Motorsports Mondial
Weekend Winners
Photo. Reuters
Formula 1. Hungaroring, 2006. After a century of starts Jenson Button was still looking for his maiden win when the F1 circus reached the banks of Danube. In changing conditions the English driver finally scored his long-awaited first Grand Prix victory driving for Honda.
Fast forward to 2011. In his 200th F1 start – and in similar changing conditions – Button puts on a masterful performance to score his second win of the season.
The 2009 World Champion said, “I want to say a big, big thank you to the team today. The car worked a treat in all conditions, and we made all the right strategy calls. We deserved this win and it felt great to stand alongside my race engineer Dave [Robson] on the occasion of his first appearance on the podium.
“The race was a brilliantly eventful one. I had a good battle with Lewis when we were running one-two. We were both driving on the limit and the gap ebbed and flowed, depending on the traffic. It was good fun and I was sorry that we weren’t standing up there on the podium together at the end of it all. This was the perfect way to celebrate my 200th Grand Prix.”
Championship leader Sebastian Vettel started from pole but lost his lead at the start and came in second. Fernando Alonso made another podium appearance in third place.
Vettel, aiming for his second successive championship, now leads with 234 points; teammate Mark Webber, fifth in the race, is second with 149 points. Hamilton lies third after his fourth place finish with 146 points. Single point behind in fourth is Alonso while Hungarian GP winner Button completes the top five on 134 points.
Photo. GP2 Media
GP2. Saturday’s race belonged to Swede Marcus Ericsson but Romain Grosjean took the win, his fifth of the season; beneficiary of drive-through penalty on Ericsson for an unsafe release in the pit lane.
Charles Pic was second and Luiz Razia, who started from pole position, third.
Sunday’s sprint race was won by Stefano Coletti of Monaco. Mexican Esteban Gutierrez grabbed second from Grosjean on the last corner of the race.
Grosjean leads the championship with 74 points. Dutchman Giedo van der Garde is second with 49 points. Charles Pic is third, 42 points, and Jules Bianchi, making three French drivers in the top four, is next with 35 points.
Photo. GP3 Media
GP3. Valtteri Bottas is the new championship leader after winning race one on Saturday; first two-time winner this season after 11 races. He held-off a race long challenge from Michael Christensen, the Dane still looking for his first win in the series in his second year.
The second race of the weekend was won by Rio Haryanto; his second of the season. The Indonesian from Java also won in the previous round in Germany. Bottas, who also won in Germany, was second ahead of England’s James Calado.
Bottas, ex-Formula Renault Euro Cup Champion and twice winner of Masters of F3, leads the championship with 41 points. The Finn leads his former F3 rival from UK, Alexander Sims, on 34 points and Dutch driver Nigel Melker with 32 points. Impressive Scottish rookie Lewis Williamson is fourth with 31 points.
— Nasir Hameed
Greetings and Hungarian Rhapsody Regards.