Formula One Grand Prix - Surprises at Hungary

Anyone who thought Lewis Hamilton had the Formula 1 world championship sewn up should have seen the way Felipe Massa surged through from third on the grid to take the lead on the first corner this afternoon. The Ferrari ‘Tifosi’ went wild as Massa re-affirmed their faith in the prancing horse emblem. Masa stayed very much in control of the race, with Hamilton seeming to lack the pace to mount a serious challenge. When the British driver pitted after 41 laps with a puncture, the Brazilian must have felt pretty confident.

Meanwhile, Heikki Kovalainen drove a mature race and, towards the end, began reeling in the Ferrari. Massa’s engine surprisingly blew up on lap 68, just two laps from home, giving two novice drivers the best results of their careers. Timo Glock, who had performed so well in qualifying, brought his Toyota home in second place ahead of Kimi Raikkonen.

Masa later said ‘racing can be a cruel sport. We had given it our all, but these things can happen’. Today’s results move McLaren ever closer to Ferrari’s grip on the constructor’s prize. Since the British Grand Prix, McLaren have whittled Ferrari’s 33 points lead down to just 11 points.

Renault have moved up to 5th overall, thanks to superb driving by Fernando Alonso and Nelsinho Piquet, who between them today contributed one third of Renault’s total points this season. Alonso later said: "We fought hard today and we were on the pace with a car that was working well, which is encouraging for the rest of the championship”

The top six finishers were:
1 Heikki Kovalainen (McLaren)
2 Timo Glock (Toyota)
3 Kimi Raikkonen (Ferrari)
4 Fernando Alonso (Renault)
5 Lewis Hamilton (McLaren)
6 Nelsinho Piquet (Renault)


After 11 races, the leader board looks like this:

Drivers:
1 Lewis Hamilton (McLaren) 62
2 Kimi Räikkönen (Ferrari) 57
3 Felipe Massa (Ferrari) 54
4 Robert Kubica (Sauber BMW) 49
5 Nick Heidfeld (Sauber BMW) 41
6 Heikki Kovalainen (McLaren) 38
7 Jarno Trulli (Toyota) 22
8 Fernando Alonso (Renault) 18
9 Mark Webber (Red Bull) 18
10 Timo Glock (Toyota) 13
11 Nelsinho Piquet (Renault) 13

Teams:
1 Ferrari 111
2 McLaren 100
3 BMW Sauber 90
4 Toyota 35
5 Renault 31

The next (and 12th) race of the season comes from Valencia on 24th August. Tickets are currently at a huge premium but anyone looking for accommodation should contact Tim at thisisvalencia.com and he will do his best to find last-minute deals.

Hungarian Grand Prix

Hamilton on pole in Hungary
Tomorrow’s eleventh Grand Prix race comes to us from the Hungaroring, a 4.38km circuit just 18 km northeast of Budapest
Lewis Hamilton was top of the leader board for most of the second qualifying session today, until Timo Glock put in a scorching lap to displace him. Then Felipe Massa topped both of them.

Q3 put Hamilton back on top and, with just seconds to go, Heikki Kovaleinen stormed through to make it one,two on the grid for McLaren with Massa taking 3rd, alongside Robert Kubica’s BMW Sauber. The top ten grid looks like this:

The grid line-up:
1 Lewis Hamilton (McLaren)
2 Heikki Kovalainen (McLaren)
3 Felipe Massa (Ferrari)
4 Robert Kubica (BMW Sauber)
5 Timo Glock (Toyota)
6 Kimi Raikkonen (Ferrari)
7 Fernando Alonso (Renault)
8 Mark Webber (Red Bull)
9 Jarno Trulli (Toyota)
10 Nelsinho Piquet (Renault)

Timo Glock starts from his highest grid position in 5th (previous best 8th) and, judging by his performance in qualifying, finally seem to have found the balance that has eluded him so far in the Toyota.

Fernando Alonso turned 27 this week (yes, twice world champion and still only 27!) and celebrated with a 7th on the grid. He and team-mate Nelsinho Piquet have yet to find enough speed from their Renaults to match even their closest rivals.

Because the Hungaroring is rated as one of the most difficult circuits on which to pass, many newspapers are already predicting a third win in a row for Hamilton. At the press conference today he said: ‘I think it puts us in a great position to challenge for the win but I have no doubts that it will be a tough race tomorrow.’

The race starts at 14.00 and (for those of us without satellite) can be seen live on TV3 (in Catalan!)