If considered separately from the current developments in Formula One, Sunday’s Hungarian Grand Prix was a good race, but inter-team (let alone intra-team) skulduggery – and bungling by the sport’s officials – have soured F1.The prospect of watching a Hungarian Grand Prix is similar to the thought of a looming Christmas dinner with the in-laws. The finicky Hungaroring is a recalcitrant mother-in-law who lives to frustrate the hell out of you and inflict torture by spinning yarns about your partner’s cousin’s second child who once made a mud pie, ate it and subsequently needed de-worming medicine. Of course, sometimes you get spared such tedious tales and end up enjoying the day that you dreaded. Last year’s Hungarian Grand Prix – in which Jenson Button his first F1 win – was one such case.
And Sunday’s race was riveting, although (as I expected) there was little overtaking action to be had. Lewis Hamilton’s third grand prix victory, by which he extended his lead in the driver’s world championship to seven points, was well deserved. The Briton absorbed sustained pressure from Kimi Raikkonen – at the wheel of a palpably quicker Ferrari – and his performance was admirable given that he was embroiled in dubious and bizarre incidents during the closing stages of the qualifying session.
We all saw that Fernando Alonso’s car was stationary in the pits for a longer-than-usual period before the Spaniard set off on his final qualifying run. As a result, Hamilton’s pit stop was delayed and the Briton could not complete a final flying lap. Alonso thought he had pole position, but the stewards later ruled that Alonso had disadvantaged his team-mate, docked the Spaniard five grid slots, and ruled that McLaren would be ineligible to score constructor’s world championship points. It was ridiculous in the extreme.
Ferrari made a complete hash of Felipe Massa’s pit stop in Q2 – the Brazilian had to start the race in 14th. Diabolical, but it happens. So perhaps McLaren simply fluffed its qualifying strategy at Hamilton’s cost. If Alonso had resorted to supremely-timed malicious gamesmanship (and I sincerely doubt that he would), the Spaniard could not have done it without the team’s complicity. Besides, why would Alonso jeopardise a virtual front-row grid slot at the uncompromising Hungaroring by pulling a trick if he didn’t have the fastest time in the bag yet? Moreover, given all the bad press McLaren has received as a result of the protracted espionage scandal – the whole mess was ill-timed.
FIA president Max Mosley has often been accused of supporting Ferrari’s cause and his insistence on the appeal of McLaren’s wrist-slapping, which was issued by the sport’s governing body at the conclusion of the recent hearing, certainly raised eyebrows. Yet, Ferrari’s rival, McLaren, seems unable to toe the line so that the whole espionage saga will blow over and we can all get stuck in to some good hard-edged motor racing.
Ferrari has totally demonised its former chief mechanic Nigel Stepney, who was ruthlessly dumped from the team because of his suspected involvement in the sabotage of the Scuderia’s cars at Monaco. The experienced Stepney has maintained his innocence throughout the affair and, just think about this: If the disgruntled Briton was that unhappy at Ferrari, why didn’t he just defect to another team? A man with his skills would have been eagerly snapped up.
But, despite Ferrari’s dark intrigues, McLaren is now a marked team. As much as the unpopular Ron Dennis tries to explain his team’s actions, his words are increasingly interpreted as attempts at a cover up. Woking is divided – Ardent Alonso and Pugnacious Hamilton (the latter disobeyed team orders during qualifying and had a go at Dennis after the session) can now suspend the illusion of being “mates” – we’ll have to wait and see whether their animosity spills over into unbridled antagonism.
If memory serves, 1996 was the last time that a world driver’s championship was decided between two team-mates. At the end of that season, the world champion (Damon Hill) left Williams-Renault in a huff after being replaced by Heinz-Harald Frentzen. And, we all know how badly Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost’s turbulent partnership (1988/89 – also under Dennis’ management) ended. Nineteen years ago, McLaren also had a double champion and a young firebrand in its driver lineup, but whereas the Woking-based team was in a dominant position back then, Ferrari will be a major contender in upcoming races.
Hungarian Grand Prix result:
1. L Hamilton (GB) McLaren
2. K Raikkonen (Fin) Ferrari +0,715 secs
3. N Heidfeld (Ger) BMW +43,129
4. F Alonso (Spa) McLaren +44,858
5. R Kubica (Pol) BMW +47,616
6. R Schumacher (Ger)Toyota +50,669
7. N Rosberg (Ger) Williams +59,139
8. H Kovalainen (Fin) Renault +1:08,104
9. M Webber (Aus) Red Bull +1:16,331
10. J Trulli (Ita) Toyota one lap behind
11. D Coulthard (GB) Red Bull 1 lap
12. G Fisichella (Ita) Renault 1 lap
13. F Massa (Brz) Ferrari 1 lap
14. A Wurz (Aut) Williams 1 lap
15. T Sato (Jpn) Super Aguri 1 lap
16. S Vettel (Ger) Toro Rosso 1 lap
17. A Sutil (Ger) Spyker 2 laps
18. R Barrichello (Brz) Honda 2 laps
DNF V Liuzzi (Ita) Toro Rosso
DNF A Davidson (GB) Super Aguri
DNF J Button (GB) Honda
DNF S Yamamoto (Jpn) Spyker