Webber grabs Hungary win after Vettel blunder

2010 Hungarian Grand Prix review

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Mark Webber scored his fourth win of 2010 in the Hungarian Grand Prix.

He hit the front by staying out of the pits during an early safety car period, then built up enough of a gap to keep his lead ahead of Fernando Alonso and Sebastian Vettel.

His team mate was delayed by a drive-through penalty for failing to stay close enough to Webber behind the safety car.

There was much attention on Vettel at the start after his poor getaways in recent races. But he held first place this time and Alonso followed him through into second ahead of Webber.

With Alonso keeping Webber behind, Vettel stretched his lead very quickly, leaving them behind at the rate of a second a lap.

The safety car came out after Vitantonio Liuzzi lost part of his front wing and almost every car came into the pits at once. Webber was a significant exception, Red Bull gambling on him being able to build up enough of a gap over Alonso once the race had resumed to leapfrog the Ferrari.

But the busy pit lane had dangerous consequences. Nico Rosberg’s Mercedes shed its right-rear wheel, flinging it towards dozens of mechanics. It struck one Williams mechanic, but mercifully his injuries were light.

There was more chaos. Renault released Robert Kubica out of his pit box as Adrian Sutil ahead was swinging in to his.

The pair collided, putting Sutil out of the race, and Kubica retired later following a stop-go penalty. The stewards will investigate the incident further.

It was at the restart of the race where it all went wrong for Vettel. He allowed Webber to get too far ahead and the stewards later hit him with a drive-through penalty.

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By the time he served his penalty he had built up enough of a gap to only lose one place to Alonso – though he also lost the opportunity to inherit his lead back from Webber.

A furious Vettel spent the rest of the race trying to get close enough to Alonso to make a move. His best opportunity came after the two split the Lotus drivers, allowing Vettel to get within half a second of his rival. But he ran wide at turn four and the moment was lost.

Felipe Massa had a quiet race to fourth. He moved up to the place when Lewis Hamilton retired early in the race with a loss of drive.

Hamilton had fallen behind Vitaly Petrov at the start but re-passed the Renault driver on the outside of turn two. He then took fourth off Massa during the pits before his car failed.

Petrov claimed fifth ahead of Hulkenberg – the last car not to be lapped by the flying Webber.

Jenson Button made a poor start from 11th place and fell as low as 15th. He managed to take one pace off Vitantonio Liuzzi and gained a few more places through the pit stops.

But he ended the races sandwiched between the Saubers and unable to pass Pedro de la Rosa. Kamui Kobayashi finished an impressive ninth having started on the back row.

Rubens Barrichello claimed the final point for tenth place and had to fight hard for it in a terrifyingly close encounter with Michael Schumacher – another matter the stewards are attending to.

All six of the new teams’ cars finished the race, with Heikki Kovalainen leading them in 14th behind Sebastien Buemi and Liuzzi.

Red Bull may have once again failed to convert a front row start into a one-two finish but they took enough points to claim the lead of the constructors’ championship and put Webber back ahead in the drivers’ title race. Food for thought for their rivals as they head into the summer break.

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2010 Hungarian Grand Prix

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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89 comments on “Webber grabs Hungary win after Vettel blunder”

  1. Shame on FIA to not ban these wings sooner…..FIA is such a joke…..

    1. The RB6 in checked scrutineering, just like every other car, and it passes every time. So the RB6 front wing is legal.

      1. Mclaren fan?

        Just like the Brawn GP diffuser and the McLaren F-duct. It’s legal so now it’s time for the other teams to go copy it.

        1. Is it? I believe that’s still to be decided …

          1. He means the other teams ought to hurry up and implement flexi-wings before they’re banned (if they are banned, that is).

          2. The qustion is not whether they pass the current deflection tests, but whether the current tests suffice.

            FIA has changed the tests when confronted with untested bodywork flexing before. They should do the same now.

            It’s obvious that these wings flex quite a lot and that’s against article 3.15. So to keep cars conforming to 3.15, article 3.17.8 allows them to create new tests.

        2. No, it’s not “legal” now because it passed scrutineering, as PatrickL explains. With the wings hitting the ground what other proof do you need that the test has been mooted? If this passes the test then you have to agree that running the test henceforth is a waste of everyone’s time.

