MOTOR SPORT HUNGARIAN GRAND PRIX: AFTER MONTHS languishing on the periphery of Formula One, Lewis Hamilton climbed back to the top step of the podium in Hungary yesterday but admitted afterwards that, despite the relief at returning to competitiveness, his thoughts were with Ferrari driver Felipe Massa, who remains in critical condition in a Budapest hospital following a freak accident in qualifying which left the Brazilian with a fractured skull.
Massa had been racing his car through his final run in the second qualifying session on Saturday when an 800-gram spring, dislodged from the Brawn GP car of Rubens Barrichello, flew up from the track and hit the Ferrari driver in the head. He immediately lost consciousness and his car arrowed off track and buried itself hard in the tyre wall at the Hungaroring’s Turn Four.
Airlifted to the AEK hospital in the capital, Massa, who suffered skull fractures, a brain concussion and lacerations in the accident underwent surgery after which he was placed into an induced coma to reduce swelling of the brain. By yesterday morning, though, the signs were positive and after undergoing a further CT scan, surgeons informed reporters that while his condition was still “critical”, the results of the scan were “reassuring”.
After claiming his first victory since last October, Hamilton said that the Brazilian being absent from the grid had tempered his celebrations.
“I want to say that yesterday was, for all of us drivers, quite a sad day,” he said. “To not see him with us today was definitely sad but I’m glad that the surgery went well and we’re just going to keep him in our thoughts and prayers.”
Yesterday’s win in Hungary marked a remarkable turnaround for McLaren. Following Hamilton’s title win last year all the signs were that the Mercedes-powered team were shaping up as the sport’s dominant force.
But the biggest regulation change in a decade erased the advantage at a stroke and Hamilton arrived at the first race of the season armed with a car that had in winter testing struggled to keep pace with the previous year’s midfield outfits.
Hamilton has since limped to a string of disappointing results and, despite improvements to the car, progress appeared to further stall in recent races with the Briton slumping to 18th last time out in Germany.
It was a different story in Budapest, however. On Saturday he qualified fourth and, at the race start, used his McLaren’s KERS power boost system to good advantage to slot in ahead of the non-KERS assisted second-placed Red Bull of Sebastian Vettel. Hamilton applied the same force in passing Mark Webber on lap two and when light-fuelled pole-sitter Fernando Alonso dived into the pits and out of contention on lap 12 Hamilton marched into a lead he never surrendered.
“It is an incredible feeling to be back here,” said Hamilton of the win. “We didn’t expect to win this weekend. It didn’t feel like we had the pace to win but the car felt fantastic.”
The race marked a similar comeback for Kimi Raikkonen. Like McLaren Ferrari have endured a unlikely slump this season but yesterday, as the only Ferrari driver on the grid, Raikkonen banked valuable points for the team, claiming second.
Like Hamilton, the Finn, starting from seventh, had used KERS to power through the field at the start, muscling his way alongside Hamilton and then briefly clashing with Vettel before claiming fourth.
In the first round of pit stops the Finn pitted at the same time as Webber and when the Australian’s team made a fuelling mistake in the stop, Raikkonen pushed past and on to just his second podium finish of the year.
While Hamilton and Raikkonen took the plaudits for “most improved” it was behind them that events affecting the championship fight were unfolding.
Championship leader Jenson Button had come to Hungary expecting increased temperatures and a tighter track to propel his Brawn back to the front but, in the end, the Briton struggled with tyres again and battled to an eventual seventh.
Damage to his title hopes was limited, however, by the mid-race retirement of closest championship challenger Vettel, suffering a lap one collision with Raikkonen that the German claimed later caused the suspension failure which saw him limp out of the race.
Vettel’s team-mate Webber converted his fourth-place start to a podium finish, fighting off the close attention of McLaren’s Heikki Kovalainen and Williams’ Nico Rosberg to close on Button by four points, also moving into second in the title chase.
For Button, the retirement of Vettel was key and, in real terms, Webber’s third meant the Briton dropped just 2.5 points from his title lead. “It was damage limitation,” he said. With Brawn sliding further back with every event and previous outsiders now clamouring for a place at the points table, yesterday’s assessment could shape up to be the story of the second half of his season.
