Hungarian GP: Race - Re-Cap & Results

The Hungarian GP celebrated its 30th with a heart-pounding, hair-raising race. One that we won't forget anytime soon.

     Before the race started, the drivers formed a circle for a moment of silence, along with Bianchi's parents, sister and brother. Bianchi's passing last week left the world of motorsport and most of the world in general, in mourning. Tributes, flags, stickers and shirts were seen all around Hungaroring. Whether it was family, the fans or the drivers, Jules was in everyone's hearts and will always be.

     When the lights were about to go out, instead of that, we saw green & yellow lights blinking above the circuit. An aborted start. Why? Felipe Massa was out of position on the grid. (Massa was later given a 5-Second-Drive-Through-Penalty for such action). Drivers went for another formation lap which caused the race to be cut down to 69 laps. Afterwards, they all lined back up and it was time for the start of the race.

     On the opening lap, it was clear Ferrari was eager to leave Mercedes in the dust. Sebastian Vettel went straight past Hamilton and Rosberg while his team-mate, Raikkonen, followed Vettel and did the same. A little farther back, Ricciardo & Bottas made contact, leaving Ricciardo slightly airbourne. Rosberg & Hamilton battled it out behind the Ferrari's and Rosberg got the advantage, with Hamilton ending up running off the track and into some gravel. This pushed the driver all the way back to 10th from his original starting position on Pole. Not a good start to the race for him.

     On Lap 19, Kimi Raikkonen witnessed a piece of his front wing come flying off of his Ferrari without any warning. He told the team over the radio what had happened and the team was quick to get a new front wing ready. He pitted and got it fixed but that was only the first of his mechanical issues during this race.

     Only 1 lap later, Pastor Maldonado & Sergio Perez got into an intense battle while Perez was passing the Lotus drivers. Maldonado didn't quite move over enough and ended up colliding with Perez, sending him into the dirt after a spin. While Perez was able to go on, he later retired on lap 54 due to brake issues. Maldonado was given 2 penalty points and a 5-Second-Time-Penalty for causing the collision.

    Meanwhile in the pits, Lotus found themselves in more trouble after an unsafe release. Grosjean almost crashed into Massa while leaving the pits and ended up with a 5-Second-Time-Penalty and 2 penalty points to his license as well.

     Nico Hulkenberg was the first driver to retire from the race. As he headed down the short straight right before turn 1, his front wing suddenly collapsed and flew under his car. It was smashed into bits, causing debris to fly towards Kvyat who was behind him. Hulkenberg lost front suspension mobility and went flying into a tyre-barrier, narrowly missing Bottas who was in front of him. Hulkenberg got out of the car, uninjured, but unfortunately it was a bad ending for the Force India team, especially with Perez later retiring as well.

     in the later laps around 48 & 49 there was a slight collision between Hamilton and Ricciardo with the two touching wheels and bits flying off Hamilton's front wing, which he ended up needing changed. Hamilton was given a Drive-Through-Penalty for this and also 2 penalty points.

     Sebastian Vettel continued to impress as he lead the race, something we haven't seen since the beginning of the year. However, for Raikkonen things were soon to be over at Hungaroring. He told the team over radio that there seemed to be something wrong with the car and the team was quick to tell him that they'd lost the MGU-K. This meant he was losing performance and speed. He later went to the pits as the engine seemed to die down. The pit-crew managed to restart the car, but Kimi unfortunately retired on lap 57.

       Both Bottas and Rosberg suffered late-race tyre punctures. They'd been in the top 10, battling for points. Bottas ended up back in 14th and Rosberg 8th. Meanwhile, more penalties were being handed out. Verstappen got a Drive-Through-Penalty for speeding under the safety car after Hulkenberg's crash and also 3 penalty points to his license. Maldonado got a Drive-Through-Penalty for speeding in Pit-Lane and also a 10-Second-Time-Penalty for overtaking during the safety car. Daniil Kvyat received a 10-Second-Time-Penalty for leaving the track and gaining an advantage. He also got 2 penalty points added to his license.

     While it was a good day for Max Verstappen, finishing in 4th, it was an unfortunate end for his team-mate, Carlos Sainz, who retired on lap 62 due to loss of power from an engine problem.

