Monday 27th July 2015

Motorsport on Monday: 27/07/2015

Hungarorinteresting!

---

Can you remember a more bizarre race performance by a reigning World Champion than that? Lewis Hamilton, so imperious in qualifying with a half-second advantage over Nico, knew before the race was over how fumblesome he'd been; apologising to the team so publically and so humbly is a rarity in ego-laden F1, but it was the least he could do after dropping to fourth from the start (why can't they start well?), going off the track and blaming Nico, hitting people, being given drive-through penalties for doing so, the lot.

If only they knew what was to follow...

Totally bizarre, Maldonado-esque and beyond uncharacteristic. "It was one of the worst races I think I've had," he said. You bet. "A day like today, when you make mistakes and it affects the team, it hurts." You can say that again. By rights, he should have seen his World Championship lead narrowed, or extinguished entirely... but for other drivers seemingly intent on taking inspiration from the Euro F3 boys and also driving into one another. Cue Ricciardo slicing into the side of Rosberg's rear tyre, hobbling him to a long drive back to the pits and a plunge down the order.

Hamilton, after finally getting it together at the end of the race, finally passed enough cars to finish sixth, with Nico down in eighth (just behind Grosjean's Lotus). And so Lewis extended his lead at the top of the table and stole into the lead of the luckiest sportsman on the planet title 2015, too. After that performance, such a result wasn't deserved but, after doing his best to throw it away all race, he gleefully accepted the champions' knack of taking your chances.

As for the rest of it, well, it's hard to know what to pick out. There was so much going on, not least the storming Ferraris blasting into the lead and Vettel going on to win and deservedly pay tribute to his almost-certain future teammate, Jules Bianchi. The drivers did this before the race began too, honouring their popular and talented contemporary.

Poignant victory for Vettel

It was on for a Ferrari one-two until Kimi once again showed where Lewis has stolen all his luck from. This left young Daniil Kvyat to gleefully take his first podium, ahead of an unlikely Daniel Ricciardo, who not only hit both the Mercs but also seemed intent on trying to hit everything with a Mercedes engine in. Anything to help neutralise that Renault power deficit...

Oh, and props to Pastor Maldonado, who did the hat-trick of penalties in beautifully error-strewn performance that showed a focus on calamity perhaps unsurpassed in modern F1. Lewis, you tried, but you were still beaten by the rich man from Venezuela. Let's try to not try better next time though.

McLaren scores points!

Hungary isn't a power circuit, which will see yet more pressure on the shoulders of Renault engine chiefs after Red Bull's (admittedly fortuitous) two-three. But it wasn't just the Renault-engined teams benefitting: McLaren also grabbed a most unexpected double points finish, with Alonso actually in fifth place.

He was only five seconds behind the Toro Rosso of Max Verstappen and, with JB also finishing in ninth, now leaves McLaren just five points behind the Sauber-Ferraris in the constructors championship. Hardly cusp-of-world-domination stuff, but a very welcome turnaround compared to the abject performances thus far this season.

Let's hope it's enough to stop Alonso looking elsewhere. Ahead of the weekend, he admitted F1 was a bit rubbish at the moment: if you have a slow car at the start of the season, the current regulations doom you to being slow for the whole year. F1 cars generally aren't very fast either; while he said he's committed to the McLaren 'project' for three years, he also likes the sound of other forms of racing.

Such as? Le Mans came up again. Alonso for WEC? Who knows. Let's just hope Hungary's convinced him not to push for a move just yet. He's still one of F1's quickest drivers. Fingers crossed McLaren delivers the car to complement this sooner rather than later.

M40 at rush hour...

Spa 24: on your MarcVDS
BMW won its first Spa 24 Hours race since 1998 this weekend, with the MarcVDS Z4 of Nicky Catsburg, Markus Palttala and Lucas Luhr triumphing ahead of the new Audi R8 LMS of stalwart teams WRT and Phoenix respectively.

It was a pretty broken-up race through, with 10 safety cars, torrential rain in the early hours of the race and a weekend generally as autumnal as it was back here in the UK. It was particularly gloomy for the Bentley boys, who were glumly packing up the M-Sport trucks well before the end of the race after a double retirement.

It wasn't a classic but BMW won't mind. Wins still mean a lot to the Munich firm and, besides, the Spa 24 Hours is still a classic event. You can only imagine the Belgian beer-fuelled headaches of the MarcVDS crew today.

[Images sources: LAT, 24HoursofSpa]

[HorneyMX5]

"Daniel Ricciardo, who not only hit both the Mercs but also seemed intent on trying to hit everything with a Mercedes engine in."

Really? I think you'll find he was more of a magnet for other peoples mistakes. Hamilton understeered into him and Nico slammed the door shut before remembering to put his glasses on.