The complete 2011 Hungarian GP review

PRACTICE

Practice one

Lewis Hamilton began the session as if determined to recapture the spirit, the exact frame of mental reference, that had assisted him in driving to victory less than seven days previously at the Nurburgring. And while he wasn't the first out of the blocks of the favourites to set a quick time - that honour went to his McLaren team-mate Jenson Button - Hamilton was the quickest whenever he was on the dirty, purchase-limited Hungaroring asphalt in P1.

Even at the end of the 90-minute session, when most were well into a performance comparison run, or a set-up change evaluation, Hamilton was still on it banging in purple sector times with vigour.

That he didn't improve on the 1m23.350s lap that set the mark for P1 was only down to his perception that Jaime Alguersuari's Toro Rosso was occupying his favoured choice of line. The McLaren snapped to the outside, drove around the Spaniard's machine, then made that point through crystal clear language that his car's motion displayed.

Second fastest was Sebastian Vettel with Fernando Alonso lurking in third with the Ferrari.

Mark Webber was fourth, but he was lucky not to lose more time than just the last 20 minutes of the session after bringing his Red Bull RB6 back to the pits noseless and in significant need of a service, having thumped the wall closest to the apex of Turn 9.

Other events of note included Bruno Senna's first session of the year for Renault, replacing Nick Heidfeld in the car - the Brazilian completed 25 laps with a best time well under a second slower than regular Vitaly Petrov. While Team Lotus's provision of a new power steering system for Jarno Trulli delighted the Tuscan, as he would later enthuse to anyone who deemed to ask.

Practice two

The second session may have once again gone down in the books as one where Lewis Hamilton was fastest, the Briton having approached it with the same verve as he'd shown in the previous 90 minutes, but there were layers of depth to it not obvious in the timesheets.

More work was done by the teams to ascertain data on the Pirelli primes for the first half of FP2, but it was when Ferrari switched to the red-walled super-soft options that things began to get interesting. Felipe Massa's botched attempt at a flier was then shaded by team-mate Fernando Alonso's successful one. His time of 1m21.259s was a whole chunk faster than anyone had gone up until that point.

That triggered a flurry of activity and yes, you guessed it, Hamilton emerged fastest of the stickier-rubbered attempts, as the fresh tyres proved to be about a second faster than the harder primes on ultimate pace over one lap.

Intriguingly though, neither McLaren nor Ferrari could match the degrading option tyre pace of the Red Bulls, both of which could manage stable 1m27s laps on the Pirellis as they aged.

In the end though all of this just pointed to another open battle against the top three teams in F1 right now. Then again had you only looked at the top five in the times - Hamilton (McLaren), Alonso (Ferrari), Button (McLaren), Webber (Red Bull), Vettel (Red Bull) covered by 0.6s - you might have drawn the same conclusion.

Practice three

Vettel had been troubled after practice on Friday, fearing that his Red Bull might be in the same not-quite-quick-enough state that had seen him forced off the podium for the first time all year at the Nurburgring.

Eager to avoid that scenario, Red Bull used its first curfew exception of the year to work late into the night on major set-up changes, showing that while it may have a gigantic points lead, resting on those laurels is not currently an option for the champion team.

It didn't take long for Vettel to hint that his crew's sleepless night had been worthwhile, as he led the way for the majority of final practice. Alonso deposed him for a while in the closing minutes having gone to super softs earlier, but when Vettel tried the faster rubber he went quickest by 0.3s.

One unanswered question was exactly what Friday star Hamilton could do - he was only seventh in the results after going off at Turn 1 at the start of his super soft outing, then pitting with brake issues.

His team-mate Button went third-fastest, ahead of Webber and Massa, with Nico Rosberg and Michael Schumacher's Mercedes either side of Hamilton.

QUALIFYING

1 Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull)
Time: 1m19.815s

"I think it was a very good session for us after yesterday, where McLaren were a little bit quicker than us. We changed a lot on the car overnight and the boys didn't get much sleep but to have a result like this today is the best way to say thanks."

2 Lewis Hamilton (McLaren)
Time: 1m19.978s

"I was two-and-a-half-tenths up through the first sector and to hold onto it through the rest of the sectors was very tough. I went wide on the exit of turn nine, maybe lost half-a-tenth or so there, and then through the last corner pretty much lost whatever small advantage I had there. I think it would have been very, very close."

