Looking back at Hungary

By Matt Jones
August 10 2006

Regular RealHondaF1.com reader Matt Jones again shares his thoughts on the last race - this time being able to enthuse about a the Honda Racing F1 team finally winning a race!

Round 13 of the championship brings us to Hungary, a track that is often criticised amongst the fans as being the most boring race of the season. With very few overtaking opportunities, qualifying is absolutely everything at the Hungaroring.

Before we even got to qualifying, Honda were dealt a huge blow when Jenson Button’s engine expired out on track in Friday practice, handing him a 10 place grid penalty and ensuring that his vital qualifying run would yield no better than 11th on the grid.

Button was not alone in his misfortune, though. Fernando Alonso was handed a penalty on Friday after he brake tested Robert Doornbos into turn one, a move that was clearly dangerous. The stewards had the same view and penalised the world champion accordingly, which would see Fernando start way down in 15th.

Thankfully, for Fernando, championship rival Michael Schumacher was also handed an identical penalty for overtaking Robert Kubica and, ironically, the Spaniard himself under red flags. I found it amazing that Alonso would risk retaining his championship on such a stupid incident in a practice session. Whilst what Schumacher did was dangerous, I doubt it was intentional. Unfortunately for him, things do not have to be done intentionally to be served with a penalty.

With the top two drivers in the championship out of the way it was a perfect opportunity for Rubens Barrichello to really score some decent points. He certainly capitalised on the opportunity, and put his Honda on the second row of the grid.

Button managed 4th on the grid (14th after the engine penalty), just a fraction down on Rubens, and we were certainly left thinking ‘if only we didn’t have the penalty we’d be in a great position for a fantastic haul of points’.

Although the Hungaroring usually produces a very boring race, we were being given a Grand Prix with a very mixed up grid - and rain! For the first time in 21 years we were being served a wet Hungarian Grand Prix.

All was not lost for Jenson to score some points, whilst Rubens was in a great position to score his maiden podium for the team. With the wet track, and the forecast of more rain, it was going to be the most unpredictable race for a very long time.

The opening stages served us with some of the best racing we’ve seen for a long time. Alonso and Schumacher were going wheel to wheel on track, with the 7 times world champion who was blatantly struggling on his Bridgestone tyres and driving very aggressively.

Schumacher’s driving was perhaps questionable at certain parts of the race, putting his car in very dangerous places on the circuit in order to defend. Eventually the inevitable happened and he made contact with Nick Heidfeld, putting himself out of the race and possibly giving the German media another field day after last years coming together at Melbourne.

The changing conditions during the race caught out a number of drivers, including Kimi Raikkonen who was fighting for victory up until he ran into the back of Vitantonio Liuzzi as he came up to lap him. Clearly Kimi’s fault, which was unfortunate for the Finn, but fantastic news for Jenson Button as he picked his way through the field to begin closing down Fernando Alonso at an alarming rate.

One thing I was impressed about with Honda Racing F1 was the decision making, something that over the years I felt they had flaws in. In Hungary, they were absolutely flawless. Whilst others struggled on deciding which tyres to go on, Honda made the perfect decision. Along with a great strategy, we were in the hunt for the win from 14th on the grid.

Rookie driver Robert Kubica was impressing in the BMW-Sauber, as many thought he would, showing some good pace, although he also showed moments of raggedness. I think we can let him off, considering this was a pretty difficult race for most experienced drivers, let alone someone making his debut, and he did a good job to bring his car back in the points.

Apart from Schumacher, the Bridgestone runners were nowhere to be seen. The tyre was obviously the weakest by quite a margin, hence the desperate defending by the seven times world champion throughout the race. Schumacher was even lapped by Alonso at one stage, making things incredibly difficult for the young Spaniard by not letting him through for several corners.

That all became irrelevant as, after Alonso’s final pit stop, he had a driveshaft failure which span him out of the race and left Jenson Button half a minute in the lead!

Amazingly Button went onto cruise home to win his maiden race, over 30 seconds ahead of Pedro de la Rosa. Most were wondering how far the gap would have been had Button started without his 10 place grid penalty.

