Hungary – Race: Hamilton, unbeatable before the summer break!

At the start of the formation lap, the conditions are similar to those encountered during yesterday’s qualifications. The temperatures are summery (30°C in the air, 46°C on the track) as the sun shines in the Hungarian sky. On the grid, only Webber, the Marussia cars, and Pedro De La Rosa are on Medium tires.

The first start is canceled, a first in a long time, as Michael Schumacher encountered a problem in the final seconds of the procedure. The seven-time World Champion will therefore have to start from the pits. Due to the additional formation lap, the race distance is reduced by one lap, from 70 to 69.

The second start is the right one. Lewis Hamilton gets off cleanly while Sebastian Vettel attacks Grosjean, unsuccessfully, before coming under pressure from Button in turn 2 and being overtaken by the Englishman in turn 3. Behind the German, Alonso is 5th ahead of Räikkönen and Mark Webber, who made a superb start from 11th place. Senna, Massa, and Hülkenberg close out the top 10.

After 3 laps, Michael Schumacher continues his tough race as he is penalized with a mandatory pit stop for speeding. Timo Glock spins at the back of the field and resumes in second-to-last, far ahead of the seven-time World Champion, who has already lost more than 50 seconds to the race leader.

The gap between Hamilton and Grosjean is then stable at 2.2 seconds. The battle at the front is intense, with the two men exchanging the fastest lap in the race, pulling away by several tenths per lap from the rest of their colleagues. After a few more laps, Lewis Hamilton seems to gain a slight advantage, managing to extend the gap to 2.7 seconds, but on the 13th lap, the Franco-Swiss driver gains 0.3 seconds in one go on the Englishman.

Jenson Button is already trailing, 8.5 seconds off the lead. The native of Frome is attacking, and runs wide at turn 4. At the end of this 15th lap, while under threat from Sebastian Vettel, he enters the pits and switches to a set of Medium tires, at the same time as Nico Hülkenberg and Pastor Maldonado. During the leaders’ pit stops, different strategies are chosen: Fernando Alonso leaves the pits after 17 laps on Medium tires, while Sebastian Vettel is fitted with Soft tires. The Spaniard comes out blocked behind Sergio Pérez.

In the lead, Hamilton stops a lap before Romain Grosjean. The English driver comes out on Medium tires, while the Lotus driver is on Soft tires. Neither of the stops were exemplary, taking between 4 and 5 seconds. Kimi Räikkönen, very fast at the end of his stint, is the next to stop, along with Mark Webber. The Finn comes out on Soft tires, while the Australian is on Mediums.

After 21 laps, the standings are as follows: Hamilton, Grosjean, Button, Vettel, Räikkönen, Alonso, Webber, Senna, Massa, Rosberg, Hülkenberg, Maldonado, di Resta, Ricciardo, Pérez, Kobayashi, Vergne, Kovalainen, Schumacher, Petrov, Pic, De La Rosa, Karthikeyan, and Glock.

Little by little, Romain Grosjean takes advantage of his Soft tires to get closer to Lewis Hamilton, stringing together the fastest laps of the race. The gap even falls below one second at the end of the 24th lap. However, the Franco-Swiss driver makes a small mistake at the end of the following lap, and the gap widens back to 2.4 seconds. Behind them, the race is a procession. Vettel is nestled behind Jenson Button since the start, and Webber has been threatening Fernando Alonso since the Spanish driver’s pit exit.

It took a few laps for Romain Grosjean to get back on track, reducing the gap to 1.2 seconds. Meanwhile, Vettel is getting impatient behind Button: “I am much faster than him, do something,” the German even says over the radio, to which Guillaume Rocquelin, his race engineer, responds enigmatically: “We see what you mean.” Indeed, there is more action on the radio than on the track, with Jenson Button’s engineer indicating to his driver that circumstances require a switch “to plan B.”

Jenson Button is the first to start the second wave of pit stops after 34 laps. The Englishman applies his plan B by going out on Soft tires, but he’s right behind Bruno Senna. A plan B definitely in vogue, as it’s also indicated to Lewis Hamilton. Seven seconds behind, Sebastian Vettel, freed from Button, sets the fastest lap of the race in 1:26.512, gaining a full second on Lewis Hamilton. The German is able to stay ahead of Button after his stop. But in the next two laps, it’s Kimi Räikkönen who is the fastest.