3 Jenson Button (McLaren)
Time: 1m20.024s

"We made some good set-up tweaks overnight. This morning the car felt pretty good. We were just playing with it a little bit through qualifying and it eventually came good on the last run. I think I gained about half a second on the last run in comparison to my previous lap."

4 Felipe Massa (Ferrari)
Time: 1m20.350s

"Red Bull and McLaren were very strong and it was difficult to fight with them. But I'm not very happy to start on the bad side of the grid because there's a big difference."

5 Fernando Alonso (Ferrari)
Time: 1m20.365s

"We were fourth and fifth in the Nurburgring one week ago and we are fourth and fifth here. In the first two sectors we looked okay during the weekend, but in the last sector we lost a lot of time to our competitors."

6 Mark Webber (Red Bull)
Time: 1m20.474s

"No way could I do Vettel's lap time. We had a few KERS issues in the middle of the session but we had it back for the last run. But the 1m19s is a different zone to me. It's strange. Really bizarre."

7 Nico Rosberg (Mercedes)
Time: 1m21.098s

"Qualifying in seventh place was ok today; we had a good set-up after this morning's practice and I did a good lap in Q3. I'm pleased to have saved one set of new option tyres for the race which will hopefully help me to score some good points."

8 Adrian Sutil (Force India)
Time: 1m21.445s

"This morning in final practice things did not look so good because I was struggling with a general lack of grip. We changed quite a few things for qualifying - obviously the right things - and this afternoon the car felt really good and I found the lap times we felt were possible."

9 Michael Schumacher (Mercedes)
Time: 1m21.907s

"We didn't get the car sorted out. On prime tyres it was okay, but going to options I just didn't have the same flow. There was one particular issue - the setup on the primes worked on the engine break, but [on options] the engine braking setup was very poor and didn't work."

10 Sergio Perez (Sauber)
Time: No time (did not set a time in Q3)

"I'm very happy to be in the top 10. Today is one of those days when you don't expect to be in Q3 and we made it. I didn't go out in Q3 to save tyres for the race tomorrow."

11 Paul di Resta (Force India)
Time: 1m22.256s

"I'm fairly happy with it. I would have liked to have been a bit higher but we're in a reasonable position to score points. I wasn't using the tyre quite as much as I should have in some parts of the track."

12 Vitaly Petrov (Renault)
Time: 1m22.284s

"This morning in final practice things did not look so good because I was struggling with a general lack of grip. We changed quite a few things for qualifying - obviously the right things - and this afternoon the car felt really good and I found the lap times we felt were possible. It is this, combined with traction problems that have been our main problems so far this weekend."

13 Kamui Kobayashi (Sauber)
Time: 1m22.435s

"I did what I could, but it was not enough compared to my team-mate. He has been faster than me this weekend, but this is not the race and we will see tomorrow."

14 Nick Heidfeld (Renault)
Time: 1m22.470s

"The car was okay. Nothing outstanding. It wasn't perfect, it wasn't a disaster, but that's how it is. Losing the first session on Friday never helps and I tried to make up for the time yesterday. But it's not worth discussing - it's what I had to make the best of."

15 Rubens Barrichello (Williams)
Time: 1m22.684s

"Everything was running so well and we had a promising strategy in place, but I couldn't engage KERS in sector one of my last lap, and that compromised my time."

16 Jaime Alguersuari (Toro Rosso)
Time: 1m22.979s

"I did the maximum I could today, given that we were saving the tyres for the race. I believe our car set-up for the race can be very effective, therefore I am confident for tomorrow. I don't know if points will be possible."

17 Pastor Maldonado (Williams)
Time: No time (did not set a time in Q2)

"We saw that we were not so competitive, especially with the prime, so I decided to save tyres. It was the best choice because Rubens put one set of options on and he's only two places in front, so the gap is not big. Now we have one more super soft for the race and we have a bigger strategy window."

18 Heikki Kovalainen (Lotus)
Time: 1m24.362s

"It was very good. I didn't have a perfect balance in the car yesterday but we worked every session and in the end we got it well-balanced. My last qualifying lap was pretty good with no mistakes and I'm happy to be ahead of the other 'new' teams and close to the midfield."

