Further thoughts on the Hungarian Grand Prix

Trouble at t'mill
At least the Alonso to Red Bull business served some tangible purpose, in that it smoked out confirmation of something that had been rumoured for a while: that not all is well right now in the Fernando Alonso-Ferrari relationship.

Luca Montezemolo - much to say
Photo: Octane Photography

And in case the subtlety was lost on anyone, Ferrari President Luca Montezemolo made sure no one missed it. His statement of the following day, telling us that when wishing Alonso a happy birthday he also 'tweaked his ear' on the matter of loyalty, in response to what is referred to as 'rash outbursts' and 'comments from Fernando Alonso, which did not go down well'. Not one for party hats and balloons, clearly.

Looking through Alonso's public comments after the Hungary race it's difficult to see what got the boss's back up. Beyond the sort of stuff from Alonso on needing to improve the car that he's been saying for about the last three years, the only thing was something he said to Italian journalists in response to a question on what he'd like for his birthday, something that loosely translated to 'the car of the others'. But even so, and particularly given Alonso rather has a right to feel frustrated at the moment, the reaction from Montezemolo seems utterly disproportionate. And one that you suspect reacted, a little too much, to the Alonso to Red Bull rumour. To respond in such a prickly fashion apparently to Alonso's 'comments' seems a classic case of displacement.

Further thoughts on the Hungarian Grand Prix

A load of Bull
As Hungarian Grands Prix go, last Sunday's was a pretty good one. Yet even so its drama rather paled against that of the rumour that kicked off in the hours after the race: Fernando Alonso to Red Bull for next season. No, really.

Fernando Alonso was talk of the paddock after the race
Photo: Octane Photography

Alonso to Red Bull, for 2014 in any case, seems to fail the plausibility test, and spectacularly. At least it does for as long as Sebastian Vettel is in place at the Milton Keynes team. To pair Alonso and Vettel seems not so much asking for trouble but pleading for it; it's almost impossible to think of a modern F1 pairing that would more fly in the face of the 'don't put two bulls in the same field' maxim. There is also the not small matter that as far as everyone was concerned Alonso is just in year two of a Ferrari contract that stretches all the way to 2016.

The rumour seemingly is resultant of Alonso's manager, Luis Garcia Abad, talking to Red Bull team principal Christian Horner in the Hungaroring paddock. Yet, managers talk to team principals all the time (it's possible the whole story's a result of someone putting two and two together - and getting 17), and in any case the official line was that the discussion was about Carlos Sainz Jr., another client of Abad's and in the Red Bull stable of young drivers.

Hungarian GP Report: Lewis turns silver into gold

Well, how many of you foresaw that podium, in that order? Before the race, or even better before qualifying? Don't lie now.

Lewis Hamilton - justifiably pleased
Photo: Octane Photography

Even Lewis Hamilton seemed sceptical that he was any sort of contender for the Hungaroring race win, even after he'd staked the ground of pole position yesterday. The assumption of the driver, his team and of everyone else for that matter was that - given the Mercedes's tendency to chew the tyres, the characteristics of the track and the baking ambient temperatures - he'd do no better than manage a decline down the order. Some opined that he'd struggle even to score a point. Yes, dear reader, we had the latest demonstration today that when it comes to F1 especially, nobody knows anything, as it was indeed Lewis that prevailed for the win, and did so with dominance and verve. We never learn, do we?

It's not clear if Lewis actually believed his doom-laden predictions or else is some kind of master of the bum steer (the former seems more likely), but Lewis took the lead at the get-go, and refused to relinquish it. But this was no grim hanging on at the head of the pack, à la Thierry Boutsen. Lewis had the required pace over a race stint to stay ahead and even to move clear. Indeed, it was a drive a lot like him: fast, featuring (crucial) immediate and often spectacular overtakes, and much smarter than many give him credit for, as he went as fast as he dared with the limited (and often with the Mercedes, very limited) resource of the Pirellis.

Hungaroring Qualifying: Lewis's ambush

In the event he sounded as surprised as anyone.

