Race: Hamilton’s victory in Hungary, ahead of Räikkönen!

Lewis Hamilton won the Hungarian Grand Prix, the tenth round of the 2009 Formula 1 season. The McLaren driver confirmed his team’s return to form and kept the usual race contenders at bay. Räikkönen is the other surprise of this Grand Prix, demonstrating Ferrari’s comeback by taking his F60 to the second step of the podium. Mark Webber is 3rd and is doing the best in the world championship. Alonso retires due to a loose nut during a pit stop…

The weather was fine in Hungary, and as usual, the Hungaroring circuit showcased plenty of action and surprises, starting with Lewis Hamilton’s victory. The reigning world champion found himself in the lead by the 13th lap and never relinquished the top spot. The McLaren was simply too fast today for the other teams. Only Ferrari was able to keep up the pace. As expected, Hamilton had a good start, climbing to third place after the first lap. He then got past Webber, who was heavier on fuel, to close in on the leader at the time, Fernando Alonso. Hamilton took the lead of the Grand Prix when the Spaniard pitted and then demonstrated his experience to finish the race as the leader. The British driver claimed his 10th F1 victory in just two and a half seasons.

Kimi Räikkönen, the sole representative of the Reds today, after Felipe Massa’s withdrawal still in an induced coma, showed very good performance. The Finn, despite starting 7th on the grid, profitably used his KERS – Kinetic Energy Recovery System – to make a very good start and exit the first lap in 4th place. He then did everything to make his strategy work and finished just a few seconds behind the winner.

Mark Webber is the one who achieved the best result this weekend. The Australian is the first front-runner in the world championship to finish the Grand Prix. He finishes 3rd, while Button only finishes 7th and Vettel does not finish – the German made contact with Räikkönen at the start of the Grand Prix and broke his suspension later during the race. Webber thus takes the lead within Red Bull Racing and positions himself as a challenger to Jenson Button in the championship. The Australian might have been able to win the race, but after his first pit stop, he got stuck in traffic and couldn’t catch up with Hamilton and Räikkönen.

The Australian was luckier than his teammate at the start. With KERS, Hamilton and Räikkönen quickly found themselves level with the Red Bull Racing cars of Vettel and Webber. The four men reached the first corner side by side and brushed against each other, but only one real contact occurred; between Vettel and Räikkönen, wheel to wheel. Although the incident is currently being studied by the race stewards, no incident has disrupted the two drivers’ race. It was only 30 laps later that Vettel had to retire to the pits for good due to a broken suspension. The young Red Bull driver had previously changed his front wing, believing a technical problem was coming from that part of the car.

Unlucky, the Spaniard Fernando Alonso was too. During his first pit stop, one of the mechanics from the Renault F1 Team forgot—or didn’t have time—to properly secure a front-left wheel rim cover. As a result, the wheel loosened after a few turns and the nut unscrewed. The wheel rim cover exploded on the track and the wheel detached from the car, with Alonso slowing down. With a damaged car, Alonso chose to stop his vehicle to retire, thereby preserving his engine.

Nico Rosberg finishes once again just off the podium. The German delivered another strong performance with his Williams, but still misses the podium. In a further sign of McLaren’s comeback, Kovalainen is 5th in the second MP4. The Finn earns valuable points for his career, even though he finishes behind Rosberg in the standings, as a contender for a McLaren seat next year.

Glock is 6th for Toyota and once again ahead of his teammate. Trulli is still in the top 8 and scores a point. Between the two Toyotas, Jenson Button’s Brawn GP is slowing down. The Englishman couldn’t find the race pace to fight for the podium. However, he gains a position during his last pit stop but struggled throughout the Grand Prix, suffering from early rear tire degradation and consequently oversteer.

Nakajima fails once again to score points, finishing ninth ahead of Barrichello. Piquet Jr., who started 14th, finishes 12th between the two BMWs. The Brazilian may have run his last Grand Prix with Renault here, despite showing some good moves today. The first Force India – Fisichella’s car – finishes ahead of the first Toro Rosso – Alguersuari’s car (!). The rookie replacing Bourdais maintained race pace, making no mistakes and even finishing ahead of his teammate. Sébastien Buemi made a few errors, including an off-track excursion midway through the race. He is the last of the drivers to finish, with Sutil having retired right at the start after a collision.

Results of the Hungarian Grand Prix – Sunday, 26 July 2009: