Just one week on from the thrilling fight witnessed at the Nürburgring, it was Hungary’s turn to play its part in the outcome of this year’s title race. McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton was the man who rose to the top in the Eifel Mountains, but it was all about to change once again, a phrase so often associated with Formula 1 in 2011.
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View GPUpdate.net's In-depth Tyre Analysis chart for the 2011 Hungarian GP
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Hamilton initially maintained his authority during practice in Hungary, but a key overnight setup change saw Sebastian Vettel’s RB7 transformed into a machine capable of securing pole position. Pirelli Motorsport Director Paul Hembery explained to GPUpdate.net that the reigning Champion worked particularly hard to eliminate some tyre-related balance issues, resulting in his place at the top of the timesheets.
However, the German lost out to McLaren driver Jenson Button for the second time this season during the race, with the latter adapting to the changeable conditions in a superlative manner. The 2009 Champion’s drive was similar to the one he delivered at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Canada, making good use of the speed available from his MP4-26 en route to victory number 11 of his career.
When looking at his race from a tyre point of view, Button was once again much quicker on the dry rubber on a slightly slippery track surface. The start of the race saw him fall back on the Intermediate rubber, much like he did in Montreal, but two impressive Option stints consisting of 16 and 15 laps respectively saw his race transformed.
After making his final stop for the firmer Soft rubber on Lap 42, Button reeled in Hamilton and remained calm when spots of rain began to fall. The Briton stayed out until the chequered flag on Slick tyres, finishing comfortably ahead of Vettel who found himself back in second place after a less than straightforward start to the 70-lap race.
Despite maintaining his lead into the first corner, Vettel slipped back to second following an onset of pressure from Hamilton, before later being passed by ultimate victor Button. The 24-year-old progressed back through the field in the second half of the race, but had to settle for second place at the finish line, admitting that: "On the Super Soft tyre I was feeling quite good initially but there was quite a lot of drop off (in performance)."
Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso was the man who completed the podium, albeit some 16 seconds behind Vettel’s Red Bull. The Spaniard was left to rue a slow start last weekend, something which he clearly felt prevented any hope of fighting for the win. Once in clean air, the two-time Champion held his own in the battle at the front, lapping quickly on both Slick tyre compounds and avoiding the urge to pit for Intermediates.
When discussing his poor start, Alonso said: "I stayed focused at the beginning, but unfortunately the start didn’t go as we predicted and both Mercedes cars overtook us at the start." It was a costly phase of the afternoon for the man from Oviedo, effectively losing out on the potential to run at full speed for half of Sunday afternoon’s race.
A recovering Hamilton picked up the pieces behind his arch-rival in fourth, but a slight change in his tyre strategy and the removal of a mistake would have left the British driver in the perfect position to fight for victory. Lap 47 was effectively his undoing at the Hungarian venue, not only losing his lead due to a spin at the Turn 6/7 chicane but also incurring a drive-through penalty for rejoining the track in what the stewards decided was a dangerous manner.
To add insult to injury, the decision to make the Intermediate switch lost Hamilton even more time, with light rainfall quickly disappearing. When the race was over, the 2008 title winner said radio issues made his tyre calls all the more challenging: "I heard them saying it was going to rain and it was already spitting, so we went for the (Intermediate) tyres - but they went off, meaning it wasn't necessarily the best call, but that's racing."
It was Hamilton’s pace during his final 16-lap Soft tyre stint that ensured a fourth place finish, overcoming Red Bull’s Mark Webber who similarly endured a tough day on-track. Webber made the same mistake as Hamilton during the latter stages of the race, taking a gamble and pitting for the Intermediate compound on Lap 51 before switching back to Slick rubber just two laps later.
The Australian lost exactly 21.122 seconds as a result of his extra stop, plus the time wasted when fighting for position. It shows just how costly changeable conditions can be in this game, with Webber unable to claim any higher than fifth at the flag, one place ahead of Ferrari’s Felipe Massa who struggled to capitalise on his flashes of promise.
An impressive drive from Paul di Resta saw the Scot finish seventh, adopting a three-stop strategy which completely mirrored that of Button. The Force India man was consistent throughout, earning his first points haul since Malaysia back in April. Behind the DTM Champion, Sébastien Buemi grabbed a well-deserved eighth place finish after starting from 23rd on the grid, even without using all of his fresh Super Soft rubber.
