It would be absurd to claim that the outcome of the Hungarian Grand Prix was an expected one. Although it is an established notion that anything can happen in racing, the likelihood of the Hungarian Grand Prix ending the way it did for Kimi Raikkonen, given the circumstances, was quite unforeseeable.
For one, the young Finn was first out to do his qualifying run on the extremely dusty Hungaroring circuit. This alone is a decisive factor on a circuit with a layout that makes overtaking difficult, similar to the famous Monaco circuit. But McLaren decided to put Raikkonen on a lighter fuel load, which was unexpected vis-à-vis their usual two-stop strategy, and so he ended up with a surprisingly good fourth place on Sunday’s starting grid.
Team Renault had been struggling all weekend, even though their aerodynamically-efficient car should have suited the aerodynamically-demanding features of the circuit. To make things worse, Fernando Alonso made a grave mistake at the last corner on his qualifying run, loosing valuable time that would have secured him a crucial spot in front of Raikkonen.
The biggest surprise was Michael Schumacher, who had an astonishing qualifying run, ending his lap with nearly a second ahead. Most of us suspected, if not reached the conclusion that Ferrari was running on an extremely aggressive three-stop strategy. Race day proved us wrong, and Michael Schumacher came in for his first pit-stop after Raikkonen.
Team Renault had been struggling all weekend, even though their aerodynamically-efficient car should have suited the aerodynamically-demanding features of the circuit. To make things worse, Fernando Alonso made a grave mistake at the last corner on his qualifying run, loosing valuable time that would have secured him a crucial spot in front of Raikkonen.
The biggest surprise was Michael Schumacher, who had an astonishing qualifying run, ending his lap with nearly a second ahead. Most of us suspected, if not reached the conclusion that Ferrari was running on an extremely aggressive three-stop strategy. Race day proved us wrong, and Michael Schumacher came in for his first pit-stop after Raikkonen.
Nonetheless, Bridgestone seems to have been able to gain pace in one-lap outings, but evidently their race pace remains inconsistent to pose a threat to McLaren. Whether this is a real step forward for Ferrari, or just an exceptional, circuit-dependant performance needs to be seen.
At the start on race day, Alonso was overly optimistic in the first corner, and by hitting Ralf Schumacher and losing his front wing, lost all chances of a decent result. Given the current world championship situation, where the Spaniard was leading by an impressive margin of 36 points, he should have been more careful.
Raikkonen’s struggle to get past Schumi proved how difficult overtaking can be on the Hungaroring. McLaren were however able to adjust Raikkonen’s three-stop strategy to allow him to stay out longer than Michael Schumacher during the second stint. Raikkonen immediately showed that he could go a lot faster than the German, and after putting in a couple of fast laps, he stayed ahead of the seven-time world champion after the second pit-stop.
Although the prospects looked very promising for McLaren to finish first and second, race leader Montoya suffered a gearbox problem and was forced to retire. McLaren’s reliability continues to be a problematic barrier, and could become the decisive factor in losing the world championship race.
Granted, the audience was not shown as much exciting on-track action as hoped, but the result was definitely unexpected. Most importantly, for Kimi Raikkonen, it is a glimmer of hope revived. Let us hope, for the sake of an exciting season finale in Brazil, that he can still light the world championship fire.