19 Jarno Trulli (Lotus)
Time: 1m24.534s

"The new power steering system has transformed the car for me and I'm so much happier now - it's really like night and day. On the first run we went with the prime and the car was oversteering a little. On the second run we went onto the super softs and found more understeer than I'd had all weekend."

20 Timo Glock (Virgin)
Time: 1m26.294s

"There was nothing more in the car. Yesterday, we had a good baseline, but today the wind picked up massively which put us into problems. We decided on the right set-up changes and the car was at least a bit driveable. But if you look at my steering trace it's like I was driving a rally stage!"

21 Vitantonio Liuzzi (HRT)
Time: 1m26.323s

"This track doesn't suit our car at all with all of the slow turns and hairpins because we struggle for traction. We lost part of the front wing on the left side in qualifying, but because of the parc ferme I couldn't go back to the old one."

22 Daniel Ricciardo (HRT)
Time: 1m26.479s

"It was not a bad lap and we are quite close to Tonio and Timo. There are only a couple of tenths in it. When you see that the times are so close it is a little bit frustrating not to be one spot ahead."

23 Sebastian Buemi (Toro Rosso)
Time: 1m24.070s*

"The fact I have a five place grid penalty carried over from last Sunday's race at the Nurburgring conditioned our approach to this afternoon's qualifying session. We chose not to use any super soft tyres today, deciding to save them for tomorrow."
*Five-place grid penalty for causing collision with Nick Heidfeld in the German Grand Prix.

24 Jerome d'Ambrosio (Virgin)
Time: 1m26.510s

"I had a bit of understeer which made the car slower over a lap but I feel I was quite close to the car's full potential today. I'm sure I can still improve to make sure I hook everything together over the lap."

THE GRID

Pos  Driver                Team
 1.  Sebastian Vettel      Red Bull-Renault
 2.  Lewis Hamilton        McLaren-Mercedes
 3.  Jenson Button         McLaren-Mercedes
 4.  Felipe Massa          Ferrari
 5.  Fernando Alonso       Ferrari
 6.  Mark Webber           Red Bull-Renault
 7.  Nico Rosberg          Mercedes
 8.  Adrian Sutil          Force India-Mercedes
 9.  Michael Schumacher    Mercedes
10.  Sergio Perez          Sauber-Ferrari
11.  Paul di Resta         Force India-Mercedes
12.  Vitaly Petrov         Renault
13.  Kamui Kobayashi       Sauber-Ferrari
14.  Nick Heidfeld         Renault
15.  Rubens Barrichello    Williams-Cosworth
16.  Jaime Alguersuari     Toro Rosso-Ferrari
17.  Pastor Maldonado      Williams-Cosworth
18.  Heikki Kovalainen     Lotus-Renault
19.  Jarno Trulli          Lotus-Renault
20.  Timo Glock            Virgin-Cosworth
21.  Tonio Liuzzi          HRT-Cosworth
22.  Daniel Ricciardo      HRT-Cosworth
23.  Sebastien Buemi       Toro Rosso-Ferrari *
24.  Jerome D'Ambrosio     Virgin-Cosworth

* Five-place penalty for causing collision with Heidfeld in German GP

RACE

How best to celebrate the milestone of a 200th grand prix start? Jenson Button nailed that pretty well with a friendly gathering of friends, colleagues past and present and media in the Hungaroring paddock. And whatever happened in next day's race, just being firmly back on the pace and enjoying himself in the car again after the puzzling set-up issues of the Nurburgring was a cause for satisfaction.

He shrugged off a bizarre late night internet hacking hoax that suggested he had suffered terrible injuries in a road accident (yet, according to the fake article, might still race next day...), and arrived at the circuit to find showers in the air and more on the way. Rather like the conditions in which he had taken his epic maiden victory at the very same circuit five years earlier... It was all starting to feel rather appropriate.

In the opening laps, though, it was his team-mate Lewis Hamilton was looked like the McLaren man most likely to tiger his way to an epic wet weather win.

Conditions were greasy in the extreme at first, even with everyone running on intermediates. The lack of grip was such that it looked like Formula 1 in slow motion, yet the racing was so frenetic, it was as if the drivers were sparring in karts in their spare time rather the contesting a grand prix - particularly at the front, where time and again Hamilton would get alongside leader Sebastian Vettel but not quite make a move stick as both tried all kinds of lines in their scramble for any kind of traction.

