Round 11: Hungary 2014 - Review

Greetings Internet,

See, that's why we need rain every now and again - even if it had stopped before the start of the race. The powers that be could have been left looking rather silly had they opted to start under the safety car - we know in the past that safety cars have been called as soon as the level of precipitation exceeds the level required for intermediate tyres. For once it seems - contrary to popular opinion the stewards made the right call.

What we were left with was 1hr 53 minutes of entertainment, defying the reputation that Hungarian GP has accumulated over the years. Of course the only times that reputation has been disobeyed had been when the weather has played a considerably part in the race. It was a race of two halves really, one based filled with a little bit of madness and unpredictability, and this half defined the strategies and track position of the second phase once the racing surface had dried up. If I hadn't seen some of the highlights of the Spa 24hr GT race i'd say that the Hungarian GP was a destructive affair - but the GT event looks like it was directed by Michael Bay with all fire and destruction all over the place... Guess where the field is heading next...

The Race

An hour before the start a large thunderstorm hit the track leaving it very wet indeed, but as per normal most of if had dried out before the actual start. We saw a couple of drivers running off the track on their laps to the grid - Maldonado visiting the grass in the middle sector on the far side of the track. On the whole the drivers and teams elected to start the race on the intermediate tyres. According to Kvyat, Toro Rosso attempted to start the race without an engine and failed to pull away on the formation lap. The Russian would rejoin the race, but one lap down.

Sensibly it was an ordinary standing start and the front row eased away in unison along with Bottas in third. The Finn showed bravery under braking for diving into turn one to sneak around the outside of Sebastian Vettel to steal second. Another driver to make progress was Jenson Button - the driver to have won 100% of the rain affected races at the Hungaroring taking 5th from Ricciardo before turn two. As for Hamilton, he found his pit lane starting position rather cramped with Magnussen heading the queue following the damage he suffered in Q3. Lewis passed Kevin almost before leaving the pits, but on cold brakes span the car in turn two gently brushing the barriers with the left front tyre. Normally you'd consider this to be the narrowest crash escape - but we'd see an even more dramatic display later on. 

In the initial phase of the race the front half of the grid were playing it rather cautiously - Rosberg had vanished off into the distance while Bottas had Vettel for company in second. The radio traffic was concerned about track conditions and the threat of further rainfall spotted on the radar... we got one shower, hoping for a second was just greedy. Just like in Germany all of the attention was put on Hamilton and his recovery drive through the field - the conditions negating the single line effect of the race track. However unlike Germany the camera direction wasn't quite as good - we have no idea how the Briton made it from 21st up to 13th... I'm guessing that's what the magic switch does. The first real coverage of this charge showed Lewis duelling with Kimi Raikkonen in the final two corners, Kimi defended the position using the outside line. But alas the Mercedes engine proved to be the decisive factor and Hamilton left the Ferrari for dead on the main straight. 

The race was put on hold for a little while when the camera panned to the decimated wreckage of Marcus Eriksson's Caterham. The Swede had got all kinds of sideways on the exit of turn three, initially he saved the drift but the car swapped back in the other direction and was wiped across the barrier on the outside. The safety car was deployed to clean up the incident and the field streamed into the pits - unfortunately Rosberg, Bottas and Vettel had passed the pits when the incident happened. As a result they were mired back in the pack. Jenson Button and Vergne came close to contact when the McLaren was released. We also had a Mexican stand-off between Perez and Gutierrez as the pair drove down the pit-lane two wide and continued all the way to turn one. Just as we were all set to go back to green the safety car period was extended - Romain Grosjean span his Lotus under the yellow flag conditions and bounced off the tyre wall in turn three, opposite the site of Eriksson's accident.

Finally things did get under way again with Ricciardo leading from Jenson Button who restarted on a new set of Intermediate tyres - hoping for more rain. As Jenson took the lead from the Australian on the restart the strategy decision seemed like an inspired call - a hat trick of wins in the wet for Button... Well that all centred on the hope that this second bout of rain was going to arrive... and it didn't. Rosberg seemed to be struggling in the few laps following the restart with wisps of smoke coming out of his left rear brake duct. The German didn't have the pace that the Mercedes has been known for, and demonstrated before the safety car interruption. This started backing up the cars behind him bunching Vergne, Alonso, Vettel and the two Force India drivers all up together. Both Perez and Hulkenberg slid wide almost into each other in turn five gifting two places to Hamilton and to Vettel. This bunching got worse as Rosberg caught up to back of Kevin Magnussen on worn intermediates. Nico attempted to take the place from the McLaren but managed to lose a place to Jean-Eric Vergne instead, to which Alonso followed suit to take another place from Rosberg... Here on lap 15 only the car of Sebastian Vettel separated Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton.

At the back of the queue headed now by Magnussen and Vergne - the two Force India drivers had a bit of a falling out - Hulkenberg attempted a pass on Perez. Unfortunately Nico collected his team-mate, somehow Sergio kept it pointing in the right direction but Hulkenberg ended up in the barrier in the final corner. Rosberg attempted to make a move on Vergne again in turn one - almost going into the back of Magnussen in the process. But the Frenchman resisted, cutting back to the inside and reclaiming the position. Magnussen pitted from the front of the group which once was a seething squabbling mass and was now a more concise four car train. Vergne doing a valiant job of holding off two Mercedes cars and a quadruple world champion in his Toro Rosso. With all this chaos going on it was a massive surprise that we hadn't heard from Pastor Maldonado, well the Venezuelan refused to be left out as he attempted a pass on Jules Bianchi. Pastor locked up and slid into the side of the Marussia and span himself round in the process only be narrowly avoided by Kobayashi in the sole remaining Caterham. Despite all this Chilton was still last...

As the rain failed to arrive Button too had to abandon his intermediate tyres and hand the lead back to Ricciardo with Massa and Alonso following behind him. The camera panned back to the Vergne train only to see the shape of a Force India slide across from the outside of the track in the background and smash itself to pieces against the pitwall. Sergio Perez had put a wheel on the astro-turf beyond the final corner and fire into the concrete wall. In this one incident we saw the importance of respecting track limits, and an irefutable case for a safety car intervention due to a stationary vehicle on the front straight. There were also a lot of bits of said stationary vehicle scattered about as well - which may have swayed the decision. So the safety car was deployed again. In the 2015 theory of standing restarts, races like this could easily erupt into a ridiculous cycle of restart followed by collision and another restart.

Fernando Alonso stayed out under the safety car and assumed the lead on the restart with Jean-Eric Vergne in second place as Ricciardo and Massa pitted. When the safety car returned to the pits the race seemed to be falling into Alonso's hands as Vergne couldn't keep up with the Ferrari and started to hold up the cars behind him. In the first few laps following the restart things calmed down again, after all if they got any more manic there would be no more cars left in the race by the time we reached the chequered flag. The retirement tally increased even further as Kamui Kobayashi and Esteban Gutierrez were forced to retire as a result of technical difficulties. We had to wait around until the next round of pit-stops before things got interesting again. Lewis Hamilton was informed that overtaking Vettel and Vergne were mission critical objectives. Unlike yesterday it appeared Lewis had some more luck on his side as both those objectives cleared themselves in the space of one corner. Vergne pitted, and Vettel put a wheel on the outside of the final corner - like Perez - and headed to the pit wall. Somehow, and it still beggars belief how the German kept the car out of the concrete only brushing a rear tyre against the paintwork. The car didn't even come to a stop, executing a complete 360 spin without damage and carried on - he did lose a few places in the process however. 

Hamilton was now running in second position... after starting from the pit land and hitting the fence on lap one... how fortunes change. As Fernando pitted from the lead - the top spot was passed to Lewis... winning from last place, that can't be possible right, especially at Hungary. Even after the Briton made his stop he rejoined in front of Rosberg... that'll go down well. As we'll find out later it didn't. But first we caught up with Vettel, who after stealing the accolade of closest crash escape from Lewis now had Kimi Raikkonen to deal with. The Ferrari had rejoined on fresh tyres directly in front of the Red Bull driver and positioned the car perfectly to prevent Sebastian stealing the position. Raikkonen then caught up with Maldonado, scything down the inside of the Lotus as it circulated on an alternate strategy following the contact with Bianchi. 

