FORMULA 1 - 2014

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Result

01 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull 1h53m05.058

02 Fernando Alonso Ferrari +5.2s

03 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes +5.8s

04 Nico Rosberg Mercedes +6.3s

05 Felipe Massa Williams +29.8s

06 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari +31.4s

07 Sebastian Vettel Red Bull +40.9s

08 Valtteri Bottas Williams +41.3s

09 Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso +58.5s

10 Jenson Button McLaren +1m07.2s

11 Adrian Sutil Sauber +1m08.1s

12 Kevin Magnussen McLaren +1m18.4s

13 Pastor Maldonado Lotus +1m24.0s

14 Daniil Kvyat Toro Rosso -1 lap

15 Jules Bianchi Marussia -1 lap

16 Max Chilton Marussia -1 lap

Did Not Finish

17 Esteban Gutierrez Sauber 33 laps

18 Kamui Kobayashi Caterham 25 laps

19 Sergio Perez Force India 23 laps

20 Nico Hulkenberg Force India 15 laps

21 Romain Grosjean Lotus 11 laps

22 Marcus Ericsson Caterham-Renault 8 laps

Paul my friend, thank you as always for posting. I don't often get the chance to post on weekends as my hands are always full with the kids.

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HUNGARIAN GRAND PRIX: RICCIARDO WINS A THRILLER

One could use a myriad of superlatives to describe Daniel Ricciardo’s victory at the Hungarian Grand Prix – superb, mega, amazing, astounding, brilliant – they would all apply to the big smiling Australian who slugged it out with Formula 1′s acknowledged masters, Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso, before snatching a well calculated and greatly deserved victory at Hungaroring.

With the race starting on a damp track, requiring intermediates, it was always going to be an intriguing afternoon in Budapest. Throw into the pot Hamilton starting from the pitlane and we were delivered an epic grand prix, which will surely shut up those who continue to claim that this formula cannot deliver top notch racing.

Granted, Ricciardo got a lucky break after Marcus Ericcson smacked the barriers in Turn 3, prompting a safety car period as marshals removed the wrecked Caterham, but notably the top four were on the main straight at the time and missed the pitlane entrance, while the Red Bull driver was first to be able to take advantage and duck into the pits for a change to the soft (yellow band) Pirelli tyres – the leaders had to wait an extra lap (behind the safety car) which muddled up the order and proved to be decisive in the end.

The start was wet

Thereafter Ricciardo had to manage his pace effectively, which he did and with a handful of laps remaining found himself with fresh rubber in third place, catching Alonso and Hamilton rapidly. The Ferrari driver struggling gallantly on well worn soft tyres fending off Hamilton also struggling for grip on well worn medium (white band) tyres.

Ricciardo kept a watching brief for a few laps, before attacking Hamilton through the Turn 1 to Turn 3 complex to claim second place, then dispatched Alonso with a big braking manouevre at the end of the pit straight to take the lead where he stayed until the end. Both were brave but fair moves, executed with extreme confidence and determination, a class act.

He reflected afterwards on the podium, “It feels as good as the first win, it really does. The safety car at first played to our advantage but the second one didn’t really help us, but we got there in the end and I had to do the overtaking at the end which was fun.

Top three on the Hungaroring podium

“I am definitely going to celebrate tonight, party for a few days and enjoy a few days off. Then I will continue with the second half of the season and I can’t wait for Spa but I want to thank the team for everything they have done to help me win my first races,” added Ricciardo.

Alonso, in his unique manner, never gave up and wrestled the grip-less Ferrari across the line to second place, and only a second visit to the podium for the Spaniard so far this year.

He said, “I am extremely satisfied, it has been a tough season so to get a podium is always a nice surprise. We took a gamble to try to get the victory and we got very close, I am extremely proud of my drive and the team and very proud of the result. We need some crazy races to get a podium and we took our chances today.”

Hamilton had to settle for third after a scorching drive through the field which is a story in its own right. Having started from the pitlane, he went off and nudged the wall on the opening lap before recovering to scythe his way up-field in tricky conditions.

Daniel Ricciardo passes Fernando Alonso for the lead in Hungary

The various stoppages played in his favour, and a tense duel with teammate and title rival Nico Rosberg – where the Briton was told to let the German pass, but did not – will grab headlines for the next few days no doubt and will have done nothing to reduce tensions in the Silver Arrows camp.

Nevertheless Hamilton, who doubted he would finish in the top five, did the business and with it narrowed the points gap in the title chase in the process. Rosberg was fourth.