The drive from Jenson was flawless. Yes, other people did drop out, and yes, it was unusual circumstances that we won under. However, the win was well deserved and you can take nothing away from the stunning drive in the rain from Button, and the great work of the team as a whole. We certainly had Schumacher beaten before his retirement and, arguably, we would have beaten Alonso anyway. It just makes you wonder what would have happed if Rubens had not made the wrong tyre choice - a maiden win and maiden 1-2?

Alonso’s team mate, Giancarlo Fisichella, spun out of the race. As time goes on it’s looking more desperate for Renault whom, at the start of the season, were absolutely flawless. It just shows how things can turn around so quickly in F1, though. With Fisichella still not really performing Renault must be kicking themselves that Fernando will not be with them next season.

Ferrari’s Felipe Massa was nowhere to be seen from the start, going backwards from lap one. Eventually he did bring home a couple of points but that was down to retirements rather then pure speed. Schumacher, in hindsight, will be kicking himself that he lost out on a fairly good haul of points.

McLaren’s Pedro De La Rosa drove a faultless race to bring home his first ever podium in Formula One. It was a very solid display and he did himself no harm in his bid for the race seat next year if Kimi does leave. It was a completely different display to when we saw him in Bahrain last year he was patient and the moves he pulled out of the bag were clean.

Another double retirement for Williams – it’s now eight races without a single point for the team. With the news Mark Webber has signed for Red Bull Racing next season it was a bad weekend for Williams. The good news is experienced driver Alexander Wurz will be in the race seat next season alongside Nico Rosberg.

Red Bull Racing quietly got the job done, with David Coulthard coming home a very strong fifth for the team. Christian Klien, perhaps confirming the team are right to drop him next season for Mark Webber, had another poor showing, spinning in the early stages.

BMW-Sauber got their First podium thanks to Nick Heidfeld, who gave a very solid display and kept his nose clean throughout. Unfortunately, Kubica’s impressive debut came to nothing, as he was disqualified for having an underweight car. A tad surprisingly BMW-Sauber have decided to retain Kubica in the race seat for the remainder of the season, dropping 1997 world champion Jacques Villeneuve in the process.

Toyota, victims of the awful Bridgestone tyre, were nowhere to be seen. Jarno Trulli retired late on with a spectacular engine failure, while Ralf Schumacher was able to crawl home in the points, though that was due to other people not finishing rather than raw pace for the Toyota. Adding insult to injury, Honda became the first of the two Japanese outfits to score their maiden win, a point of which both made no secret they wanted so much.

Toro Rosso’s Liuzzi was unfortunate to be caught up in Kimi’s mistake, putting him out of the race early on. Scott Speed took a risk on slicks that didn’t pay off, putting him well out of contention for points. A weekend that maybe the team could have scored some points with the amount of retirements.

Midland made little impression on a weekend where maybe the first point of the season could have been pinched, but it wasn’t to be.

Super Aguri didn’t really have the step up they thought the new car might have, and they are still struggling at the back of the grid. Hopefully the car has more potential than it has been showing.

Honda are now race winners, and Button has proven the critics wrong - he can win races, and Hungary was not just any race. It was a tough one where a lot of drivers struggled to keep the car on the circuit, but Button just smoothly carved his way through the field almost effortlessly.

It was a fantastic surprise considering on Saturday I thought Button would struggle to get points, let alone a win! No doubt others helped us, but of course we’ll take it and run with the win. After a couple of incredibly difficult seasons the team deserves what they got thoroughly and the win that looked further away than ever in recent weeks has suddenly been dropped in our laps.

Now we move to Turkey where last year the new track gave us a fantastic race. I don’t expect the team to be winning again, though. I feel it’s going to be business as usual between Alonso and Schumacher. However, I’m extremely pleased as the Honda Racing F1 team has achieved the goal it set itself almost two years ago, and that is to concentrate on getting the maiden win over final position in the constructors championship.

Can Button win? Does he have the bottle? Will Honda ever deliver? I think Sunday answered all the questions the critics have been asking, and now they suddenly seem extremely quiet…