Meanwhile, Renault later learned that the whole team will be suspended from the next round in Valencia after Fernando Alonso’s car lost a wheel during yesterday’s race. The FIA ruled that the team had allowed Alonso to take to the track following a pitstop despite knowing that they had failed to secure the wheel properly. The judgement rules Alonso out of his home race, though Renault have the right to appeal and, with F1 entering an enforced break, it is unlikely that an appeal could be heard before the next race so the team will almost certainly race under appeal.
HUNGARORING DETAILS
Overall final race positions(70 laps): 1 Lewis Hamilton (Bri) McLaren 1hr 38mins 23.876secs, 2 Kimi Raikkonen (Fin) Ferrari 1:38:34.881, 3 Mark Webber (Aus) Red Bull 1:38:39.884, 4 Nico Rosberg (Ger) Williams 1:38:49.885, 5 Heikki Kovalainen (Fin) McLaren 1:38:57.879, 6 Timo Glock (Ger) Toyota 1:38:58.878, 7 Jenson Button (Bri) Brawn GP 1:39:18.876, 8 Jarno Trulli (Ita) Toyota 1:39:31.877, 9 Kazuki Nakajima (Jpn) Williams 1:39:31.883, 10 Rubens Barrichello Bra Brawn GP 1:39:32.878, 11 Nick Heidfeld (Ger) BMW Sauber 1:39:33.882, 12 Nelson Piquet Jr. (Bra) Renault 1:39:34.881, 13 Robert Kubica (Pol) BMW Sauber 1:39:37.876 14 Giancarlo Fisichella (Ita) Force India at 1 lap, 15 Jaime Alguersuari (Spa) Scuderia Toro Rosso at 1 lap, 16 Sebastien Buemi (Swi) Scuderia Toro Rosso at 1 lap
Not Classified: 17 Sebastian Vettel (Ger) Red Bull 29 laps completed, 18 Fernando Alonso (Spa) Renault 15 laps completed, 19 Adrian Sutil (Ger) Force India 1 lap completed DNS: Felipe Massa (Bra) Ferrari
Championship Standings Drivers Championship: 1 Jenson Button (Bri) Brawn GP 70.0pts, 2 Mark Webber (Aus) Red Bull 51.5, 3 Sebastian Vettel (Ger) Red Bull 47.0, 4 Rubens Barrichello (Bra) Brawn GP 44.0, 5 Nico Rosberg (Ger) Williams 25.5, 6 Jarno Trulli (Ita) Toyota 22.5, 7 Felipe Massa (Bra) Ferrari 22.0, 8 Lewis Hamilton (Bri) McLaren 19.0, 9 Kimi Raikkonen (Fin) Ferrari 18.0, 10 Timo Glock (Ger) Toyota 16.0, 11 Fernando Alonso (Spa) Renault 13.0, 12 Heikki Kovalainen (Fin) McLaren 9.0, 13 Nick Heidfeld (Ger) BMW Sauber 6.0, 14 Sebastien Buemi (Swi) Scuderia Toro Rosso 3.0, 15 Robert Kubica (Pol) BMW Sauber 2.0, 16 Sebastien Bourdais (Fra) BMW Sauber 2.0, 17 Giancarlo Fisichella (Ita) Force India 0.0, 18 Kazuki Nakajima (Jpn) Williams 0.0, 19 Adrian Sutil (Ger) Force India 0.0, 20 Nelson Piquet Jr. (Bra) Renault 0.0, 21 Jaime Alguersuari (Spa) Scuderia Toro Rosso 0.0
Manufacturer Championship: 1 Brawn GP 114.0pts, 2 Red Bull 98.5, 3 Ferrari 40.0, 4 Toyota 38.5, 5 McLaren 28.0, 6 Williams 25.5, 7 Renault 13.0, 8 BMW Sauber 8.0, 9 Scuderia Toro Rosso 5.0, 10 Force India 0.0
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