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Well, what a race!! After thinking that the race would be fought my the usual suspects of the 2009 season, what a turn around! Where shades of last year and traditional Formula One fashion was resumed. This hour belonged to McLaren and the supreme driver that is, Lewis Hamilton! The world champion holder simply had a flawless race where a lot of things just went his way! Which is a massive turn around from the last race in Germany where nothing went his way! An amazing victory for Hamilton.
So how did he do it? Well after qualifying on the second row, he sat in a good position to use the KERS button on his car. After making up a place off the line, Hamilton was eventually hunting down Webber and Alonso. The Renault driver was fuelled extrememly light so was able to pull away leaving Hamilton to chase down Webber, which he managed to do before the first lap was up! It was then down to him and his old rival Alonso. The former team mates have an amazing history together, and lets be honest, they hate each other!
Alonso was then hit with the bad luck! Coming in a couple of laps early to change worn down tyres, the right front was not put on properly! Renault will now be suspended from the next race because of this incident as it lead to his tyre later falling off, giving Lewis the perfect opportunity which he took with both hands! With perfect pitstops and amazingly fast lap times, Hamilton was able to capture his first victory this season!
With Vettel and Alonso not finishing the race, Kimi (I cannot be bothered to spell his second name but you know who I mean) was able to clinch second place in a McLaren, Ferrari one two finish with Webber getting another podium in third. As for the current championship leader, he had a tough weekend indeed. He only managed a seventh place which does not go well for his title hopes. The car has not gained any pace and has dowgraded in terms of aerodynamics! The car also cannot manage its tyres even with Button so there is limited pace. It will be interesting to see if McLaren can match a fully formed Brawn GP car.
We must spare a thought for Massa who is being held in hospital right now. Q2 yesterday saw a freakish accident in which a spring from Barrichello’s car flew off hitting Massa right on the crash helmet. It was even more freakish after having lost a Formula Two driver last sunday to a similar accident. We are told that Massa will be fine but just has a fractured skull. I’m sure he shall be fit and raring to go for the next race in Valencia in four weeks time. Let’s just hope that he is fine sooner rather than later.
What are your thoughts?
Here we are a year later in Budapest! Over the last year many aspects of the game have changed. Last years winner Heikki Kovalinen will certainly not be this years winner as we have a new front brall with Brawn, Red Bull, and Toyota. Instead of Hamilton Vs Massa, we have Button Vs Vettel! You may recall last years race as the Massa show! He literally demolished the entire race track with his supreme glowing Ferrari!
Last year he overtook the McLaren of Lewis Hamilton and was three laps away from winning the race. But after an epic engine failure, the Fin Heikki took first place with Glock finishing in a stunning second! Not to mention a few punctures to other cars and almost three fires! This basically means we’re in for a boring race compared to the one of 2008.
However, it would be hard to compare this year to last with tremendous changes on the grid. This year we’ll be looking out for Barrichello to lose it again at Brawn saying they are putting Button first and Vettel trying to prove that he’s as good as Michael Schumacher! Not to mention Mark Webber showing that Aussies do have some talent after all.
My predictions on this weeks race? Well the usual will happen in practice where Rosberg shows all the potential to steal the race weekend with his own glory but inevitabley will let Williams down! After that, Hamilton will show some promise and deliver well in respect the uselessness of his car! But again, this weeks race is out of Sebastian Vettel and Jenson Button!
Button has not won a race for a while now so it is becoming quite scary! But my prediction for this race weekend goes to Mark Webber. He is a sort of dark hourse but at the same time, he’s just come off a great victory in Germany! He will surely be full of confidence this weekend. Vettel will definately look good again so I expect a straight battle between both the Red Bull cars with the Brawn’s making the second row.
What are your predictions?
Another week in Formula One and another pole for British hero Lewis Hamilton. This is his second consecutive pole position and leaves him in great shape to get three consecutive wins. He will be the first British driver to do so since Damon Hill who thinks Hamilton will win the Championship early. McLaren take the front row of the grid so Hamilton has his sister car in between him and Massa which surely means another win for the 23 year-old.
Kimi in the other Ferrari was again slow and boring which contrasts the style of team-mate Massa who looked amazingly fast considering he is driving the not so brilliant car. Massa on third will have a tough time with both McLaren’s in front of him as well as Kubica behind him who starts in fourth. Kimi begins in P6 behind Timo Glock who had his best qualifying session ever finishing in P5 for Toyota.
Jensen Button had an awesome day finishing in P12 which seems like nothing to shout about but given his recent performances in a, frankly, rubbish car, he did a great job. His natural skill of smooth driving may pay dividends, as the key to this circuit given the weather, will be preserving tyres. He qualified ahead of Scottish driver David Coulthard who starts in P13. His car doesn’t look as good as the sister Red Bull Mark Webber who starts alongside Fernando Alonso in 8th. Alonso won’t have great memories of this place as last year after holding up Hamilton in the pit lane, he went onto lose the GP.
Nico Rosberg had another disappointing week starting in 15th. He didn’t bother to qualify in Q2 due to a hydraulics problem. Williams seem to be building for next year rather than concentrating on this season. He starts ahead of Nick Heidfeld who was “held up” at the end of his qualifying lap. After seeing this twice myself, Heidfeld being held up is absolute rubbish.
My prediction is another win for Hamilton who’s relaxed yet confident attitude and mood make him practically invincible. The fact that there are minimal over-taking opportunities on this circuit also plays into Lewis’ hands. This being the case, tyre choice and fuel load play bigger roles.
For full qualifying times and positions, click here.