Back to the Hamilton/Rosberg struggle and an interesting situation had developed. Nico on older but faster tyres had caught Hamilton and requested that he should be allowed past due to his alternate strategy. Hamilton was then instructed 'Not to hold Nico up' which generally means let the other car through. Would Hamilton play ball, would he hell - instead he started edge away from an increasingly frustrated German. Rosberg in an agitated state asked the team why he wasn't been allowed through. To which Hamilton replied 'I'm not slowing down for Nico, if he gets close enough he can overtake'. In fairness Nico wasn't exactly sitting on Lewis' gearbox, but that is a factor of the aerodynamic wake of an identical car preventing him getting close. These ten laps of follow-the-leader was blatantly costing Nico time - but considering he was racing Lewis for position indirectly via strategy you could understand Lewis' reluctance to comply with the team wishes. But I can expect some fallout from this sequence of events - good thing there is some time off to calm down afterwards.

Rosberg pitted to get out of the turbulent air of his team mate and rejoined behind the other Mercedes and rejoined behind the Bottas, Raikkonen battle. Ricciardo also pitted from the lead - handing the reigns to Fernando Alonso, who was planning to go to the end on his current set of tyres. It was a gamble that depended on Fernando being able to hold off anyone on fresher tyres making a charge at the end of the race. As the gaps sorted themselves out, two distinct battle groups emerged - the main one being a three way tussle for the lead of the race. Fernando Alonso had been caught by Lewis Hamilton who in turn had Ricciardo on much fresher tyres clawing back time on the Mercedes at a rapid pace. The second battle focussed on Rosberg dealing with Raikkonen and Massa. First he dispatched the Ferrari after Raikkonen got caught up behind Massa through turn one. This was followed up with a DRS assisted pass on Felipe Massa - Rosberg should email this video to Hamilton later as an demonstration that a Mercedes can pass a Williams after Lewis's struggles against Bottas in Germany. What this did mean was that Nico had clear track ahead of him and an abundance of pace as he hunted down Lewis Hamilton for round two.

At the front the top three were very close together, Ricciardo having caught up with Hamilton and Alonso. Daniel's strategy seemed to be working out, in the end all he had to do was pass the fastest car on the grid and a double world champion... how hard could it be. As it so happened it proved to be quite challenging, and Hamilton was having the same struggle attempting to take the position from Alonso. It was a very tense, close quarters battle with little room for error, and the pressure was building as Rosberg was catching all three cars at over three seconds per lap. With three cars separated by 0.3s it was wonderfully poised with six laps remaining - that poise momently evaded Alonso as he ran across the inside of the top chicane. Which in the childish spirit of driving these days resulted in a complaint from Hamilton claiming Fernando gained an advantage and should be penalised. Considering Lewis had come from the pit lane things had gone all right thus far he didn't need to start being all petty again - besides Ricciardo was his main threat. 

The Australian attempted to capitalise on another failed Hamilton attack on Alonso to go round the outside of the second corner. Hamilton gently closed the door leaving Daniel nowhere to go. One lap later Ricciardo tried again, getting further alongside such that Lewis couldn't force him out wide, Ricciardo held his ground and claimed the position on the inside of turn three. This was bad news for Alonso as he now had a car on fresher tyres right behind him, one that would be much harder to defend against. Sure enough on the main straight Daniel Ricciardo used the DRS to close on Fernando - but dove down the inside from a long way back, leaning on the fresher grip of the softer tyres to get the car stopped. Like in Canada when things go wrong with the Mercedes Daniel Ricciardo picks up the pieces and takes the lead with three laps to go. Does that mean the battles were over... not quite yet.

On the final lap Hamilton had Rosberg right behind him - and with Alonso ahead he couldn't really escape. Nico in a much faster car got up alongside his team-mate through turn two. Just like in the duel with Ricciardo, Hamilton slammed the door - this time he was a lot more forceful almost putting Nico out onto the grass. This was the last real opportunity for Nico to make it onto the podium. Daniel Ricciardo claimed his second win of the season - the only driver to beat the Mercedes strikes again. The longer strategy of Fernando Alonso allowed him to be the second car to be only the second driver to complete a race ahead of all of the Mercedes drivers in a race in taking second place. In a second successive remarkable comeback Hamilton goes from the pit-lane to podium, via the barrier. Rosberg had to settle for fourth place behind his team-mate. Massa and Raikkonen came home in 5th and 6th ahead of Vettel after his very near visit to the concrete wall. The timing of the safety car prevented Bottas from continuing his run of podium finishes, demoting him to 8th. Vergne finished in the points for Toro Rosso after restarting in second place. The final point went to Jenson Button - on the cusp of an inspired strategy call which ultimately made his afternoon very difficult.

The Bonus Points Championship Points Winners 

When conditions throw up something unusual it can force some notable performances throughout the field, performances that deserve points. 

• 25pts - Lewis Hamilton - Pits to podium via the barrier, and executing an immense pass on Vergne on the outside of turn four in the process
• 18pts - Daniel Ricciardo - Selecting a strategy that involves overtaking at Hungary is a tough call, making it work is brilliant
• 15pts - Fernando Alonso - Hanging onto ruined tyres for so long under pressure extreme pressure deserves many points
• 12pts - Kimi Raikkonen - Not as impressive as Hamilton's drive, but 16th-6th in a Ferrari which isn't the fastest car is a strong day's work
• 10pts - Jean-Eric Vergne - Utter defiance under attack from Rosberg, and held onto second place well, strong awareness as Lewis came past
• 8pts - Sebastian Vettel - Simply for keeping that car out of the wall, stunt driving at it's finest
• 6pts - Jenson Button - Turned a risky strategy decision into a recovery drive for the final championship point... curse the lack of more rain
• 4pts - Nico Rosberg - The strongest recovery of the three drivers caught out by the first safety car timing
• 2pts - Adrian Sutil - Came so close to scoring Sauber's first points of the season in 11th place, clearly today wasn't quite crazy enough for them 
• 1pt - Esteban/Gutierrez - A pit lane mexican stand-off duel deserves a point apiece.

Looking Forward to Belgium

Here it comes, the big one, after the long summer break one of the most exhilerating venues of the season looms large on the horizon. If the Spa 24hr race is anything to go by there will be very few cars left standing come the end of the race. That is even before the threat of rain, and in the Belgian forests there is always the threat of rain. Although I get the ominous feeling that after the shower before the race today we've used up our allocation of precipitation for 2014 - we have yet to see any rainfall during a race since Brazil 2012... and that was a magnificent race. 

The month long break allows Hamilton and Rosberg to stew in their collective disagreements following today - in the event of a championship battle it is every man for himself. Even if they operate from the same team garage. Nico may have hoped for a team decision to over-ride Hamilton's personal championship charge, but I'm not sure he'll make that call again... and if the racing-boot is on the other foot, well, we'll just have to wait and see. 

Round 11: Hungary 2014 - Qualifying

Greetings Internet, 

Once again the conspiracy theorist floodgates are flung wide open and the interesting interpretations of today's developments come pouring through. Exactly the same sort of theories and stories that started to be suggested when everyone assumed that Webber was being specifically hampered at Red Bull so that Vettel could be the dominant force within the team. Whoever or whatever is at fault here, all that really matters is that the events of this afternoon has left us with another promising grid on a track that is exceptionally difficult to make progress on. To add to that a side serving of complacency has doubled up the intensity of comeback driving we've been been treated to in the past couple of races. 

Qualifying also contained what I assume will be the sum total of rainfall we'll experience all weekend. One damp corner equalled one car buried in the fence - so by that logic a single track-wide sprinkle of rain would take out 14 cars and maybe, just maybe Caterham might score their first point. But as per usual the entire of Eastern Europe could be under the grasp of monsoons and the tiny patch of land on which the track is held will be bathed in resplendent sunshine. Even though some rain would make things very interesting.