          As for the other examples, its a useful comparison: McLaren told everyone about the F-Duct up front, before the season. Same situation with Brawn and the double diffuser. Everyone knew what was up and had their chance to react. The front-diffuser is being done totally in a totally under-handed manner in comparison. This should be a lesosn to McLaren and everyone else that it’s better to ask for forgiveness than permission when it comes to technical issues.

          1. McLaren has been whining about the RB6 from the beginning of the season, and as Webber rightly pointed out in the post race press conference when asked about the wing, every week something new comes up, mostly instigated from Woking.

            These bad whiny habits, an unfortunate tribal ritual amongst Anglos, especially of the sportsman variety, seems to have rubbed off on their fanboys as well.

            Rest assured folks, the front wing alone is not giving the RB a two second lead over the Maccas.

          2. There is no way to construct a wing that does not deflect to some degree under load. As a result, there always needs to be a test that defines the level of required stiffness in the structure. The Red Bull and Ferrari both pass this current requirement.

            The FIA can define this level of stiffness which will then mean the wing might not be able to be used. This though may also affect other teams who also design their wings based on this stiffness requirement. The McLaren may fail the new test…….

            Yet again, McLaren are conplaining because the Red Bull is so much faster than them, especially because they thought they were set with the f-duct, and Ferrari with their wheel design, and yet both have been beaten by the ‘new team’ showing the ‘old teams’ how it is done

          3. I agree with AK, there is more to the RB6 than the front wing and blown diffuser. Adrian Newey said he wanted to design and build a complete car that is at once fast, efficient and driveable. The front wing and the blown diffusers are parts of that concept, not the concept itself.
            Now if Adrian could only design some drivers that are his cars equal.

    2. the wings don’t have to pass checks when in motion. they’re stationary when checked, so they pass. therefore legal.

      1. finally they are going to check it out.

        FIA set to clamp down on ‘flexible wings’ by Belgian GP

        http://adamcooperf1.com/2010/08/01/exclusive-fia-set-to-clamp-down-on-flexible-wings-by-belgian-gp/

        1. That would be good. Incredibly late, but still.

        2. A bad step in my opinion.

          Formula One is about innovation, about pushing the rules to the limit.

          All Ferrari and Red Bull have done here is exploited the incompleteness of the FIA’s testing system. Just as Brawn exploited a loophole in the FIA’s rules last year.

          Instead of letting Mclaren, Merc, Renaults to develop their own flexi-wings, they now want to peg pack the entire field.

          This will only lead to more controversy. I can foresee Ferrari asking for another day of testing since this change in test-regulations means their car needs to test new parts which do comply with FIA’s stricter front-wing tests.

          Bad decision.

          1. No. they have broken the rules by exploiting a badly conceived test.

          2. @BBT: *That* is exactly what is called as pushing the rules to the limit. Finding the weakest rule, and exploiting it. Formula One has always been about that. Takes the case of the Double Diffuser, or the case of the F-duct.

            The F-duct in itself mimics a movable aerodynamic device (like the flexi-wing). But F-duct uses the driver’s knee as the movable part and thus doesn’t break any FIA regulation. Is it within the spirit of the regulations? no, but does it follow the regulations to the letter? yes. Same is the case with flexi-wing.

            FIA should allow it. Anyways, my only hope is that the Red Bull and Ferrari wings continue to meet FIA’s stricter tests so that other teams have no option but to copy it.

          3. Well argued, but IMO there is a difference.

            F-duct complies with the rules and tests, they only thing it breaks is a weak ‘spirit of rules’ but no actual rules.

            Flexi wing breaks the rules but complies with the tests, here lies the problem. I agree in that it is very clever but is a step too far, they should be happy they got away with breaking the rules for 3 races. Well done I say, but it should end here!

          4. Oh, and the double diffuser was also clearly within the rules, it was only ‘the spirit’ that was broken.

      2. Ah, the joys of semantics! :)

      3. No, the tests don’t (or can’t) prove they’re not legal. Not quite the same thing. Different tests would undoubtedly prove that the wings flex more than the amount stipulated by the regulations and therefore are illegal.

    3. Im infuriated as you can blatantly see on the footage that the red bull’s front wing is much lower than other cars.

      Thre rules say the wing must be 85 mm or whatever above the ground at all times, and the red bull’s clearly isnt.