Perhaps it shouldn't have been so: after all this is his third pole position in a row, and his team has now claimed seven of the last eight. But still when it happened it seemed incredibly unforeseen.

Lewis Hamilton - unexpectedly - ambushed pole position
Photo: Octane Photography

From an early point the qualifying battle appeared to be as per usual for the 2013 season: Sebastian Vettel versus the Mercedes drivers Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton; the only variation being perhaps Romain Grosjean getting in there as an interloper. But even among these Vettel looked seriously hard to stop: he'd been on top for all of Friday - on both single lap pace and longer runs - and coyly had concentrated on race set up in Saturday morning practice. And his haughty status looked even more firmly set as he, in that way of his, swept round the Hungaroring track partway through the vital final qualifying session to blitz everyone's previous efforts with a 1m 19.5 mark. Admittedly Seb was on new tyres, with everyone else on up until that point on used ones, but it still looked all over bar the shouting.

But then in the final runs Grosjean sent a warning shot across the bows of Seb's time by getting within a tenth of it, before a certain Lewis Hamilton sent a torpedo through its hull. Vettel behind improved marginally, but not by enough, and thus it'll be Lewis who starts at the front tomorrow with Vettel second.

Hungaroring Preview: The heat is on

The Hungaroring is important. No, really.

Have you ever ruminated over the sort of track that gets added to the F1 calendar in modern times, almost exclusively it seems: that which is purpose built from ground up especially to hold an F1 event, is super safe, has gleaming facilities, no expense is spared, and all is bankrolled by the national government keen to promote the country? And have you in turn wondered which venue was the first of these? (And if the answer to either of these two questions is 'yes' then well done for being about as nerdy as me). Well, the most likely answer is Hungary's Hungaroring.

Hungaroring: tight and twisty
Photo: Octane Photography

The Hungaroring debuted as an F1 host in 1986, constructed in just the seven months prior to the event on a greenfield site not far outside the city of Budapest. And 27 years on (gulp) it's easy to forget what a complete step into the unknown this represented for both the F1 circus and its hosts, stepping as the fraternity was behind the Iron Curtain into the 'Eastern Bloc', as Hungary was then part of. Without hyperbole, neither party had the first idea what to expect.

Bernie Ecclestone - F1's very own Henry Kissinger - had eyed a race in the Eastern Bloc for some time, and indeed as early as 1983 a street race in Moscow appeared on the provisional F1 calendar. That plan foundered on insurmountable bureaucracy, but by 1986 Hungary, always the most outward-looking of the Eastern Bloc countries, stepped in and Bernie was sold on the idea.

Looking back: Alonso's forgotten marvel

Fernando Alonso is an odd one, isn't he? While his place at least somewhere within the sport's pantheon of great drivers seems assured by now, citing single astonishing performances from his career - drives from the Gods, if you will - is a little tricky.

With many of the other F1 greats such drives can roll off the tongue: Fangio at the Nurburgring in '57, Moss in Monaco '61, Clark in Monza '67, Senna in Donington '93, Schumacher in Hungary '98... Even within Alonso's 2012 campaign, one which only the obdurate would suggest was not one of the most persistently impressive seasons from anyone ever, naming individual performances of that rank is difficult, maybe Valencia aside. His year's effort was more based on relentless brilliance, a 9.5 out of 10 performance just about every time.

Fernando Alonso in the 2006 season
Credit: Kamalsell / CC

But there is another drive in Alonso's career that we can point to as being up there, that of Hungary in 2006. Now, you'd be forgiven at this point for feeling rather bewildered, as it's not a drive talked about much. Indeed, it even seemed that the drive's quality had been forgotten in certain quarters before the race had even finished. Perhaps because it was a drive that didn't last all of the way to the chequered flag (and F1 is a results business), perhaps as well it reflects that the focus after the race was elsewhere (for one reason in particular). But whatever the case these do not begin to diminish the quality of Alonso's performance that day; it can absolutely be considered as a forgotten marvel.

