Weekend Round-up: F1 Hungarian Grand Prix

NEW DELHI: The Silver Arrow of Lewis Hamilton has found its way to the top step of the podium once again - after a gap of 10 races! The last time Lewis Hamilton saw himself there was in China last season. In fact, the defending F1 Champion hasn't been on the podium at all since. McLaren-Mercedes had a devastating start to the 2009 season after newcomers Brawn GP started sweeping every race till recently with Jenson Button still leading the Drivers' Championship standings. After a huge legal battle surrounding Brawn, Williams and Toyota's rear diffusers got settled in the three teams' favour, the Working outfit still couldn't find pace enough to rough it up at the top while Ferrari slowly but steadily recovered - even scoring podium finishes. The MP4-24 that Hamilton and Kovalainen drove at Hungary today seemed totally different beasts than the car which McLaren started off with in 2009 - well behaved and super reliable. Qualifying Qualifying was a whole different story - a whole lot of drama that engulfed quite a few teams with Renault emerging with a huge smile on their faces. Even as Q3 drew to a close the official timing system crashed leaving a very secretive lull over who was actually the fastest driver on the grid on Saturday. As things got clearer and the official times were finally announced it was two-time Champion Fernando Alonso who was on top with the Red Bulls of Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber following him in second and third. Alonso was clearly fuelled low, but the biggest threat to Vettel and Webber was going to be from the KERS equipped cars of Kimi Raikkonen and Lewis Hamilton. If you're wondering why Button's Brawn GP car isn't mentioned in the mix, it's because of a huge mishap that happened with Rubens Barrichello's car. The spring on the rear damper of the Rubinho's car came loose during Q2 and flew off straight into the path of a speeding Felipe Massa who got hit on his helmet with the piece of machinery. The collision apparently ripped Massa's helmet causing a skull fracture and a concussion to his brain. The Brazilian was airlifted and is out of danger after doctors performed surgery at the AEK hospital in Budapest. The Ferrari driver is recovering soon but might miss out on races though the rest of the season. With such a huge mechanical failure on Barrichello's car, Button's BGP 01 was pulled in for inspection as well causing him to put in very few laps in qualifying - a move that Brawn GP couldn't recover from for the rest of the season even of they would have been up and near Red Bull's pace. Race Day 19 cars lined up the grid today for the start of the Hungarian Grand Prix with Felipe Massa's car missing due to his accident on Sunday. There was a definite air of concern in the air for the Brazilian driver's well being, especially after young F2 driver Henry Surtees lost his life last week in a similar accident when he was hit by a renegade tyre off another competitor's car. The weather was nice, though hot, but with no clouds in sight that could cause any kind of upset. Fernando Alonso ran off at the start with a superb launch that kept everyone way behind. The KERS boost from Hamilton and Kimi saw them make up quite a few places with a melee in the first two corners that saw Vettel loosing out with what they claim was contact on his front wing. Vettel settled in 6th after all that but never could really recover from the incident - eventually retiring soon. Hamilton made his way into second place with the 90 horsepower boost pushing him ahead of Webber in a move from the outside. Raikkonen stayed right on Webber's tail till the first round of pit stops. There on Hamilton seemed unstoppable even with Alonso in the lead as the Brit steadily caught up with the Renault. Great driving mixed with brilliant thinking and sound strategy from McLaren saw Hamilton move into the lead and stay there all the way through till the end. Lewis found himself in control of a race after an extremely long time and self admittedly it felt great! Alonso was never going to be the race winner today judging by the performance of his Renault even if he had managed pole position. But the way that privilege was taken from him was unjustifiable. On his first pit stop, he was asked to go before the mechanics could fully tighten the wheel nut on his front right wheel which caused the aerodynamic bit that diverts air to cool the front discs to be left loose. Eventually, the carbon fibre piece came off and so did the front right tyre. Alonso managed to limp to the pits, get a replacement tyre and come back out again but the damage was too big for the Spaniard to recover fully as he had to retire early. Kimi meanwhile was piling the pressure on Mark Webber and as the two entered the pits for the first time together, a glitch in Webber's stop meant that Raikkonen pipped the Australian in the pit lane - with Webber pulling out and almost ploughing into the side of the Ferrari as well as a couple of Williams' pit crew! Kimi drove a great race there on, but Hamilton just had a better car to not only match the Finn's pace, but also better it when required. A minor problem with Kimi's car not selecting first gear in his second pit stop was a slight cause of worry for the Maranello outfit but in the end Kimi stayed in second comfortably and finished there. Mark Webber seemed like he would be put under a lot of pressure by Nico Rosberg during the closing stages but great strategy saw him on the softer tyres in the third stint which meant he kept enough pace to finish the Hungarian Grand Prix right where he had started - in third! Rosberg took fourth, with Kovalainen rounding up the top five. Timo Glock put his Toyota in sixth ahead of Jenson Button. It was a three way battle between Trulli, Nakajima and Barrichello for the final point of the race but Trulli held on wonderfully to claim the point. It was a refreshing change to see McLaren back in the thick of the action today, with Ferrari in tow. The Brawn GP BGP 01 was nowhere near the front runners for the first time this season. Could this be an indication for the rest of the season? There are still 7 races to go which still leaves an outside chance for both Lewis Hamilton (19 points) and Kimi Raikkonen (18 points) to make amends and snatch the Championship from Button who leads with 70 points. Mark Webber has pipped team mate Vettel in the drivers' standings at the moment to sit in second place with 51.5 points against Vettel's 47. It will be interesting to see hoe Red Bull react here on. However this goes, our sincerest wishes and prayers are with Ferrari driver Felipe Massa for a complete and speedy recovery. There's a one month gap to the European Grand Prix in Valencia now which takes place on 23 August. Nothing will please every Formula 1 fan more than if Massa is able to recover and race at the street circuit where he won last year. Let's keep our fingers crossed. Formula 1 has become exciting again!