      Sebastian Vettel went on to win the race and he dedicated his win to Jules Bianchi. Daniil Kvyat got his first podium, finishing second ahead of third-place-finisher & team-mate, Daniel Ricciardo, who won the race last year. McLaren also had reason to celebrate as both cars finished in the points with Alonso in 5th and Button in 9th.

Now we have quite a few weeks before the race at Spa in Belgium, which is always a crowd favorite.

Here are the race results.

RESULTS:

1. Sebastian Vettel / Ferrari-Ferrari / Germany / + 25 Points
2. Daniil Kvyat / Red Bull-Renault / Russia / + 18 Points
3. Daniel Ricciardo / Red Bull-Renault / Australia / + 15 Points
4. Max Verstappen / Toro Rosso-Renault / Netherlands / + 12 Points
5. Fernando Alonso / McLaren-Honda / Spain / + 10 Points
6. Lewis Hamilton / Mercedes-Mercedes / Great Britain / + 8 Points
7. Romain Grosjean / Lotus-Mercedes / France / + 6 Points
8. Nico Rosberg / Mercedes-Mercedes / Germany / + 4 Points
9. Jenson Button / McLaren-Honda / Great Britain / + 2 Points
10. Marcus Ericsson / Sauber-Ferrari / Sweden / + 1 Point
11. Felipe Nasr / Sauber-Ferrari / Brazil
12. Felipe Massa / Williams-Mercedes / Brazil
13. Valtteri Bottas / Williams-Mercedes / Finland
14. Pastor Maldonado / Lotus-Mercedes / Venezuela 
15. Roberto Merhi / Manor-Ferrari / Spain
16. Will Stevens / Manor-Ferrari / Great Britain
RETIRED - Carlos Sainz / Toro Rosso-Renault / Spain / Engine
RETIRED - Kimi Raikkonen / Ferrari-Ferrari / Finland / Engine
RETIRED - Sergio Perez / Force India-Mercedes / Mexico / Brakes
RETIRED - Nico Hulkenberg / Force India-Mercedes / Germany / Accident/Front Wing

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Hungarian GP: Qualifying - Results

It's almost time for the last race before F1 goes on Summer Break. So, let's take a look at how the grid lines up for the Hungarian GP. Lewis Hamilton will start on pole.

STARTING GRID:

1. Lewis Hamilton / Mercedes-Mercedes / Great Britain

2. Nico Rosberg / Mercedes-Mercedes / Germany

3. Sebastian Vettel / Ferrari-Ferrari / Germany

4. Daniel Ricciardo / Red Bull-Renault / Australia

5. Kimi Raikkonen / Ferrari-Ferrari / Finland

6. Valtteri Bottas / Williams-Mercedes / Finland

7. Daniil Kvyat / Red Bull-Renault / Russia

8. Felipe Massa / Williams-Mercedes / Brazil

9. Max Verstappen / Toro Rosso-Renault / Netherlands

10. Romain Grosjean / Lotus-Mercedes / France

11. Nico Hulkenberg / Force India-Mercedes / Germany

12. Carlos Sainz / Toro Rosso-Renault / Spain

13. Sergio Perez / Force India-Mercedes / Mexico

14. Pastor Maldonado / Lotus-Mercedes / Venezuela

15. Fernando Alonso / McLaren-Honda / Spain

16. Jenson Button / McLaren-Honda / Great Britain

17. Marcus Ericsson / Sauber-Ferrari / Sweden

18. Felipe Nasr / Sauber-Ferrari / Brazil

19. Roberto Merhi / Manor-Ferrari / Spain

20. Will Stevens / Manor-Ferrari / Great Britain

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Hungarian GP: Free Practice 3 - Re-Cap & Results

The good weather continued in FP3 while the cars got to work gathering last minute data in their last practice session.

No huge dramas on track apart from a few lock-ups and such. Force India was back to running after missing out on FP2 due to an investigation on both of their cars after Perez had a crash in FP1.

Mercedes dominated the session with a 1-2 finish while Vettel rounded up the top 3.

Here are the times from the session.

