A superb drive by
Fernando Alonso earned him his first ever Formula 1 race win and becomes the
youngest driver ever to win a Formula 1 race. Kimi Raikkonen kept his cool and
managed to finish second while both Williams drivers only managed 3rd and 4th
although their pace showed that they could have had a 1-2 finish.
David Coulthard once again proved his consistency without being very fast by
finishing 5th ahead of an impressive Mark Webber finishing 6th on merit.
Jarno Trulli only managed 7th and a lap down to his team-mate while Michael
Schumacher finished where he started in 8th and a lap down which must come as
a shock to the Ferrari team.
A
few of the highlights:
Whilst Mark
Webber holding the rest of the field have helped ease the pressure on
Fernando Alonso, he drove faultlessly and may have won the race
regardless. In only his second season driving in Formula 1, Alonso is
looking set to become a future champion.
Kimi Raikkonen
starting from 7th managed to finish 2nd beating both Williams in the
process. He was fortunate at the start being on the clean side of the
track and ending up 3rd after the first corner but his lap times were
close to those of the Williams.
Juan Pablo
Montoya managed to get up into 3rd via the pit stops after having a very
bad start. He almost blew it at the end when he spun. Still with the 3
tracks remaining suited to the Williams, he has the strongest chance of
winning the championship.
Ralf
Schumacher seems to have given up his title hopes by spinning at the start
of the race. Still he made an amazing comeback and almost got on the
podium.
Both Juan
Pablo's and Ralf's performance showed that Williams gave away a possible
1-2 finish. That was mainly due to their bad starts which Montoya has
complained about.
Mark Webber
did a great job finishing 6th and ahead of 2 drivers from the top teams.
His qualifying was simply stunning. He is another driver who has a huge
potential in Formula 1.
It was
surprising to see Jarno Trulli a lap down on Fernando Alonso despite
driving identical cars! and Trulli not suffering any apparent problems. It
didn't look good for him.
Michael
Schumacher seems to be struggling with a car/tyre package that has now
failed to deliver on a number of races. Surely the tyres can't be purely
to blame here. It seems that the team is struggling to pinpoint the
problems and that is affecting their confidence and hence making the wrong
calls.
At the start
of the race those who lined up on the clean side of the grid clearly had a
better start. How can this issue be addressed ?
Your
thoughts ?
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What others are saying:
This was not one of the better races this year. First lets talk about the
state of the track! The Hungaroring is the worst 'racing' track of the season.
F1 needs to define what acceptable means in terms of track condition. They
want to pretend they are so hi-tech. Yea, well get track cleaner!
While Alonso drove well, extremely well even! Kudos to him on first F1 Win!
Definitely a keeper. But the fact that the William's boys screwed the pooch at
the start and Mark Webber's early race pace played right into Alonso's hands.
Alonso should thank Mark Webber for holding up the pack for him in the first
part of the race.
Ralf did a great job of making up for an early spin. Juan did what we have
come to expect of him,... Again out qualified and again having a brain fart
during the last part of the race. Come on Juan, stay focused! He said he could
have gone faster in qualifying? Well get on with it lad, conservatism is not
your style.
Mikey though was nowhere to be found! And poor Rubio,...
DC was DC and another year at McLaren will end a good career in F1 - dave w
- USA
Well, I think next time in Monza Rubens or Michael will fly away from the
car in the S/F line just like that. How is the hell did that happened to
Rubens and to Schummi in Germany. I suggest that Ferrari guys should watch the
races more carefully than they do.
Many congratulation to Fernando who proved that he will be the youngest
champion ever.
I was relieved to know that DC will continue with McLaren next year . You
watch him carefully in 2004. Thank God Kimi managed to catch up with MS and
JPM but I think Juan has the advantage on the other pilots.
Once again Rubens is faster than Schummi which makes me really happy. it's now
9-4 to Michael and I think it will finish 10-6. You know that never happened
to Schummi before.
Do you remember what happened to Mika Hakkinen in 2000 . He lost the champion
just in the final race. Later next year (2001) he was really not there. Who
knows?? History repeats itself.......
I think Schummi will retire at the end of this year after losing the champion.
Again those who are fans of Rubens Barrichello can send their comments to the
British RB Fan Club rubensf1@postmaster.co.uk
- Al - Syria
I feal very indifferent about that race. I guess part of it is because,
after a 3 week break I want something fantastic. And Hungary is not the track
for that to happen. There seems to be one place to pass on that track, and
unless there's some real drama( Crash ), the pit strategies are pretty
predictable. On top of that, I'm a Toyota fan, and that was frustrating to
watch. Their car was a lot better than expected, only to have 2 stupid incidents
kill their chances.
That deal with Rubens car was pretty wild though. After watching the replay a
couple of times, I'm convinced that everybody in that immediate area should
consider themselves blessed. It looked like that axle was helicoptering
through the air at 100 mph! Not to mention the wheel and tire, which was
bouncing 25 feet in the air at 100 mph!
Schumacher looked like an average driver, in an average car. But, in the weeks
prior, I heard the Ferrari people saying they were doomed because of the
testing ban, so I can't say I'm shocked.
I was impressed with Ralphs' come-back. I know he has the better car, but that
was some nice driving.
I continue to be impressed with Mark Webber, Although I can't really get
behind Jaguar, because I am a fan of Eddie Irvine. And that pick-up Truck he
had to drive last year, ruined his reputation. And I'm sure he could have
helped that team this year. Much like Villeneuve and BAR.