Vettel finally cracked on lap five, slipping wide enough at Turn 2 to let Hamilton cruise past. The McLaren then stretched out a four-second lead as Button took his turn to attack the championship leader, although Vettel was able to open out a comfortable gap again before long.

By lap 10, the first drivers were starting to pit for slicks. Button came in next time around, with Hamilton and Vettel hanging on until lap 12 - and, not for the first time in a race of changeable weather, it was Button who turned out to have guessed right. His extra lap getting up to speed on the dry rubber brought him right back onto Vettel's tail and then into second place at Turn 2 a lap later.

At this point it looked like it might settle down into one of Hungary's particularly uneventful grands prix, as Hamilton, Button and Vettel put a safe distance between each other.

Fernando Alonso had been on a charge early on, but this had been halted behind Mark Webber's fourth-placed Red Bull. Both Ferraris had lost ground at the first corner, being swamped by the Mercedes as they struggled to get traction on the way out of the corner. Alonso quickly carved his way back to fourth behind Button, then went off at Turn 2. He had another excursion two laps later, which very briefly put him back behind team-mate Felipe Massa, although he easily repassed the sister car even before Massa twirled gently into the Turn 2 barriers on lap eight. The Brazilian continued, missing a chunk of rear aero, and back in ninth.

By the time everyone stopped for slicks, Alonso was back in fourth place and homing in on Button again, but he chose the 'one lap later' pitstop plan like Vettel and Hamilton, and found himself being overtaken by the already up to speed Webber, who had been among the earlier stoppers.

Alonso was confident he could go faster than the #2 Red Bull, but on the dry track passing opportunities were rather scant. He therefore chose to try something different at his third stop, and while most rivals went to the harder tyres with a view to running to the end, the Ferrari took on another set of super softs and went for a sprint. Three laps on fresh super softs before Webber came in, and five before Vettel pitted, allowed Alonso to vault both Red Bulls and appear in third place - but it was a shortlived gain, for as the rubber wore, Vettel breezed back past and Webber looked as if he would surely do likewise.

Hamilton was in the same position as Alonso, having also gone for more super softs. And that was also playing into Button's hands, with the chances of Hamilton being able to go to the end on those tyres looking extremely slender, and his pace not sufficient to pull out enough of a margin over his team-mate to afford that extra stop.

In the end this was all academic, though, as the rather sudden return of the rain on lap 47 changed the shape of the race again. Hamilton was caught out at the chicane, spinning on the exit. He quickly flicked the McLaren back round into line, but not before Button had accelerated past - and his recovery spin also forced Paul di Resta to drive off the road, a near-miss that would come back to haunt Hamilton...

Now the racing became really epic again as drivers tried to brave out the shower on slicks. Button hung on under big pressure from Hamilton until lap 51, when he went off the road a little at Turn 2. But he was soon back on his team-mate's tail and slicing past on the pits straight, only to make another visit to the Turn 2 run-off immediately afterwards and relinquish the lead again.

Just as Hamilton retook the advantage, though, situations were unfolding that would cost him the race. Radio issues meant he was having trouble following his team's instructions, and amid some confusion, came in for intermediate tyres... just as the rain disappeared. It soon became clear that he would have to make yet another stop, and at the same time it was announced that he had been awarded a drive-through penalty for forcing di Resta off-track while recovering from his spin. The combined delay dropped him to sixth, a minute off the lead, though he would fight back past Massa and Webber to finish fourth - the Australian having also made an ultimately unnecessary extra stop for intermediates and then rapidly thought better of it.

Hamilton's adventures also left the way clear for Button to charge away and win the race. Vettel closed in for a while, before deciding that with some brake issues developing, second would do fine.

Webber's extra tyre stops meant Alonso finally emerged triumphant from their battle, and the Ferrari had enough space to get away with a late spin and still come home third.

Behind Hamilton, Webber and Massa, di Resta ended a run of frustrating races with seventh place. This part of the order had featured a stunning battle in the closing stages as Kamui Kobayashi tried to make it through the afternoon on just two stops, and held off a train of faster cars in his Sauber. He couldn't hang on forever though, and started to drift backwards before finally pitting for more tyres.