TIMES:

1. Lewis Hamilton - 1:22.997 / Mercedes-Mercedes

2. Nico Rosberg - 1:23.095 / Mercedes-Mercedes

3. Sebastian Vettel - 1:23.886 / Ferrari-Ferrari

4. Daniil Kvyat - 1:24.215 / Red Bull-Renault

5. Carlos Sainz - 1:24.326 / Toro Rosso-Renault

6. Nico Hulkenberg - 1:24.483 / Force India-Mercedes

7. Max Verstappen - 1:24.678 / Toro Rosso-Renault

8. Fernando Alonso - 1:24.846 / McLaren-Honda

9. Daniel Ricciardo - 1:24.929 / Red Bull-Renault

10. Romain Grosjean - 1:24.941 / Lotus-Mercedes

11. Pastor Maldonado - 1:24.953 / Lotus-Mercedes

12. Felipe Massa - 1:25.094 / Williams-Mercedes

13. Jenson Button - 1:25.229 / McLaren-Honda

14. Valtteri Bottas - 1:25.345 / Williams-Mercedes

15. Sergio Perez - 1:25.393 / Force India-Mercedes

16. Kimi Raikkonen - 1:25.661 / Ferrari-Ferrari

17. Felipe Nasr - 1:26.060 / Sauber-Ferrari

18. Marcus Ericsson - 1:26.095 / Sauber-Ferrari

19. Will Stevens - 1:28.757 / Manor-Ferrari

20. Roberto Merhi - 1:28.908 / Manor-Ferrari

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Hungarian GP: Free Practice 2 - Re-Cap & Results

More lovely weather in the Second practice session. The sun continued to glow around the circuit and the heat was quite intense.

Force India chose not to run in this session while they investigated the cause behind Sergio Perez's FP1 crash. The team decided it was safest if Hulkenberg did not run, even though his car had been fine in the beginning of the first session. 

Thankfully there were no accidents in this session. However there was a Red Flag when Daniel Ricciardo's Red Bull began smoking. There was a loud 'Popping' noise and he quickly pulled the car over in an area of grass. He had suffered an engine/power unit failure. However, he will not take a penalty.

Here are the times from the session.

TIMES:

1. Lewis Hamilton - 1:23.949 / Mercedes-Mercedes

2. Daniil Kvyat - 1:24.300 / Red Bull-Renault

3. Daniel Ricciardo - 1:24.451 / Red Bull-Renault

4. Nico Rosberg - 1:24.668 / Mercedes-Mercedes

5. Kimi Raikkonen - 1:25.134 / Ferrari-Ferrari

6. Carlos Sainz - 1:25.599 / Toro Rosso-Renault

7. Sebastian Vettel - 1:25.660 / Ferrari-Ferrari

8. Fernando Alonso - 1:25.752 / McLaren-Honda

9. Valtteri Bottas - 1:25.881 / Williams-Mercedes

10. Felipe Massa - 1:25.920 / Williams-Mercedes

11. Max Verstappen - 1:25.935 / Toro Rosso-Renault

12. Jenson Button - 1:25.994 / McLaren-Honda

13. Pastor Maldonado - 1:26.090 / Lotus-Mercedes

14. Felipe Nasr - 1:26.379 / Sauber-Ferrari

15. Romain Grosjean - 1:26.442 / Lotus-Mercedes

16. Marcus Ericsson - 1:26.831 / Sauber-Ferrari

17. Roberto Merhi - 1:29.113 / Manor-Ferrari

18. Will Stevens - 1:29.115 / Manor-Ferrari

DID NOT RUN - Nico Hulkenberg / Force India-Mercedes

DID NOT RUN - Sergio Perez / Force India-Mercedes

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Hungarian GP: Free Practice 1 - Re-Cap & Results

The last F1 weekend before the big Summer Break has gotten underway. Before we talk about the session - We'd like to say that we are still thinking of Jules Bianchi & his family/friends at this difficult time. Teams & Drivers in F1, GP2 & GP3 all have tributes and mentions of Jules on their cars/helmets and are keeping him in their thoughts as well.

The weather in Hungary is nice and Sunny this weekend but it could change quicky as we saw in 2014. In this session, Jolyon Palmer drove for Lotus in Grosjean's car while Fabio Leimer drove in Roberto Merhi's Manor-Marussia.

