It seems like someone was bound to get a present this Sunday at the Formula 1 Hungarian Grand Prix. But it wasn’t meant to be Fernando Alonso, who yesterday turned 30 and also raced for the 30th time with Ferrari.
The one to receive his gift at the Hungaroring after the 11th race of the season came to an end was McLaren’s Jenson Button who also celebrated his 200th Grand Prix, and 11th victory, in Formula 1.
Button’s victory was not an easy one. He put in an excellent performance in changing weather conditions, as rain played its part making it difficult to keep the cars on the track. But it was also a “gift from his team-mate, Lewis Hamilton, who initially looked like the one with the best chances of a win.
Hamilton indeed was the man to beat, putting pressure to pole man Sebastian Vettel from the very first lap, eventually forcing him to an error and taking the lead. But his team’s choice of supersoft instead of soft tires in the last round of pit stops and a drive-through penalty imposed to him for preventing Paul di Resta in recovering from a spin put an end to his hopes for a win and he had to settle for fourth place behind Vettel and Alonso.
At the back, the best performances of the race were those of Sebastian Buemi, who started 23rd but brought his Torro Rosso home in 8th place and Force India’s Paul di Resta who accomplished his best ever result in F1 finishing seventh.
On the other hand, Mark Webber made some bad tire choices and, generally, in Hungary didn’t display the pace that he had the past two races. In addition, Michael Schumacher, who for the 10th time in 11 races this year was starting behind his team-mate, retired with a gearbox problem.
With just eight races remaining, Sebastian Vettel and Red Bull hold 85 and 103 points advantage over their nearest rival. But at least this season the racing part is exciting with plenty of overtaking and dramatic wheel-to-wheel fights that keep our interest until the end.
