Webber wins Hungarian GP as Vettel falters

The podium (L to R): Fernando Alonso (second) Mark Webber (race winner) and Sebastian Vettel (third)

Aug.1 (YallaF1.com) Mark Webber notched up his fourth win of the season when he powered to victory in the Hungarian Grand Prix at Hungaroring at the expense of his Red Bull Racing team mate Sebastian Vettel.

Second placed Fernando Alonso congratulates race winner Mark Webber

Vettel, by his own admission, was caught napping during the restart after a brief safety car period, which resulted in a drive through penalty for the German compromising what looked like certain victory for him. He ended third with Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso splitting the Red Bull duo.

With victory in Budapest, Webber now leads the championship standings as Lewis Hamilton failed to finish with what appears to have been gearbox failure on his Mclaren Mrecedes.

There were a number of incidents during the course of the 70 laps, including a couple in the pit lane when Force India’s Adrian Sutil and Renault’s Robert Kubica collided, and in a seperate incident Nico Rosberg losing a wheel on his Mercedes GP at the end of the pitlane after his tyre stop.

But perhaps the biggest talking point will be Michael Schumacher’s cynical blocking of his former Ferrari team mate Rubens Barrichello during their late race duel for the final point on offer. The move by the seven times World Champion nearly saw Barrichello forced into the concrete wall at high speed. It was a disgraceful move by Schumacher which the stewards would be investigating after the race.

Sebastian Vettel and Fernando Alonso lead the field into Turn 1 at Hungaroring

When the red lights went off for the start of the Hungarian GP it unraveled pretty much as expected at the front. Vettel managed a reasonable start although Alonso was ahead of him going into the very tight Turn 1 but the Red Bull driver had the inside line and managed to stay ahead. Webber although second on the grid, was on the dirty side, but did well to tuck in behind Alonso with Felipe Massa in his mirrors.

Thereafter Vettel was in control, easily a second a lap faster than Alonso it was going to be a walk in the park for the German. But fate had other plans. Behind him Webber could not do much about Alonso and in turn the Aussie was not perturbed by the Massa.

The quartet held station until lap 17 when the safety car was deployed to clear up some debris. It was a short stint under the safety car conditions which both Vettel and Alonso used for tyre stop. Webber stayed out. Thus the order was Safety Car, Webber, Vettel, Alonso followed by Massa.

Adrian Sutil and Robert Kubica collided in the pitlane

Meanwhile mayhem erupted in the pit lane when Kubica’s crew released the Renault driver straight into Sutil’s path which ended the Force India dirver’s race on the spot. Kubica got going again but was given a drive through penalty for his crew’s blatant mistake.

Almost simultaneously Rosberg’s right rear detached itself as the Mercedes GP driver was about to leave the pit lane. The wheel was stopped goal keeper style by a Sauber crew, Rosberg’s race was run.

At the front Webber, behind the safety car, was being given a big gap as Vettel held back Alonso to the point that he came under investigation by the stewards for exceeding 10 lengths behind the safety car, by bis own admission he was caught napping. Bam, shot in the foot again.

When the field was released Webber had the pace to pull a big enough gap, so that when he re-emerged from his tyre stop he had a comfortable lead and a cruise to the chequered flag.

Sebastian Vettel was untouchable early on in the race

Highly irate and gesticulating his feelings was Vettel who served his drive through, proceeded to reel in Alonso at over a second per lap but never even looked at getting past the Spaniard. Thus they finished: Webber, Alonso, Vettel and Massa.

Webber summed up his day which sees his team top the team championship standings and he topping the drivers points table, “The start we always knew was going to be a bit tricky on that side. I knew once I’d got the primes on and these guys had already done 20-odd laps; it was in the bag. It was a bit of a gift for me – but I haven’t had many of them. An incredible day for the team. One-two was our goal but we were unfortunate not to get that.”

Alonso was happy to have split the Red Bull duo, “We wanted a good Sunday with no mistakes or no penalties. Mark was incredibly quick and the soft tyres today were not that soft. The layout of the circuit also helped today: on a normal circuit it would have been impossible to maintain second.”

Hungarian GP win was fourth of the season for Mark Webber

A race win was on the cards for Vettel but he had to settle for third, “I didn’t understand what was going on and why I was penalised. I didn’t hear anything on the radio after briefly losing connection. I was warming up my car and was sure we had another lap under safety car conditions. It’s a disappointing day for me.”

Yes behind the Ferrari and Red Bull foursome there were others in the race but no one had a look in to the top four. And from a vital 2010 championship perspective, Budapest could well be a mortal blow to McLaren Mercedes title ambitions. The past few races have been calamitous for the Woking team and their drivers. In Hungary they went home almost empty handed (two points for Jenson Button) and relinquishing their lead in both championships. The team have three weeks to turn around their season, yet again, and if any team can, McLaren can.

Thus best of the rest, in arguably his best drive to date in Formula 1, was fifth placed Vitaly Petrov who did not put a foot wrong all day in his Renault. Having out qualified his highly rated team mate the young Russian blitzed to fifth from the start and kept his composure despite a nervy few laps.

Vitaly Petrov had an impressive run to fifth

Nico Hulkenberg finished sixth for Williams in a good day for rookies. He to kept out of trouble and managed to get the better of his duel Pedro de la Rosa (Sauber) and with Button, who finished eight and ninth respectively.

Kamui Kobayashi, who is becoming master of the lightening starts, again did his shares a bunch of good with a strong drive into the points, making it two cars in the top ten for Sauber..

Tenth place, and the final point, went to Barrichello whose duel left anyone who watched it dismayed at the depths that Schumacher can sink, ultimately tarnishing legend even further.

Rubens Barrichello and Michael Schumacher too close for comfort

Barrichello was somewhat bemused, “He made a mistake on the last corner and he’s just a bit too close. What we want from racing is to have battles but to be fair. Luckily the wall finished there and I was able to go a bit more to the right. Take a line and stick to a line. He’s taking something from the past into the present and there’s no need for that. It was the most dangerous manoeuvre against me I have ever known. His view is always that I’m a big cryer.”

Webber takes a four-point lead in the drivers’ world championship and the result means just 20 points – less than a single race victory – now separates the top five title contenders, also including Alonso, Vettel, Hamilton and Button.

The next race, The Belgian Grand Prix aat Spa- Francorchamps, takes place at the end of August, including a mandatory two-week factory shutdown for all teams during this period.

Race Result – 1 August 2010