Sven
Norm Smith Medallist
After a short one week break, the eleventh GP of the year takes us to Budapest for the Hungarian Grand Prix.
As usual Mark Webber takes us through a lap of the circuit on the Red Bull simulator:
[youtube]92oPBCoNnNo[/youtube]
The Budapest track is tight and twisty and suits cars with high mechanical grip. The limited passing opportunies at Budapest make qualifying all important.
Drivers Championship
For the first time this year Sebastian Vettel sees his lead in the Championship decrease. His fortuitous 4th place sees him 77 points points ahead of Webber (previously 80). Hamilton's win at Germany vaults him into 3rd postion, 5 points behind Webber and 4 in front of Alonso. Button's second successive DNF puts him off the pace for the runner's up title and he now needs a return to form to contend for the runner's up position.
1 Sebastian Vettel 216
2 Mark Webber 139
3 Lewis Hamilton 134
4 Fernando Alonso 130
5 Jenson Button 109
6 Felipe Massa 62
7 Nico Rosberg 46
8 Nick Heidfeld 34
9 Vitaly Petrov 32
10 Michael Schumacher 32
11 Kamui Kobayashi 27
12 Adrian Sutil 18
13 Jaime Alguersuari 9
14 Sergio Perez 8
15 Sebastien Buemi 8
16 Rubens Barrichello 4
17 Paul di Resta 2
Constructors Championship
Red Bull actually increased their lead in Constructors Championship due to Button's DNF and Vettel's in the pits pass on Massa in Germany and their lead is now up to 112 points. Ferrari close the gap on McLaren, but they are too far behind Red Bull to have any hope of regaining the title. McLaren need finshes from both drivers to make any inroads into the Red Bull lead.
1 RBR-Renault 355
2 McLaren-Mercedes 243
3 Ferrari 192
4 Mercedes 78
5 Renault 66
6 Sauber-Ferrari 35
7 Force India-Mercedes 20
8 STR-Ferrari 17
9 Williams-Cosworth 4
2010 Qualifying
Last year Red Bull dominated qualifying and returned their sixth 1-2 qualifying for the season.
1 Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1:18.773
2 Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault 1:19.184
3 Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1:19.987
4 Felipe Massa Ferrari 1:20.331
5 Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1:20.499
6 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1:21.082
7 Vitaly Petrov Renault 1:21.229
8 Robert Kubica Renault 1:21.328
9 Pedro de la Rosa BMW Sauber-Ferrari 1:21.411
10 Nico H*lkenberg Williams-Cosworth 1:21.710
2010 Race
Last year's race saw an awesome drive by Webber to secure the win. A decision not to pit under a safety car that was deployed on lap 15 combined with a drive though penalty for Vettel for failing to keep within 10 car lengths of the safety car saw him vault to the lead of the race. A lengthy stint on old tyres gave him enough of a cushion to pit, change tyres and come out ahead of Alonso and Vettel who were battling for second. Webber's strategy was initially intended to secure second place behind Vettel, but ended up winning the race. The Red Bull car was dominant during the race, but Vettel's penalty and the lack of overtaking opportunities on the track consigned him to third position.
1 Mark Webber RBR-Renault 1:41:05.571
2 Fernando Alonso Ferrari +17.8 secs
3 Sebastian Vettel RBR-Renault +19.2 secs
4 Felipe Massa Ferrari +27.4 secs
5 Vitaly Petrov Renault +73.1 secs
6 Nico Hulkenberg Williams-Cosworth +76.7 secs
7 Pedro de la Rosa BMW Sauber-Ferrari +1 Lap
8 Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes +1 Lap
9 Kamui Kobayashi BMW Sauber-Ferrari +1 Lap
10 Rubens Barrichello Williams-Cosworth +1 Lap
Hungary sees a return to the soft (prime) and supersoft (option) tyre choices the same as used for Monaco and Canada. Yet again pit stop strategy could be vital and may provide the only option for overtaking in the race.
McLaren's return to form in Germany, and Ferrari's recent form should see a highly entertaining battle for the win between Ferrari, McLaren and Red Bull. Although Red Bull dominated this race in 2010, and the track does look to suit Red Bull, I'm tipping another McLaren win.
As usual Mark Webber takes us through a lap of the circuit on the Red Bull simulator:
[youtube]92oPBCoNnNo[/youtube]
The Budapest track is tight and twisty and suits cars with high mechanical grip. The limited passing opportunies at Budapest make qualifying all important.
Drivers Championship
For the first time this year Sebastian Vettel sees his lead in the Championship decrease. His fortuitous 4th place sees him 77 points points ahead of Webber (previously 80). Hamilton's win at Germany vaults him into 3rd postion, 5 points behind Webber and 4 in front of Alonso. Button's second successive DNF puts him off the pace for the runner's up title and he now needs a return to form to contend for the runner's up position.
1 Sebastian Vettel 216
2 Mark Webber 139
3 Lewis Hamilton 134
4 Fernando Alonso 130
5 Jenson Button 109
6 Felipe Massa 62
7 Nico Rosberg 46
8 Nick Heidfeld 34
9 Vitaly Petrov 32
10 Michael Schumacher 32
11 Kamui Kobayashi 27
12 Adrian Sutil 18
13 Jaime Alguersuari 9
14 Sergio Perez 8
15 Sebastien Buemi 8
16 Rubens Barrichello 4
17 Paul di Resta 2
Constructors Championship
Red Bull actually increased their lead in Constructors Championship due to Button's DNF and Vettel's in the pits pass on Massa in Germany and their lead is now up to 112 points. Ferrari close the gap on McLaren, but they are too far behind Red Bull to have any hope of regaining the title. McLaren need finshes from both drivers to make any inroads into the Red Bull lead.
1 RBR-Renault 355
2 McLaren-Mercedes 243
3 Ferrari 192
4 Mercedes 78
5 Renault 66
6 Sauber-Ferrari 35
7 Force India-Mercedes 20
8 STR-Ferrari 17
9 Williams-Cosworth 4
2010 Qualifying
Last year Red Bull dominated qualifying and returned their sixth 1-2 qualifying for the season.
1 Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1:18.773
2 Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault 1:19.184
3 Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1:19.987
4 Felipe Massa Ferrari 1:20.331
5 Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1:20.499
6 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1:21.082
7 Vitaly Petrov Renault 1:21.229
8 Robert Kubica Renault 1:21.328
9 Pedro de la Rosa BMW Sauber-Ferrari 1:21.411
10 Nico H*lkenberg Williams-Cosworth 1:21.710
2010 Race
Last year's race saw an awesome drive by Webber to secure the win. A decision not to pit under a safety car that was deployed on lap 15 combined with a drive though penalty for Vettel for failing to keep within 10 car lengths of the safety car saw him vault to the lead of the race. A lengthy stint on old tyres gave him enough of a cushion to pit, change tyres and come out ahead of Alonso and Vettel who were battling for second. Webber's strategy was initially intended to secure second place behind Vettel, but ended up winning the race. The Red Bull car was dominant during the race, but Vettel's penalty and the lack of overtaking opportunities on the track consigned him to third position.
1 Mark Webber RBR-Renault 1:41:05.571
2 Fernando Alonso Ferrari +17.8 secs
3 Sebastian Vettel RBR-Renault +19.2 secs
4 Felipe Massa Ferrari +27.4 secs
5 Vitaly Petrov Renault +73.1 secs
6 Nico Hulkenberg Williams-Cosworth +76.7 secs
7 Pedro de la Rosa BMW Sauber-Ferrari +1 Lap
8 Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes +1 Lap
9 Kamui Kobayashi BMW Sauber-Ferrari +1 Lap
10 Rubens Barrichello Williams-Cosworth +1 Lap
Hungary sees a return to the soft (prime) and supersoft (option) tyre choices the same as used for Monaco and Canada. Yet again pit stop strategy could be vital and may provide the only option for overtaking in the race.
McLaren's return to form in Germany, and Ferrari's recent form should see a highly entertaining battle for the win between Ferrari, McLaren and Red Bull. Although Red Bull dominated this race in 2010, and the track does look to suit Red Bull, I'm tipping another McLaren win.
