Mark Webber has responded to the challenge of a Safety Car to win Sunday’s Hungarian Grand Prix in commanding fashion. The Red Bull driver was able to pull out over 20 seconds from Fernando Alonso’s Ferrari and pole-sitter Sebastian Vettel although former championship leader Lewis Hamilton failed to finish for McLaren.
The weather remained ideal in Hungary on Sunday as the majority of onlookers expected a dominant Red Bull performance in the team’s 100th race, with Vettel lined up on pole position alongside Webber as Ferrari pairing Alonso and Felipe Massa – following their controversy of Germany –filled Row 2.
It was a clean start as the red lights went out although Webber, as he feared before the race, was slow off the line and saw Alonso move ahead behind arriving at Turn 1. The Spaniard also challenged Vettel, moving around the outside of the Australian, although the latter held the racing line into the second corner.
Behind, Champion Jenson Button endured a poor getaway to drop to 15th as Kamui Kobayashi stormed from 23rd on the grid to 16th by the end of the first lap.
The first of four retirements today came on Lap 2, as Jaime Alguersuari suffered a suspected Ferrari engine failure in his Toro Rosso. However, as debris littered the track at Turn 11, it was the sudden deployment of the Safety Car which caused chaos in the pit lane fourteen laps later.
Button and Liuzzi were first to come in – on the lap prior to its appearance - and leader Vettel, who had pulled out a lead of one second per lap in the first seven laps of the race, dived into the pits at the very last moment.
Hamilton was able to jump Massa for fourth amid the confusion, although the mayhem began as Nico Rosberg’s right-rear wheel flew off the Mercedes upon exiting his pit-stop.
With Rosberg stopped at the end of the pit lane whilst the wheel made its way into the Williams garage, causing minor injuries to mechanic Nigel Hope who was thankfully able to continue working later, Adrian Sutil dived into his pit box at the precise moment when Robert Kubica was released by his lollipop man; the two cars connected, the German was out on the spot and the Pole proceeded to rejoin the race, only to be handed a stop/go penalty for the moment before retiring into the garage several laps later.
On the Lap 18 restart, with the lights out on the Safety Car before Turn 12, Vettel was clearly caught out as Webber stretched out a gap of 2.2 seconds; it was for this moment that Sebastian was handed a drive-through penalty, much to his disgust, for breaking the regulation which states that more than ten car lengths cannot be seen between cars under Safety Car conditions.
In terms of the championship, the most significant moment of the afternoon arrived when Hamilton’s gearbox seized up on the 24th lap, leaving the Englishman on the sidelines and out of the championship lead.
This left Webber – who had not pitted under the Safety Car, as Red Bull did not wish to queue their cars and lose much time in doing so – leading from Alonso, Vettel, Massa, Barrichello (who had also not stopped), Petrov, Hülkenberg, de la Rosa, Button and the ultra-quick Kobayashi.
Knowing he needed over 20 seconds’ gap to be able to pit and rejoin still in the lead, Webber charged – setting fastest lap after fastest lap, even ensuring he had enough of a margin in pocket for his team to not need a rushed stop – before coming in on Lap 43 of 70 with a 23.7-second advantage, duly rejoining ahead. The Australian then stretched out more than another 20 seconds before backing off in the closing stages.
Despite his very best efforts, a frustrated Vettel – who at one point ran wide at Turn 4 – was running third after his penalty but could not pass Alonso for second, even though he continued to pile on the pressure for almost 40 laps. Massa continued to run in fourth, ahead of the impressive Vitaly Petrov who achieves a career-best result for Renault.
It was also a strong day for Williams and Sauber, who both enjoy double points finishes with sixth for Nico Hülkenberg, seventh for Pedro de la Rosa (his first points score of the year), ninth for Kamui Kobayashi – a stunning drive from 23rd on the grid – and tenth for Rubens Barrichello.
An afternoon of damage limitation ended with only eighth place and four points for McLaren and Button, with the team having now lost the lead in both championships.
It the closing stages, after making his sole stop from sixth on Lap 55, Rubens Barrichello caught Michael Schumacher’s only remaining Mercedes for the final point position. Two seconds per lap quicker and following several attacks at Turn 1, it was on the 61st tour that the Brazilian enjoyed the best slipstreaming of his former team-mate, who squeezed the Williams towards the pit wall in a fashion which can be described only as dangerous.
As a result, both Mercedes drivers are now under investigation after the race - Rosberg for his pit lane incident and Schumacher for the moment which so nearly resulted in a large accident on the start/finish straight.
Further back, all six cars of F1's three new teams finished a race for the first time this season, with the Lotuses of Heikki Kovalainen and Jarno Trulli moving ahead of Virgin Racing's Timo Glock.
Webber’s fourth win of the season sees him shoot back to the top of the table as Formula 1 heads into its month-long summer break.
- Full Hungarian Grand Prix results
The action will resume with the Belgian Grand Prix from Spa-Francorchamps on the final weekend of August
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