Ah, Hungary. For much of its now quarter century-plus history as an F1 venue its Hungaroring has not won many popularity awards. Yes, it's always attracted a numerous, multi-national crowd; it's the layout that's been the problem. It arguably was the first of the new generation of tight, torturous tracks that gradually replaced the classic high-speed challenges such as the Österreichring and Zandvoort on the calendar. 'Monaco without the houses' was a polite description made in the circuit's early days. Nigel Roebuck noted that when the fraternity first laid eyes on the 'purpose-built' venue in 1986 'we swiftly concluded that part of that purpose had been to prevent motor racing. Tight and sinewy, it amounted to a prescription for soporific grands prix.' Jabby Crombac was less restrained, as when one year he was asked by a local how the track could be improved he replied 'Dig it up'.

Yet somehow, in addition to the Michael Schumacher drive already mentioned, it has developed a partial knack of being the scene of great drivers putting in great drives. And so it was in 2006.

Further thoughts on the German Grand Prix

The big picture
Christian Horner was right to say that the victory of his charge Sebastian Vettel in the German Grand Prix wasn't a knockout blow to his rivals in the championship fight. But yet, it does feel like his opponents are very much on the ropes.

F1 in 2013 is entering something of a hiatus now, with only the Hungarian race in the next seven weeks, before the start of a slalom run of nine rounds in the second half of the season. A good opportunity to take a look at the big picture, in other words. Yet even at this relatively early point, with 250 points still available, it's rather difficult to see how the Vettel-Red Bull combination can be scuppered.

Can anyone deprive Vettel and
Red Bull of the ultimate honours?
Credit: Ryan Bayona / CC

Not only does Seb have a 34-point lead in the table, well more than a race win, we also enter the point of the year wherein historically he and Red Bull have really got into their strides. The Milton Keynes team is excellent at in-year development, its upgrades regular and close to seamless it seems. More generally, the RB9 has been quick just about everywhere, Seb is on top of his considerable game (errant gearboxes aside he has finished in the top four in every round) and from now on only in Monza can you envisage the car not being near the pace, given the Renault engine's comparative lack of top-end grunt.

And it's also not easy to see where an external threat is coming from. The Nurburgring confirmed that there will be enough rounds wherein the Mercedes won't keep their tyres together to presumably preclude a title charge for either driver; Lotus improved in that race but there yet remain question marks over its ability to sustain competiveness race-by-race, not least via its iffy qualifying speed and occasional strategy lethargy. Which leaves the Ferrari in Fernando Alonso's hands. Placed second in the table this pairing seems the most likely to deprive Seb and Red Bull of the drivers' championship. But it's a relative term, it still doesn't seem all that likely. Not for nothing, Alonso commented on Sunday after the race: 'to recover (the points deficit) you need to win two or three races, at the moment it seems that we are not able to do so...'.

Further thoughts on the German Grand Prix

Massa's endgame?
F1 matters move on very quickly. And if you need recent evidence of this you need look no further than to the curious case of Felipe Massa. It seems no time since, earlier in the year, we were declaring Felipe as finally being back to his best. He looked confident out of the car and quick in it, and had out qualified his haughty team mate Fernando Alonso four times in a row. Some of the excitable started to talk about his 'getting under Alonso's skin'.

Felipe Massa - not waving but drowning?
Credit: Mark McArdle / CC

Yet before we know it we seem almost back to where we started. Massa's in the doldrums again, his last four race weekends have each featured at least one accident or spin (and he's scored but 12 points in this time), including in the latest race in the Nurburgring where he spun off after four laps, which the man himself admitted subsequently was a driver error. And equally suddenly the wolves are at Massa's door regarding his 2014 Ferrari future - in poor timing the slump has coincided with the point that moves to firm up drivers for the following year gather pace.

