much faster in the end. Once Vettel dropped back Alonso didn’t let him get back into second place, confirming that Ferrari is the only team who is keeping Red Bull in their sights.
Last year, Ferrari’s Kim Raikkonen won at the Spa-Francorchamps circuit. Vettel managed to get third place, so this year the battle between the two outfits for the high pole position should be great.
Renault
Vitaly Petrove of Renault took fifth place at Hungary, the only position earned for the team after Robert Kubica crashed with Force India’s Adrian Sutil in an unfortunate pit lane error. The team was fined $50,000 and Kubica retired from the race.
Last year at Spa-Francorchamps Giancarlo Fisichella drove the team to second place. Based on their past couple of races Force Williams stands a decent chance of another good finish on the track at the end of the month but after that the team will have to work hard if they want to catch up with Red Bull.
Williams
Nico Hulkenberg was in sixth place and partner Rubens Barrichello 10th. Barichello held fifth place for a large portion of the race when Hamilton retired the race early. He gave up the position when he pitted in the 55th lap, after which he fell back to 11th place. It was when trying to secure his way into 10th place that Barrichello was endangered by Mercedes driver Michael Schumacher. Schumacher forced Barrichello dangerously close to the pit wall when Barrichello tried to pass him. Schumacher came in 11th but was penalized by 10 places for the Belgium race. Mercedes fined for the incident while Barrichello was able to finish in 10th place.
Williams earned nine points this weekend, and are fast on the rebound to restoring their fortune.
“It was good to collect decent points and have the luck running with us. The result is a good way to go into the break and sets up the second half of the season well for me and the team,” said Hulkenberg.
McLaren
The team continues to suffer their mid-season slump. Hamilton was forced to retire from the race early after his transmission failed on the 24th lap. He lost his world championship points lead to Webber and Jenson Button came in eighth place.
McLaren dominated the first half of the season, and their slump is disappointing to fans as much as it is to the team. They were almost unrecognizable Sunday in their worst race of the season.
They’ve proven to be the better than Red Bull in the past, now it is a matter of proving it wasn't just a fluke. Regardless, it should be an interesting finish to the season over the last races.
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