2012 Hungarian Grand Prix (July 27 - 29)

[Wouter Melissen]

The final race before the Summer brake:


Practice 1
Pos Driver Team Time Laps
1. Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1m22.821 30
2. Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 1m22.922s + 0.101 24
3. Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1m23.397s + 0.576 24
4. Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1m23.628s + 0.807 29
5. Romain Grosjean Lotus-Renault 1m23.633s + 0.812 24
6. Michael Schumacher Mercedes 1m23.845s + 1.024 26
7. Felipe Massa Ferrari 1m23.904s + 1.083 25
8. Kimi Raikkonen Lotus-Renault 1m23.983s + 1.162 24
9. Valtteri Bottas Williams-Renault 1m24.152s + 1.331 24
10. Sergio Perez Sauber-Ferrari 1m24.268s + 1.447 27
11. Pastor Maldonado Williams-Renault 1m24.300s + 1.479 23
12. Kamui Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari 1m24.394s + 1.573 19
13. Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault 1m24.546s + 1.725 24
14. Paul di Resta Force India-Mercedes 1m24.559s + 1.738 22
15. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1m24.608s + 1.787 25
16. Daniel Ricciardo Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m25.354s + 2.533 25
17. Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m25.559s + 2.738 27
18. Jules Bianchi Force India-Mercedes 1m25.715s + 2.894 26
19. Vitaly Petrov Caterham-Renault 1m26.440s + 3.619 27
20. Charles Pic Marussia-Cosworth 1m26.705s + 3.884 23
21. Heikki Kovalainen Caterham-Renault 1m26.755s + 3.934 28
22. Timo Glock Marussia-Cosworth 1m27.015s + 4.194 24
23. Pedro de la Rosa HRT-Cosworth 1m27.101s + 4.280 21
24. Dani Clos HRT-Cosworth 1m28.176s + 5.355 24

Practice 2
Pos Driver Team Time Laps
1. Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1m21.995 20
2. Kimi Raikkonen Lotus-Renault 1m22.180s + 0.185 20
3. Bruno Senna Williams-Renault 1m22.253s + 0.258 33
4. Felipe Massa Ferrari 1m22.417s + 0.422 28
5. Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1m22.582s + 0.587 22
6. Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 1m22.747s + 0.752 17
7. Paul di Resta Force India-Mercedes 1m22.794s + 0.799 23
8. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1m22.824s + 0.829 18
9. Romain Grosjean Lotus-Renault 1m22.922s + 0.927 12
10. Michael Schumacher Mercedes 1m23.160s + 1.165 19
11. Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1m23.164s + 1.169 28
12. Pastor Maldonado Williams-Renault 1m23.337s + 1.342 26
13. Nico Hulkenberg Force India-Mercedes 1m23.713s + 1.718 25
14. Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault 1m23.814s + 1.819 17
15. Kamui Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari 1m23.841s + 1.846 28
16. Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m24.328s + 2.333 23
17. Daniel Ricciardo Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m24.345s + 2.350 27
18. Sergio Perez Sauber-Ferrari 1m24.623s + 2.628 22
19. Vitaly Petrov Caterham-Renault 1m24.823s + 2.828 28
20. Heikki Kovalainen Caterham-Renault 1m25.220s + 3.225 28
21. Timo Glock Marussia-Cosworth 1m27.104s + 5.109 27
22. Pedro de la Rosa HRT-Cosworth 1m27.106s + 5.111 18
23. Charles Pic Marussia-Cosworth 1m27.185s + 5.190 22
24. Narain Karthikeyan HRT-Cosworth 1m27.822s + 5.827 20

Practice 3
Pos Driver Team Time Laps
1. Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault 1m21.550s 27
2. Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1m21.643 + 0.093 17
3. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1m21.671s + 0.121 29
4. Bruno Senna Williams-Renault 1m21.876s + 0.326 22
5. Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1m21.884s + 0.334 13
6. Kimi Raikkonen Lotus-Renault 1m21.953s + 0.403 20
7. Romain Grosjean Lotus-Renault 1m22.110s + 0.560 24
8. Felipe Massa Ferrari 1m22.136s + 0.586 15
9. Paul di Resta Force India-Mercedes 1m22.191s + 0.641 20
10. Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 1m22.233s + 0.683 24
11. Pastor Maldonado Williams-Renault 1m22.381s + 0.831 21
12. Kamui Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari 1m22.387s + 0.837 20
13. Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m22.492s + 0.942 26
14. Nico Hulkenberg Force India-Mercedes 1m22.530s + 0.980 25
15. Sergio Perez Sauber-Ferrari 1m22.597s + 1.047 23
16. Daniel Ricciardo Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m22.716s + 1.166 24
17. Michael Schumacher Mercedes 1m22.868s + 1.318 30
18. Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1m22.931s + 1.381 30
19. Heikki Kovalainen Caterham-Renault 1m24.036s + 2.486 20
20. Vitaly Petrov Caterham-Renault 1m24.547s + 2.997 18
21. Charles Pic Marussia-Cosworth 1m25.224s + 3.674 22
22. Timo Glock Marussia-Cosworth 1m25.497s + 3.947 21
23. Pedro de la Rosa HRT-Cosworth 1m26.785s + 5.235 20
24. Narain Karthikeyan HRT-Cosworth 1m26.898s + 5.348 26