Qualifying

Normally we'd spend a couple of paragraphs discussing lap times and relative pace, because in the end that is what qualifying is all about - but it appeared that technical gremlins would be the order of the day. All started off with Pastor Maldonado pulling the Lotus off to the side of the track - of course given how poorly things have gone for them it wasn't too much of a surprise. As Pastor's car was wheeled away, we cut immediately to the second retirement of the session - this one belonging to a far bigger scalp in more dramatic fashion. Lewis Hamilton - fresh from setting fastest times in the practice sessions was dragging a flaming Mercedes back into the pit lane in search of a fire marshal. The blaze was quickly contained but for the second time in two races Lewis was out of Q1 through mechanical difficulties and will start from the back row of the grid - or the pit-lane depending on the damage.

With two cars out already it seem that the battle for relegation was a moot point after Grosjean demoted Kobayashi into the bottom six places. With the huge difference in tyre performance between the prime and option compounds mid-field teams were able to compete at the top of the time-sheets. Jean-Eric Vergne for Toro Rosso went fastest ahead of Rosberg - the Mercedes driver on the slower compound. Red Bull and Williams were also counting on the prime tyres being quick enough to avoid relegation without using up any of the softer sets available. For the the most part this seemed like a safe plan, after all it required a Caterham or Marussia to beat one of the bigger teams. Even Ferrari thought they were safe with Raikkonen sitting in the final qualification spot. Surely Kimi would be safe... right. Not if Jules Bianchi had anything to do with it the Frenchman somehow found enough speed in the Marussia to be faster than a Ferrari - albeit on slower tyres - and moving through into Q2.

Q2

The second part of qualifying got underway with an average lap by the Force India of Sergio Perez as Mercedes powered cars took to the track first. Williams assumed control firstly with Massa and defiantly by Valterri Bottas knocking tenths off Felipe's time. But as per usual it was the factory team that asserted their dominance - even if there was only one car remaining from that garage.  As Rosberg took the lead, Red Bull proved that they were much closer then they have been in recent races. We also saw Vettel being able to compete on similar terms with his team-mate, after all this is going to be one of the few tracks where power can be caught by cornering prowess. 

A small lull in activity as the grid regrouped after their opening runs, but with four minutes remaining the entire field - well those who hadn't been relegated already - took to the track. Apparently Hamilton had left the circuit and we can only assume Raikkonen would have been frequenting Ferrari's ice cream fridge. Felipe Massa was able to pull away from the relegation zone and more into line with the times Bottas was managing. This final run also saw Jenson Button jump up into 8th place. Daniil Kvyat was on course to knock Hulkenberg out of Q2 but three corners from home the Russian put a wheel on the grass and span the car. The remainder of the session was covered by waved yellows, although Kvyat's death stare would have been enough to prevent drivers speeding past while marshals moved his car. 

Q3

The final phase of qualifying was greeted by footage of spectators putting on waterproof macs and putting up umbrellas - even if it didn't appear to be raining. To make matters worse for the teams, atmospheric radar telemetry had failed - so we saw teams on the pit-lane sticking the hands out from under roof of the gantry. Amusingly on the Red Bull bay all of the senior staff were waving their arms about - weather detection by committee. But everyone had to stream out onto the track in case the the rain swept in and ruined the session. As it turned out it was only raining, ever so slightly in turn one - if the track was in the pre-2003 configuration it probably would have stayed dry. No-one anticipated the contrast of the dry and damper road over the distance of one straight, Rosberg hit the wet first and ran wide and off the track. As the cameras panned to track Nico rejoining the track there was the sound of a dull thud in the background... see what you get to hear with these quieter engines. It was Kevin Magnussen who followed suit and wasn't as fortunate, locking up on the wet surface and ending up on the grass. You don't slow down particularly well on the grass and he piled into the tyre wall bringing out the Red Flag.

During the interruption in which the McLaren was removed and the tyre bundles replaced the track had dried again. So record that one lap for posterity as it will probably be the last rain we'll see despite the number of threats of storms tomorrow. Even here at blog HQ rain seems to be borderline extinct in the face of relentless heat. Back to the action and people were tentative on their opening laps - Rosberg set a relatively slow time for the Mercedes driver. His time was promptly beaten by a whole raft of contenders including Bottas, Ricciardo and Alonso. Then Vettel emerged from a season of obscurity and delivered a massive lap - 0.8s faster than anyone else. Does this mean a non-Mercedes powered car could steal a pole position... Well no... once again Mercedes proved there was even more pace in the car that they hadn't shown thus far when Nico Rosberg dissected Vettel's time to the tune of almost half a second. So once more Mercedes were on pole - but Vettel appeared to be back on form on the front row. 

The Bonus Points Championship Points Winners

Like so many times this season a likely suspect on pole belies an interesting session with many strong performance languishing under the radar. So here are the points from qualifying today.

• 10pts - Jules Bianchi - Kimi Raikkonen defeated by a Marussia piloted by the very driver tipped to replace him in time.
• 8pts - Sebastian Vettel - Some of that past form appears to have returned once again... but the domination is a distant memory
• 6pts - Valtteri Bottas - Once again the Finn defies expectation, the Willams shouldn't be this quick here, but somehow it is
• 5pts - Fernando Alonso - When Ferrari dropped the ball with Kimi, Fernando is left carrying the baton again all the way to fifth place
• 4pts - Nico Rosberg - Couldn't afford to relax today and did well to overcome the resurgent form of the other German Bloke - and kept it out of the wall in the damp turn one.
• 3pts - Nico Hulkenberg - Made it through into Q1 despite technical problems in FP3 and the Force India not being as strong in Hungary 
• 2pts - Jean-Eric Vergne - Topped Q1 and made it through to Q3 completely under the radar and anonymously. Much in the same way that Jaime Alguersuari used to be... and look what happened there....
• 1pts - Adrian Sutil - Has to have a point simply as a result of being used as a derogatory yardstick by Grosjean as the Frenchman despondently called out 'So we didn't even beat Sutil' on the radio

Looking Forward to Tomorrow

Well as had been said before, and will be said again if this corner of the internet is still around next season, the Hungarian GP is perennially one of the dullest and uneventful events all season long. In the past only a wave of rainfall has prevented that fateful prediction - and on both occasions granted Jenson Button the victory. So if that logic carries forward in the event of any degree of precipitation then Jenson would need to claim McLaren's first victory in quite a long time... Sounds unlikely in this day and age with at least one of the Mercedes cars up the front end.

However even if it stays dry, which it probably will, there are some points to look out for tomorrow afternoon - firstly Lewis Hamilton starting from the back is a fascinating prospect. In Germany that was an easier task on a track based on overtaking, here (or there I being here and not there) in Hungary overtaking is exceptionally difficult - even in the fastest car on the grid. How the Mercedes carves through the field on this track could reverse the thought of another uninspiring race. On top of that we have Raikkonen back there as well, so Rosberg might run away with this but just like in Hockenheim the attention will be drawn further back. Hungary has a reputation to disobey tomorrow.

Round 11: Hungary 2014 - Preview

Greetings Internet, 

Only one week after the turbulent and busy events in Germany, it is time to do the whole thing all over again. This time in Hungary instead - one of the few races all season which is known unilaterally as being the most boring and uneventful venue of the year. Fortunately things are no as bad as they once were in the height of the Schumacher and Ferrari domination... I mean it's not as if we have one all powerful team these days... There have been many a race on the Hungaroring in which nothing happening would be an improvement in the action. On the other hand there are exceptions to that rule - 2006 immediately springs to mind in which damp and drying conditions threw a spanner into the works. Conveniently the rumours of rain at some point this weekend - but if Germany and the second half of 2013 are anything to go by it will be a very dry Sunday afternoon. 

In the intervening days between the two races, announcements were made in respect of the upcoming calendar for 2015 (because many have written off 2014 already). The announcement centred on the increasing chance of a Mexican GP next season at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez. This should be brilliant news - another historic track making a comeback... but not so much because the FIA and probably Bernie have sent Tilke over to make some 'adjustments'. The concept drawings of these 'adjustments' are a disappointment to say the least - it appears that Herman, under whose orders it's not clear has been commissioned to sharpen corners that didn't need sharpening. It was fine as is - minus upgrades - with brilliant corners and a nice overall circuit rhythm. I understand the issue with the final corner, the peraltada - a high speed entry with only an old concrete wall as run-off. A wall which can't be moved due to the major public road on the other side. The alternative solution is terrible but the only part of the 'redevelopment' program that makes sense... the rest of it has all the hallmarks or a Tilke-fied botch job to force an old traditional style track fit the new homogeneous design characteristics. 