  2. Younger Hamilton
    1st August 2010, 16:19

    McLaren’s Revival will begin in the Belgian Grand Prix at the legendary Spa-Francochamps speaking of Spa im going to play NFS Shift now to get a feeling of where McLaren should be at a good advantage.

    1. I’m sure the next couple of races will suit McLaren more, but they also need to put in some hard work over the break to ensure they return stronger.

      I’m also surprised that Button is just 10 points behind Hamilton at this point in the title race – he seems to have been out classed by his team mate on quite a few occasions now, but is still hanging in there.

      As for the race, a great drive by Webber today; a bit unlucky for Vettel, but the shot of him driving down the pit lane with his arms in the air just sums up why I don’t think he’ll win the title this year.

      1. Well to be fair on the Hamilton/Button front, Lewis has retired from second and fourth whereas Jenson has the just the one retirement from eighth, I think it was.

        1. True. Button is fortunate to still be in the title hunt. he needs a top top car to challenge though whereas Lewis doesn’t.

          Will be interesting to see if McLaren can keep up otherwise it could be between Webber and Alonso for the title.

    2. Monza will be a Mclaren 1-2 with Red Bull’s no where. We saw last year how far ahead the Mercedes engine is and Red Bull struggled.

      This will close the title up nicely again.

      1. Is the Mercedes engine really significantly better than the competition? From the way Barichello passed Schumacher it would seem even the Cosworth unit is nearly on par.

        1. The Cosworth is not as powerful but because Barrichello was on set of brand spanking new super soft tyres on low fuel load, he was able to get close to Schumacher. But even then the the Merc was faster on the straight but Rubens finally was able to stay close enough in the last corner to get a tow.

          1. Look at the Force Indias. They’ve been really hard to overtake. Vettel nor Alonso could get passed them in much better cars at Silverstone.

            Last year Mercedes annihilated the field at Monza. Brawn 1-2 Lewis should have been 3rd and even Force Indias were very high up. Vettel struggled to score a single point.

    3. I hope McLaren are competitive at Spa, but I find it hard to believe that they can come up with the upgrades needed to compete with Red Bull or, perhaps even Ferrari in sector two. The RB6 is just too far ahead of everyone to make that kind of improvement before Spa.
      Remember, all teams are required by FIA to close down their factories over the break so any coordinated development will be very limited.

  3. Vet chucked it away but equally Webber won it today. veryone thought with the SC that Webber wouldn’t have a hope but he made the unsual strategy work (for so long we on the live blog were praying he’d just pit) and was putting in the laptimes. Ok, RBR couldn’t really battle it out with Vet’s penalty but as much as Seb seemed out of control for his race Webber semmed fully comfortable which was quite a feat this weekend given he was msotly the slower of the two. See Ferrari, more to racing then speed :P Sorry couldn’t resist a joke!

    One other point I’d like to make is with regards to Renault as I thought the penalty was the most pointless thing ever. It just added insult to injury to Kubica who was a totally innocent party. When the lollipop goes up the driver goes, they trust their team to tell them it is safe and go on their way esp when a driver’s vision is so limited.

    It was the team mistake not the driver so maybe Renault should have got a fine – if they have the money of course :P It was dangerous a ten second stop go was just out of sync with what happened.

    I don’t fully blame the lollipop man as it was a human error and these thungs happen. It was made under chaotic circumstances with a wheel flying about and the FI hiding behind a Williams. It was just chaos and we’ve seen at Sing 08 the danger that can be done ina pitlane when it’s chaos. The mechanics are well drilled but they’re still human. Maybe with this incident and the flying wheel, pitting when the SC is out should be a rule that is looked at.

    I sincerely hope the Williams mechanic is ok too. It could have been a lot worse.

    1. I thought it was a good move by Webber straight away and his only chance which he took well

    2. As for the incident, i would almost bet the Renault lollipop man was watching Rosberg’s tyre jumping around and might have raised raised it looking up at that.

      I also think Kubica was not at foult, it was a team mistake, not sure the $50.000 penalty was enough there.