[Wouter Melissen]

Hamilton scores McLaren's 150th pole:


Pos Driver Team Time Gap
1. Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1m20.953s
2. Romain Grosjean Lotus-Renault 1m21.366s + 0.413
3. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1m21.416s + 0.463
4. Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 1m21.583s + 0.630
5. Kimi Raikkonen Lotus-Renault 1m21.730s + 0.777
6. Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1m21.844s + 0.891
7. Felipe Massa Ferrari 1m21.900s + 0.947
8. Pastor Maldonado Williams-Renault 1m21.939s + 0.986
9. Bruno Senna Williams-Renault 1m22.343s + 1.390
10. Nico Hulkenberg Force India-Mercedes 1m22.847s + 1.894
Q2 cut-off time: 1m21.697s Gap *
11. Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault 1m21.715s + 0.655
12. Paul di Resta Force India-Mercedes 1m21.813s + 0.753
13. Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1m21.895s + 0.835
14. Sergio Perez Sauber-Ferrari 1m21.895s + 0.835
15. Kamui Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari 1m22.300s + 1.240
16. Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m22.380s + 1.320
17. Michael Schumacher Mercedes 1m22.723s + 1.663
Q1 cut-off time: 1m22.948s Gap *
18. Daniel Ricciardo Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m23.250s + 1.456
19. Heikki Kovalainen Caterham-Renault 1m23.576s + 1.782
20. Vitaly Petrov Caterham-Renault 1m24.167s + 2.373
21. Charles Pic Marussia-Cosworth 1m25.244s + 3.450
22. Timo Glock Marussia-Cosworth 1m25.476s + 3.682
23. Pedro de la Rosa HRT-Cosworth 1m25.916s + 4.122
24. Narain Karthikeyan HRT-Cosworth 1m26.178s + 4.384

Lewis Hamilton secures McLaren's 150th pole position in the Hungarian Grand Prix - F1 news - AUTOSPORT.com (http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/101574)

[faksta]

I was hoping Kimi would win so much! Meh... :( Strange that his tyres died much faster than Hamilton's.

[Ferrer]

I don't think it was a problem with tyres, but that it is more difficult to overtake (especially in a track like this) than to get there.

[RacingManiac]

And I think where their cars were strong were different, the McLaren I think was much stronger in sector 3 leading to the DRS zone, which was also where Hamilton made up a lot of time in qualifying. The McLaren also seem to have better corner exit traction....

The ending of the race was pretty exciting, but the race is probably a standard fare for Hungaroring when its dry, which is not good for wheel to wheel racing...

[faksta]

From what I understood, Hamilton was getting away in the first sector, especially first turn, while Kimi has mostly been in his DRS zone by the end of each lap and was running with his wing open.

Regarding the tyres, there has been some radio talk between him and boxes that was like 'shhhhh....tyres....shhhhh...tyres!..shhhh' so I thought he was talking about himself.

[henk4]

very average race, with the results clearly playing into the hands of Alonso,

[Ferrer]

From what I understood, Hamilton was getting away in the first sector, especially first turn, while Kimi has mostly been in his DRS zone by the end of each lap and was running with his wing open.

Regarding the tyres, there has been some radio talk between him and boxes that was like 'shhhhh....tyres....shhhhh...tyres!..shhhh' so I thought he was talking about himself.
But if it would have been the tyres we would have seen a clear drop in speed like happened in Canada or in that other race at the start of the season where Kimi was 2nd and then dropped to 7th or 8th due to the terminated tyres.

And yet, none of the drivers that changed tyres actually improved their positions. Is it just me, or Webber's last pit stop was a clear mistake in their strategy?

[henk4]

Vettel was catching Grosjean very rapidly, but the race was just too short.

[faksta]

Drivers on softs were running 1.5 and sometimes even 2 seconds a lap faster than those who remained on hards.

Regarding Kimi's tyres, given that his set was several laps younger than the one on Hamilton's car, it's still strange to me that he couldn't use that advantage. Closing in by 0.5 of a second and more on each lap and then barely able to stay in McLaren's DRS zone (he was running in 1.1 or 1.2 on some laps). He was then eliminating that gap again, but still it was strange that he couldn't get close enough to overtake.

Yay, I'm not a strategy pro, just sharing my thoughts.

Wait, Pieter, you watched the race! Afraid you chose the wrong one, though. That said, I don't think Hungarian GP is among the most boring races anymore. I really enjoy watching this race for the last three years.

[Wouter Melissen]

Didn't Kimi have a Kers issue?

[faksta]

He did in the very beginning, but then, as far as I understood, he was told to use some combination of buttons to relieve it. Then, when he battled with Hamilton, he was using KERS for sure. Our commentator even noted once that Hamilton was using less KERS on the main straight than Kimi.

[Dino Scuderia]

Think they told Kimi to use 40kw instead of 60.

Whatever the case he wasn't making any time on Hami down the straight and the Mclaren was good in Sector 3.