Hamilton said afterwards, “It has been a pretty crazy weekend, a big thank you to the team they did a great job on the pit stops to help me today. The car has been fantastic but there were a lot of points lost this weekend. The brakes were very, very cold (at the start) and I was gone but I got going again and managed to push on from there.”

After the Ericsson incident, Romain Grosjean kept the safety car out for four more laps when he crashed his Lotus during the safety car period on lap 11 and there was a further interruption on lap 23 when Force India’s Mexican Sergio Perez speared into the wall on the pit straight.

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ALONSO: IT TASTES LIKE A VICTORY FOR US

If anyone can slug it out well above his weight in Formula 1 it is Fernando Alonso, and once again with tricky conditions prevailing and a tough afternoon on the cards, the Ferrari driver dug deep to deliver second place against the odds in the Hungarian Grand Prix, where he was yet again involved in some of the more memorable battles in an action packed race. He spoke of his afternoon’s hard graft at Hungaroring.

You hung onto the tyres, you took a risk and you pushed like crazy. It’s your birthday on Tuesday and you nearly had the perfect birthday present. But second place, is it painful or are you satisfied anyway?

Fernando Alonso: No, extremely satisfied. I think it has been a tough weekend – a tough season in general – so to get a podium is always a nice surprise let’s say. We took a gamble. We risked today just trying to get the victory. We went close but as I said, extremely proud of the team, extremely proud of the job we did today and very, very happy.

Rain for the start, safety cars, traffic, tyres degrading, you needed all your experience today. You needed everything.

FA: Well, today we have a combination of things that made the race difficult to execute, difficult to understand and we took our opportunities, our experience… we need some crazy races to get some podiums and today we took the opportunity.

What does this mean to you? What does it mean to Ferrari, coming just before the break?

FA: It means a lot. Obviously we had some tough races recently and to see one Ferrari again on the podium is the best news. We took the opportunity after a difficult race, with a wet start and then some difficult decisions to make around the safety cars – if pitted or not. Unfortunately first safety car we went a little bit out of position, because the safety car went out and we were in the last corners so we missed the opportunity to stop. We stopped the lap afterwards and we lost a couple of places. We have to attack, we have to overtake a couple of people and just 10 laps to the end we were discussing if we stop and secure the fourth place that we really needed, those points, so just try to defend the position as much as you can and maybe finish in fourth, so at the end it’s the same result but at least you have the chance to fight for the podium positions. So we were in that position 10 laps to the end and at the end we chose the right thing – stay out, defend the position as best we could and secure this second place that, for sure, it tastes like a victory for us at the moment.

Yes, it’s interesting what Ferrari will take from this. Presumably you’ll still be telling them to push on other types of circuit, this was a very tight circuit obviously?

FA: We’ll see. This circuit didn’t change much our performance, our position but today we had a little bit of a chaotic race and we took every opportunity we had in front of us. I think cars from behind also had some issues, with Rosberg, with Hamilton yesterday, with the issues in qualifying, we get this position for free. We had Vettel, had a problem in the last corner today, the Force India. We had some cars out of the way let’s say and we took benefit from this and we secured some very strong points for the team.

You’ve battled wheel to wheel with Daniel. Has he now established himself as a front-runner?

FA: Yeah, definitely. I think he’s leading the champion team. That says all. He’s doing a fantastic job this year and now he had a few battles. In Hockenheim I had a very fresh tyre which probably allowed me to pass with some advantage but even with that it was not easy. Today, I really didn’t have the tools to fight but I tried to do my best – but definitely, congratulations to him for today, for the whole championship and it’s going to be an interesting fight in the next couple of years.

Does this result show that something can still be taken from the car?

FA: I think from this year’s car there are obviously some positive things and some negative things. Now, together with the team try to analyse what to carry on and what to change. Philosophy of the car probably is not perfectly right because we are not as competitive as we wish, so there are things that we need to change but also there are things that are probably working OK.

Your birthday is approaching: we know what you wished last year – what about this year? What is the gift you would like for your birthday?

FA: Well last year it was a very big understanding of what was my wish. Especially in Italy. So, this year, I will not wish anything about the car and I will wish a happy day to everyone in Italy.

Do you think that this race is one of the best races of your career?

FA: I don’t think that is one of the best in my career. It has been a good and a complex race, let’s say, to execute and perform – because there were some difficulties around the race that make the 70 laps not straight forward. You just need to make decisions during the race and all of them were, together with the team, and I think we did the best we could.

