Hungary: post-race analysis 2018
As is traditional, the
Hungarian Grand Prix was mostly boring, but it did have some
excitement towards the end. It was also unprofitable. The Bottas bet
didn’t come off, the Verstappen bet failed because his engine
broke. Had it worked, the bet was very likely to have come off.
Vettel started on soft
tyres, unlike those ahead of him who were on the ultrasofts.
Off the line, Bottas
started poorly and was almost passed by Raikkonen. In the end, it was
Vettel who passed his team mate. Further down the field, Ricciardo
got squeezed and dropped several places.
And then the waiting
game began. You see, Hungary, like Singapore and Monaco (although not
a street circuit) is one of those where it’s almost impossible to
overtake. Which isn’t a great quality in a race track.
So, Ricciardo, having a
fantastically faster car than the midfield, began slicing his way
towards to the upper echelons, and there was not much else of
interest occurring.
Verstappen had
dispatched the two midfield chaps ahead of him on the grid
practically from the line, and was looking to upset the podium party
when his engine decided to break. A great shame both for him and for
us, as he really could’ve get in amongst the top chaps.
Vettel, starting on the
soft tyres, went on a longer initial stint. It was nigh on impossible
for him to jump Hamilton at the stops because the first 20 laps or so
had seen the German stuck behind Bottas whilst Hamilton cruised to a
tasty lead, but the Ferrari driver was far enough ahead of the Finn
to overtake him, put on ultrasofts and have a crack at Hamilton.
And then Ocon refused
to get out of the way. There are meant to be three blue flags shown
and if the driver does not let the man who is lapping him past a
penalty ensues. Ocon saw nine flags and cost Vettel about 4-5s before
he let the man contending for victory past. I was astonished the
Frenchman didn’t get the book thrown at him, as his interference
had a material outcome on the race result.
Vettel was also harmed
by a lengthy pit stop. The extra second or two there by itself could
have made the difference that allowed Bottas to be ahead of Vettel
after the stops, but without Ocon’s obstinate refusal to get out of
the way, Vettel would’ve emerged behind Hamilton and had the
opportunity to try for the win (still unlikely, but the chance
would’ve been there).
Vettel ended up stuck
behind Bottas for perhaps 15 laps, during the course of which
Raikkonen got within DRS of his team mate. Bottas’ rear tyres were
going wobbly and Vettel finally managed to pass him, but the Finn
struck the back of Vettel’s car (an ‘interesting tactic’, as a
conspiracy theorist might call it). Thankfully, Vettel was ok, and
Raikkonen also swept past his countryman. The damage to Bottas’ car
slowed him and Ricciardo was on for a pass when the Finn clunkily
clonked into the Aussie. Again, thankfully they were ok and the
Aussie passed him a short while later (interesting not least because
Bottas had been ordered by his own team to give the place back, and
refused to yield).
I wouldn’t be
surprised if Bottas gets a small penalty of some variety, and think
Ocon should have the book thrown at him. If we’re going to have the
blue flag rule it must be enforced.
Bottas ended up 5th.
Gasly and Magnussen were 6th and 7th, both
getting some very handy points for their teams, which are locked in
tight Constructors’ fights. Alonso scored on his birthday, nabbing
8th, and Sainz might be a little disappointed with 9th
given where he started (could be wrong but I think he went backwards
off the line). Grosjean got 10th, making it a double
points finish for Haas. After misfiring early on, the team are
delivering consistently good results now.
In addition to
Verstappen, Leclerc was a lap 1 casualty, and Vandoorne’s gearbox
died in the latter half of the race (he probably would’ve finished
right behind Alonso otherwise).
Drivers’:
Hamilton 213
Vettel 189
Raikkonen 146
Bottas 132
Sizeable lead for
Hamilton but certainly not insurmountable given how topsy turvy the
title race has been so far. As others have pointed out, since the
mid-season break was introduced nobody to win the last race ahead of
it has won the title. Which is interesting, if also meaningless.
Constructors’:
Mercedes 345
Ferrari 335
Red Bull 223
Renault 82
Haas 66
Force India 59
McLaren 52
Toro Rosso 28
Sauber 18
Williams 4
Sauber had been
chipping patiently away at the gap to Toro Rosso, who seem to score
rarely but quite well when they do, and now see the gap balloon
again. The Haas, Force India, McLaren battle remains tight, with
Renault not a million miles ahead. I think Renault will be best of
the rest, perhaps Haas trying to challenge them. Force India versus
McLaren is tricky to call. All in all, the midfield’s rather
intriguing. And it remains immensely close between the top two teams,
of course.
We now have a month or
so off from me offering tips and discovering whether they fail due to
misjudgement or misfortune. Spa is next, followed by Monza.
Morris Dancer
Comments
Post a Comment