      I suppose Ferrari was glad there’s more to racing than speed here, as Alonso should have let through Vettel otherwise :-(

  4. Well done webber, great race. Yes maybe vettel gifted it to him, but even so he had to drive out of his skin to make up that gap on those tyres, very very good. Kobayashi did well to score points from the back of the grid. and Petrov had his best race weekend to date, I may have to begin to revise my opinion of him slightly.

  5. The stewards had a good race. Instead taking hours to give out penalties, they only took a few minutes.

    Good job by Sauber also.

    1. Sauber definitely deserve a mention. The last few races they have improved hugely.

    2. Vettel still got far too many hot laps inafter the investigation notice and before they gave the drive thru penalty

      1. It’s a bit harder to evaluate a “10 cars lenght” gap than whether a car passes the line before another one on a slow motion video…

        1. Not really. When it’s about two F1 cars they can simply use the GPS data without needing to first figure out where the receivers are mounted on the car.

          1. It’s a tiny bit more complicated than that, unless the FIA already have a software to do it. And based on my experience dealing with them, including the marshaling/GPS system for the last 2 years, I certainly don’t expect them to.

          2. They claimed they had the GPS data available for that Safety car overtaking incident in Valencia. So they must have something available.

            The problem was that they didn’t know where the receivers were mounted on the cars.

  6. How many proper on the road over-takes took place during that 1 hour and 45 minutes of racing (minus the start)? From what I saw there were 3…

    Overtaking looked impossible today.

    1. As it always is at the Hungaroring…

      1. Indeed, what is your point?

    2. Thats the nature of the track. Its almost comparable to Monaco.

      1. The Red Bull was a second quicker in the middle sector. Problem is there is only one straight to overtake and the long slow corner makes it hard to follow another car into the corner.

        We say this after everyone race Hungary. Please install a sprinkler system or something.

        1. I like Hungary and the lack of passing doesn’t bother me. We get soulless tracks designed to promote passing so it’s nice to have a different track and a real racer’s track. It’s just corner after corner, the driver’s can’t think until they get back to the straight.

          I want overtaking to be hard anyway. F1’s never had masses of overtaking. It means that when hwe do get an overtake it’s usually something special and something we remember like Piquet’s pass on Senna or Mansell on Senna which were both huge overtakes and happened at this track. Some more action would be nice but I’m more more interested in the quality.

        2. The RB6 was one of the slowest cars on the straight. That was the problem. Alonso just pulled away on the front straight even though Vettel had to take care not to slam into the back of the Ferrari at the chicane and was on top of him in the esses.

          However, Barichello got by Schumacher. Hamilton did Petrov. It ws not impossible and the peformance gap was not as great there. Vettel vs. Alonso was the problem. Alonso is not going to make mistakes in this situation like Petrov and Schumacher did to open the door; and Vettel is not the guy who will figure out a way past.

          1. Well Schumacher made a mistake into the final corner and Lewis’s pass on Petrov… Petrov slammed the brakes on and got out of his way easily.

  7. great move by rubens, that will go down in history that overtake on schumi.

  8. dyslexicbunny
    1st August 2010, 17:11

    Must ban pitting under safety car. Look at the mess today. I’m actually surprised we haven’t seen it before today this season. It’s not like you need to refuel anymore so everyone could wait until it’s less of a mess. What was the order of mess: Mercedes then Renault/FI, vice-versa, or about the same time?

    A shame so many cars retired this race. I feel like Hamilton and Massa could have had an interesting battle. Kubica and Rosburg could have made it interesting as well.

    Hopefully McLaren and Renault can improve enough to Belgium to fight the Red Bulls and Ferraris. Otherwise Ferrari’s gonna need some development to catch Red Bull and keep it interesting.

  9. I’ve just watched the race again and I have to say that stint from Webber between the safety car and his pit stop was mighty. I was even better the second time round. He strung together perfect lap after perfect lap, eeking every bit of perfprmance he could out of the RB6. That was the performance of a driver who is sticking his hand up and saying “I want to be 2010 world champion.”

  10. The fastest driver is the one that finishes first and obeys the rules. Webber is making out that he wasn’t good enough to win but just got lucky… with that attitude, he’ll be a number 2 driver always. I found his speech in the interview very sadening after having been so happy to see him work hard and win.

