Sunday 28 July 2013

Hungarian Grand Prix: Who says you can't pass in Hungary?!

Clearly nobody told Romain Grosjean or Lewis Hamilton that you can't pass in Hungary, although it is fair to say that Lewis was a little more composed and legal with his passing, whilst Romain was quite a bit wilder. Lewis Hamilton secured the win single-handedly, with some sublime overtakes, namely on Mark Webber and Fernando Alonso. He knew he had to make up the places after his pit stop and simply did exactly what was required. It marked his first win in a Mercedes and that's impressive when you take in to account Hamilton's hopes and targets at the start of the season.

There were passes all over the circuit, but noticeably from Grosjean who kept doing so illegally. He passed Massa off the circuit and was given a drive-through penalty, however many will consider his incident with Button as much more cynical. He squeezed Jenson to the point that they made contact and an irate Button lost a lot of time and a couple of positions. The passing was intense through the first couple of laps, with cars touching and weaving desperately.

The whole race began with a bad start from Sebastian Vettel, immediately followed by fantastic defensive manoeuvres in to the first corner and, unbelievably, he managed to hold on to second place. He was later forced to defend against Romain Grosjean for a number of laps and again held his position. Whilst Hamilton's passing was a fantastic display of his skill and ability, Vettel's defending was a display of his. Both drivers are showing themselves to be the best out there.

It was a race that proved very difficult to follow, with pit stop strategies and tyre degradation making it a task for only team strategists to work out the true standings. Just when it seemed somebody had taken to the lead from seemingly nowhere, they would take to the pits and drop down the order again. Eventually the field panned out and it was obvious that Lewis Hamilton had raced a blinder. He had a comfortable end to the race, having done what he needed to earlier on. The biggest fight came from Vettel and Raikonnen, who diced for the second podium position right up to the chequered flag. The big story of the weekend is that Mercedes are clearly making progress and bringing the fight to Red Bull, Ferrari and Lotus. They will hope that the summer break passes nice and quickly.

The Result:

Pos.DriverTeamTime
1.ukLewis HamiltonMercedes1:42:29.445
2.fiKimi RäikkönenLotus+10.938
3.deSebastian VettelRed Bull+12.459
4.auMark WebberRed Bull+18.044
5.esFernando AlonsoFerrari+31.411
6.frRomain GrosjeanLotus+52.295
7.ukJenson ButtonMcLaren+53.819
8.brFelipe MassaFerrari+56.447
9.mxSergio PerezMcLaren+1 Lap
10.vePastor MaldonadoWilliams+1 Lap
11.deNico HülkenbergSauber+1 Lap
12.frJean-Eric VergneToro Rosso+1 Lap
13.auDaniel RicciardoToro Rosso+1 Lap
14.nlGiedo van der GardeCaterham+2 Laps
15.frCharles PicCaterham+2 Laps
16.frJules BianchiMarussia+3 Laps
17.ukMax ChiltonMarussia+3 Laps
Did not finish
18.ukPaul di RestaForce India+4 Laps
19.deNico RosbergMercedes+6 Laps
20.fiValtteri BottasWilliams+28 Laps
21.mxEsteban GutiérrezSauber+42 Laps
22.deAdrian SutilForce India+51 Laps