To hear the people cheering “Alonso, Alonso” is one of the reasons that you are in Formula One?

FA: On the podiums, the support from the people has been amazing. Especially this two or three last seasons – which is a little bit strange when you think that I won the World Championship the last time in 2006, I suppose that my career should be going down and it’s going up. So that’s definitely something that keeps my motivation very high. I would like to give them something back in terms of trophy and in terms of titles. It’s what we’re working on.

Three different drivers, three different teams, three different power trains in the last race of this part of the season. Does it mean that in the second part of the season we will maybe see some more competition or did the circumstances of the race create this situation?

FA: I think the circumstances and the weather played a big factor today. The circuit characteristics also probably helped some of the power units that we are not on top of the game still, so let’s see at Spa. Monza is quite a tough challenge for us and that will give us some answers for the final part.

How impressive or how surprising for you and for the team was having such an amazing pace with the soft tyres for such a long time with the degradation of the tyres. Was it really a surprise, a question of weather?

FA: Yeah, it was definitely a surprise. We found ourselves leading the race when Ricciardo and Massa pitted so we thought OK, let’s give the maximum for three or four laps just to open up a gap and stop see whether we are in the final part and then we realised that it was not so many laps to the end and it was a difficult call: stopping and keep pushing and finishing fourth or keep going and risking the cliff with the tyres and finishing fourth or fifth or whatever. So it was surprisingly good, it was surprisingly fast, the car in the race. I think the weather helped us with cooler temperatures and the track a little bit damp in the first part. Obviously you don’t stress the tyres as much as a completely hot track. I felt the car was good and it was definitely a surprise.

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HAMILTON: IT’S BEEN A PRETTY CRAZY WEEKEND

After his Mercedes caught fire in qualifying Lewis Hamilton trudged away from the car not believing that he would make it into the top five come race day, but he was wrong as he powered to third place in the Hungarian Grand Prix after starting from the pitlane. He starred in just about every major battle during the course of the race and on his way to the Hungaroring podium. This is his story after a magnificent Formula 1 race.

Pit lane to podium! Lewis, that was also via the barriers of the second corner at the start. What a crazy afternoon you’ve had.

Lewis Hamilton: It’s been a pretty crazy weekend.

When you got out of the car yesterday, you were disappointed you had that failure and you had mentally put yourself over 30 points behind Nico. You were convinced he would win and you would struggle to get into the top five and here you are on the podium.

LH: Absolutely. Big thank you to the team, they did a great job with the pit stops and with the strategy and I just tried my best. The car’s been fantastic – when it’s going. Obviously a lot of points lost, because we could have had a much better weekend but we have a lot of strengths to look forward to in future races.

You were really struggling in the beginning. You were talking about the diff, you were talking about a vibration, we heard you were getting very hot in your seat, you were clearly nursing a few issues as well?

LH: Yeah, to be honesty at the beginning obviously a mistake by myself, but the brakes were very, very cold and locked up and I was gone. Fortunately I got going again, thank the Lord I didn’t damage the car and you know damage limitation again.

One of your finest ever drives?

LH: I don’t think so.

A lot of people may be extremely surprised to see you here but it was a fantastic race for you. Did you ever think it was possible? You had some great wheel-to-wheel racing as well out there.

LH: I don’t know, I was just pushing as hard as I could to see if I could get as high as I could and yeah, I mean, a great result obviously.

What does this third place mean to you or are you still regretting yesterday?

LH: No, obviously this is damage limitation. On one hand I’m very grateful to have been able to get through with all the difficulties I’ve had this weekend, obviously yesterday and the first lap. I can’t believe how things have gone but to be able to come back through… the safety cars obviously helped quite a lot but naturally I look at the fact that I had the pace this weekend I lost quite a lot of opportunistic points. Still, we’re there in the fight, fortunately I stayed of my team-mate, which means I’m still there or thereabouts.

How hard did he come back at you?

LH: Well, he was catching me at three seconds a lap, so it was very, very tough at the end. Fernando, and big congratulations to Daniel, drove fantastically well, both of them. It was very difficult to keep him behind, and also with Nico, and impossible to get past Fernando.

Quite tricky, the last few laps?

LH: Yeah, definitely.

We heard on the radio the messages from the team asking you to pull over and let Nico by, around about lap 50-51. We can now see why you didn’t do it, otherwise you wouldn’t be on the podium. Can you just explain your thoughts at that particular time: what was going through your head? Why you didn’t let him by? And secondly, how do you feel the dynamic of your relationship will again maybe now change, following the summer break, with Nico?