    1. I think he was trying to go easy on Vettel. Vettel seemed to be blaming Webber for his safety car blunder.

      1. Vettel himself said, that he was asleep. How on earth is that Vettel blaming Webber?

        1. He said that Webber all of a sudden pulled away. I think I even heard him say to Charlie Whiting that it was done “on purpose”.

          1. No I think the point that he was making was that he had lost radio contact with the team and so wasn’t sure on which lap the SC was coming in and was using Webber as a guide since the lead car usually backs up into the last few corners before the SC pulls in. However he was caught out when Webber bolted as he assumed that the SC was not coming in.

          2. Any excuse to bash Vettel hey Patrickl.

  11. When I saw Button come in just before the SC light, I though, Button would be right up front. I was thinking once again that guy’s lucky rabbit’s foot gets it done. I guess he was so far behind that even with the delta time slowing the leaders he could not gain more than a couple places.

    It still didn’t keep him from getting lapped. What a horrorshow for McLaren. The only silver lining was that Hamilton was roughly on Massa’s pace before his failure, so it seems that the Hockenheim gap to Ferrari is not normal. Button though should hang his head in the garage. He was only .3s off Hamilton in Q2, but nowadays, that is real money and it was going to bite him hard one day. The truth is, he should have been behind his team leader such that when a freak failure occurs he could take up the fight. Instead, he was out back behind a Sauber. Very disappointing for Button— and for the team to go into the break knowing that 1. they have to find almost 2 seconds in raw speed. 2. they have a reliability technical issue to sort and 3. the have one driver who is not getting it done.

    1. Younger Hamilton
      1st August 2010, 23:55

      @DaveW ‘they have to find almost 2 seconds in raw speed.’ haha remember last year when at the beginning of the season they were down 2.5-3 secs off the pace off the Brawns and Red Bulls and roughly at this point of the season they won a GP(Hungarian GP)and went to secure 3rd in the constructors, you make seem that its difficult for McLaren.I’ll tell you what ‘McLaren Hater and biased man or boy’ i’ll never ever give up on McLaren and i know they will never give up and they will be pushing 150% from today.I know Jenson is behaving more like Heikki in 08 but he’ll get his act together i know it and he knows it besides you really think Jenson is leaving McLaren next year thats highly Unlikely and dont forget McLaren are the best at developing cars throughout a season proven in 05,06,07,08 and 09 seasons look at the years so consistent,committed and quick thats what McLaren is.

      Do you Understand DaveW.

  12. Brilliant race by Webber

    but THE performance of this GP has to be the one of Kobayashi, what a drive ! ^^

  13. Off subject slightly, but the flexible wing saga might be coming to an end

    http://formula-one.speedtv.com/article/f1-fia-to-use-stricter-front-wing-tests-in-formula-one/

    1. Perfectly on topic, as it seems even the FIA was at a loss to reckon with the anihilation we just witnessed. The reference plane issue is what got their attention. That is a sacred feature of the car-slowing aero regime for about 10 years. You simply cannot be putting stuff down there, especially not to “skirt” or diffuse air in such an obvious way. Leaving this unchecked opens up a pandoras box if teams can use droopy aero bits to seal off the ground. You don’t have to have Newey’s mind to see what the possibilities there are.

      1. I’m glad they are going to enforce the ‘changing test’ rule.

        Whilst it’s a very clever design (and I like seeing teams push the limits), they’ve clearly gone over the limit on this one and it’s the FIA’s job to react to it. The age old game of cat and mouse continues.

  14. I’m feeling a bit dense here – I missed the reason for the safety car being deployed. What was it?

    1. Liuzzi’s wing endplate laying on track?

  15. It’s definitely a time to close the pitlane again during the safety car period. The problem of running out of fuel is not a concern anymore, so i don’t see why should pits remain open.
    Frankly, we were lucky to escape serious injuries or even worse today…

    1. I agree and its become somewhat of a lottery where cars end up when they do manage to come out.

  16. I am very disappointed with Mcclaren going backwards ! They really need to give the boys a better car in Belgium , otherwise Lewis and Jenson will have no chance against the Redbulls , plus the constructors will go to Rebull !

  17. I’m so happy for Webbo… this may be his only chance (what with situation at RBR) to win the championship in the forseeable future and i really really want him to the championship… erm, alternatively, if not him, then Button… and then subsequently Alonso… Webber’s been exceptional in the last few races, with hardly any driver keeping up with him. Yes, to a large extent Vettel did lose this race… but Webber had to be there to win it… and win he did.

