High drama in Hungary

What an unpredictable race at a venue that has historically provided rather dull, procession-like races! The weather and the tyre lottery that has played a major role throughout the season provided some great racing all the way down the field from start to finish…

Brilliant Button wins in style

When the car isn’t working for him, Jenson still struggles in the McLaren, but when he gets the setup right he’s absolutely supreme. All weekend Jenson was right up there with Lewis, qualifying an excellent 3^rd on the grid for his 200^th Grand Prix. An eventful race for pretty much all of the drivers, Button dealt with the conditions which seem to suit him and the McLarens exceptionally well. While a few errors saw Lewis Hamilton’s hopes of victory quickly ebb away, Jenson drove an intelligent race, managing the tyres and conditions with some very close on-track action at times. Yes the victory really came to him through Lewis’s misjudgements but had he maintained his lead and not been penalised, I’m pretty sure Jenson would have given Lewis a run for his money anyway with the harder compound tyres staying in far better shape over a longer stint. A great win for one of the more popular personalities in the paddock, he definitely deserves some cake tonight.

3 of his worst results of the year….and the title lead is greater than ever…

Sebastian Vettel hasn’t won since Valencia, he’s been positively off form in Britain and in Germany and was one of the most tentative drivers in the early stages of today’s race and yet his lead is now 85 points over his teammate in second place. A little bit of luck, a lot of focus and it just seems like this season is destined to be Sebastian Vettel’s – even when things go badly for him, he just can’t help but end up on the podium. Over 3 race wins ahead of his teammate, the challenge for the other drivers is greater than ever, but the tide has certainly turned on Red Bull in recent races and McLaren were unquestionably faster for the majority of this weekend. Vettel is in an exceptionally privileged position in that consistency is the key…mathematically it’s possible, but realistically it’d take a miracle to overhaul Vettel’s dominant Championship lead.

Superb 7^th for di Resta

Having been outqualified by his teammate Adrian Sutil yesterday, Paul di Resta had an excellent race today scoring another solid points finish for Force India and showing that despite his unorthodox entry into Formula One, he deserves to be there with the very best of them. Beating both Toro Rossos, the Mercedes of Nico Rosberg and – most importantly – both Saubers, Paul really helped Force India in the Constructors’ Championship race today as they now trail Sauber by only 9 points as his team increased its lead over Toro Rosso this weekend.

Scary scenes at the end of the pitlane…

This wasn’t the first time we’ve seen Nick Heidfeld’s Renault on fire this season but it was certainly a worrying sight as he drove the length of the pitlane with the left side of the car in flames. Nick admitted it was a scary experience for him, but what followed was, in my opinion, highly dangerous and irresponsible. To have marshals on track at the pit exit where drivers are getting up to speed and, as the rules stipulate, forced to stay within the white line was extremely risky for both the marshals and the drivers leaving the pitlane. Having seen some horrific incidents over the years, I squirmed a little as I saw Vettel emerge from the pitlane as Heidfeld’s car was, quite unprofessionally, towed up the pitlane exit. A Safety Car wouldn’t have averted the problem, on the contrary it would probably have increased the danger given that the drivers would have flocked to the pits attempting to cash in on a free pit stop but really, race control should have had the sense to close the pit lane temporarily while the wreckage was towed back in a fashion that ensured both marshal and driver safety.

Lewis who?

I’ve been quick to criticise Lewis Hamilton in the past. I’ve never questioned his talent or his passion – he’s one of the top 3 drivers out there, but his attitude has been far from positive over the course of his career, but most notably this season. He’s been brash, disrespectful, and downright cocky, overstepping the line between confidence and arrogance by a country mile at times. I’ve been an F1 fan for life, not one who has jumped on the bandwagon at a bit of British success and while I’m glad he’s brought the sport more attention and interest, he’s hardly been an excellent ambassador for the sport, unlike his teammate Jenson Button. No, this isn’t an attack on Lewis – far from it. While the BBC commentators were predicting Lewis to emerge from his car spewing about a drive through penalty and a tyre choice error, the Lewis that we saw before us was composed and humble, and while he was quick to tell us he ‘never spins’, he came across as far more personable than he has done of late. Whether McLaren has invested in some excellent PR people just for Lewis or whether he’s solely responsible for his change in attitude I don’t know. I don’t particularly care either as long as it continues.