Hungarian Grand Prix - A “Dramatic” Race

After the European Grand Prix, all F-1 fan’s eye were on the Hungarian Grand Prix that happened last Sunday. Some of them were expecting a great comeback by the McLaren rookie driver Lewis Hamilton, where as so many where expecting the defending champion Fernando Alonso to surpass Hamilton in the Driver’s title race. Meanwhile the Ferrari fans were expecting for a Ferrari dominance by seeing the two Ferraris in the 1 & 2 positions. Since the over-taking chnaces are very less in the Hungarian Track, pole position was going to be crucial in this race. This circuit itself known as “Monocco without walls”. The qualifying that took place on Saturday was quite dramatic, as Philippe Massa of Ferrari couldn’t qualify for Q3 since the pit crew forgot to fill fuel for him while taking the final pit stop in Q2. Even more dramatic events were happened in McLaren pit in the Q3. Hamilton missed out on the chance of a final flying lap in qualifying after he was forced to wait for Alonso to leave his pit. McLaren told stewards that they had ordered the champion to hold for 20 seconds to gain track position. However, he then remained stationary for a further 10 seconds. In his final try, Alonso just grabbed the pole position. Even the McLaren-Mercedes Chairman & CEO Ronn Dennis was furious about that incident and was arguing with the Race Engineer of Alonso. At the end Pole position became, 1-Alonso, 2-Hamilton, 3-Heifiled, 4-Raikonen and 14-Massa.

Before the race began on Sunday, FIA’s decision came. McLaren’s first came in the form of the grid place penalty that moved Fernando Alonso from the pole down to sixth place, guaranteeing that he had no chance of victory. Their second was the stewards’ decision that the team would not be eligible for any constructors’ points after the qualifying incident. Considering that they ’scored’ 15, that had to hurt. A total set-back for the McLaren team. As the race progressed, Raikonen moved to 2nd position and Alonso moved upto 4th. But Hamilton crossed the checkered flag first and 0.7 sec behind, Raikonen finshed second. It was clear that the circuit has saved Hamilton, otherwise Raikonen could have easily surpassed him. Thought the Hungarian Grand Prix started off well, the finish was quite dramatic.