2013 Hungarian GP Executive Summary.

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