Renault F1
Lewis Hamilton Hungary Enough To Win by Michel Lyn
It had been a fruitless year for last season’s Championship winner – the first win of the season took a long time, and Lewis Hamilton might have thought that he wouldn’t secure any victories at all this year before the Hungarian Grand Prix.
With his teammate Heikki Kovalainen coming fifth, the McLaren team is rebounding from a lacklustre season.
The Hungarian GP winds its way around the Hungaroring Sport RT, just outside of Budapest. It’s a physically demanding course with the race coming in at 70 laps. One traverse of the course’s long straightaway and various twists and turns is 4.381 kilometers. The total race distance for this F1 event is 306.630 kilometers. The Hungaroring hosted its first Formula One Grand Prix race in 1986.
This 2009 Hungarian GP was notable for a ‘new kid on the block’ racing on the circuit. This race was the debut of 19 year-old Spaniard Jaime Alguersuari, who replaced Sebastien Bourdais in the Toro Rosso car. Alguersuari now holds the honour of being the youngest-ever driver to suit up for a Formula 1 race. He was the British Formula 3 Champion of 2008. Again, being the youngest-ever to achieve that accomplishment in F3.
This past weekend was a difficult one for F1 teams and fans alike. During the second qualifying session on the Saturday, driver Felipe Massa of Ferrari suffered life-threatening head injuries. A flying spring, which came off another F1 Car, shot up off the track, striking Massa. He managed to brake, but slid off the course, still at high speed, into a tyre wall. Taken to a hospital, he underwent emergency surgery. His condition, while still serious due to a fractured skull, has improved.
While this certainly cast some despair over the racing scene at the Hungaroring, Sunday’s race started on schedule. Renault’s Fernando Alonso started on pole, with Red Bull Racing-Renault’s Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber second and third. Lewis Hamilton started in fourth position on the grid. Nico Rosberg of Williams-Toyota and Heikki Kovalainen of McLaren-Mercedes started the race in fifth and sixth. Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen and Jenson Button of Brawn-Mercedes rounded out the top positions on the starting grid, seventh and eighth respectively.
This year’s Hungarian Formula One race had the drivers using soft and super-soft tires. At the start, Lewis Hamilton moved from fourth to second, only to lose position to Mark Webber in the first turn. However, on the fourth lap he passed Webber and secured second spot once again. He subsequently vaulted into first place upon Fernando Alonso making an early pit stop. He never looked back from there.
Lewis Hamilton drove a clean and controlled race the rest of the way. He gradually built up a big lead over the rest of the field and took the checkered flag. This was his first win and first podium placing of any kind in 2009. His McLaren team of engineers and mechanics fitted his car, weeks prior in Germany, with new aerodynamics.
Hamilton could feel then that the car was better, and the Hungarian GP proved he was right. The car performed exceptionally well with a new front wing, diffuser, and engine cover. In fact, this resulted in the car’s pace improving by 0.8 seconds per lap. These are significant time gains in the ultra-competitive environment of precision-engineered F1 Racing.
For the other drivers, the day was a Hungarian Goulash of happenings. Jaime Alguersuari did finish his first F1 race, crossing the line in 15th spot. Sebastien Buemi, his Toro Rosso teammate spun out twice during his chaotic Sunday drive. Force India’s Adrian Sutil had a very short race day. He retired on Lap 1 with water temperature problems, his car boiling over.
Pole sitter Fernando Alonso’s day went from best to worst quickly. On Lap 11, he pulled away from his pit stop a shade early. The result was his right front wheel did not fully attach. Subsequently the tyre flew off once he was back on the track. This, in combination with fuel pump troubles ended his day at the Hungaroring. Rubens Barrichello of Brawn-Mercedes had a bump up at the start of the race, which contributed greatly to him dropping off the pace. He eventually finished in tenth spot, out of the points, which go to the first eight finishers.
Kimi Raikkonen secured second place for Ferrari, some consolation for the team after Massa’s injuries. Mark Webber kept Red Bull in the points with his third place finish. However, his teammate Sebastian Vettel retired on lap 29 with suspension damage. Nico Rosberg of Williams-Toyota fought hard and had a very respectable fourth place finish.
Lewis Hamilton’s teammate Heikki Kovalainen garnered valuable Championship points for McLaren with his skillful driving and fifth place finish. Timo Glock and Jarno Trulli of Toyota challenged for points with strong drives and finished sixth and eighth respectively. Britain’s Jenson Button sandwiched himself in between the two for a seventh place finish, and two Championship points. Button suffered from poor tyres early on in the race. Jensen Button is a resident of Monaco – fellow Brit David Coulthard who retired last year and now commentates for the BBC is also a Monaco resident and part owner of one of the Monaco hotels
With the Hungarian Grand Prix in the books, the Drivers Championship is getting interesting. Jenson Button leads with 70 points. Mark Webber is in second with 51.5 points followed by Sebastian Vettel with 47. Lewis Hamilton’s first win gives him 19 points. In the Constructor Standings, Brawn-Mercedes leads with 114 points. RBR-Renault has 98.5, followed by Ferrari with 40 points.
The Formula One Hungarian Grand Prix was the 10th Grand Prix win of Lewis Hamilton’s career. His and McLaren’s victory adds fuel to an increasingly competitive F1 season. There’s now another team in the mix challenging the Brawn’s and Red Bull’s for podium finishes.
About the Author
More information about the May 2010 Monaco Grand Prix can be found at monacoproperty.net/grand_prix
Other information at the Monaco site includes Real Estate for sale in Monaco
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