Admittedly Massa was running ahead of Alonso at the time of his latest misdemeanour. But, if we're to be brutal, that's always been the way with Massa: that he is capable of going quickly but also that mistakes never seem too far away. These have been his traits going right back to his early days at Sauber (traits which led to Jacques Villeneuve describing Massa as 'probably the worst driver out there' in his debut year of 2002). He seems a very reflexy sort of driver, one that asks a lot of his car, but the flip side is that he never seems to offer himself much of a safety margin, and also that he doesn't appear to know any way other than to push. If he has a car that is ultra-planted, as he had in 2008, then he might broadly get away with it, but even in that season - viewed very much as Massa's personal tour de force - there were errors, most notably in Malaysia when he spun away an easy second place, discarding points that would have comfortably tilted the title in his favour as things transpired.

Further thoughts on the German Grand Prix

Back to the future on backmarkers
McLaren at the Nurburgring had its best weekend in a while, and somewhat against expectations. Yet despite finishing in sixth place, and stating the team hadn't 'put a foot wrong' throughout the weekend, its pilot Jenson Button was rueful. He reckoned he would have finished one place higher had he not been delayed by battling Caterhams when trying to lap them late on (Jenson said somewhere that it cost him four seconds), which assisted Lewis Hamilton in passing him on the final lap.

Jenson Button - rueful
Credit: Ryan Bayona / CC

But, nothing personal Jenson, I'm afraid that any driver that complains about delays resultant of picking your way through backmarkers gets no sympathy from me. The sport has definitely changed in this regard, and changed relatively recently. It's not all that long ago that working your way through lapped 'traffic' was part of the game and an important one at that. Up until roughly the mid-1990s only egregious cases of blocking by backmarkers (e.g. those which lasted several laps) would have a chance of being punished, and sometimes not even those would result in censure. Some of those about to be lapped would move graciously to one side, but many would not (e.g. De Cesaris, Arnoux, Alliot, to pick some notorious offenders). And I can't help but think that a lot has been lost with the current practice of drivers leaping out of the way and applying the anchors at the earliest opportunity upon seeing a blue flag. Lapping while losing the minimum time is a lost art to the sport, and one that many of F1's greatest practitioners, Ayrton Senna most notably, were particularly skilled at. It's not exaggeration to say that had the current practice existed in Senna's day you would most likely have to take away ten or more of his 41 Grand Prix wins.

More broadly, dicing through traffic greatly added to the excitement and variation of an F1 race, and many iconic moments resulted from a leader being 'baulked', such as Nigel Mansell's opportunistic pass on Senna in Hungary 1989 which has gone into folklore.

Further thoughts on the German Grand Prix

Pit lane problems
The German Grand Prix on Sunday felt a lot like a soothing balm on the sport's troubled self. After considerable recent acrimony, that we all know about, the race was exciting and variable, and provided exactly the sort of action that the current formula is designed to.

There was however one false note, when Mark Webber was released by his Red Bull crew after his first pit stop with his right-rear wheel not attached, and the wheel flew towards those standing in the pits to hit a cameraman at sickening speed. Thankfully and mercifully his injuries at the time of writing seem light.

The modern F1 pit stop - poetry in motion
Credit: Gil Abrantes / CC

It's inevitable, and entirely honourable, that after such incidents changes will be sought to reduce the probability of it or similar happening again. But equally knee jerk response, and changes for the sake of changes, should be avoided.

The sport of course has come a long way in terms of who is and isn't allowed into a 'live' pit lane. One thinks of the 1974 British Grand Prix, wherein Niki Lauda made a late stop to change a punctured tyre, to find that he physically could not rejoin the race as various somebodies had gathered at the end of the pit lane to get a view of the finish, and literally blocked the way.

These days pit lane access is severely restricted, befitting that it's a dangerous place even in our post-refuelling age. And given this inherent danger such incidents sadly can probably never be totally ruled out. We already have a rule wherein pit crews are only allowed out into the pit lane if a stop is imminent, though that can have limited effect when, as is often the case, pit stops are clustered. A reduction of the pit lane speed limit in a race also comes in for 2014, though in a situation like this it's doubtful that would have made a difference.