    About people whinging about rule bending… Let me remind you about the great Colin Chapman… One who could rightfully claim to be a pioneer at this… erm, he was British :D and while he was at it, it was better known as “British ingenuity”… and it was still that when Patrick Head did it… This only became a problem when Italians got better at it… ain’t it? I don’t mind creative thinking… This is what makes F1, what F1 is. Pushing the absolute limits of existing technologies and developing new ones. However, we all have opinions, just like we all have, erm… you know it!

    Good one by Webber on calling BS just that. McLaren actually ran a rebadged Ferrari in effect in ’08, so i don’t know what they should be complaining about. Although, credit where it is due, that year they made a better Ferrari than Ferrari did themselves :D. Yes, they were allowed to run parts developed from stolen Ferrari tech. McLaren were only directed to not develop those specific parts any further. So any claims about them not benefiting from stealing Ferrari tech is just plain rubbish/ jibberish.

    Erm, if only i can remember, i’ll try to post here about when McLaren’s front wings flexed too (5 years odd or so)… can’t seemingly remember when… but i think it was ’07 only. I believe that’s when they revised the regs to make front wings more rigid.

    1. No point harping on about the past ;-) I used to have hair :-) but that has got nothing to do with today.

    2. I agree with all points. If it is not for Ferrari, F1 would not be here today. I think just for that reason, they should give Ferrari the veto power to change the winner to one of Ferrari’s driver.

      1. Well, they did for McLaren when Senna crashed into Prost :D

  18. Congrats to Mark. Much deserved win! If Lewis can’t get this year’s championship i am backing Mark all the way! Such a sweet victory today for Webber. Yayyyyy

  19. I enjoyed a good race, better than expecting. I have travelled to Hungary, ill leave a reveiw of my experience in the spectators experiences section :D If anyone is thinking of going.

    1. Nice to hear it was good at the track!

  20. Great win by Webber, back on top :)

  21. It’s pretty easy to pick out the McLaren fanboys – they’re the ones constantly complaining about the RB6. The only way the car is going to be deemed illegal is if the load test is changed, and that looks like what’s going to happen, probably thanks to the Whiners of Woking.

    This competition is unique to other motorsports in the fact that the constructors play as large a role as the drivers. The more limits you enforce on innovation, the more you kill the very concept of Forumla One.

    1. Is this the wing that Red Bull introduced (or half-introduced) in Silverstone? If so, they’re still going to be bleeding quick without it.

      Personally, I’d rather see them continue to use it and have the other teams develop similar devices for next year (or this year if they can).

      I would hate to see a test devised solely to remove a teams advantage. If the test is found to be poorly designed overall, and they improve it and the Red Bull fails, fine. If they improve it and the wing passes, even better. If they modify the test, the wing passes, and they modify the test again, that would be a disgrace.

      1. Thumbs up…exactly right.

  22. Not the best race of the season but many incident in the pit & one big one on the track between Barrichello & Schumacher.Happy to see Kobayashi on P9 though we didn’t see too much of him in the TV. Petrov had a good result I think this will be the drive which may keep his drive for the rest of the season in Renault.Bad luck for Hamilton but happy to see Massa there in P4.

  23. @young hamilton 05 – mclarens were the fastest but were the most unreliable on the grid.that remained true from race 1st to last. Cant say good development..you must develop on the area you are the weakest.
    06-it was all about ferrari and renault. Mclaren were invisible barring odd races.
    07-had a car which suited the slower corners while ferrari suited the faster ones and that remained true the whole season.but had the two best drivers.so had a chance to win both titles.but both ferrari and mclaren won equal races i think.so i dont think they developed faster then ferrari.both teams remained on equal terms.
    08-same pattern as 07. Except they had some ferrari parts in their car. They won the first race and ferrari won the last.
    09.-yes they were the best developer.
    10-redbull is easily the best developer.Till china they didnt have a much big advantage.But in spain they left the opponents gaping. The same in hungary.no team in the past decade i feel have challenged ferrari and mclaren

  24. Cont. Like red bull have. They have beaten both of teams in terms of developing as well as innovation.kudos to them.they beat the big guns in their own game and have left them sucking lollipops.last year we can grant ferrari and mclaren the benefit of doubt because they were caught out by rule changes and not having enough time to prepare a good car.but this year they have been beaten comprehensively

  25. To everyone saying ban stops under safety car…

    All this would do would see everyone stopping on like lap 4-5 at any track where SC’s are likely in order to get the stop out of the road, otherwise if a SC is deployed and you haven’t done your stop, your race is over…unless you have a 1-2 sec per lap advantage like RB did this weekend, which is rare at best.

