Lewis Hamilton wins a Grand Prix in his McLaren, and Kimi Raikkonen brings his Ferrari home in second place, as the legendary McLaren vs. Ferrari battles continue....
When the 2009 Formula One season began this year, I would have bet the house that we would not have had to wait until the 10th race of the year till I would get to write an opening sentence like the one I just did. Yet surprisingly enough, that is the case. So here we are, 10 races in, 7 Grand Prix left, and for the very first time this year, a car other than a Brawn or a Red Bull has won a Formula One race!
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Surely Lewis Hamilton had to be thrilled with this victory, it comes as a such huge surprise, after all, the McLaren team has been struggling at the back of the pack for most of the year. The McLaren team has just made astonishing improvements in their race cars, and Lewis, in typical Hamilton classy fashion, awards plenty of credit to his team. Everything is about “we” with Lewis, he is clearly maturing and is certainly becoming very much the team player. "It's a huge turnaround," Hamilton said. "We said at the beginning of the season that if anyone can do this, it's us. If we had this car at the beginning of season we would be winning."
"We always said we were six months behind the top guys. I hope the guys back at the factory get a good break these next few weeks. It was only a race ago, when we were in Germany, that I first had a little bit of excitement [about the car]. Our target was just to get a podium. We didn't think we had the pace to win." 
“The Car Is Reborn”
For sure, this is a sweet ,sweet victory indeed for Lewis, the MP4-24 was showing clear signs of their aero improvements in Germany.But that was before Lewis was clipped by the Red Bull of Mark Webber, which caused a tire puncture and put Lewis out of that race. Lewis had been saying, “The car is reborn. I can win with this car.” in Germany, and with his brilliant and quite dominant drive on Sunday in Hungary, he backed those words up.
Big time.
So lets take a closer look at the what happened in the Hungarian Grand Prix, lap by lap, and lets see if we can find some of the reasons for all the smiles at McLaren, and perhaps discover signs of silver linings for Team Ferrari. Lets also examine some of the fouls ups among other racing mysteries to ponder for the Red Bull, Renault and Brawn teams, there were mistakes that were made by some pit crews and what exactly happened with the rest of the Formula One grid...
Sound good? 
Four Wide Off the Grid
As always in Formula One racing, the start off the grid is always extremely crucial, particularly at a track like the Hungaroring, where passing is extra difficult, and there are few really good chances to overtake anybody.
Alonso on pole blasted off just fine, word was he was very light on fuel (enough for estimated 11 laps), and his car looked very swift as he dashed to the first turn. But there was a lot of action going on in Alonso's mirrors....
This photo (above) really gives us a great look at the action, and it all happened in a blur. (once again, thank goodness for the DVR, I slowed this down and watched it again, since it was so fast and furious.)
The KERS cars- Lewis in his McLaren and most especially Kimi Raikkonen in his Ferrari, got terrific power boosts by blasting the 80 horses at their fingertips with their KERS systems. Lewis swings inside of the Red Bull driven by Sebastian Vettel, towards the middle of the track. Meanwhile, on the other side of the track, Kimi had zoomed forward from 7th ,and he also sees an inside move on the Webber Red Bull. But neither Kimi or Lewis realized they were both aiming for the same area of the middle of the track with their passes.
Lewis at the very last moment sees Kimi's Ferrari about to sideswipe his McLaren, so he darts back to the right, nearly slamming into Vettel, which is just about to happen in the first grid photo above. (Lewis may have clipped Sebastian's front wing)
Hamilton is still surging for the first turn, and Webber lets him go, because he realizes that Lewis will have to go wide on turn 1, which allows Mark to retake second from Lewis after turn one. Meanwhile, leaving turn 1, Kimi does sideswipe somebody, but this time its Vettel. (Vettel's car is damaged, and he eventually needs to retire from the race)
But Webber's lead over Hamilton was about to disappear. And its because Hamilton was about to show Webber the move of the race....
Lap 4- Hamilton's Brilliant Pass
Top 4 at this point is Alonso, Webber, Hamilton and Kimi.
Alonso is clocking some fast laps, but Webber and Hamilton are just as fast. Lewis looks quicker than Webber, and he sets Mark up like a bowling pin on this lap. He is right up the Red Bull's tailpipes, when he suddenly swings his McLaren to the outside, just before a right turn. We see this in the photo below. But Hamilton's outside move is only a feint, and as they enter the apex, he darts back inside Mark, and then stays inside, as they accelerate out of the turn, onto a short straight. Lewis dials in his KERS boost, which of course the Red Bull cannot match. The Red Bull and McLaren are sprinting side by side up the track, like two drag racers, until Hamilton noses out front and shuts the door on Mark at the next turn for second place. Turns out that door was shut for good on the Red Bull.
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For the rest of the day, Webber saw nothing but Hamilton's exhaust fumes. Just a brilliant bit of Formula One racing and a true World Champion's move on an experienced driver.
End of Part I Hungarian Grand Prix In Depth: Lewis and McLaren bring the drama back to F1
Hungarian Grand Prix In Depth: Lewis and McLaren bring the drama back to F1-Part II
See also- Hungarian Grand Prix: Hamilton a surprise winner
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