Congratulations to Alonso. The start he got off to was the whole story.
I think McNish would be a great fit for Jordan. And I'm happy for Coulthard
and his new contract. He may never win a Championship, But he's a Pro's Pro - John
- USA
Fantastic race and well done Fernando (can you hear the drums).
This championship is going to the wire, forget the what if crap and bring on
Monza - Cooky - Australia
I think we are seeing the natural cyclical nature of Formula 1 in spite of
, not because of, the silly rule changes implemented this year.
Ferrari's dominance may be over and now is the time for another team to move
to the front. Williams? Renault? McLaren? Somebody else? Who knows.
Alonso and Kimi drove flawlessly. These two and Mark Weber are the ones to
watch as long as they get decent cars under them.
Ralf showed his usual lack of skill. The only thing that allowed him to get
back to 4th was a superb car.
That is the second time JPM has made a silly mistake late in the race. This
time it probably didn't cost him a place. Was he getting bored or what?
Ferrari have problems. A driver of Michael's skill and experience should never
have been lapped. I don't know if it is a tire problem or a car problem or a
combination, but they better get it sorted out soon or they are in serious
danger of losing not only the constructors championship, which pretty much
belongs to Williams, but the drivers championship as well - Jeff S - USA
Fantastic!
An F1 race in which Ferrari wheels are (actually) falling off! Even the
normally equable Michael Schumacher appears to be at a loss.
Fernando, as some have implied, was better than good; he was lucky (to have
Webber blocking for him)! But then how many times have the F1 gods smiled on
Michael so that luck was at least as important as skill?
Of course Juan Pablo's fans are ecstatic and (already) ordering championship
hats, but wait a moment: suppose, on lap 2 or 3, at Monza, Kimi tries the
outside of Juan Pablo and Juan Pablo (as is his wont) loses it? And suppose
that Jarno finds the gas pedal and Mark keeps on trucking? That would mean
zero points for both the golden boys and, assuming Ralph races carefully, he
could pick up 10. Then we'd have the odds makers going bananas: you could find
Michael with 75, Juan P with 71, Kimi with 70, Ralph with 68, Fernando with 66
--and that assumes something terrible happens to DC!! The fat lady hasn't even
started yet.
As to complaints about the "dirty" side of the track. Hello, isn't
this F1? Aren't the best drivers in the world able to deal with some marbles
on the racing surface?
Oh how I wish I were a fly on the wall at Maranello!! In Germany Michael's
tyre goes flat; at Hungary Rubens wheel falls off and Michael (almost) runs
out of petrol! What will happen at Monza? Will the nose cone (or steering
wheel) fall off?
Meanwhile, Sir Frank is getting the best revenge: all the disbelievers and
mockers are having to eat their shoe leather. It will be better than
"good" for F1 for the Teams Championship to return to England; it
will remind us all that racing is all that matters --and racers never quit - Jim
W - USA
"To reach the bottom of the well" is a Brazilian saying that very
much represents the current status of Team Ferrari. They can't go any
lower...
Kudos to Alonso who nevertheless should share his trophy with Webber, who
drove a great race and gave him a 20 comfortable seconds gap to the rest of
the field. By the way, it is clear that Jaguar can't afford having more than 1
competitive car: the second crew is a joke.
The F1 goddesses took 10 positions from Ralf at the 2nd turn: they are not as
blind as some inspectors...
Nice ride from Kimi, who was patient as Barrichello should be: passing Webber
was just a question of time. At least RB was lucky to leave the car without
any injuries: I'm dying to read Ferrari's explanation.
If Ferrari can't match Williams at Monza there'll be no way to stop Juan
Pablo!!!
Something to think about: if pilots go first to the track on Saturday as a
punishment for their poorer performance on Friday, how come equals lap times
are in favour to who did it first? (In theory the earlier one goes out on track the harder it is to set a
time. Additionally, it has always been the case that a driver has to beat a
time rather than equal it to get a higher grid position - Ed)
To address the issue of the dirt side of the track (is it new or has it been
there for the last 50 years?) what about dragsters exhibitions before the
race? (In the past, drivers on the dirty side of the track used to clean it up
during the warm-up session that used to be held on Sunday. Great idea though!
- Ed)
and last but not least: congratulations to Ralf Schumacher for his first ever
successful move on his older brother- Andre B - Brazil
McLaren team was perfect and Kimi returned to the title battle - Basar
First of all I would like to extend my congratulations to Fernando Alonso,
who gave us an excellent exhibition of great driving. There is no doubting
he's the real deal and easily a faster driver on speed and consistency that
some of the other young guns in Kimi and Juan miss.
He maintained a consistent fast pace which Raikkonen couldn't reduce
significantly after he got ahead of Webber.
However, this race was also made by the gutsy drive of Mark Webber, who was
only passed during pit stops and finished 6th without the benefit of
retirements of the top four teams. His car is evidently slower than the rest
but that didn't stop him from fighting to the chequered flag.
As for the rest, Trulli looked his ordinary usual being lapped by his teammate,
Juan, like the rest, suffered from being stuck behind Webber for his first
stint and Schumi was slower than his teammate and was well off the pace.
The Championship is wide open but I think Juan's superior car will see him
claim his first World Championship title - Sas - Australia
Mark Webber showed everyone that he is a GREAT driver in an average car by
getting his 6th place as a "front runner" rather than being the
"best of the rest"...it wont be long before we see him on the
podiums... JB - Australia
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