The Venue

Back to Hungary now and this circuit is one of the most polarising venues on the calendar - because the racing is infamously dull, but the track itself is very good. It is the ultimate example of how a nice, flowing and enjoyable circuit can produce some terrible racing. Before the arena section Silverstone had a similar problem - a magnificent circuit with processional racing. Spa and Suzuka have also been guilty in the past of the same thing. This comes down to one factor - a track where one corner feeds the next in a flowing sequence traces a very narrow optimum racing line. Put a car on that racing line and finding a way past becomes very difficult and requires a large performance advantage to offset the damage done by deviating from that core line. There is also a small matter of aerodynamic wake preventing cars on this one line from being close enough to one another to capitalise on any errors.

Around the time that Hockenheim and the Nurburgring were adjusted to compensate for these effects the Hungaroring did the same. Turn one was converted from a smooth 180 downhill curve into a sharper hairpin bend designed for overtaking. Two years after the re-profiling Jacques Villenueve flipped Christian Klien over - so there is room for a hat-trick of rollovers this season in turn one. Turn remains largely intact, and was once a mirrored image of turn two, a second gradual downhill 180 bend. Turn three used to be full speed, but I suspect these days it will be more of a corner turning through the basin at the lowest point on the circuit. The exit of T3 determines how much speed can be carried up the hill to turn four. 

Turn four is brilliant - and the site of one of the passes of the season in 2013... until the FIA penalised Grosjean for executing it a few centimetres the wrong side of the white line. It has also been the site of some enormous accidents - Ralf Firman in 2003 was knocked unconscious after a wing failure, and then in 2009 it was the corner where Massa's car came to rest after his near-fatal encounter with a errant spring. Turn five is the third of five longer 180 corners that manage to feel just long enough without being tiresome or pointless. After all that excitement the narrow chicane flanked by mountainous curbs calms everything down a little and takes the pace out of the lap. It has also been know to take chunks out of unsuspecting front wings too.

The middle sector is the highlight of the lap, playing host to a sequence of slightly slower s-bends each one edged with grass and gravel - none of that low risk tarmac run-off here. Well until you reach the final part of the sequence which has 'track limits violations' written all over it and it is a bit of a lottery to decide whether the stewards play hard-ball as in Austria or ignore them completely as in Germany. Remember that concept of consistency, what ever happened to that - I wonder. After the joys of having each entry and exit point being precisely where it feels they should naturally be the modifications take over again. The entry to the final sector was sharpened to improve overtaking... has it worked...no, maybe that knowledge should be taken to Mexico and leave the corners well alone. Since 2003 we have a 90 degree right hander at the bottom of a hill instead of the smoother predecessor and not too much to gain from it.  The remainder of the lap is composed of two 180 corners set far enough apart and with a gradual enough corner radius so that you don't get too impatient or lose too much speed. 

The Form Guide

Well it may seem like a repetitive statement but another Mercedes 1-2 might be on the cards this time out. Williams might not have quite the same pace as they demonstrated to great effect with Bottas in Germany due to their weaker high downforce package. It also means that other Mercedes powered teams relying on the power of the engine to get them through might find themselves at the lower end of the points this time. Replacing them behind the factory team would be Red Bull and possibly Ferrari - because straight line speed doesn't have such an influence on lap time at the Hungaroring. However getting past people will be just as difficult.

On the other side of the points positions, this could be a decent weekend for Toro Rosso if Force India and McLaren struggle to pull away. There is also some potential for Lotus to wrestle their way back onto to the score sheet - if the car manages to last till the end in the continuing European heat wave. Sauber however might struggle again to get within a few places of an elusive first point of 2014 - Marussia might even give them a run for their money on a track, like Monaco could benefit the smaller teams. Of course in order for that to happen a little bit of lunacy needs to take place. 

The only hope for lunacy during a weekend which usually is awarded the uncontested accolade of being the dullest sequence of laps we'll see during the course of the season is rain. Lots and lots of rain - but in this day and age the FIA and the stewards have gotten very soft when it comes to rain - throwing the red flag and the safety car at the first sight of conditions being damper than an intermediate tyre can accommodate. It was odd to see Indycar at Houston - a glorified car park street circuit with limited run-off, concrete walls and painted surfaces - competing in worse conditions that the FIA would declare 'unsafe'. But of course that is a debate for the unlikely scenario that these 'storms' actually show their face for once... So we shall have to wait and see. 

Round 10: Germany 2014 - Review

Greetings Internet, 

Well before we discuss the events of the day I want to ask, where on earth was this rain we were promised. Every time the thought of precipitation is remotely considered it is a virtual guarantee that the race is going to be drier than the Atacama desert... For the first half of the race we didn't really need it but as the battles calmed down a little downpour would't have gone amiss. But rain or no rain, one thing became frighteningly clear today, Mercedes have a lot more pace in the car, and when it is unleashed it is an unstoppable force... which doesn't bode too well for anyone else in the second half of 2014. 

There was no real coverage post qualifying yesterday because I was elsewhere and returning to HQ in the smaller hours of the morning kind of negates the time required to write these things up. But qualifying points will be added to the bottom of today's contribution. 

The Race

After yesterday's visit to the barrier Hamilton also opted for a gearbox change and thus was demoted to 20th on the grid. Several teams complained that the Mercedes should have started from the pit lane on the argument that a change of brake material constitutes breaking parc ferme regulations. It was a violation of these rules that forced Marcus Ericsson to start from the pitlane, meaning only Chilton was behind Lewis on the grid... Even after a crash and a penalty for Hamilton, Max was still last.

So we had the two Williams heading the charge against Rosberg at the start of the race, although that didn't last too long as the field approached turn one. Massa attempted tuck in behind Bottas through the first corner at the same time Magnussen attempted to fill the space. Ultimately the two cars ended up sharing the same bit of tarmac and for the second time this season we saw a car flipping up and over sliding upside down across the run-off area. Daniel Ricciardo was forced wide of Magnussen's spinning McLaren and Massa's upside down Williams losing many, many positions. Felipe's car righted itself before reaching the gravel, but the safety car was inevitably deployed. 

On the restart Rosberg started the process of driving an uncontested race away from Bottas in second place. As for the other Mercedes, it was time to truly see how one-sided any contest involving Hamilton would turn out to be. Once upon a time the idea of making it from the back of the grid to the front was considered a miraculous performance. Not so much today - Hamilton drove past cars as if they weren't there: Maldonado, Gutierrez and Chilton were all overtaken on the first lap after the restart. so by lap three Lewis had gained three positions without any opposition. The Mercedes driver's charge through the field was assisted by battles between cars further up the road. A duel between Grosjean and Sutil made the French driver even easier pickings for Lewis. 

In the opening ten laps there was a lot of focus on Hamilton's progress, but there were battles elsewhere to pay some attention to. For example it appeared that Perez and Kvyat were in for an interesting fight, lap after lap of pass and counter pass. Unfortunately it didn't quite work out that way because the Russian made a move on the outside of the Mercedes arena and tried to pinch Perez down to the inside. Of course there was nowhere for Sergio to go and Danill was pitched into a spin. So that battle didn't last as long as we hoped, that meant we had to see what Hamilton was up to again - which was easily breezing past more cars - this time it was Adrian Sutil in the Sauber who'd just been defeated by Ricciardo.

The Australian having spied that Lewis was coming realised he had to get a move on and after getting past Vergne made tracks towards Raikkonen. But the Mercedes remained right behind the Red Bull having also made rather short work of the Toro Rosso. Both Daniel and Lewis in their own individual recovery drives arrived on the back of Raikkonen at the same time at the Spitzkurve haripin. Hamilton made a move on Ricciardo but had to back off to avoid hitting Kimi's Ferrari and lost the position again. This attack spurned Ricciardo on to get away from Hamilton - diving down the inside of Raikkonen coming into the Mercedes Arena section and buying himself some time away from his pursuers. Lewis tried to pouch on the Ferrari and drove through the high speed mobil kurve two wide inches apart without making contact... That move didn't work out in GP2 less experienced pilots.

