Motorsports Mondial
Jenson Button takes the victory on his 200th Grand Prix
Tyres and a drive thru penalty finished Hamilton’s chances.
Vettel happy with second in incident filled Hungarian GP.
Podcast number 519 Race recap with Clark and Steve.
Jenson Button: “For some reason I like these conditions, don’t ask me my why, but it worked out again,” said Button. “A great call from the team to put me on the prime tyre when they did, a great call from all of us. All round it has been an amazing weekend.
I want to say a big thank you to the team. Everyone has worked so hard to produce the car we have now. I think we are going into the break on a nice high. Every day we are on holiday we’ll be thinking about Spa.
It’s very easy to say now, but personally I felt that I was able to look after the tyres for the remainder of the first stint,” he added. “I think about halfway through people started struggling but I was able to push on and the car felt really good.
I knew I was in good shape, the car was working well for me. I thought it was a matter of time in the dry conditions to get the jump on Lewis because at the end of the stints he was struggling.
It turned out a little bit different with the rain coming down, but I had a lot of fun all the same. It’s always fun racing with Lewis. It’s great to come away with a victory this weekend.”
Nick Heidfeld: “Not a good race for me today, and it’s the second consecutive weekend without finishing, so obviously I’m very disappointed. My second pit stop was longer than expected, the car overheated and I noticed smoke coming from the rear. It worsened, and then I noticed the flames so I had to pull over at the end of the pit lane and cut my race short. The last couple of races have not been what I hoped for, but we have a few weeks now to reassess and come back stronger after the August break.”
Eric Boullier: “We had a disappointing race to wrap up this part of the season. Nick had some misfortune once again after a visit to the pits; his second pit stop was held up after a problem with one of the wheels, and the car is not designed to stay running on high revs for so long so it caught fire. Vitaly was on a strong strategy, doing well and then the second raindrops affected us, which meant we had to pit again and that put a stop to our chance of points. The next race is in a month’s time, and although we have the factory shutdown in that period we are focused on showing a better performance in the forthcoming Grands Prix. ”
Pos Driver Team Time 1. Button McLaren-Mercedes 1h43:42.337 2. Vettel Red Bull-Renault + 3.588 3. Alonso Ferrari + 19.819 4. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes + 48.338 5. Webber Red Bull-Renault + 49.742 6. Massa Ferrari + 1:17.176 7. Di Resta Force India-Mercedes + 1 lap 8. Buemi Toro Rosso-Ferrari + 1 lap 9. Rosberg Mercedes + 1 lap 10. Alguersuari Toro Rosso-Ferrari + 1 lap 11. Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari + 1 lap 12. Petrov Renault + 1 lap 13. Barrichello Williams-Cosworth + 2 laps 14. Sutil Force India-Mercedes + 2 laps 15. Perez Sauber-Ferrari + 2 laps 16. Maldonado Williams-Cosworth + 2 laps 17. Glock Virgin-Cosworth + 4 laps 18. Ricciardo HRT-Cosworth + 4 laps 19. D'Ambrosio Virgin-Cosworth + 5 laps 20. Liuzzi HRT-Cosworth + 5 laps Fastest lap: Massa, 1:23.415
Photo: gp2series
Stefano Coletti sprints to Budapest win
Trident driver triumphed today on a wet/dry/wet sprint race at Hungaroring
Stefano Coletti overcame a difficult start of a Hungarian weekend by stunning the rest of the field from P21 on the grid to victory in changing track conditions and two safety car periods. The Monegasque driver finished 7.2s ahead of Esteban Gutierrez and Romain Grosjean.
The teams once again had a difficult choice to make this morning for the Sprint race in Budapest: in mixed track conditions, it was all about deciding to start either on wet tyres or slicks. Only seven drivers bravely opted for the second option, including Luca Filippi, Coletti and Gutierrez, the young Mexican starting from P24.
As the lights went out, the early stages were all about poleman Christian Vietoris. The German had a perfect start and kept the lead. Behind him, Addax duo Giedo van der Garde and Charles Pic both opted to duck down the inside of Turn 1 to pass Jules Bianchi. Filippi’s tyre gamble proved difficult as he ran wide at Turn 1 and dropped to the back of the field.