Di Resta emerged at the head of this group to take seventh, with eighth a brilliant result for Sebastien Buemi from 23rd on the grid. His early charge was particularly superb, as he made it through to 12th in just three laps.

Nico Rosberg would have been ahead of all this by a long way had he not been among those who pitted unnecessarily for intermediates, leaving him ninth, ahead of Jaime Alguersuari. The Spaniard lost a little ground when he clashed with Kobayashi and half-spun as the traffic jam behind the Sauber got rather lairy.

Adrian Sutil and Sergio Perez were both in this crowd too, but a lap down, both having made first-lap mistakes that wasted their great qualifying results. They finished only 14th and 15th in the end.

Michael Schumacher retired with a gearbox failure, just after spinning while trying to resist Massa.

Rather more spectacular was Nick Heidfeld's exit. A slow pitstop caused the front-exhaust-fitted Renault to start overheating its bodywork, resulting in a ferocious fire - and minor sidepod explosion - when Heidfeld parked the car on the grass heading out of the pits.

As Heidfeld said, at least with the summer break up next, Renault now had good time to "reassess and come back stronger." But after marking his double centenary in some style, the victorious Button had different plans for August...

"It is good having a couple of weeks' break, as it might take me that long to get over tonight..."

RACE RESULTS

The Hungarian Grand Prix
The Hungaroring, Hungary;
70 laps; 306.663km;
Weather: Mixed conditions.

Classified:

Pos  Driver        Team                       Time
 1.  Button        McLaren-Mercedes           1h43:42.337
 2.  Vettel        Red Bull-Renault           +     3.588
 3.  Alonso        Ferrari                    +    19.819
 4.  Hamilton      McLaren-Mercedes           +    48.338
 5.  Webber        Red Bull-Renault           +    49.742
 6.  Massa         Ferrari                    +  1:17.176
 7.  Di Resta      Force India-Mercedes       +     1 lap
 8.  Buemi         Toro Rosso-Ferrari         +     1 lap
 9.  Rosberg       Mercedes                   +     1 lap
10.  Alguersuari   Toro Rosso-Ferrari         +     1 lap
11.  Kobayashi     Sauber-Ferrari             +     1 lap
12.  Petrov        Renault                    +     1 lap
13.  Barrichello   Williams-Cosworth          +    2 laps
14.  Sutil         Force India-Mercedes       +    2 laps
15.  Perez         Sauber-Ferrari             +    2 laps
16.  Maldonado     Williams-Cosworth          +    2 laps
17.  Glock         Virgin-Cosworth            +    4 laps
18.  Ricciardo     HRT-Cosworth               +    4 laps
19.  D'Ambrosio    Virgin-Cosworth            +    5 laps
20.  Liuzzi        HRT-Cosworth               +    5 laps

Fastest lap: Massa, 1:23.415

Not classified/retirements:

Driver        Team                         On lap
Kovalainen    Lotus-Renault                56
Schumacher    Mercedes                     27
Heidfeld      Renault                      24
Trulli        Lotus-Renault                18


World Championship standings, round 11:                

Drivers:                    Constructors:             
 1.  Vettel       234        1.  Red Bull-Renault          383
 2.  Webber       149        2.  McLaren-Mercedes          280
 3.  Hamilton     146        3.  Ferrari                   215
 4.  Alonso       145        4.  Mercedes                   80
 5.  Button       134        5.  Renault                    66
 6.  Massa         70        6.  Sauber-Ferrari             35
 7.  Rosberg       48        7.  Force India-Mercedes       26
 8.  Heidfeld      34        8.  Toro Rosso-Ferrari         22
 9.  Schumacher    32        9.  Williams-Cosworth           4
10.  Petrov        32       
11.  Kobayashi     27       
12.  Sutil         18       
13.  Buemi         12       
14.  Alguersuari   10       
15.  Di Resta       8       
16.  Perez          8       
17.  Barrichello    4       
       
All timing unofficial

Lap-by-lap as it happened on AUTOSPORT Live

TEAM-BY-TEAM

Red Bull

The mood was pensive at Red Bull after Friday practice, with McLaren looking ominously quicker again. The result was a curfew exception and a night of hard work on the set-up - and it paid off as Vettel led final practice then took another pole.