Nico Rosberg and Jaime Alguersuari followed the Swiss driver home to complete the top ten, adding to their respective points tallies after a pair of result changing moments. Rosberg was another man to fall back with the gamble on the Intermediate tyres late on, while Alguersuari lost time as a result of light rainfall during one of his stops.
"Today, it was clear in my mind that I could have finished seventh," Alguersuari explained after grabbing his fourth points finish in five races. "I made one of my pit-stops just as it began raining slightly again. With the tyres not yet up to temperature, at that point it was hard to stay on the track and I went off. But I carried on fighting and towards the end it was unfortunate that I lost another place after the collision with Kobayashi."
Towards the back of the order, Timo Glock was the man who came out on top in the battle between the three new-for-2010 teams. A double Lotus retirement helped his cause, but the German was consistent nonetheless. He held off Daniel Ricciardo with a long third stint on the Prime rubber, taking advantage when the Australian pitted earlier to change from Super Soft to Soft rubber for his final run.
There were a mammoth 88 pit-stops at the Hungaroring last weekend, a huge total to ponder when heading to the iconic Spa-Francorchamps circuit in just over three weeks’ time. The question remains, can anyone begin a run strong enough to knock Sebastian Vettel from his comfortable perch at the top of the championship standings?
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View GPUpdate.net's In-depth Tyre Analysis chart for the 2011 Hungarian GP
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Some key facts uncovered at the Hungaroring:
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- Every driver started the race on Intermediate tyres, three men (Alguersuari, Liuzzi and Heidfeld) on used sets and the rest on brand-new rubber
- From the 20 race finishers, nine (including winner Button) pitted three times, seven made four stops and four visited the pit lane for new rubber on five occasions
- Nine of the men to make the chequered flag took a gamble on Intermediate tyres in the late stages of the race, before returning to Slicks soon after
- Kobayashi completed the longest Option tyre stint, touring 28 times on the same set
- Reigning Champion Sebastian Vettel completed the largest run on Prime tyres, circulating 29 times during his final stint of the race
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Analysis conducted by GPUpdate.net’s Mike Seymour
Twitter: @MikeSeymourF1
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| Pos. | Driver | Team | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. |  J. Button | McLaren | 1:46:42.337 |
| 2. | S. Vettel | Red Bull | +3.588 |
| 3. | F. Alonso | Ferrari | +19.819 |
| 4. | L. Hamilton | McLaren | +48.338 |
| 5. | M. Webber | Red Bull | +49.742 |
| 6. | F. Massa | Ferrari | +83.176 |
| 7. | P. di Resta | Force India | +1 Lap |
| 8. | S. Buemi | Toro Rosso | +1 Lap |
| 9. | N. Rosberg | Mercedes | +1 Lap |
| 10. | J. Alguersuari | Toro Rosso | +1 Lap |
| Full results | |||
| 2011 Hungarian Formula 1 Grand Prix | |
|---|---|
| 5 Aug '11 | Hamilton: The pace is there now |
| 5 Aug '11 | Interview with McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton |
| 4 Aug '11 | Button still pushing for 2011 title |
| 4 Aug '11 | Interview with McLaren’s Jenson Button |
| Formula 1 | |
| 23 May | Latest F1 photos: Thursday in Monaco |
| 23 May | Rosberg stays fastest in second practice |
| 23 May | Ricciardo: I am ready for Red Bull seat |
| 23 May | Video: Bianchi previews home Grand Prix |
| Pirelli | |
| 23 May | Video of the Day: Tyres for the Monaco GP |
| 21 May | Pirelli predicts two pit-stops in Monaco |
| 17 May | Ferrari also criticises Pirelli tyre changes |
| 15 May | Pirelli wants further testing for tyres |
| In-depth tyre analysis | |
| 29 Sep '11 | In-depth tyre analysis: Marina Bay |
| 14 Sep '11 | In-depth tyre analysis: Monza |
| 1 Sep '11 | In-depth tyre analysis: Spa-Francorchamps |
| 4 Aug '11 | In-depth tyre analysis: Hungaroring |
| 2011 Hungarian Formula 1 Grand Prix | |||
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| More 2011 Hungarian Formula 1 Grand Prix photos | |||
| Formula 1 | |||
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| More Formula 1 photos | |||
| Pirelli | |||
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| More Pirelli photos | |||
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