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THE DAVID COULTHARD MUSEUM

Hungaroring

Well what can I say about the Hungarian Grand Prix? No really, what am I supposed to say, nothing happened! Once again the Hungaroring provided the Formula One circus with a severely dull procession of cars proving once again it really doesn’t deserve its place on the Formula One calendar. As it happened the qualifying was a lot more exciting than the race itself thanks to the already infamous blocking incident in the third qualifying session. Gamesmanship was the word of the weekend as a feud emerged between McLaren team-mates Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton after Alonso blocked Hamilton in the pit-lane before going out for their final fast laps during qualifying. It was not just the drivers’ relationship with each other that turned sour but also Alonso’s relationship with the team appears to be at braking point as McLaren themselves suffered due to them not being able to score points as a result of the incident. Amidst the controversy its easy to forget that Lewis drove superbly throughout the race holding a resilient Kimi Raikkonen at bay to take his third win of the season and increasing his championship lead.

It was not just the third session of qualifying that yielded all the drama. During the second knockout session it appeared that regular front-runner, Felipe Massa, was having trouble with the handling of his car. The Brazilian aborted his second attempt at a fast lap after he only managed to go tenth with his first try. After some frantic work in the Ferrari garage the team managed to send their man back out again to try and get into the top ten. However in all the confusion Massa’s Ferrari had not been properly refuelled and so rather than being able to push the car to the limit he had to conserve his fuel just to get his car back to the pits leaving the Ferrari driver languishing in 14th spot. This left a three-way battle between Massa’s Ferrari team-mate, Kimi Raikkonen and The McLarens of Hamilton and Alonso.
It was the third of the three sessions that caused so much controversy and sparked so much debate within the Formula One paddock. Most of the session ran as normal with the top ten cars all burning fuel for their final two fast laps. After the first of these two runs the order was Hamilton leading from Alonso with the BMW of Nick Heedful in third place and the Ferrari of Raikkonen in fourth. As usual all of the front-runners came into the pits to put on a set of fresh tyres and go out for one final quick lap. Due to a mix up earlier on in the session the McLarens had to come into the pits at the same time with Lewis having to cue behind Fernando. The Spaniard's stop went without a hitch and all the tyre mechanic’s arms were raised and the lollipop lifted to signify it was all clear to leave the pit-lane. However, for the ten seconds that followed Alonso just sat in his car and waited. There was no problem with the car and Alonso was making no effort to try and get going. Eventually after allegedly being given a signal by his trainer Fernando left the pits and Lewis duly entered the pit box to take his fresh tyres. However, by the time Lewis could take his pit stop and come round on his out lap to start his fast lap the time on the clock had run out and he couldn’t challenge Alonso for the pole. As it happened Fernando did take provisional pole from Lewis but this would be debated well into Saturday evening.

The backlash after ‘blocking-gate’ took effect almost immediately. Television replays showed the normally cool, calm and collected McLaren boss, Ron Dennis snap as he watched the incident unfold right in front of him. Once the laps had completed he then went to find Alonso’s trainer and practically dragged him down the pit-lane for a ‘little chat’ about what happened. He refused to give any comment. It was also reported there was a curse filled tirade between Dennis and Hamilton over the team radio. It was unknown what was said within the McLaren team but throughout the afternoon both drivers and Dennis were summoned to the FIA to try and defend themselves. After many discussions it was decided that Fernando Alonso would be pushed from pole position to sixth on the grid, which at a circuit like the Hunagaroring was always going to be difficult. The McLaren team was also punished as it was announced that they would not score any points from Sundays race. This meant that Hamilton would now take pole position with Heidfeld in second and Raikkonen third. Giancarlo Fisichella was also pushed back to 13th on the grid after blocking Sakon Yamamoto in the first session.
The race itself was incredibly mundane. Hamilton got a good start off the line but Raikkonen got an even better one, as he was able to pass Heidfeld before even making it into the first corner. Behind all of them Alonso suffered one of the worst starts. He struggled off the line and dropped behind Robert Kubica. To rub salt into the wound he then dropped to eighth behind Mark Webber, as he appeared to lose the back end of the car momentarily in the final corner. However, in the following laps Alonso found some speed from his McLaren and started to climb up through the field re-passing both Webber and Kubica. However he came unstuck when he got to Ralf Schumacher, as he found no way of getting passed the German. Throughout the opening section of the race Hamilton and Raikkonen exchanged fastest laps at the front but Raikkonen was not able to get near enough to make any sort of move on the Brit. Right at the other end of the field F1 returnee Sakon Yamamoto crashed his Spyker into the barriers at turn two.
During the race there was very little actually going on. Only one real bit of action happened between Giancarlo Fisichella and the Super Aguri of Anthony Davidson as they collided in the closing stages of the races. When the Italian tried to overtake the Brit round the outside Fisichella clipped Davidson damaging his suspension and sending him out of the race as the Renault driver managed to continue on and finished in 12th. Despite the best efforts of ‘The Flying Finn’ (but that’s not what my boss calls him) Lewis Hamilton managed to take his third Grand Prix victory in what he described as “the hardest race” of his very short motor racing career. Nick Heidfeld took his second podium of the season re-asserting his fifth place in the championship. A canny strategy helped Alonso to dispose of Ralf Schumacher as he finished fourth with Kubica following home in fifth and the German Toyota driver picking up his best result of the season in sixth. Nico Rosberg fell back from his fourth grid position to seventh whilst Renault’s Heikki Kovaleinen rounded off the top eight getting one more point.

The weekend will not be remembered like this year’s European and Canadian races that were exciting and action-packed but will be for the more long term effects it will cause. The effect of this race will probably be felt for the rest of this season and most likely into next season. Hamilton has confirmed that since the incident neither driver has communicated with the other. Relations within the McLaren team are now extremely weak. Even though Hamilton denies it there is still the rumour of the argument between him and Dennis. Even Alonso’s entire McLaren career is in jeopardy as it has come to light over the past week that McLaren have taken the decision to allow Alonso to break his contact and leave the team at the end of the season. The person(s) to benefit the most from this will be Raikkonen and Massa. Whilst the McLaren team are having so many internal difficulties Ferrari should be able to take advantage at the following tracks that suit them more. We may have a four-horse race on our hands after all.