2007 Formula One Hungarian Grand Prix

[Jack_Bauer]

The Hungaroring this weekend offers a welcome break from the public mudslinging and back-stabbing of the "Stepneygate" spying controversy that has dogged F1 over the past few weeks. Ferrari will be looking to hit back after their disappointing result at the Nuerburgring two weeks ago, where Alonso stole victory from them in a thrilling final few laps. Championship leader Hamilton will be trying to stop the rot as his teammate has closed the lead in the title race to just two points. He didn't get his weekend off to the best start though, as he ended the day's practice sessions in the gravel trap after a spin.

Alonso finished the day as the fastest man on the track, surprisingly just ahead of Heikki Kovalainen's Renault. BMW also showed some decent pace with Kubica the fastest man in the first session, and Heidfeld ahead of both Ferraris in the second. Rosberg also looks to be on good form in the Williams. Sakon Yamamoto was making his Spyker debut today, and he looked massively off the pace. In both sessions he was close to SIX seconds per lap slower than the leading cars, and ended the final session close to three seconds slower than teammate Adrian Sutil. It's gonna be a long weekend for the young Japanese.

Practice One

01 R. Kubica BMW 1:22.390 25 laps
02 F. Massa Ferrari 1:22.519 18 laps
03 K. Räikkönen Ferrari 1:22.540 21 laps
04 F. Alonso McLaren 1:22.585 18 laps
05 L. Hamilton McLaren 1:22.654 19 laps
06 N. Heidfeld BMW 1:22.891 24 laps
07 N. Rosberg Williams 1:22.983 19 laps
08 J. Button Honda 1:23.294 20 laps
09 R. Barrichello Honda 1:23.601 20 laps
10 R. Schumacher Toyota 1:23.802 27 laps
11 A. Davidson Super Aguri 1:24.102 13 laps
12 J. Trulli Toyota 1:24.318 30 laps
13 A. Wurz Williams 1:24.321 12 laps
14 D. Coulthard Red Bull 1:24.474 17 laps
15 H. Kovalainen Renault 1:24.733 18 laps
16 S. Vettel Scuderia Toro Rosso 1:24.905 26 laps
17 G. Fisichella Renault 1:24.920 19 laps
18 V. Liuzzi Scuderia Toro Rosso 1:24.976 20 laps
19 T. Sato Super Aguri 1:25.307 13 laps
20 M. Webber Red Bull 1:25.584 14 laps
21 A. Sutil Spyker F1 1:26.332 29 laps
22 S. Yamamoto Spyker F1 1:28.118 30 laps

Practice Two

01 F. Alonso McLaren 1:20.919 29 laps
02 H. Kovalainen Renault 1:21.283 39 laps
03 L. Hamilton McLaren 1:21.338 32 laps
04 N. Rosberg Williams 1:21.485 40 laps
05 N. Heidfeld BMW 1:21.517 37 laps
06 K. Räikkönen Ferrari 1:21.589 29 laps
07 F. Massa Ferrari 1:21.620 39 laps
08 G. Fisichella Renault 1:21.698 36 laps
09 J. Trulli Toyota 1:21.857 35 laps
10 R. Kubica BMW 1:21.906 37 laps
11 R. Schumacher Toyota 1:21.912 29 laps
12 A. Wurz Williams 1:21.987 35 laps
13 M. Webber Red Bull 1:22.325 28 laps
14 D. Coulthard Red Bull 1:22.483 33 laps
15 A. Davidson Super Aguri 1:22.510 41 laps
16 J. Button Honda 1:22.550 47 laps
17 T. Sato Super Aguri 1:22.556 42 laps
18 R. Barrichello Honda 1:22.727 29 laps
19 V. Liuzzi Scuderia Toro Rosso 1:23.136 42 laps
20 S. Vettel Scuderia Toro Rosso 1:23.148 39 laps
21 A. Sutil Spyker F1 1:23.673 34 laps
22 S. Yamamoto Spyker F1 1:26.307 29 laps

[Homem de Gelo]

If everything goes alrught, Alonso is the favourite for the win. He had the pace in practice and at times it seemed as if he had some bit more in reserve.

I hope McLaren stomp everyone like they did at Monaco, but that would not be beyond optimistic. So, as long as they confirm predictions and win with Alonso, I'll be perfectly pleased. And I hope Massa gives Raikkonen a beating too, although I won't bet a coin on it.


What do you guys expect?

[Lets Gekiga In]

Well, I'm rooting for Raikkonen as per usual.

[Jack_Bauer]

Fernando Alonso takes pole position for the Hungarian Grand Prix in HIGHLY controversial fashion in Budapest! It looked all day long as though it would be a two horse race for the pole between the two McLaren drivers, and so it proved. However, it looked as though Fernando Alonso deliberately blocked his teammate in the pitlane, meaning that Hamilton was unable to get a second hot lap in. On his final lap Alonso put in an excellent lap to beat Hamilton by a little over a tenth of a second, but all the talk in the press conference and in the McLaren team briefings will be about what Alonso was playing at in the pits. The lollipop was up, the team were motioning for him to get a move on, but he refused to budge. Perhaps he had some sort of problem, but Ron Dennis looked absolutely furious as a result, which would suggest that it was down to gamesmanship. If Alonso did that deliberately then he will be in BIG trouble with his team.

Below the flying McLarens there was a fairly dismal session for the Ferraris. Raikkonen was pipped to 3rd by Nick Heidfeld, and Felipe Massa had some sort of chronic handling problem meaning that he failed to even get through to the final session. He will start provisionally from 14th. Nico Rosberg took an impressive 5th for Williams ahead of Schumacher in the Toyota who look on decent form this weekend. Kubica took 7th in the second BMW, ahead of Fisichella, Trulli and Webber.