On lap 13 the pit stops have begun for the lead contenders - initiated by Fernando Alonso and then Sebastian Vettel which inevitably promoted Hamilton closer to the front of the grid. All of which would be of little comfort to Daniel Ricciardo whose escape plan was starting to come undone when he arrived at the back of Sergio Perez's Force India. As he got backed up Raikkonen and Hamilton joined the battle - you'd think with such a car advantage Lewis might plan his overtakes with a little more caution... Apparently not as he threw the Mercedes at Raikkonen, all locked up and trimming Kimi's front wing endplate - almost wiping out Perez in the process. At the same time both Lewis and Kimi went down the inside of Ricciardo at the hairpin.

Coming close to the end of the tyre stint Raikkonen was starting to lose pace and dropped back into the clutches of Alonso, who in turn was trying to fend off Sebastian Vettel. In a continuation as of the duel that took place in Silverstone Alonso didn't intend on giving the German too much room on the run down to hairpin. Both Fernando and Sebastian went either side of a slow Kimi Raikkonen sandwiching the Finn. Kimi did well to avoid greater contact with either Fernando or Vettel only losing more of the endplate damaged by Hamilton in the first altercation. Further ahead Hamilton's charge through the field came to an abrupt end... not because he'd bounced off something or put it in the fence, but because there were no more cars he could realistically catch. Here on lap 19 Lewis had made it from 20th to 2nd to form the omnipresent 1-2 we've seen far too often this season. 

With that all done and dusted it was time to look for another battle - and we found Romain Grosjean waging war with Sergio Perez. The Lotus driver - like Hamilton - hadn't stopped yet and was relatively out of position when fighting with the Force India. Perez had a go round the outside of the Mercedes Arena but Grosjean held on through the second part of the sequence to deny Sergio the position but ran wide on the exit opening the door for the Mexican. But as he pulled away from the Lotus his team got on the radio warning Sergio about his fuel consumption, making sure that he wasn't gambling on some rain later on to save fuel then. Because in the end we all know rain is banned for the duration of a F1 race these past two seasons. However things were worse for Grosjean as his Lotus broke down once again, much to the Frenchmans displeasure.

While Raikkonen was demonstrating how to recover positions correctly, Hamilton after his stop was, once again being a little clumsy. This time sticking the nose of the car down the inside of Jenson Button as the McLaren went a little wide. The two cars seemed to converge on the inside of the corner and contact was made. Lewis lost his front wing end-plate and one upper wing element after collecting Button's sidepod. Did the damage stop the charging briton - not really as he went on to set the fastest lap of the race at the time. It wasn't without consequence however as his front left tyre wear increased. On the second attempt Lewis drove effortlessly past Jenson in a straight line, waving an apology on the way past.

At this middle section of the race there were passes going on all over the place, because cars were pitting often and rejoining out of position - the most of which were fuelled by DRS. Some of them might have even been magic - well they would have been if Lewis new where on his steering wheel that particular switch was, perhaps that's why he'd been driving into people all day. Vettel and Alonso were in a stand-off despite negotiating their way past Hulkenberg in the process. Sebastian was getting rather irritable on the radio, as the team asked him to save fuel, to which the German responded with "Do you want me to pass or do you want me to save fuel like a duck?". I've yet to figure out how much fuel a duck can save, but I guess that Vettel thinks it is quite a lot.

The camera then cut to Daniil Kvyat's Toro Rosso - which was more than a little on fire - in fact it was a lot on fire. Daniil bailed out of his flaming race car and made a bid for freedom. The fire marshals were quickly on the scene to put the blaze out and recover the car without the need for a second safety car intervention. Once the charred mess was cleared away, it got very quite on track, if ever there was an optimum time for a rain shower to keep up the momentum. Either that or it would be a perfect time for a random safety car such that I could go and make a toastie - as I was quite hungry at the time. For a second I thought I'd get that time when Adrian Sutil was having engine problems pitching the Sauber into a spin in the final corner. Like Kvyat he got out of the car and buggered off, leaving it in the middle of the pit straight. Mercedes thought there was going to be a safety car and brought Hamilton in to set him up for a potential restart. But it wasn't to be, a cohort of very brave marshals ran across the track to push the Sauber out of the way. 

Lewis rejoined behind Alonso, but was three seconds per lap faster and caught and passed the Ferrari effortlessly and started after Bottas in the hope of another 1-2. That was Fernando's cue to pit as his tyres were clearly ruined, rejoining behind Daniel Ricciardo - and thus began a second race weekend of Red Bull vs Ferrari epic battle. Ricciardo was on older tyres and of course Fernando had just pitted - Daniel had also used some of his grip in the process of throwing the car down the inside of Jenson Button in the Mercedes arena. Alonso blatantly had more speed, weaving back and forth behind the Red Bull - capitilasing on the straight line speed advantage the Ferrari had coming into the hairpin. But Ricciardo was able to re-take the place on the entry to the Mercedes Arena. After laps of duelling Alonso countered Ricciardos re-pass and held out on the outside to take the spot. 

With only a few laps to go it seemed as if Hamilton had nothing to offer in the battle with Bottas for second place. The Williams was too quick in a straight line - it is nice to see someone have an advantage over a Mercedes for once. But just like Force India last season, Williams have built a car which is notoriously difficult to overtake - Hamilton was also hampered with tyre wear from the damage to the front wing. Rosberg had already finished the race such was his advantage - and that was at a very conservative pace based on the speed Lewis showed during the race. Bottas held onto a third successive podium position - and becomes the only driver this season so finish ahead of a healthy Mercedes - if a car with a damaged wing could be classed as healthy. Vettel finished 4th, ahead of Alonso who was under-pressure from Ricciardo again at the end of the race. Hulkenberg, Button, Magnussen and Perez rounded out the points scoring positions. 

The Bonus Points Championship Points Winners - Qualifying 

Because there was no real report from yesterday here are the points:

• 10pts - Kevin Magnussen - After a trying season for McLaren 4th is a good job
• 8pts - Jules Bianchi - Out-qualified a Lotus on pace in the dry
• 6pts - Valtteri Bottas - Front row again, nice job there
• 5pts - Felipe Massa - Two Williams up at the front
• 4pts - Daniel Ricciardo - Beating Vettel on home turf...
• 3pts - Nico Rosberg - Another pole position gets some points
• 2pts - Daniil Kvyat - Has to have some points for the best save of the session
• 1pt - Lewis Hamilton - Gets a point for creating an interesting grid

The Bonus Points Championship Points Winners - Race

Here are winners from the race part of the weekend 

• 25pts - Lewis Hamilton - The car might be brutally dominant but 20th to 3rd is a remarkable acheivement - and for Lewis to only hit two cars on the way
• 18pts - Valtteri Bottas  - A hat-trick of podiums and the only car to beat a Mercedes on full power all season... it only took ten races.
• 15pts - Daniel Ricciardo - A strong recovery after avoiding the upside down Williams and a brilliant battle with Alonso
• 12pts - Kevin Magnussen - Yes he did flip over Massa, but it was the recovery drive from him too that deserves some points
• 10pts - Nico Rosberg - That was overly easy wasn't it...
• 8pts - Fernando Alonso - Scores some points for his part in the battle with Ricciardo
• 6pts - Kimi Raikkonen - Some decent avoiding action, and running two wide through mobil kurve with Hamilton
• 4pts - Felipe Massa - Not as artistic roll as the one preformed by Gutierrez but ended up on his wheels 
• 2pts - Those Three Marshals - Sprinting across the track to remove Sutil's car took some serious balls
• 1pt - Daniil Kvyat - Has to have a point for the pyrotechnics 

The Penalty Points Championship

There are some penalty points to be added to the table following this weekend

• Charlie Whiting - For denying my opportunity for a mid-race toastie by not calling the safety car for Sutil's spin
• Lewis Hamilton - With all that dominance - was it really necessary to hit anyone along the way.
• Rain - You disappoint me...

