Hungarian GP Review

Lewis Hamilton tops the Hungarian GP with the Lotus boys, Kimi Raikkonnen and Romain Grosjean, just behind

Britain is having the best week ever. First, London Olympic is off to a fantastic and sheep-filled start, and secondly, Hamilton took home the Gold medal-equivalent at the Hungarian Grand Prix this weekend. Well done, Britain. Well done!

Out of the qualifying sessions, Hamilton clenched the crucial pole position with Grosjean trailing behind in P2, and Vettel at P3. Schumacher had the worst luck, ended up in P17 after qualifying. The poor qualifying later was compounded by not able to start on the grid, leading to start from the Pit lane, which then lead to speeding in the pit lane, ended with a drive-through penalty due to speeding and then retiring at Lap 60. Overall, a rather horrible day at the office for Schumacher.  Meanwhile, Alonso, who's been dominant in the last few races had to deal with a disappointing P6 after qualifying.

Due to Schumacher's car inability to start on the grid, the cars have to do another formation lap. The extra formation lap is counted towards the total number of laps, so the drivers will have to race 69-lap rather than 70-lap. Who knew there's such an FIA rule?

Hamilton aggressively lead the race from the very beginning. He made very few errors, in fact, I think the only thing that could have been improved for Hamilton may bethe McLaren pit stops (again!). Hamilton had two pitstops during the Hungarian Grand Prix, lap 18 and lap 40, which for the most part were smooth and quick. Due to the horrid pit stop performances in some of the races this year, I still get nervous for McLaren during all their pit stops.

Grosjean was relentless in staying right behind Hamilton for the most part, constantly putting pressure with an average of 1 sec gap, though ultimately not able to make any overtaking bids. Hamilton won this race with pure speed and determination, landing him his 2nd win this season and his 3rd win at this circuit.

In a track where overtaking has been known to be particularly difficult, we saw some pretty exciting wheel-to-wheel actions. Button and Vettel were battling it out at the start of the race with Button overtaking Vettel to get into 3rd place. Equally, if not more, nail-biting was when Raikkonen came out of pit lane after pit stop at lap 45, Grosjean was just coming down the track and we saw two Lotus dueling with real danger of crushing. I think Grosjean may have been surprised by Raikkonen, as the

Lotus team radioed Grosjean to let him know that "You're racing Kimi!". Way to go, Raikkonen, on pulling off a move like that with the fresh tyres. That particular move paid off handsomely for Raikkonen as he was able to take 2nd while leaving Grosjean to 3rd in the final results.

As much as this is a big win for McLaren and Hamilton, it's even grander results for Lotus to have double podium. The Lotus cars are getting really good pace and remains competitive with the big 3. I am still optimistic that Raikkonen will win one (or few) Grand Prix this season. Never under-estimate the Iceman, I say! We may still see Raikkonen smile or show the slightest of emotions this season!

Another race weekend, another grid girl outfit. The grid girl outfits continue to be somewhat unimaginative. I think I may have to stop hoping for the couture grid girl outfit. For the Hungarian Grand Prix, the grid girls were dressed in a white and yellow "dress". It starts out looking like a white golf shirt on the top part and then color-morphed to a short yellow bottom. It's catchy visually but slightly odd-looking. This dress makes me long for the all-red-with-white-bow classy but boring dress that we saw a few races back. And Best Post-race hair? Hamilton takes the prize.

Don't forget that F1 is having a summer break for August. There'll be no more races until 8/31! Me sad. Until then, Keep Calm and Carry On! See you late August!

Race Preview: Hungarian GP

Hungarian Grand Prix, the last race before F1 breaks for the summer. (Note to self: Don't Panic! There are still more races to come after August. I can get through August without an F1 race. Really I can!) It'll likely be a hot and dry race since the Hungarian Grand Prix has never seen a wet race up until the 2006 Grand Prix. Interestingly enough, due to the way the track is situated amongst the nature setting, you can see the track from any point of the stands. This gave the Hungarian Grand Prix track a special name - the dinner plate, as the spectators can sit on the edge of the plate and follow the events from there. Doesn't that just make you hungry for Hungary? Yes, that was a terrible joke.

Some say the track at Hungaroring is twisty, narrow and impossible to overtake. According to Vettel, who has never won here, "The Hungarian GP is one of the hardest for the drivers".  Meanwhile, Raikkonen is full of confidence, "Usually this Grand Prix weekend is one of the hottest in the calendar, so it should suit our car very well." Both Button and Hamilton have won twice here before, McLaren must be quietly optimistic for grand results this weekend. 

The track has actually proven entirely possible to overtake, moreover, one can even achieve a massive comeback from 14th on the grid to win the race (that was Button's win back in 2006). Like every race, it will certainly be paramount to be in the front part of the grid if not the pole, but if by chance a driver majorly messed up the qualifying, an aggressive race day performance could be key to the podium. We'll also see some great action at the DRS zone, so I imagine we'll see some overtaking around there as well.

Will we see another driver other than Alonso take home the victory at Hungarian Grand Prix? We shall find out soon enough. Catch you after the race!!

// Get a feel for the GP in Budapest by checking out our Pinterest board

Eni Magyar Nagdij on Pinterest

Race Review: German Grand Prix

Fernando Alonso came in first while Sebastian Vettel took second position (though Seb was penalized for his overtake on Jenson Butto - Photo by Lars Baron/Getty Images)

Nothing throws a wrench into Race day grid positions like a bit of rain on Qualifying day. That is precisely what we had at the German Grand Prix this weekend. Some teams were prepared (or lucky) while others were slightly doomed (or not prepared). Alonso, the front-runner of the championship after British Grand Prix, was certainly prepared with a wet setup and capture Pole position. Not so lucky was Massa, Rosberg and Grosjean, none of them made Q3 Top-10 shootout.

To keep things interesting, Hokkenheim gave the German Grand Prix a sunny and dry race day. Alonso was on pole, followed by Vettel and Schumacher. With 4 wins in the pocket and a 3rd place on the grid, I had high hopes for Schumacher. However, ultimately it was just not meant to be. Schumacher ended the race at 7th.

Taking full advantage of the pole position, however, is Alonso. Alonso blew away the competition, surged ahead and never looked back from the moment the race started. Alonso seems to be ready for any challenge and made his strategy stick in recent races. Even in a seemingly less competitive car, Alonso has driven the wheels off of the Ferrari and took the top spot on the podium for the German Grand Prix. This is the 3rd win for Alonso at the Hokkenheim track. I think he may have shed some joyous tears on the podium. In my pre-race post, I've mentioned that the odds are in Schumacher, Alonso and Hamilton's favor at this Grand Prix, I'm mildly excited that my guesses are getting more accurate in this unpredictable season.

Hoping for a comeback from a disappointing finish last week, Hamilton started on 7th and ended up retiring at Lap 58 due to lack of pace and a puncture. With a bit of reversed fortune, Button did very well in the race, going from 6th to 3rd by lap 12 and just kept pushing up front. It certainly helped that McLaren has dramatically improved their pit stop time, with one of Button's stop taking a fleeting 2.31 seconds, fastest ever in the records. All these with some good driving nudged Button to 2nd near closing stage of the race. That was until Button started losing tyres performance. Vettel saw the weakness and decided to be naughty (and play innocent), attempted to pass Button on Lap 66, went wide AND off the track that give him some grip to slip in front of Button to take 2nd place on the podium.

Even though Vettel was on podium for 2nd, the stewards investigate the overtaking move and decided to give him a 20-second penalty which dropped him to Fifth. Quite the misfortune for Vettel at the home race. As a result, Button is 2nd, with Raikkonen taking 3rd in the 67-lap race. Button must be absolutely thrilled to be back on the podium after a drought of wins.

Honorable mentions of the Hokkenheim race are Kobayashi, who went up 7 spots with a 2-stop strategy to end the race in 5th, and Perez, went up a whopping 11 spots to 6th place. Both of these drivers are not always the front-runners, but are always driving their heart out with their cars, great pleasure to watch and definitely adds to the entertaining factor of the race to see them dual!

Grid girls, what's going on with the outfits? Is it because we're still in Europe that the last few races your outfit has not changed? It's still a red dress with a white bow-knot in the front and red heels. I was hoping that there'd be some new outfits, but alas. And who wins the Post-race Best hair award? That prize goes to none other than Button, who kept his cool on the podium with cool head and hair while waiting for the stewards to decide Vettel's illegal overtaking move.

That's all for the German Grand Prix! Can't wait for the Hungarian Grand Prix to come around July 27-29! Catch you then!

Race Preview: German Grand Prix

// This weekend we head to the famed Hockenheimring in the rural countryside of Germany. Here's a 3D Track Experience video from Pirelli.

Can you believe it's already the 10th race of the 2012 season? We're halfway through it, yet the season has been so action-packed that it's almost too good to be true. Continuing on with the European leg of the Grand Prix, this weekend the race will be at Hockenheim, Germany.

Mid-season is also the time when we have what I'd like to call the "Musical chair" part of the season. Top drivers talk to other top teams to explore options for next season and beyond. Hamilton is thought to have had talks with Red Bull, Ferrari and Mercedes. Massa may depart Ferrari, Vettel was speculated to perhaps give Ferrari a try, and Webber was also rumored last week to want to leave Red Bull, meanwhile closing the deal with Red Bull this week. Maybe all the drivers should have 1-year contract only, that'll keep the "Musical chair" rumor mill going for the summer.

The front runner to win at Hockenheim this weekend, based purely on historical statistics, is Schumacher who has won four times at this track. Pretty impressive achievement! However, not to be outdone, Alonso and Hamilton have both won twice at this track before. I'm still holding out some hope for Iceman to win a Grand Prix and actually smile, we will have to wait and see how the race will go down this weekend. Can’t wait! Catch you again next week after the German Grand Prix!

Race Review: British Grand Prix

I had high hopes for the British Grand Prix. I even brewed some good tea for the occasion, and practiced my British accents. I wanted rain on race day, plenty of overtaking, dark horse race car that comes from behind. I think I may have set the bar too high since we've been treated with so many unbelievably thrilling races so far. The British Grand Prix seemed to have paled by a lightest of shade. 

That's not to say the race was not exciting. The Silverstone race certainly had its great moments - great defensive start by Alonso who was on pole, massive duel between Alonso and Hamilton on Lap 19 with Alonso making a pass on Hamilton only to have Hamilton come back in the next corner and then Alonso taking one more pass on Hamilton, and then of course, the winning pass that Webber did over Alonso at Lap 46 of the 52-Lap race to clench the very sweet victory.

Webber is the silent and stealthy driver of the season. He's been quietly scoring good points (currently 2nd in Championship standing), out qualifying more than his double-World Champion team mate Vettel, winning the prestigious Monaco Grand Prix and now taking home the trophy for another iconic Grand Prix. Webber also managed to be a double winner of the Silverstone track as well as the 2nd double winner of this season. Tyres strategy played a key role in Webber's win over Alonso near the end of the race, but that should not take away from the beautiful yet aggressive way that Webber has driven in this race. Immense respect for Webber!

None of the British drivers were able to fulfill the home crowds' dream of a British driver on the top of the podium - Hamilton had no pace overall, Button was stuck way behind after qualifying 16th, and di Resta was taken out in Lap 1 since he made contact and received a puncture.

One thing to note is that McLaren's pit stops have FINALLY improved for this race. Their pit stop times have been quick and, more importantly, error-free. Hope they keep this up, every action counts in a tight race like this season.

There was also a bit of track drama that was caused by the incident between Maldonado and Perez in Lap 12 after they came out from the pit. Maldonado claimed another victim by nudging Perez off, causing both cars to spin around and ultimately an early retire for Perez. Perez had some harsh words to say to Maldonado, including juicy bits about all the drivers think Maldonado is reckless and have no respect for other drivers and for the sport. It's definitely easy to be on Perez's side when this is not the first time Maldonado brought troubles to another driver.

During the race broadcast, I spotted the Grid girl outfit. I had to do a double take because at first I thought flight attendance in red uniforms were hanging about in the grid, then I realize they are Grid girls instead. Can we get some more sass into those Grid girls outfits? I'm not looking for couture fashion, just more interesting and/or more stylish will do. What about the Best Post-race hair? This race was a tough one to call, all the podium winners' hair were pretty decent but no one stands out. I suppose if I really had to pick, Webber would be the Best post-race hair winner. I know, seems unfair for one person to win both the Grand Prix AND Best Post-race hair, but I had to keep the award as unpredictable as the race itself, it's tough work and someone has to do it!

Catch you in 2 weeks' time for the German Grand Prix 7/20 - 7/22!