But in the damp on race day he was pushed back to third by both McLarens, and only gained second place because of Hamilton's dramas.

Webber was puzzled to only be sixth on the grid, though he admitted DRS issues and traffic on his out-lap hadn't helped. A relatively early stop for slicks helped him up to fourth, but he lost ground by unnecessarily going for intermediates later, leaving him back in fifth.

McLaren

Hamilton was fastest in both Friday practice sessions but could not stop Vettel grabbing another pole. Button was right behind his team-mate in third on Saturday.

Both charged forward in the race, passing Vettel early on. Hamilton had things in hand until a spin, an errant change to intermediates and a penalty for forcing di Resta off the road while spin-turning, all of which left Button heading off to win and Hamilton having to recover from sixth to fourth.

Ferrari

Massa outqualified Alonso for the first time all year as they took fourth and fifth on the grid, results that the Spaniard insisted were not a surprise.

Both lost ground at the first corner, with Massa falling further back with an early spin. Alonso went off the road twice but kept fighting back through.

Stuck in fifth behind Webber in the middle stages, he opted to make an early stop for more super softs at a time when most were going for softs, and used this burst of pace to jump to third before the tyres wilted and he started going backwards again.

But staying out on slicks in the wet got him back to third, where he finished despite a late spin. Massa was sixth.

Busy as usual as Rosberg and Schumacher took seventh and ninth on the grid, though they looked strong early in the race as they got among the Ferraris. Schumacher was an early retirement with a gearbox problem just after he had spun in a dice with Massa. Rosberg was edged back to seventh and then ended up ninth having made extra tyre changes during the late shower.

The recent trend continued with only 12th and 14th on the grid for an unhappy Petrov and Heidfeld. The latter struggled in the race and then retired in scary fashion when his car began overheating and caught fire following a slow pitstop. Petrov might have scored had he not been among those to go for intermediates in the quick late shower, dropping him to 12th.

Barrichello qualified 15th, while Maldonado only just made it out of Q1 and then chose to save tyres and settle for 17th.

Both changed to intermediates and had to rapidly return to slicks during the late shower - which cost Barrichello a good shot at points and left him only 13th. It made litte difference to Maldonado as he had already been given a pit speeding penalty. He finished 16th.

Sutil flew in qualifying again to take eighth, with di Resta 11th but certain he would be able to score in the race.

He was right, with a determined drive netting seventh place. Sutil went in the other direction, running off the road on lap one and only recovering to 14th.

Perez was thrilled to reach Q3, though once there he decided to accept 10th and save some tyres. Kobayashi started 13th.

A poor getaway and opening lap for Perez left him down among the stragglers, and he was later penalised for passing Kovalainen under yellow. He finished 14th.

Alguersuari made it out of Q1 again to take 16th on the grid, with Buemi 18th in the times and then 23rd on the grid thanks to his penalty for tangling with Heidfeld in Germany.

Buemi put on a brilliant charge in the race and made it through to eighth in the end. Alguersuari was right with him but lost a little ground with an out-lap off in the damp and later tangling with Kobayashi. He still managed 10th.

Kovalainen was very happy to get within 0.3s of Buemi in qualifying as he took 19th, while Trulli 20th and delighted with the team's new power steering system, which he expects to transform his season.

Both retired from the race with water leaks, though Kovalainen managed to fend off the likes of Maldonado, Heidfeld, Sutil and Perez for a while in a very impressive drive.

Outqualifying D'Ambrosio and getting very close to Glock was a great result for the HRT duo, who proved closely matched on Saturday.

Despite what turned out to be a pointless stop for intermediates, Ricciardo beat D'Ambrosio in the race too and finished 18th, with Liuzzi 20th after an early incident.

HRT was too close for comfort as Glock took 21st on the grid, with D'Ambrosio trailing the field.

Glock was best of the 'new' teams in 17th in the race, though he had been behind Kovalainen until the Lotus retired. D'Ambrosio's run to 19th was enlivened by a bizarre pitlane spin that saw him arrive at his crew's feet pointing in the wrong direction.

RACE DATA

The Race in Action

Full race lap times (H)

Full race lap times (V)

Lap chart (positions)

Lap chart (gaps)