Coulthard was unlucky to miss out on the top ten, missing out by one-hundredth of a second to Kubica. Next come Kovalainen, Wurz, the struggling Massa, and Davidson and Liuzzi who both performed well to get into the second session. The Hondas were poor yet again with Button and Barrichello both just missing out on the second session. Sato was just ahead of Torro Rosso debutant Sebastien Vettel, with the two Spykers unsurprisingly last. Sakon Yamamoto did look to be badly held up by Fisichella on his hot lap. It would not have got him through to the second session, but rules is rules and there may be disciplinary action against Fisichella who should really know better.

So it will be an all McLaren front row tomorrow, but it does not look a happy camp at McLaren. Hamilton was diplomatic in the post qualy press conference, but his body language said it all. He was fuming. There looks to be some real enmity brewing between the two of them now, it will be fascinating to see how things pan out between the two of them tomorrow. Will Ron Dennis be able to keep a lid on things, or will their tempers boil over in a Prost/Senna type fashion?

Provisional Starting Grid

1. Alonso
2. Hamilton
3. Heidfeld
4. Raikkonen
5. Rosberg
6. Schumacher
7. Kubica
8. Fisichella
9. Trulli
10. Webber
11. Coulthard
12. Kovalainen
13. Wurz
14. Massa
15. Davidson
16. Liuzzi
17. Button
18. Barrichello
19. Sato
20. Vettel
21. Sutil
22. Yamamoto

[Matra et Alpine]

ooooh, handbags at 30 feet coming up

Alonso is in for a roasting. Ron looked like he was leading Fernando's trainer off for an executino

ALonso is going to learn that Ron considers the team is always more important than the driver.
He'll do one of three things .....
1) Tell ALonso he's starting from the pit lane
... and if he doesnt' agree to that ......
2) replace the engine and then the organisers will force him to start in 11th !!
... or .....
3) Kick him off the team

[Ferrer]

ALonso is going to learn that Ron considers the team is always more important than the driver.
He'll do one of three things .....
1) Tell ALonso he's starting from the pit lane
... and if he doesnt' agree to that ......
2) replace the engine and then the organisers will force him to start in 11th !!
... or .....
3) Kick him off the team

I doubt he is going to hamper its team chances that way. However it'll be interesting how this fight inside the team develops...

[Lets Gekiga In]

ALonso is going to learn that Ron considers the team is always more important than the driver.

I'm not so sure that Ron really believes the team is more important than the individual (at least not right now). I believe if he thought that, he wouldn't make a big deal out of getting 1st and 2nd in qualifying.

By his reaction, you would've assumed McLaren didn't make it past the first qualifying round.

[Wouter Melissen]

I'm not so sure that Ron really believes the team is more important than the individual (at least not right now). I believe if he thought that, he wouldn't make a big deal out of getting 1st and 2nd in qualifying.

He probably felt that Alonso's action showed he thought he was more important than the team. I believe that is what Matra is in implying.

[RazaBlade]

Although I believe that everyone should have fair chances at proving their skill, and Alonso seems to have robbed that from Hamilton, I musty admit that it made BLOODY good TV viewing, I was so excited to see what would happen after the break. Might be the first time in a long while that I watch the pre-race build-up. I felt so sorry for Alonso's trainer, he looked like a little school kid about to be taken in front of the headmaster! Ron looked well pissed!! Alonso adopting Schumachers school of driving - fast on the track, but even faster at getting one over the competition??

[RacingManiac]

I thought the guy was holding him not with the lollipop but just gesturing him to stay put with his hand, like in the previous stop. Judging by the suspicious timing between Alonso's outlap and beginning of Kimi's fast lap(where Kimi just passed Alonso right after the first corner on his hot lap), I think they were actually trying to get out right in front of the Ferrari, but that ended up being a tad longer than what Lewis can make up on his out lap.....

I don't think even Alonso can get away with purposely not moving in the pitlane...

[Lets Gekiga In]

I thought the guy was holding him not with the lollipop but just gesturing him to stay put with his hand, like in the previous stop. Judging by the suspicious timing between Alonso's outlap and beginning of Kimi's fast lap(where Kimi just passed Alonso right after the first corner on his hot lap), I think they were actually trying to get out right in front of the Ferrari, but that ended up being a tad longer than what Lewis can make up on his out lap.....

I don't think even Alonso can get away with purposely not moving in the pitlane...

Yeah, even Peter Windsor was saying it wasn't the case that Alonso was just staying there on his own accord. I mean, Alonso definitely didn't mind I imagine, but he wasn't doing it on purpose.

[Cyco]

I think Alonso played it brilliantly to get one over Hamilton, but I'm not sure Ron Dennis sees it that way.

Massa was having a shocker, including stopping in the pit lane just before heading out the 2nd time for Q2

[Lets Gekiga In]

I think Alonso played it brilliantly to get one over Hamilton, but I'm not sure Ron Dennis sees it that way.

Meh, like I said before Peter Windsor even said that he really didn't think it was Alonso's doing at all.

[RacingManiac]

autosport.com - F1 News: Dennis: Hamilton triggered incident

McLaren's official reasoning....

[Rockefella]

autosport.com - F1 News: Dennis: Hamilton triggered incident

McLaren's official reasoning....

I could smell BS from the other room when I had this link opened. Of course they blame the incident on Hamilton, who was obviously fuming at the situation. If Lewis knew he was at blame, I doubt he would have put off that same body language.

Oh, and Dennis using 'and that is the truth', 'I have told you precisely the truth', 'if you are looking for a sound bite or headline ... I have told you, precisely, the truth' gets old after a few uses.