There was 2 Red Flags in this session with the first being caused by a huge accident involving Sergio Perez. Due to right-rear suspension failure, the car spun out and tagged a barrier before becoming airbourne and flipping over. The car landed upside down. The team was quick to ask Perez if he was alright over the radio, with which he responded. "I'm OK" - He walked away from the accident unscathed and was taken to the on-site Medical Centre for precautionary checks. He was released minutes later. The car is severly damaged & repairs will take quite awhile.

Red Flag #2 was caused when Kimi Raikkonen's front wing collapsed off the car and was run over by the Ferrari. Bits and pieces of debri lined the track & He had to limp the car back to pit-lane.

Lotus missed out on most of the session due to late payments to Pirelli. However, Maldonado was still able to set a time at the end of the session, while Palmer was unlucky and the only driver not to set a time.

Here are the times from the session.

TIMES:

1. Lewis Hamilton - 1:25.141 / Mercedes-Mercedes
2. Nico Rosberg - 1:25.250 / Mercedes-Mercedes
3. Kimi Raikkonen - 1:25.812 / Ferrari-Ferrari
4. Daniel Ricciardo - 1:26.053 / Red Bull-Renault
5. Daniil Kvyat - 1:26.070 / Red Bull-Renault
6. Sebastian Vettel - 1:26.395 / Ferrari-Ferrari
7. Carlos Sainz - 1:26.727 / Toro Rosso-Renault
8. Sergio Perez - 1:26.776 / Force India-Mercedes
9. Valtteri Bottas - 1:26.825 / Williams-Mercedes
10. Max Verstappen - 1:26.934 / Toro Rosso-Renault
11. Fernando Alonso - 1:27.272 / McLaren-Honda
12. Jenson Button - 1:27.308 / McLaren-Honda
13. Nico Hulkenberg - 1:27.317 / Force India-Mercedes
14. Felipe Massa - 1:27.381 / Williams-Mercedes
15. Felipe Nasr - 1:27.409 / Sauber-Ferrari
16. Marcus Ericsson - 1:27.732 / Sauber-Ferrari
17. Pastor Maldonado - 1:28.568 / Lotus-Mercedes
18. Will Stevens - 1:29.693 / Manor-Ferrari
19. Fabio Leimer* - 1:30.631 / Manor-Ferrari
20. Jolyon Palmer* - No Time Set / Lotus-Mercedes

* - Only driving in this session.

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Hungarian GP: Driver Preview Quotes - Mercedes

Preview Quotes - Mercedes


Lewis Hamilton - "Saying goodbye to Jules was incredibly hard for everyone. For myself, I wished I had known him better. But from what I knew of him, he was a kind heart with a great spirit and a bright future.  Now our sport embarks on a tough road ahead. We have been shown once more the dangers of our sport, that these should be respected and that we drivers commit ourselves to the chance that those dangers are there when we step into the car. We have made great progress for safety thus far and I know that the FIA will continue to make steps forward to improve even further. Hungary is a beautiful place, one of my favourites. I will be carrying Jules with me in my prayers and thoughts, not only this race but for the rest of my driving days. I know he'd want us to race hard as he did, and so I will."

Nico Rosberg - "It has been a very emotional week. The drivers paid our final respects to Jules and said farewell. He was a very talented driver and a good guy. My thoughts in these days are with his family and close friends. Everyone will be sharing the same feelings in the paddock this week – but we must race on and race hard for Jules as he would have wanted to be doing himself. It’s the final race before the team gets a well-earned break and I’ll be pushing as always to give everyone something positive to take into their holidays. It’s a tough track on the driver – narrow, very twisty and usually very hot. It’s one of those circuits where you can really show your skill and that makes it a good challenge. The race here last year wasn’t ideal for me in the end – but it’s a proper circuit, in a beautiful city, with big crowds always filling the grandstands, so I’m looking forward to it and hoping bring home a stronger result this time around."

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Hungarian GP: Driver Preview Quotes - Toro Rosso

Preview Quotes - Toro Rosso


Carlos Sainz - "I enjoy racing at the Hungaroring. It’s a circuit that I know pretty well as I’ve raced there many times in the junior categories, finishing on the podium a few times. It’s definitely one of the historic European tracks that everyone loves going to! I think it could also be a circuit that suits the Toro Rosso car well, so I’m looking forward to the weekend. The very high air and track temperatures also mean it could be a challenge physically, so I’ve been training hard in warm conditions. It’s a very enjoyable layout to drive and its narrow and twisty nature means there’s little time to relax on a lap because there are no real straights. I’ve spent a bit of time in the centre of Budapest and I can say it is a really beautiful city, especially the parts close to the river Danube. It’s truly special.”