    Yes, I agree with the safety arguments, but from a racing perspective, it would simply narrow the window for stops to the point where it would be ridiculous. I mean, I could see a car who qualifies badly stopping at the end of lap 1, hoping for a SC to get a free pit stop….

  26. Sumedh.

    As others have pointed out, yes, it’s quite true that Mclaren and Brawn introduced radical designs which effectively moved the aerodynamic goalposts. And in both cases they openly announced what they were going to do long before they did it.

    Red Bull have not done this. They have made no prior announcements of their intentions; submitted their designs for scrutineering, and had them passed by FIA as acceptable. All of which they are perfectly entitled to do.

    The only problem they will then have is that when other teams see that Redbull have exploited the letter of the rules in ways which deliberately break other rules ( like the definitive 85mm ground clearance rule ) those other teams will force FIA to intervene.

    In effect, what Newey and Redbull have done is to make naive assumptions about the perceptive powers of other highly skilled F1 technicians.

    There is no question that the RB6 is a staggeringly good racing car, with some quite exceptional design characteristics which make it the most significant F1
    design for many years. It’s handling qualities are simply unbelievable. But for Christian Horner to try to pretend that their rivals’severe examination of aspects of their radical designs is simply sour grapes
    is either disingenuous or, again very naive.

  27. Younger Hamilton
    2nd August 2010, 11:34

    McLaren should be much more stronger and competitive in Spa.The MP4-25 likes High speed corners much more better than low speed ones apparently from comments from Paddy Lowe,Lewis and Jenson throughout the season and evidence the way the McLaren is balanced through those corners.Plus the long Kemmel straight after Eau Rouge for a good efficent F-Duct use and other lots of short and long straights.Just to note that the MP4-24 suited low speed corners much better that High speed ones,a complete role reversal this year meaning i have a very bad feeling we are going to have another hungary-esq struggle in Singapore and possibly even in Interlagos for the Brazilian GP as well.McLaren,My advice is to move your front wing camera position to the centre of the wing,Apparently for more Downforce how funny is that it also means that you can reduce the main wing angle plus reducing drag and add two vertical slots to the endplates this helps improve airflow to the edge of the sidepods and hence meaning the diffuser can work more efficiently and produce more downforce.

  28. A superb drive by Webber to a win gifted by yet another mistake by Vettel. It seems obvious to me that Vettel’s action to hang back behind the safety car was to give Webber as big a lead as possible when it pulled in. The mistake he made was that he forgot the rule that required him to be within 10 cars lengths of the car in front. I do not believe his radio failed, I think he just made a bad call. This is not the first mistake he has made this year, Monaco comes to mind, as does Silverstone and Hockenheim where he pulled to the right at the start on to the dirty side of the track which allowed Massa on the clean side to get ahead into Turn 1.
    Back in the 39/45 War, pilots who made mistakes were said to have finger trouble, that is to say that at a time when they should have had two hands free, they had their index digit inserted on their individual fundamental orifice. Surviving pilots from that time will remember Air Clues, a monthly safety magazine that had the illustration of Pilot Officer Prune on the front cover with his index finger raised to show that at that moment his finger was extracted. Vettel’s habit of holding his index finger up could be taken to mean that he is demonstrating that at that moment his finger was out but one could believe that there have been other times this year when he was suffering from finger trouble. It has been said that by holding his finger up he was showing that he was Number 1 but somebody should tell him that he cannot be recognised as Number 1 until he has that number on the front of his car.
    There is another expression that is descriptive of persons who go beyond mere finger trouble, they are said to have their head inserted in the afore mentioned orifice with ears located in the bayonet slots reputed to be their for that purpose.
    Head up and locked. Ferrari maybe?

  29. Some time after this report was written it emerged Vettel had been asked to delay the field to help Webber.

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