The Official 2016 Hungarian Grand Prix Thread **Spoilers**
Discussion
Z3MCJez said:
He made a right horlicks of the first sector though - I haven't seen the time but he was all over the place.
These were the sector times for the Mercs/RBs. I've included the previous best S2 and S3 for the RBs and Hamilton, and the S1 time from the final run. Rosberg's sector times were from the final run--his S1 time was close to the RB times. RB were the weakest in S1 all weekend.| Driver | S1 | S2 | S3 |
| Hamilton | 27.955 | 29.290 | 22.519 |
| Rosberg | 28.377 | 28.759 | 22.829 |
| Ricciardo | 28.347 | 29.016 | 22.751 |
| Verstappen | 28.364 | 29.010 | 22.726 |
Rosberg gained a couple of tenths in S2 from his previous best, but lost a couple of tenths in S3 from his PB. Seemed to even it out, but not a great lap for pole to be honest. The Red Bulls were quicker then the Mercs in S2 all weekend. I'm a bit miffed that they didn't get to show that in the final run!
Edited by Dr Z on Saturday 23 July 19:29
FIA's decision on Max:
FIA said:
The Stewards have received a request from Red Bull Racing to allow car 33 to start the race despite failing to set a qualifying time within 107% of the fastest time in Q1.
In accordance with Article 35.1 of the FIA Formula One Sporting Regulations, the Stewards grant permission for car 33 Max Verstappen to start the race, as the driver has set satisfactory times in practice at this Event.
The Stewards have also decided, due to the exceptional circumstances experienced during qualifying, Article 35.2 a) iii should take precedence over Article 35.1 of the FIA Formula One Sporting Regulations. Car 33 will therefore start the race from the grid position set out in document 24 (the preliminary qualifying classification).
The rest will keep their positions, I reckon. The stewarding is getting a bit silly.In accordance with Article 35.1 of the FIA Formula One Sporting Regulations, the Stewards grant permission for car 33 Max Verstappen to start the race, as the driver has set satisfactory times in practice at this Event.
The Stewards have also decided, due to the exceptional circumstances experienced during qualifying, Article 35.2 a) iii should take precedence over Article 35.1 of the FIA Formula One Sporting Regulations. Car 33 will therefore start the race from the grid position set out in document 24 (the preliminary qualifying classification).
Well, that was an interesting race. I'm not sure if it can be termed boring with the race leader couple of seconds infront of the 2nd placed car apparently being put under pressure; the 4th placed car catching 3rd placed car to fight for a podium place and the 5th/6th placed cars having a dice? It has been one of the more interesting races at the front I must say, purely from a strategy perspective.
Having said that, I think Hamilton was really playing too much games with the rest and in reality that's what allowed Mercedes to get a 1-2. While it was risky for Mercedes from a team perspective, Red Bull shouldn't have fell for it, IMO allowing Ricciardo to pit way early for his final stint. Even in the middle part of the race, where usually there is a lull, I found it particularly intriguing how the different strategy options might play out at the front...especially with Kimi on a different tyre strategy to the rest.
Nice to see McLaren look more competitive in the midfield, however I would be surprised if they could stay at the head of the midfield like this in upcoming races. If they do, that's a good sign for next year. Shocking performance from Williams seem to remember Massa languishing right the back on the medium tyres at some point in the race...good job that Force India dropped the ball too, the points deficit wasn't slashed much after this weekend.
Verstappen was skirting way too close to the limit in defending against Raikkonen, IMO...doing these little jinks left and right that throws off the attacker especially when he's following nose to tail. Where's Maldonado when you need him teach a lesson?
But Kimi is such a tease...getting a pass from him is like pulling teeth. Gah! I really wanted him pass, but it's good that even on a old slower tyre a defender is able to hold off a faster car. Otherwise, we'll have people complaining that the overtakes are all too artificial...Oh.
It was also good to see that Kimi was able to follow very close without destroying his tyres...I was following that battle on live timing and he was really able to attack for at least 10-12 laps...on a tyre that was not the most optimal at this circuit. I'd say this is a good thing for the sport, but was it the car being kinder on it's tyres? Or was it Kimi? Maybe a bit of both? Anyway, congrats to Hamilton for "winning at the slowest speed possible". A very risky strategy and made it a bit more entertaining at the front.