Looking to Hungary

The Hungarian GP is often listed as the most boring race of the season, because more often than not... it is. Before the changes to the track over a decade ago it was very rare to see any form of overtaking throughout the whole race - and even in the immediate years after the modifications things were not much better. A wet race in 2006 delivered something that was a million times better than we were used to - in which Jenson Button took his maiden victory for Honda from well outside the top ten. 

This season though it could be a very good day for Red Bull, as it not a track dependant on top speed or power, but more on downforce and aerodynamic grip. Something which the Red Bull has in spades - but is it enough to better the Mercedes pairing, who knows. Will we see less grumpy forms of Hamilton and Vettel in Hungary... probably not but they are far funnier as miserable buggers.

Round 10: Germany 2014 - Preview

Greetings Internet, 

It's been a relatively successful year for Germany thus far, winning a bunch of football matches, leading both the drivers and constructors championships and now the grid rolls into the country for their home race. Even if Hamilton spent a little while in the media questioning exactly how German Rosberg actually is. But in the intervening weeks the FIA have thrown another spanner into the works (and there'd be more bother if said spanner was classed as a movable aerodynamic device). Out of nowhere it appears that the powers that be (not Bernie this time, but more on that later) have decided that Front-Rear Interconnected Suspension (FRIC) is on the verge of being illegal. So what is FRIC I can vaguely here the empty vastness of cyberspace where an audience would be calling. In essence it is a way of connecting the front and rear suspension systems such that the car remains level at all times - something that has been around for almost a decade now. But somehow, through some contorted loophole in the regulations it appears there is an argument from the FIA that as the system prevents the car from tilting as much it is under consideration as a movable aerodynamic device... So no-one is running the system this weekend for fear that the FIA will throw every volume of the rulebook at them... in hardback form. Making decisions of this nature in the middle of the season is, well, silly really - in a year of dramatic changes to the cars which have been quoted as difficult to work on why suddenly throw something old and well tested out the window. Of course the conspiracy theorists are out in force, claiming this is a tactic to try and hobble the Mercedes pace - especially if it is something they are doing better than everyone else. They said the same thing when flexible floors and wings were questioned at Red Bull and those exploding tyres last season... everyone hates a winner. But over the course of the weekend, the ever raging row on track limits will be equally as dominant

A second, sub-story picked up from F1 Racing magazine - which doesn't seem to have emerged elsewhere (so maybe it is all nonsense). Was the amusing position that good old Bernie placed the contractual allocation of the German GP in. The Nurburgring and the Hockenheimring share the race on alternating years, this year the race being held at the latter. Bernie, from what it seems offered a contract extension to the Nurburgring - probably for exorbitant sums of money again. However it appears that he forgot the arrangement the two circuits have with each other - and effectively assigned the 2016 and 2018 races to both tracks. At 213km a race between the two might prove interesting, but it is another sign that Bernie might be starting to lose the plot a little bit.

The Venue

The Hockenheimring was the host sole host of the German GP for so many years, featuring an high speed straights through the middle of the forest. It was very unique and daunting for both drivers and the machinery. But financial pressures on maintaining such a large circuit, and expansion requirements for safety meant this behemoth of motorsport had to be curtailed. There will be many people out there in the real world who have seen mighty tracks trimmed back for safety - tracks such as Spa and the A1 Ring have even faster and more dangerous pasts for example. But the Hockenheimring is one that has been transformed in the years I've tracked the sport - and there is this dwindling sense of nostalgia in the aerial imagery of the trees reclaiming the original layout. 

Of course that is to say that the replacement isn't too shoddy - and as an amphitheatre for the track-side supporters it works well. Turn one - Nordkurve -  is brilliant, one of the remaining relics of that glorious track - but these days it is corrupted by the debarcle of track-limit complaints. Didn't have those when it was gravel on the other side of the curb now did we... The track drives headlong along it's former path, towards the corridor of greenery, but turn two - a sharp right -  drags it away from woodland thus beginning the refurbished phase of the lap. Turn three curves back towards the woods but opens out into the 'Parabolika' a long gentle curve aiming at the piece of tarmac that once was the final one of the three mega-blasts between the trees. 

The Spitz Kurve is the tight hairpin that re-unites the past with it's present and offers a prime overtaking spot. It was also the corner at which renowned collision experts Grosjean and Maldonado crashed into each other in GP - at least one of them has calmed down since. On the exit of the Spitzkurve the drivers head down a portion of the old track before stepping out into the Mercedes Arena. The Arena consists of a fast right hand flick into the breaking zone of a 90 degree left - there is potential for more overtaking, but - in Euroseries F3 at least - tends to see cars flip over each other and land on the catch-fencing at the bottom of the gravel trap. 

The Mercedes arena exits back onto the old circuit for the remainder of the lap ready for the Stadium section where the cars would be re-united with the supporters after exiting the forest. Mobil Kurve used to be a considerable challenge - after hurtling around at 200mph, scrubbing off just enough speed at just the right time for a quick right hander was a lot of fun on the old F1 video games (note to self, install the layout into the simulator later). Nowadays the entry speed is slower but the corner remains as challenging as it once was - because the older part of the track is far narrower than the rest leaving little room for error. There is also grass and gravel on the exit too, makes a nice change. The rest of the stadium section belies its compact nature - the Sachskurve hairpin is banked allowing the cars to carry more speed. A quick chicane over a slight crest is follwed by the Sudkurve, two connected rounded right angles bordered by the drag strip. How this many turns fit into such a small setting without feeling cramped is bewildering, it is well engineered... all very German. 

Except of course that the stadium section and the former layout were designed by a Dutchman - the same one behind Zandvoort and Suzuka. The 2002 rebuild... well we can blame the Germans for that one. 

The Form Guide

As I am now writing this after FP1 instead of it being compiled yesterday I have a fraction more insight into how things might play out... not that it helps too much. We can all assume that despite this FRIC controversy that Mercedes have more than enough pace in their car to weather this period of instability and still power away from the competition. Of course FP1 times are far from representative but it appears that the self-imposed ban has had performance implications for other members of the grid, twitter claims that Williams, Lotus and Marussia were previously running an advanced FRIC system - like Mercedes, but are suffering more. In a sense this could be exacerbated by the fact that this newer (if a 12 year old layout can be classed as newer) version of the track would help Red Bull and Ferrari be more relatively competitive in relation to Williams, Force India, McLaren etc. But time will tell how that plays out if the other variable comes into play. 

This other variable being rain - remember what that is - just like Britain this weekend thunderstorms are threatened, here it is Saturday - but in Germany the rain is predicted to make an appearance on Sunday. I know we've heard that story before - every other race weekend in the second half of 2013 had rain threatened, so I won't get my hopes up. But an injection of stormy precipitation could help the likes of Sauber, Lotus and even the bottom teams steal a point if it all goes wrong for those further forward. Perhaps it would be a long shot for Caterham who've been shedding staff and junior drivers in their restructuring, but Marussia might be on the cusp (depending on how much of a difference their FRIC meant). It all might be immaterial if the rain doesn't sweep in - and even if it does the FIA being the way they are will just throw a red flag until it is dry again a la NASCAR... god forbid anyone drove around in the wet. It is a sad state of affairs when even Indycar were prepared to run in wetter conditions than supposedly championship featuring the best drivers int he world... Anyway it could get interesting. 

Round 9: Great Britain 2014 - Review

Greetings Internet, 

That concludes the British GP for another season, and one that came within 0.8s of featuring a double podium for the home crowd. Unfortunately once again we were denied an epic battle for the win due to more mechanical dramas. But that didn't mean the race turned into a dull affair by any means, some electrifying performances kept the event alive with their recovery drives from difficult qualifying results yesterday. Yet even in that department we were robbed of two recovery drives on the opening lap. You could say that although the race delivered so much in isolated segments there was so much more that we could have enjoyed had events not played out quite the way they did. 

