Buzzin F1 – Formula One Blog

Lewis Hamilton - Hungary Grand Prix 2009

Lewis Hamilton dominated the Hungarian Grand Prix on Sunday, to claim his first win of the season for the McLaren Formula One team.

The British driver started from fourth place on the grid while Spanish driver Fernando Alonso, had put the Renault on the number one spot in Saturday’s qualifying session.

As the race got underway it was Alonso who led the Red Bull Racing car of Mark Webber and Hamilton as Adrian Sutil returned to the pits with what looked like a mechanical problem in the Force India.

On lap 5, Hamilton passed Webber going into turn two and began to chase the Renault of Alonso, however, the McLaren driver bided his time knowing that Alonso would be pitting shortly which he did on lap 13.

Alonso rejoined the circuit ahead of his team-mate Nelson Piquet but within seconds, the spinner off the front right wheel of the Renault fell off followed by the entire wheel on the following lap, seeing the Spaniard three-wheeling back to the pits.  Alonso rejoined the circuit behind Hamilton and then let Webber although as he was already a lap down running in 18th place, he retired the R29 on the following lap.

Renault have since been banned from the European Grand Prix, subject to appeal, after it was decided that the team had permitted Alonso to exit the pit-lane when the R29 car was unsafe for competition.  Officials were called to the race control where they checked video and radio transmissions, and it was discovered that the Renault team “knowingly” allowed Alonso to rejoin despite knowing that he had a loose wheel-nut, with Alonso unaware of any problem.

Webber and Raikkonen both pitted on lap 20, running in second and third respectively, but after a slow stop from the Red Bull team, Raikkonen passed Webber in the pit lane.  This incident also went under investigation as it appeared that the Red Bull team released their driver into the path of the Ferrari, who had to avoid collision, but this again went without any action being taken.

Raikkonen confessed after the race that he was unaware that he was under investigation for the incident at the start of the race.  From seventh on the grid, the Ferrari driver appeared to bump wheels with Hamilton, putting him off line as he made a move on the Red Bull of Mark Webber, causing him to make contact with the Red Bull of Vettel.  Fortunately, it was decided that there was no problem with the move.

Hamilton took his first pit stop on lap 20 as Timo Glock, in the Toyota passed Webber.  Rosberg pitted and rejoined in the Williams behind Glock but in front of Webber until the Australian retook the position going into turn two.

On lap 28, Sebastian Vettel in the second Red Bull pitted with a problem while in eighth position, he was sent back out with a new front wing after a long stop but it didn’t help the situation and the German driver retired from the race on lap 30.

Hamilton had increased the gap considerably by now ahead of Raikkonen in second and Webber in third, who was being challenged for his position by Heikki Kovalainen in the second McLaren and Rosberg.

Nico Rosberg took fourth position for the Williams team followed by Heikki Kovalainen in fifth and Timo Glock in sixth.   Jenson Button in the Brawn GP car finished in eighth place ahead of Jarno Trulli in the second Toyota, Kazuki Nakajima in the second Williams and Rubens Barrichello in the second Brawn GP to complete the top ten drivers.

Here are the results;

1. Lewis Hamilton Britain McLaren-Mercedes 70 laps 1hr 38m 23.876s
2. Kimi Raikkonen Finland Ferrari-Ferrari +00m 11.5s
3. Mark Webber Australia Red Bull-Renault +00m 16.8s
4. Nico Rosberg Germany Williams-Toyota +00m 26.9s
5. Heikki Kovalainen Finland McLaren-Mercedes +00m 34.3s
6. Timo Glock Germany Toyota-Toyota +00m 35.2s
7. Jenson Button Britain Brawn-Mercedes +00m 55.0s
8. Jarno Trulli Italy Toyota-Toyota +01m 08.1s

Mark Webber Australia Red Bull-Renault 1m 21.931s lap 65

(all results are unofficial)