![]() |
Mihael Cmrk/Flickr |
Red Bull has a bit of an image problem going, Vettel has now been openly boo'd at three of the past four races (ok at Silverstone, fans cheered when he dropped out). Not great for a company essentially selling image.
It did not help everyone heard Vettel whine about Raikkonen not moving aside for him in the final laps. Raikkonen was fighting with whatever rubber he had left, Lotus finally deciding to gamble on tires and a two stop strategy. Great couple of laps that probably did not make Vettel feel too good about any prospect of the Finn sitting in an RB10 next year. Interesting to see the battle between Red Bull and Lotus, two very differently designed cars, the first with one, raked with a high rear designed to get around diffuser size regulations and the Lotus with a squat low rear, innovative linked suspension.
Grojean is still paying for his 2012 rep and received not one but two penalties Sunday. The one inflicted for passing Massa on the outside with four wheels off was one of the most ludicrous punishments in the history of F1. Stewards hands were tied by the regulations some say. I call BS as regulations are apparently flexible enough to allow Lotus to race three Grand Prix with a front suspension that is illegal!
If his name had been Hamilton or Vettel or Alonso, Grojean would not have been nailed for making a spectacular move on a track where passing is virtually impossible. Alonso bitched and moaned about that first lap, turn 2 move, Hamilton did the same thing to Webber in turn three and nobody complains, The second penalty was for making contact with Button, a contact which resulted in no damage to either car. Rosberg was not punished for hitting Massa and destroying his wing....bah.
Great week end for Hamilton, a well deserved win and finally a race where he does not get his butt handed to him by his teammate. Rosberg ran over Massa's wing on lap one (without penalty because he's not Grosjean) and then had his engine blow, laps from the end while back in the field.
Lewis now ties Schumacher with four wins at the Hungarian Go Kart track whose contract with F1 has been renewed until 2021.
If it was a great day for Mercedes and Lotus, it was a sad day for Ferrari. Massa's race was ruined on lap one when he lost a chunk of his wing, Alonso had a good start but clearly had no pace for Mercedes, Lotus or Red Bull.
Ferrari looked silly tweeting "another great race for Alonso"afterward. Guess things are so bleak that not losing any spots form the start now constitutes "great" for the Scuderia. As it happened, Alonso was lucky to escape a penalty (his initials not being RG): Ferrari forgot to set his DRS system from qualifying to race mode so Alonso ended up (involuntarily) using it on three laps when he was more than one second from the car ahead. Ferrari was fined a nominal amount.
Icing on this bitter cake, the silly rumors Alonso was talking to Red Bull about Webber's seat. Alonso's trainer/manager Lois Garcia was seen talking with Christian Horner and the press goes mad. Garcia also manages Carlos Sainz Jr. and Sainz Sr. was also there... fact that would spoil a good story! But a kick in the ass to Maranello for sure, the return of James Allison in the technical group can't come a moment too soon, Domenicali needs all the help he can get.
Now a long break to Spa and a rules enforced break where no development work is supposed to take place, pretty sure the F1 boys have figured out a way around that rule too.
2013 Hungarian Grand Prix Results - 70 laps: Pos Driver Team/Car Time/Gap 1. Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1h42m29.445s 2. Kimi Raikkonen Lotus-Renault +10.938s 3. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault +12.459s 4. Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault +18.044s 5. Fernando Alonso Ferrari +31.411s 6. Romain Grosjean Lotus-Renault +52.295s* 7. Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes +53.819s 8. Felipe Massa Ferrari +56.447s 9. Sergio Perez McLaren-Mercedes +1 lap 10. Pastor Maldonado Williams-Renault +1 lap 11. Nico Hulkenberg Sauber-Ferrari +1 lap 12. Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso-Ferrari +1 lap 13. Daniel Ricciardo Toro Rosso-Ferrari +1 lap 14. Giedo van der Garde Caterham-Renault +2 laps 15. Charles Pic Caterham-Renault +2 laps 16. Jules Bianchi Marussia-Cosworth +3 laps 17. Max Chilton Marussia-Cosworth +3 laps Paul di Resta Force India-Mercedes +4 laps/DNF Nico Rosberg Mercedes +6 laps/DNF Retirements: Valtteri Bottas Williams-Renault 42 laps Esteban Gutierrez Sauber-Ferrari 28 laps Adrian Sutil Force India-Mercedes 19 laps * 20 second penalty added to race time World Championship standings, round 10: Drivers: Constructors: 1. Vettel 172 1. Red Bull-Renault 277 2. Raikkonen 134 2. Mercedes 208 3. Alonso 133 3. Ferrari 194 4. Hamilton 124 4. Lotus-Renault 183 5. Webber 105 5. Force India-Mercedes 59 6. Rosberg 84 6. McLaren-Mercedes 57 7. Massa 61 7. Toro Rosso-Ferrari 24 8. Grosjean 49 8. Sauber-Ferrari 7 9. Button 39 9. Williams-Renault 1 10. Di Resta 36 11. Sutil 23 12. Perez 18 13. Vergne 13 14. Ricciardo 11 15. Hulkenberg 7 16. Maldonado 1
Result table / Autosport