The Race.... Attempt One

On the first start there were several drivers struggling to get off the line - Grosjean, Massa and more importantly Sebastien Vettel all lost positions. Massa dropped to the bottom of the field as the clutch on his Williams failed to engage. Hamilton jumped up to fourth place after banging wheels with Vettel in turn three. Perez was ultimately the big looser after contact with Vergne dropped the Force India to the back of the field. Yet all of this became rather academic as the field started the Wellington straight. Kimi Raikkonen in the Ferrari ran wide in Aintree and hit what might have been a drainage gulley when driving back onto the track at top speed. This bump unsettled the car pitching it into a severe slide - Kimi attempted to save the slide but the Ferrari fired into the inside barrier and exploded showering the track in debris. Chilton had a tyre carcass bounce off the nose of his car. What was left of Raikkonen's car bounced across the track forcing Kobayashi into immense avoiding action. Massa had to virtually handbrake the car to avoid T-boning the Ferrari and just clipped it with his rear wheel. Both Raikkonen and Massa were ultimately eliminated.

The red flag was thrown to repair the hole in the barrier Raikkonen's car had left after the impact - exacerbated by the angle of the Armco. Both Chilton and Kobayashi had receive new nose cones. Max pitted under the red still under the shock of his close call with bits of Ferrari and received a penalty. Kimi was bruised by the huge impact but sustained no significant injuries - mostly due to Massa's avoidance skills. 

The Race.... Attempt Two

It took an hour for the marshals and maintenance teams to remove the damaged barrier segments and replace them with new ones. It was a conventional safety car single file rolling restart, which Rosberg stormed away from the rest of the field - almost as if Button was asleep. Hamilton immediately pounced on the pair of McLarens in front of him - first it was Magnussen. Lewis eased the car down the inside of Copse and Kevin out-braked himself making it very easy for the Mercedes driver. On the following lap Hamilton then simply drove past the second McLaren of Jenson Button on the Wellington straight. So we had a Mercedes 1-2... where have we seen that before...

If Hamilton was on a charge, Bottas was defying the laws of physics in that Williams - in the five corners that made up the first start Valtteri passed five cars. That irrepressible force remained on the restart of the race - and his weapon of choice was a unstoppable pass on the outside line of Stowe corner. It was super effective. Some of these passes were easier than others, dealing with the likes of Ricciardo, Hulkenberg who were involved with their own personal battle. Alonso was attempting to follow the Williams through the field but the Ferrari didn't have anything like the straight line speed advantage of the Williams - Fernando having dispatched Gutierrez caught up to the back of the Ricciardo/Hulkenberg battle. While Daniel was distracted in trying to pass the Force India - Fernando went round the outside of Vale and picked the place from the Red Bull driver. 

The action was back at Vale when Gutierrez tried to make an optimistic pass on Pastor Maldonado - and in a reversal of the Bahrain incident it was the Venezuelan that was thrown into the air. This time around no-one was flipped and somehow the Lotus was able to keep going - Esteban however sustained too much damage and had to pull the Sauber over and out of the race in the gravel on the exit of turn two. There was some suggestion that another safety car intervention was needed but, Gutierrez was far enough offline for a recovery tractor to retrieve the Sauber under local yellows.

Bottas was still on the charge in the Williams, he hadn't ran out of cars to overtake quite yet and closed in on Kevin Magnussen's McLaren. Like so many other victims before, there was only one place to make the pass - round the outside of Stowe corner. Considering this was the place Massa crashed the car by going a little too wide, running this close to the edge is very risky. A few laps later Alonso took a more conventional approach when it came to dealing with the Dane - using the inside line through Stowe to take the place. 

It was business as usual at the very front of the field - Rosberg and Hamilton were leaving Bottas behind to the tune of over 20s - another day, more dominance. But all was not going to plan, Nico reported back to the team that there was a slight issue with the gearbox. At first it seemed as if the issue was under control and after the first round of stops the car wasn't loosing too much time back to Hamilton. The gap was closing, even though Lewis had switched to the harder compound tyre While the Mercedes were trying to sort out the technical gremlins the tale-telling had begun further back. It seemed a little silly to be honest but that is era of sport we are dealing with these days. As Button was trying to hold off the attacks of Alonso, he was on the radio to the McLaren team pointed out that the Spaniard was running outside of the white lines at the edge of the track. 

At the front of the field those gearbox issues proved terminal for Rosberg's car, just as he lapped Chilton's Marussia the car started to haemorrhage speed and power. Finally coming to a halt on the inside of Becketts - game over for Nico and leaving Hamilton with a huge and unassailable lead over Bottas. It also meant it was game over for a titanic battle for the lead which were denied. With this things calmed down for several laps as the remainder of the drivers completed the pit stop cycle.

But it wasn't for long as an almighty battle was brewing between Alonso and Vettel, watched from a safe distance by Kevin Magnussen. The first round went in favour of the Ferrari driver as Alonso made round the outside of Copse getting very close to clipping the Vettel's front wing. This of course didn't mean that this particular conflict was done - Sebastian chased down the Ferrari and battle resumed. However instead of many laps of intense position swapping and millimetre wheel-to-wheel action the first salvo was once more fired over the radio. Both Vettel and Alonso were constantly on the radio making sure that every time their opponent put their inside wheels on the wrong side of the white line the whole world knew. It got to the point when Vettel was effectively counting each and every infraction that Alonso made. The German was even less pleased when Alonso closed off the outside line in Brooklands as the Red Bull driver attempted a pass. On the following lap Vettel gave up on complaining and reverted to action, finding the smallest of spaces on the inside of Luffield. It was the closest two cars could get without contact - running two wide through Woodcote Vettel claimed the place on the inside of Copse. 

Ricciardo had to keep an eye on the gap he had over the car behind, as Jenson Button was chipping away at the deficit in an effort to take the final podium position away from the Australian. Hamilton was so far out front he was able to take an optional second stop just to make sure he was on a newer set of tyres at the end of the race. Bottas was all alone in second place, which in itself was a miraculous achievement considering how well qualifying went. The only remaining battle was for third place as Button started to increase the amount of time he was taking out of Ricciardo up to one second per lap, with four laps remaining and a five second gap the task seemed impossible. Yet the British public hoped for an iconic double podium result for the home crowd.

In the end they got half of their wish as Hamilton crossed the line to mark out a dominant victory for Mercedes. Bottas delivered an almighty recovery drive to secure his best result from a terrible grid position. Ricciardo continues his ability to defeat his quadruple champion team-mate and claim another podium in the process. Jenson Button had to settle for 4th place eight tenths away from third place. Sebastian Vettel managed to pull away from Alonso to take 5th with the one remaining Ferrari in 6th. Magnussen brought the second McLaren home in 7th ahead of Nico Hulkenberg's Force India while Toro Rosso rounded out the points with Kvyat and Vergne in 9th and 10th.

The Bonus Points Championship Points Winners

Today was an eventful one - and could have been a lot more so had the initial accident not taken place and Rosberg kept running. But nonetheless there were still plenty of people to give points to

• 25pts - Valtteri Bottas - From 14th on the grid to second place - five of those spots in the first five corners, definitely deserves full points
• 18pts - Daniel Ricciardo - Again smashing Vettel en route to another podium finish
• 15pts - Jenson Button - So very close to a podium spot, so here are some podium points for the effort
• 12pts - Lewis Hamilton - A home win and moreso for the post-race doughnuts those always equal points.
• 10pts - Felipe Massa - Deserves some points for avoiding what could have been an enormous accident
• 8pts - Alonso/Vettel - Despite the grumbling that was a brilliant battle
• 6pts - Chilton/Kobayashi - Have points for their evasive manoeuvres at the start of the race
• 4pts - Nico Rosberg - Pushed enough buttons on the steering wheel he was bound to have achieved the high score on something or other
• 2pts - Pastor Maldonado - Two Points for that little hop at Vale
• 1pt - Kimi Raikkonen - Not only for still having legs but for winning the Sky lawnmower race 

The Penalty Points Championship

There has been little to penalise this season but todays batch of tell-tales warrants some penalty points this time around

• Sebastian Vettel - The prime offender, regularly tallying off the individual instances when Alonso ran wide... just man up and get on with it
• Jenson Button - Another one who was immediately on the blower complaining about Fernando's driving
• Fernando Alonso - While being guilty of misusing the track limits fairly often he also made sure he put the boot in with the others.
• Nikki Lauda - It may seem like blasphemy to penalise Lauda, and he often makes very valid and accurate points - but suggesting leaving the barrier alone was a little odd
• Sergio Perez - This one dates back to Friday after FP1 when he decided that he'd resent being beaten by a woman on pace and he'd rather they'd be in the kitchen than ahead of him...