After 38 laps, with the gap slightly under a second, Sebastian Vettel dives into the pit lane. The double World Champion emerges on Medium tires and indeed gets ahead of Button and Senna. Romain Grosjean pits on the following lap, aiming to escape the slipstream of Lewis Hamilton. The Lotus driver comes out alone on Medium tires, but just two seconds ahead of Sebastian Vettel. Lewis Hamilton, fearing to lose too much time, does the same on the next lap and exits ahead on Medium tires. The Englishman emerges in front of Fernando Alonso, while Romain Grosjean finds himself in the slipstream of the Ferrari.

Kimi Räikkönen is then the man in the lead since he hasn’t stopped yet. At the end of lap 43, the Finn has a 14-second advantage over Hamilton and almost 19 seconds over his teammate Romain Grosjean. Meanwhile, the Ferraris stop nearly together, clearing the way for the second Lotus driver. The Franco-Swiss driver is 5 seconds behind Lewis Hamilton. For his part, the 2007 World Champion – Räikkönen – makes his stop at the end of lap 44 and comes out aggressively ahead of Romain Grosjean. Jenson Button ends the pit phase he had started 12 laps earlier, the Englishman switches to Medium tires, as his plan B didn’t prove successful. The stop is further muddled at the front-left, causing the Englishman to come out behind Fernando Alonso.

After this second round of pit stops, the standings are as follows: Hamilton, Räikkönen, Grosjean, Vettel, Webber, Alonso, Button, Senna, Massa, Rosberg, Hülkenberg, Maldonado, di Resta, Pérez, Kobayashi, Ricciardo, Vergne, Schumacher, Kovalainen, Petrov, Pic, Glock, De La Rosa, Karthikeyan.

The incident involving Pastor Maldonado and Paul di Resta is under investigation by the stewards. The Venezuelan ultimately receives a drive-through penalty after forcing his way past the Force India driver. Meanwhile, the gap at the front of the race has dropped below one second. Will Kimi Räikkönen succeed where his teammate failed? The top four in the race, all on Medium tires, are attacking, with Romain Grosjean and Sebastian Vettel making small mistakes in turn 7.

Mark Webber makes a third and final stop, rejoining in 8th position on Soft tires, ahead of Felipe Massa. In terms of the championship, Alonso thus recovers 5th place, which, if the standings remain unchanged, means 6 additional precious points over the Australian. But the Spaniard is under pressure from Jenson Button. Two laps later, it’s Sebastian Vettel who seems to be going all out by stopping to put on Soft tires. He just barely gets out ahead of Fernando Alonso after a battle that lasted a few corners.

On lap 59, Michael Schumacher retires, ending a race cruelly reflective of the German’s season. It is the first retirement of the Grand Prix. At the front of the race, Kimi Räikkönen is still on the tail of Lewis Hamilton, but he still can’t make a difference despite an attack that sees him lock the wheels under braking and slightly slide the rear wheels under acceleration. This battle for victory is a remake of the 2007 race, where the Finn, then driving for Ferrari, spent almost the entire race right behind the Englishman.

With 5 laps to go, the yellow flag is deployed at the end of the first sector due to Narain Karthikeyan’s exit. The Indian driver has to retire, as the front-left suspension of his HRT is damaged. Surprisingly, the race management indicates that his car will remain until the end of the race, as they are unable to remove the stopped car from the grass just before turn 4.

Vettel, on his side, with almost new tires, is charging like a cannonball towards the front of the race. The German sets fastest lap after fastest lap and manages to gain up to 1.8 seconds on Romain Grosjean. As the pressure mounts for the Franco-Swiss, Hamilton takes his 19th victory, ahead of Kimi Räikkönen. Finally, Romain Grosjean finishes on the podium by 1.1 seconds.

In the championship, Fernando Alonso, in 5th place, has a good performance as he gains an additional 6 points over Mark Webber, who finishes 8th under the checkered flag, and only loses 2 points to Sebastian Vettel. Räikkönen loses 4th place to Lewis Hamilton. Don’t hesitate to check the standings after the Hungarian Grand Prix.

Results of the 2012 Hungarian Grand Prix: