Vettel and Ferrari ascendent in Hungary; Kvyat & Ricciardo take 2nd & 3rd for Red Bull; Rosberg loses chance to pass Hamilton in the points late in wild race

All pics courtesy GrandPrix247.com

Only in one of the wildest, most topsy-turvey Formula 1 races you will ever see would Sebastian Vettel’s masterful win for resurgent Ferrari seem like the secondary story of the day. But that’s how it felt on Sunday in Hungary in a Grand Prix featuring shunts, punctures, penalties and mechanical failures galore, as well as a remarkable 2-3 finish by Red Bull’s Daniil Kvyat and Daniel Ricciardo in their previously underwhelming RB11 chassis. It was easy to overlook the remarkable achievement of Vettel and his improved Prancing Horse scoring his first-ever win at the Hungaroring when even woeful McLaren managed to finally score double points in 2015. But the German former four-time World Champion stamped his authority on the race the moment the lights went out for the start, making a power move right on by pole-sitter Lewis Hamilton’s Mercedes along the outside going into Turn 1. Vettel’s teammate, beleaguered Finnish veteran Kimi Raikkonen, followed close behind the space Vettel had created and all at once both Ferarris had passed both Mercedes. That left Silver Arrows teammates Hamilton and Nico Rosberg duking it out for 3rd. And then, no doubt frustrated by his ragged start, Hamilton lost his composure. The English championship leader tried to shove his way by Rosberg but had to bail out when he got too close going into a turn, sending him skittering off track into the gravel. While he was never stuck and kept rolling, a gaggle of cars passed him as he extricated himself and unlucky Lewis found himself in P10 before the end of the first lap. That seemed to set the tone for Hamilton’s race, as he proceeded to bull his way around the the Hungaroring in a seemingly futile effort to make up by brute force all the ground he lost on that eventful first lap.

Meanwhile up at the front, the race settled into a false sense of calm that belied the even greater chaos yet to come, with Vettel & Raikkonen running 1-2 and Rosberg 3rd. But right around Lap 40 Raikonnen began to experience ERS issues and dropped several dozen horsepower. The continued bad luck for the Finn left him in the unfortunate position of “blocker” for teammate Vettel and it became inevitable that the rest of the contenders would swamp him, which they soon did. With potentially his best car of the year and badly needing a strong result to stay in Ferrari’s good graces Raikkonen instead was forced to retire on Lap 60. At least no one could say that it was Kimi’s fault this time but that probably won’t help him keep his seat.

Prior to Raikkonen’s dropping out there was an eventful Safety Car period initiated when the Force India of Nico Hulkenburg had front wing failure on Lap 43 and shot straight off into the tire barrier. It was a tough weekend for Force India with a rather scary crash from Sergio Perez in practice, then Hulkenburg’s shunt and eventually Perez’s retirement in the race due to rear suspension problems after coming together with one-man wrecking crew Pastor Maldonado’s Lotus. At least neither of the drivers were injured but the team is going to have to closely examine their cars’ stability during the break. Directly after the Safety Car pulled in, Hamilton and Ricciardo came together in a dice that damaged Hamilton’s front wing and forced him to pit for a new one on Lap 52. To add salt to the wound, Hamilton was also assessed a drive through penalty when the stewards deemed him responsible for the contact. At that point it surely seemed that Hamilton would not only not be scoring any points on the day but that Rosberg would be wrestling the Championship lead from him with a comfortable second place finish.

But Ricciardo proved himself to be an equal opportunity destroyer of Mercedes’ races when on Lap 64 he tried a bold inside move to pass Rosberg but contacted the German’s rear left tire, cutting it down far from the pits. Rosberg had to travel nearly the entire length of the circuit in painfully slow fashion with a flat, flailing tire carcass while the other competitors sped by him. By the time his team was able to execute a tire change and send Rosberg back into the fray he had plummeted irreversibly down the order. Looking like a sure P2 only moments prior, Rosberg would finish P8. Worse still for the German contender, in all the madness Hamilton was able to recover by the end of the race to finish P6, maintaining his championship lead over his teammate by 21 points on a day when it seemed certain he would score a big fat zero. Nico Rosberg will not be sending Daniel Ricciardo any Christmas cards this year.

Also benefitting from the most bizarre events in Hungary were the McLaren duo of Fernando Alonso & Jenson Button. With a chassis that has been nowhere all season finally showing signs competitive pace this weekend, the two veteran pilots were able to take advantage of the mayhem, repeated penalties and multiple retirements around them to come home P5 for Alonso and P9 for Button. That was the team’s first double-points scoring day of the season and gives F1 stalwart McLaren some real tangible signs of hope going into the summer break. Also having a very good day was Toro Rosso rookie Max Verstappen who took a strong P4, Lotus’ Romain Grosjean who grabbed P7 and Sauber’s Marcus Ericsson who essentially inherited via attrition the last points paying position at P10.

In short, it was one of the more bizarre Grand Prix you’ll ever see. But it was damned entertaining and for the sake of a contested championship it was just what F1 needed. Because when Ferrari’s in the mix it’s good for the sport and when they’re denying or at least delaying another Mercedes coronation that’s even better. We’ll find out for sure when the grand F1 circus returns from the summer hiatus whether the Scuderia’s pace was for real or just a result of suitability to the twisty, technical track in Hungary. We’ll also see whether Mercedes can put another own goal sort of weekend behind them and get back to their dominating ways. One thing’s for sure: they’ll have to wait nearly a month to get the bitter taste of Hungary’s uncharacteristically flailing performance out of their mouths.

Top 10 finishers in the Hungarian Grand Prix:

Complete race results available via Formula1.com.

Notes: It was the first race after Marussia driver Jules Bianchi’s death at the age of 25 due to head injuries sustained at Suzuka last year, the first on-track F1 fatality since Ayrton Senna in 1994. The drivers and crowd participated in a memorial moment of silence with Bianchi’s family prior to the start. Sebastian Vettel, showing terrific class, also dedicated his win to Jules after the race.

F1 returns the weekend of August 21-23 with the always exciting Belgian Grand Prix from the storied Spa-Francorchamps circuit. Until then have a great summer & hope to see you at Spa!