Having said that, I think Hamilton was really playing too much games with the rest and in reality that's what allowed Mercedes to get a 1-2. While it was risky for Mercedes from a team perspective, Red Bull shouldn't have fell for it, IMO allowing Ricciardo to pit way early for his final stint. Even in the middle part of the race, where usually there is a lull, I found it particularly intriguing how the different strategy options might play out at the front...especially with Kimi on a different tyre strategy to the rest.
Nice to see McLaren look more competitive in the midfield, however I would be surprised if they could stay at the head of the midfield like this in upcoming races. If they do, that's a good sign for next year. Shocking performance from Williams seem to remember Massa languishing right the back on the medium tyres at some point in the race...good job that Force India dropped the ball too, the points deficit wasn't slashed much after this weekend.
Verstappen was skirting way too close to the limit in defending against Raikkonen, IMO...doing these little jinks left and right that throws off the attacker especially when he's following nose to tail. Where's Maldonado when you need him teach a lesson?
But Kimi is such a tease...getting a pass from him is like pulling teeth. Gah! I really wanted him pass, but it's good that even on a old slower tyre a defender is able to hold off a faster car. Otherwise, we'll have people complaining that the overtakes are all too artificial...Oh. It was also good to see that Kimi was able to follow very close without destroying his tyres...I was following that battle on live timing and he was really able to attack for at least 10-12 laps...on a tyre that was not the most optimal at this circuit. I'd say this is a good thing for the sport, but was it the car being kinder on it's tyres? Or was it Kimi? Maybe a bit of both? Anyway, congrats to Hamilton for "winning at the slowest speed possible". A very risky strategy and made it a bit more entertaining at the front.
VladD said:
Dr Z said:
Anyway, congrats to Hamilton for "winning at the slowest speed possible". A very risky strategy and made it a bit more entertaining at the front.
I did wonder during the race whether Hamilton was doing this or whether Nico was just faster on the day. Was Lewis managing his engine so as to reduce wear on it confident that he could hold Nico off? Is this how Lewis is going to be driving from now on to conserve what PU components he has left?In this race, I'm thinking it was more about the tyres than his PU components. He really didn't need to drive that slowly in the first stint, but the manner he did it seemed to suggest that he wanted to have enough tyres left to go long enough on the 1st stint and/or have tyres left to put in a fast in-lap.
But then he kept doing the same thing through the 2nd stint, when Ricciardo was catching the Mercedes pair at a second per lap which seemed to suggest he was playing games with Nico or probably not stressing his PU much...it's only in the last stint he seemed to be under pressure from Nico as he struggled with traffic, but always seemed to have pace in hand when needed.
It was a very weird/different way of leading from the front. Reminded me of him doing some extreme fuel saving measures at the start of the hydrid era in 2014, so much so that the team had to tell him to drive faster and he didn't need to conserve so much!
Quickmoose said:
Your description of the 'race' doesn't imbue much excitement though does it.
A race defined by winning at the slowest speed, and strategy, and 'battles which saw combatants sitting on the tails of their prey for lap after lap.. along with constant discussion and re-interpretation of 'the rules',
The only series I think that where strategy has such a prominent role is in WEC, and even there the car on car action is better...
As I said, this year has thrown up some great moments. None of which can be found on this track though IMO.
I think the key word here is 'excitement'. I'm willing to guess, you have a very narrow definition of excitement. For me excitement in this context includes 1) teams fighting against each other using their pawns on track in a strategy battle 2) wheel-to-wheel racing and 3) the anticipation of a potential wheel-to-wheel battle on track using 1). We had plenty of 1 and 3, and a little bit of 2 in this race at the front. It's not a race that delivered off the scale excitement on all three counts, but it was an interesting one nonetheless.A race defined by winning at the slowest speed, and strategy, and 'battles which saw combatants sitting on the tails of their prey for lap after lap.. along with constant discussion and re-interpretation of 'the rules',
The only series I think that where strategy has such a prominent role is in WEC, and even there the car on car action is better...
As I said, this year has thrown up some great moments. None of which can be found on this track though IMO.
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