While Vietoris was pulling away quickly, Bianchi now in fourth was busy trying to keep Grosjean at bay, but he ran a bit too wide at turn 1 on lap 2, letting the Dams driver through. The Series leader then caught up fast with Pic. Out in front, Vietoris had already managed to build up a 8s gap on van der Garde, the Dutchman unable to match the German’s pace.
On a drying track, from lap 7 some drivers chose to come back into the pits for slick tyres, and a lap later, Pic who was struggling to defend his position from Grosjean decided to come in and change rubber. The Safety Car soon came out after Max Chilton stopped on the track. Vietoris, van der Garde, Grosjean and Bianchi took this opportunity to switch to slicks and kept their positions.
At the re-start, Vietoris kept in control of the rest of the pack. Grosjean was all over van der Garde and tried to pass him on the inside of turn 1. Both ran too wide, but the Dams driver got through the Addax man. Bianchi was hot on van der Garde’s trails and both collided at turn 4, sending the Lotus ART man off track. He rejoined at the back of the field.
Behind, Coletti was already in P6 behind the battling duo of Luiz Razia and Sam Bird. When the two men in front of him made a small mistake while fighting, the Monegasque driver passed both cars. He then quickly overtook a slower van der Garde for a podium finish.
The rain started to fall again and Bianchi immediately decided to come in for wet tyres. At the front, Grosjean reduced the gap with Vietoris to less than a second, putting great pressure on the German. The Racing Engineering man made a small mistake and spun. Grosjean lost some time trying to avoid him allowing Coletti to take the lead. The Safety Car came out again after Dani Clos stopped on the track. Coletti and Grosjean chose to come into the pits for wet tyres. They rejoined behind Pic.
At the re-start, the Addax driver who was still on slicks found it very difficult to stay on line and was soon running too wide at turn 1 allowing Coletti to get passed. The Trident man was never to be seen again as he pulled away to victory.
The final laps were all about the fight between Grosjean and a charging Gutierrez whose tyre strategy paid off to come back from P24 on the grid. The young Mexican was all over the Dams driver and eventually overtook him in the last corner to take P2. Van der Garde, Bird and Bianchi took the remaining points.
Heading to Spa-Francorchamps, Grosjean has extended his lead in the drivers’ standings to 74 points from van der Garde on 49, with Pic on 42 points. Bianchi has moved up to fourth on 35 points, the same as Bird.
Photo: gp3series
Rio Haryanto storms to Race 2 victory
Indonesian wins hard fought race in Hungary
Rio Haryanto took his second GP3 victory of the 2011 season in a rain affected race at Hungaroring today. The Marussia Manor Racing driver finished just ahead of the charging Lotus ART pair of Valtteri Bottas and James Calado.
RSC Mücke Motosport’s Nigel Melker started from pole in the wet Race 2 conditions and held onto the lead when the lights went out ahead of Addax Team’s Tom Dillmann. MW Arden’s Lewis Williamson and Jenzer Motorsport’s Nico Müller were locked in battle for third, with Tech 1 Racing’s Aaro Vainio and Haryanto sotting in behind. Meanwhile at the back Calado made his way up from twenty-fifth to eleventh in the first lap.
Lap 2 saw Williamson spin out the race, and it also saw the first of two safety cars when Jenzer Motorsport’s Vittorio Ghirelli crashed out. Haryanto took Müller for third on the re-start, with Bottas now in seventh and Calado behind Maxim Zimin in ninth.
Melker had his lead up to 7.9 seconds by the second safety car period on Lap 12, after Thomas Hylkema crashed his Tech 1 Racing car. Haryanto attacked Melker straight away at the re-start to take the lead, and by the end of the lap the Dutchman had lost two more spots to Bottas and Dillmann.
With the chequered flag in sight Calado continued his excellent race effort to work his way through the field and in to the points. One final push saw him take Dillmann and Müller for the final podium spot behind Haryanto and teammate Bottas. Melker had to settle for fouth followed by Dillmann in fifth and Antonio Felix Da Costa in the final points paying position for Status Grand Prix. After starting last on the grid due to a penalty Alexander Sims drove his way up to eleventh, but the former Series leader came away with no points from the weekend.
Bottas now leads the GP3 Series™ driver standings by seven points ahead of Alexander Sims.