Kimi Räikkönen & Sebastian Vettel

Kimi Räikkönen & Sebastian Vettel

sunnuntai 28. heinäkuuta 2013

Hungarian GP: First win for Hamilton as a Mercedes driver!

It has been a hot day here in Finland. Not as hot as in Budapest though! The temperature at Hungaroring was 34 degrees Celsius when the lights went out and the thrilling race got underway. The top three remained the same at the start: Hamilton kept his lead into the first corner, Vettel followed him and Grosjean was 3rd. Kimi lost a position at the start whilst Button in his McLaren took a stunning start and jumped from P13 to P8. Rosberg and Massa collided on the opening lap which lead to Rosberg dropping down to P12.

We saw the first pit stops already on lap 10 when the race leader Hamilton pitted for a fresh set of prime tyres. I expected to see a longer first stint from the Lotus drivers but Kimi and Grosjean pitted only a few laps later than their closest rivals. At this point Webber at the wheel of his RB9 was leading the race. The Australian had started to the race with the prime tyres so he had a different strategy compared to the other top five drivers. Webber pitted not until on lap 23.

Grosjean was driving a superb race fighting for a podium finish... until on lap 24 the Frenchman collided with Button when he tried to overtake the Briton! Button´s front wing got damaged and both drivers had to pit. Button wasn´t happy about the incident but called Grosjean "an idiot" on the team radio. Only five laps later Grosjean made a splashy overtaking move on Massa. A little later the stewards handed the French Lotus driver a drive-through penalty due to leaving the track when overtaking Massa. The penalty ruined Grosjean´s chances to finish on the podium!

Unfortunately Bottas at the wheel of his FW35 faced his first DNF of the season. The Finn had a hydraulics issue in his car and he lost all power and was forced to retire from the race. Also Rosberg in his Mercedes had an engine failure when there were only 5 laps to go.

Kimi had a different strategy compared to his closest rivals. Kimi had a 2-stop strategy whilst Hamilton, Vettel and Alonso pitted three times. At the end of the race Sebastian was right behind Kimi with the fresher tyres chasing the Iceman. With two laps remaining Sebastian tried to overtake the Iceman but Kimi kept his line and kept the Red Bull driver behind. Sebastian complained on the team radio that Kimi hadn´t left enough room for him. That was a bit childish, I have to say. Kimi didn´t do anything wrong in that situation. But I can understand Sebastian´s frustration as he always wants to fight for the win...

Hamilton took his first win as a Mercedes driver with a significant 10-second gap to Kimi who finished 2nd! Who would have predicted that Hamilton would actually win the race? No problems with tyre degradation whatsoever! Sebastian was stuck in the traffic after the first pit stop so he lost crucial amount of time and was unable to challenge Hamilton today. Hamilton is becoming a serious contender in the championship battle! Kimi drove a fantastic race keeping Sebastian behind him in spite of the high pressure from the German. With a higher grid position the Iceman would have been up there fighting for the victory! Webber finished 4th, Alonso 5th, Grosjean 6th (Grosjean was handed a 20-second penalty due to the Button move which didn´t change the results), Button 7th, Massa 8th and Perez 9th. Maldonado in his Williams managed to finish 10th and scored the first point for the team this season!

Now we´re facing the summer break of an entire month. Sebastian has a very convenient 38-point lead in the championship standings over Kimi who´s second in the standings now. Alonso is only one point off Kimi and Hamilton has been scoring points massively during recent races... So anything can happen as there´re still 9 more races to go! The rest of the season will be thrilling I´m sure. And the next venue will be Spa, which is totally like Kimi´s kingdom! Kimi is the "king of Spa" so I´m expecting to see the Iceman winning there! Anything less would be a disappointment, haha ;)

Though I´ll be missing F1 action massively during the summer break all the drivers and teams have definitely deserved the break and some holiday time! I hope Kimi and Sebastian will have a relaxing and awesome holiday :) Let´s see if we´ll hear about the driver replacing Webber at Red Bull during the break or after it... The wildest rumours say that Alonso will move to Red Bull next year!

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