Did Jenson Button (McLaren) deserve to win the Hungarian GP? Of course he did. Drove smoothly with very few errors, ‘raced’ when he needed to and kept the pressure up on “The Finger” (Red Bull) until Vettel cracked and was only able to raise two fingers at the end. Button’s driving compared to his team mate Hamilton reminds me of the tale of the tortoise and the hare. Unspectacular but consistent against the brilliantly fast but impulsive Hamilton.
Hamilton, however, was very unfairly dealt with by the stewards, having been given a drive-through penalty for “forcing another driver off the track” or similar nonsense. The real situation was that he spun and was sitting in the middle of the track, waiting to be T-boned. He then dropped the clutch, to spin in his own length, to face the correct way and clear the corner. Di Resta (Force India) saw him in plenty of time and took appropriate avoiding action. End of story. It is not as if Hamilton was re-joining the race track and forcing another driver off. Quite frankly, the stewards have far too much of a say these days.
The race was enlivened by the changeable weather with drivers and their team managers double-guessing each other as to which tyres to run. Get it right and you were a hero. Get it wrong and you looked like a goose. Fifth placed Mark Webber (Red Bull) admitted it (while covered in feathers), “It was quite an enjoyable Grand Prix up until when you make the wrong decisions from the cockpit. I made the right one to go to the slicks when I did, which worked out well, but you look completely stupid when you are only on the intermediates for two laps.”
Alonso (Ferrari) is certainly showing fine form at present, with another podium position, and could be a worry for Vettel in this second half of the season. Massa, the Ferrari number two got it all wrong again and consolidated his ‘runner up’ position in the Ferrari garage.
Young Scotsman Paul Di Resta in the Force India drove another magnificent race to finish 7th. Adrian Sutil, in the other Force India is being pushed backwards in the team. He’ll have to eat more vindaloo to beat Di Resta.
Buemi (Toro Rosso) drove well to come from his rear grid position to 8th, though the TV cameras missed most of the action. In the process he passed Rosberg in the remaining Mercedes and his team mate Jaime Algywotsit. Michael Schumacher in the second Mercedes did not have a good day, retiring after 26 laps with a gearbox problem, following a spin which he said happened while he was avoiding contact with Massa. This new “Mr Nice Guy” is a little difficult to take.
Kamikaze Kobayashi was another to get the tyre strategy all wrong and slipped from a fine 7th to 11th at the flag.
Way, way down at the back of the field in the boonies, new boy Ricciardo finished a lap in front of Liuzzi in the Hispanias. This is just an experience year for the talented young Aussie, who will get a better seat next year.
Finally we also learned that God does not fix ailing engines. Rather, he drops a hand grenade down the inlet trumpets, with Heidfeld’s Renault blow-up being a prime example. Heidfeld gets the high jump of the year award for his exit from his car.
Three weeks till the next GP which will be at Spa in Belgium.