Max Verstappen - "I’ve raced at the Hungaroring in Formula 3 and it’s a bit of a Mickey Mouse track. I’m looking forward to racing there with an F1 car; I think the circuit will suit our car and I’m optimistic we can fight for a good result. This could be one of our best races of the season. Qualifying will be a key part of the weekend as in Hungary it is very difficult to overtake during the race, but, as always, I will do my best and try to overtake every time the opportunity arises. I have seen the city a bit and it’s one of the nicest we visit. After this race, we have our summer break, but I’m not really looking forward to it: I’d prefer to have another three races in the three weeks off!”

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Hungarian GP: Driver Preview Quotes - Williams

Preview Quotes - Williams


Valtteri Bottas - Budapest is a great city and hosts a great race. There are a lot of Finnish fans living in Hungary, but also many who make the trip for this race weekend so I always have a lot of support - it’s almost a Finnish Grand Prix. The circuit is very different from the last few because it’s much tighter with more medium and slow speed corners, but our development has been focused on tracks like this and generating higher down force. We should be looking to have a strong weekend and to build on the good momentum we have built.”

Felipe Massa - "Hungary is a special place for me. I have a lot of fans there after my accident in 2009 and since then the people have really got behind me which is great. Being so close to a city which has such fantastic culture really adds to the race weekend. This circuit wouldn’t normally suit our car because it’s quite low speed, but we have improved the car so much in recent races with the upgrades we have introduced so we should have another competitive weekend.”

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Hungarian GP: Driver Preview Quotes - McLaren

Preview Quotes - McLaren


Fernando Alonso - "It's funny to think that both Jenson and I won our first grand prix in Hungary. That, of course, makes it a special place for me, and a venue that'll always hold good memories for me. I really like this place; it's a track that you really have to attack to get a good laptime, and, although it's often thought of as a slow circuit, the sweeps around the back of the circuit are all really satisfying, and require a lot of commitment. The left-hander at Turn Six, in particular, is a really great corner - approached blind over a crest, and really hard to nail perfectly. I think the team is looking forward to this race: the track will offer us a reasonable opportunity to showcase our steady progress, and I'd like to think that, if everything runs smoothly, we could have a less difficult weekend."

Jenson Button - "It's going to be a nice feeling to return to the Hungaroring with Honda power behind me, having last won a race for Honda at this very track back in 2006. Obviously, I have a place in my heart for this place i any driver's first grand prix victory is a special event - but, that aside, it's a place I've always enjoyed.

Although my race at Silverstone was extremely disappointing, Fernando's points finish was well deserved. There's been absolutely no let-up on the technical side - having personally seen the effort that's been going on at MTC, and heard about the work that's being done at Sakura, I know we're slowly but surely getting there. Of course, that's difficult to substantiate without decent results, but let's hope we can go into the summer break feeling confident about the second half of the season."

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Hungarian GP: Driver Preview Quotes - Sauber

Preview Quotes - Sauber


Marcus Ericsson - "The Hungaroring is a difficult circuit - a small track, quite narrow, also bumpy, with a lot of corners. Budapest and its surroundings usually have extremely hot temperatures at the end of July, therefore, we require good tyre management and need to make sure they are working in the right way. That will be one of the big challenges. We have to see in practice how competitive we are on this type of track with the car. As far as I know a lot of Swedish fans are coming to the race, including more than a dozen friends of mine. So it will be nice seeing a lot of Swedish people around the track, and hopefully they can help to push me even more."

Felipe Nasr - "The Grand Prix in Budapest is always very challenging. This circuit has many combinations of corners and only short straights. The track is very demanding for the tyres. We need to have a lot of braking stability, as well as good traction. As a driver, on this track you feel as if you are busy all the time. You always have to be concentrating for the next corner. There is only a brief break on the main straight. The grip on the track improves from day to day. We must, therefore, rely on our experience  in order to anticipate grip level changes from day to day and adjust accordingly. Normally Budapest is a hot place during the whole grand prix weekend, and that can be really tricky for the tyre strategy. Overall I like racing there."

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