Looking ahead to Germany

The Mercedes internal battle moves away from Hamilton's home turf and onto Rosbergs. I assume that Nico will be very eager to recover from the mechanical failure that prevented victory today and exact his revenge. Inevitably this will ramp up the tension and pressure even further - which can only be a good thing. 

While Silverstone is a cathedral of speed and power - Hockenheim no longer harbours quite the same intensity as it once did. The home of the German GP used to be an immense and ridiculously powerful blast through the dense forests where the spray and the mists clung to the trees in the full speed corridors of power. If only that brilliant legacy of the past was on display in a fortnights time - instead we left with a mutilated sprint circuit lying in the carcass of its own former glories. That said the new version isn't too bad... really.

Round 9: Great Britain 2014 - Qualifying

Greetings Internet, 

Could that have been more British. It was grey, miserable and damp - there was orderly queuing at the exit of pit lane and some good old fashioned British complaining afterwards. That doesn't even come close to describing the dynamism and unpredictability that dragged today's session up and above the tradition levels of English pessimism all provided by the conventionally changeable British weather. 

While the news headlines will report no real change at the very front of the grid with Mercedes leading from the front, that doesn't even begin to illustrate the backwards grid qualifying has gifted us. Even after the flag fell on the end of Q1, tomorrow started to look rather entertaining.

Q1

It had been drizzling all morning, with FP3 a fairly inactive affair due to the amount of water on track. Most of that had dried up in time for qualifying, so the field had to head out on the intermediate tyres. It was evident that those tyres were struggling with the lack of surface water to cool the surface of the compound down. Raikkonen powersliding through Woodcote and running off the circuit, Felipe Massa also had a very sideways moment through Becketts - full opposite lock through the fastest section of the track is generally a suggestion that things aren't too easy.

The Mercedes lead looked to be on shaky ground when a spree of drivers made the riskier decision to replace the intermediates with slicks. Kobayashi went out first but had mechanical dramas and slowly crawled round on the outlap. Marussia however were making remarkable ground - both cars well inside the top ten while others waited for the smaller teams to dry the track. It was Marussia in the end, along with Lotus and Sauber to a lesser extent who had the last laugh as the session drew to a close. Conventionally leaving the garage late on a drying track last is a big advantage... doesn't work too well when the rain comes back with 50s remaining. Ferrari and Williams found themselves trapped in the relegation zone with no hope of finding more pace. Cars started spinning all over the place, mostly in Brooklands first it was Eriksson having his second off in the damp, then it was Alonso in the Ferrari. Finally Adrian Sutil managed to find the gravel near the barrier... yellow flags and a wet track meant it was game over. Only six cars out and the grid looked amazing already.

Q2

In a sense of deja vu we were faced with a damp track primed for the intermediates and the rainfall had stopped - but threatened to return. So this being Britain and all, the drivers left formed an orderly queue at the end of the pit lane - lead by Max Chilton. But it was inevitably the Mercedes pairing that delivered the opening times of the session and headed the charts. Vettel then took that lead away - then the FIA took that time away from the German. Because - like in Austria - the zero tolerance policy on track limits came into play both in Club and Copse corners. It doesn't make sense why we can have effective grass and astroturf deterrents in Maggots, Becketts and Stowe - but concrete in other places. Once again forcing the stewards into making these calls. Romain Grosjean and Jenson Button also had their times cancelled out for the same infraction.... no-one told the timing and graphics people this of course.

Just like in Q1 the time arrived to put on the slick tyres, so the times started to tumble. For a brief moment in this transitional phase Jules Bianchi was the fastest car on the track and Max Chilton wasn't too far behind - both Marussia's heading for Q3. Normal service resumed when Rosberg went fastest, while Hamilton was making more mistakes on his half of the garage - running wide in turn one across the puddled run-off area. It only delayed the Briton by a lap in his quest to usurp his team-mate from the top spot. As the track did get drier the two Marussia's did start to slip and lose ground to those around them - falling into the relegation zone. But in the final few laps of the session both cars found some pace... unfortunately Esteban Gutierrez made two Saubers in two sessions ruining an epic final battle by crashing the car in Luffield. Some drivers were able to make up some time, but it couldn't help either or Chilton or Bianchi into the top ten.

Q3

Had the rain finally left the session alone? It certainly seemed that way as the final phase of qualifying opened up. But Rosberg radioed in on his initial lap reporting more drizzle at the south end of the track in Stowe corner. Perez held an early lead from Kvyat before the main contenders completed their flying laps... which ultimately saw them go fastest. It seemed like it was game over very early on as the micro-shower that affected Stowe and Vale drifted North over the rest of the circuit. A damp track isn't going to allow anyone to improve their times. 

Yet in the very final minutes of the session there was a flurry of activity, and when the armada of cars took to the track the grip levels appeared to be very low. There also appeared to be some odd goings on at Mercedes... again. Rosberg urging Hamilton to pick up the pace on the outlap and their little queue came very close to preventing Nico from starting his final lap. The collateral damage in this internal battle was Sergio Perez - who lost his chance to defend the third place he claimed in the first round. First and second sector times were several seconds off the pace - Hamilton's pole on home turf seemed safe. 

Out of nowhere Hulkenberg took pole position - a collective expression of confusion spread across the whole nation...how... so much time recovered in the final sector. Vettel then replicated the feat, replacing the Force India at the top of the timesheets in provisional pole. Could Hamilton recover the top spot... well not really, it appears that the Lewis saw how poor the first two sectors were and gave up... when the final sector was so profitable. To add insult to injury Nico Rosberg kept the boot in and took yet another pole position, this one on his rival's home circuit. Britain did have some good news to be happy about - as Jenson Button claimed 3rd place for McLaren, especially poignant as the world of F1 remembers John Button.

The Bonus Points Championship Points Winners

With such a changeable and difficult session highlighting some brilliant performances throughout the field - very deserving of some bonus points as follows:

• 10pts: Jules Bianchi - 12th place... In a Marussia, and temporarily took the lead of Q2, brilliant
• 8pts: Max Chilton - He may only be here on sponsorship money but he delivered a strong performance today
• 6pts: Jenson Button - A British driver in a British team takes third in difficult conditions despite the McLaren not being all too quick
• 5pts: Nico Hulkenberg - The massive jump into provisional-pole took us all by surprise in the final phases of Q3
• 4pts: Nico Rosberg - Delivering yet another blow to Hamilton's title campaign here at Lewis' home race
• 3pts: Daniil Kvyat - Once again the Russian rookie well inside the top ten for Toro Rosso
• 2pts: Bottas/Massa - Two points apiece for their saves in Q1, both incidents could have easily ended up in the barrier.
• 1pt: Sergio Perez - Before the track dried up it looked like a second row start for the Mexican

The Penalty Points Championship

Not too much to report in the penalty points championship, but a couple of points to be added:

• Lewis Hamilton - Completely dropped the ball today, compromising Perez and almost Rosberg.
• Jason Plato - It may be a week out of date, but Jason overtly binned Alain Menu at Croft
• Silverstone - Why did you take away the grass and astroturf forcing the track limits policy to be implemented again

Looking to Tomorrow

There have been many a time when the big, fast flowing circuits like Silverstone, Suzuka and Spa have produced lacklustre and static racing. When the fastest car starts first, finishes first and everyone else follows suit... But you look at the vast diversity in the grid screams excitement. The two fastest cars in a straight line are starting a long way back at the bottom of the grid. If that wasn't enough behind them we have the two Ferraris. Even in the front half of the grid we have Hamilton out of position, like he was in Austria, so another powerful start is on the cards 

The forecast suggests a dry race, but despite the calmer conditions there is plenty of intrigue to look out for tomorrow afternoon.