Hungarian Grand Prix

Then he fell asleep behind the safety car and was relegated to third after a drive through penalty.  He may have had the fastest car of the weekend, but it wasn’t enough to get to the top step of the podium.  I’m sure the FIA will like reviewing the replay of his Red Bull slamming into the #3 board in parc ferme.  The Australian, however, was the one that gained the most, forget about this win independently, this becomes number 4. More than anyone else has had this season.  And so long as the FIA doesn’t boot Ferrari out of the sport for team orders, Webber stands to be first in line at the team for all of the new development bits on the car.  And maybe even the better looking team masseuse…

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Alonso managed to survive the weekend without being considered a putz by more than 60% of the TV viewers.  I was in Germany last Saturday, but had a conflict that didn’t let me watch the entire race.  I can report that even dyed-in-the-wool Ferrari fans that have more red cars in their garages than I do had less than positive things to say about Ferrari’s hired gun.  The penalty from last week’s stunt resulted in a $100k fine, an amount similar to what some Ferrari clients will spend on a dinner party. The Scuderia is not going to be hurt by the sum, but if the points are taken away, I can easily see this argument being escalated to the point where Ferrari may reconsider being part of the show.  After all, Ferrari helps make the show, even if they are losing.  Massa drove an uneventful race and finished in fourth, solidifying Ferrari’s overall third place in the standings.

Petrov showed up in fifth place and there were several dumb glances in the press box when everyone said, “where the hell did he come from?”  These, of course, were followed 3 seconds later by similar comments when Hulkenburg finished in sixth place.

McLaren seemed to be hurting this weekend with their best finisher being Jensen Button in eighth place.  Lewis Hamilton’s gearbox choked itself early in the race.  I seem to remember an email from McLaren inviting me to see their car at Pebble Beach in a few weeks.  Hopefully the transmission in that MP will be a bit more refined than the racing box.

But the real scuttlebutt of the weekend was two former team mates forgetting the rule they should have learned in kindergarten, play nice with each other.  Schumacher came over to the right on Rubens Barichello worse than an irate driver on the New Jersey Turnpike trying to both text on their Blackberry and reload at the same time. And this was for tenth place.  Could the tide of public opinion be turning that maybe Schumacher should have stayed retired?  If Mercedes does not win in a season or two, the history books may still go back and say that Tazio Nuvolari really was the greatest ever…

Racing takes a four week hiatus for the summer shut down.  Several drivers will make their way to Pebble Beach for THE weekend, and most of Italy will grind to a halt.  No, not the government, but the people that actually are involved in making things.  There are still seven races left and anything can happen.  The powers that be want it to go down to the last lap of the last race, thus ensuring the most number of eyeballs are glued to the TV set.  But even with this week’s drama, the race was still a snooze fest.  Something needs to change in the sport.  I haven’t quite put my finger on it yet enough to articulate it, but the racing has become painfully boring to watch.  Hopefully, Spa will cure the boredom.

Race Results

1	WEBBER	RBR-Renault	1h41m05.571s
2	ALONSO	Ferrari	+ 17.8s
3	VETTEL	RBR-Renault	+ 19.2s
4	MASSA	Ferrari	+ 27.4s
5	PETROV	Renault	+ 73.1s
6	HULKENBERG	Williams-Cosworth	+ 76.7s
7	DE LA ROSA	BMW Sauber-Ferrari	+ 1 lap
8	BUTTON	McLaren-Mercedes	+ 1 lap
9	KOBAYASHI	BMW Sauber-Ferrari	+ 1 lap
10	BARRICHELLO	Williams-Cosworth	+ 1 lap
11	SCHUMACHER	Mercedes GP	+ 1 lap
12	BUEMI	STR-Ferrari	+ 1 lap
13	LIUZZI	Force India-Mercedes	+ 1 lap
14	KOVALAINEN	Lotus-Cosworth	+ 3 laps
15	TRULLI	Lotus-Cosworth	+ 3 laps
16	GLOCK	Virgin-Cosworth	+ 3 laps
17	SENNA	HRT-Cosworth	+ 3 laps
18	DI GRASSI	Virgin-Cosworth	+ 4 laps
19	YAMAMOTO	HRT-Cosworth	+ 4 laps
20	HAMILTON	McLaren-Mercedes	+ 47 laps, gearbox
21	KUBICA	Renault	+ 47 laps, accident damage
22	ROSBERG	Mercedes GP	+ 55 laps, loose wheel
23	SUTIL	Force India-Mercedes	+ 55 laps, accident
24	ALGUERSUARI	STR-Ferrari	+ 69 laps, mechanical
Fastest Lap	VETTEL	RBR-Renault	1m22.362s

Note: Kobayashi qualified 18th, but was handed a five-place grid penalty for failing to stop for weighing at the end of Q1.

Driver’s Championship Standings

1	WEBBER	RBR-Renault	161 Points
2	HAMILTON	McLaren-Mercedes	157 Points
3	VETTEL	RBR-Renault	151 Points
4	BUTTON	McLaren-Mercedes	147 Points
5	ALSONSO	Ferrari	141 Points
6	MASSA	Ferrari	97 Points
7	ROSBERG	Mercedes GP	94 Points
8	KUBICA	Renault	89 Points
9	SCHUMACHER	Mercedes GP	38 Points
10	SUTIL	Force India-Mercedes	35 Points
11	BARRICHELLO	Williams-Cosworth	30 Points
12	PETROV	Renault	17 Points
13	KOBAYASHI	BMW Sauber-Ferrari	17 Points
14	LIUZZI	Force India-Mercedes	12 Points
15	HULKENBERG	Williams-Cosworth	10 Points
16	BUEMI	STR-Ferrari	7 Points
17	DE LA ROSA	BMW Sauber-Ferrari	6 Points
18	ALGUERSUARI	STR-Ferrari	3 Points

Constructor’s Championship Standings

1	RBR-RENAULT	312 Points
2	McLAREN-MERCEDES	304 Points
3	FERRARI	238 Points
4	MERCEDES GP	132 Points
5	RENAULT	106 Points
6	FORCE INDIA-MERCEDES	47 Points
7	WILLIAMS-COSWORTH	40 Points
8	BMW SAUBER-FERRARI	23 Points
9	STR-FERRARI	10 Points