LH: Well obviously I’m aware that when you’re… y’know I was in the same race as him. Just because he had one more stop than me doesn’t mean I wasn’t in the same race as him. And naturally if I’d have let him past, he would have had the opportunity to pull away and when he does pit, he’s going to come back and overtake me, so I was very, very shocked that the team would ask me to do that, to be able to better his position. But to be honest, he didn’t get close enough to overtake but I was never going to lift off and lost ground to Fernando or Daniel to enable him to have a better race. So that was a bit strange. But we’ve got a long way to go, moving forwards still and, as I said, thankfully I’m still in that battle, so, I hope we can come away stronger.

Going into the summer break, psychologically, what does it mean for you, the fact that you started in the pitlane, your team-mate started on pole, and you’re here and he isn’t?

LH: Well that in itself is huge for me. I can’t express to you the pain that you feel when you have issues such as the issues that I’ve had in the last couple of races. It’s very, very difficult to swallow, and, to come back the next day and get the right balance between not attacking too much, and not making mistakes, all these different things. So many things that… obviously when you’re at the back you’re having to push way past the limit than perhaps you would off pole position or in the top five. So the fact that I’m managed to come back through obviously is a showing of just how great this car is and how great this team is – but ultimately we’ve worked, I’ve worked hard for it so it feels probably better than perhaps a win, gliding from the lead. It feels definitely much more satisfying when you come back through. And, as I said, to be ahead and to win the fight is really encouraging.

You’ve battled wheel to wheel with Daniel. Has he now established himself as a front-runner?

LH: Yeah, he’s been driving fantastically well from the beginning of the year. So, it’s not only now, it’s through the whole year he’s shown his capability and is going from strength to strength. Not only one of the nicest guys in the paddock but also one of the best drivers here, for sure.

During this crazy race, what was the main difficulty for you, trying to find your way on the wet track at the beginning or resisting your teammate at the end?

LH: The beginning. The strange thing about starting from the pit lane is that you don’t get ready to go out. Your brakes are cold as you start, your tyres are brand new and obviously I experienced that into turn two. It was an interesting beginning to the race but I’m very very very grateful that I got through.

Three different drivers, three different teams, three different power trains in the last race of this part of the season. Does it mean that in the second part of the season we will maybe see some more competition or did the circumstances of the race create this situation?

LH: I think it’s great for the fans to see. I’m sure today – people say it was a great race – that’s really what the fans want to see so I hope that continues for the future.

The last time that things didn’t go according to plan was at Silverstone – apart from Hockenheim but that was a technical issue – when something messed up your qualifying, you said that you spent the night or I heard you spend the night with your mother, with your father, with your family, with your loved ones. What helped you through this time, in this dip? What did you do yesterday to prepare yourself for the race day?

LH: I had a pizza last night! I did, some pizza and some chocolate and watched a movie. Went to dinner with Niki yesterday and played a prank on him as it was his birthday and just tried to have some fun. We really have some of the greatest fans here and I think really some of my really close fans that I have here really got me through this weekend. I didn’t have my family here with me and it’s great to be able to turn to them and to be able to receive positive energy from them. I got a letter from one of my fans this morning and just the comments it had in it were really uplifting and really helped kick my mind into gear so I’m grateful for that.

Yesterday you were quoted as saying that what happened starts to go beyond bad luck. Could you please explain what exactly you meant by that and are you maybe starting to lose confidence in the team, because of the technical problems and now they asked you to move over for Nico who was on a different strategy?

LH: I don’t really remember… I mean yesterday after what was quite a difficult time, I came straight out and spoke to the media so I think fortunately I controlled myself quite well and I don’t really remember what kind of frame of mind I was in at that point but it’s the same as saying ‘it’s beyond a joke.’ Sometimes there’s one joke, there’s another joke and sometimes it gets a little bit past that and obviously with the faults that we’ve had on my car, it’s made it very difficult for this championship but as I said, fortunately I got some points today which means that I’m still there or thereabouts but the telling thing would be how my car performs through the rest of the year.

Yourself and Nico have had the odd technical issue over the course of the year. Given the performance between you two is so close, how concerned are you that the title could be decided between you by who has the least technical issues?

LH: Ultimately it is a concern because I’ve stopped more than him. But as I said, there’s still quite a few races to go and it will be telling, dependent on how… Obviously I’ve got the pace, got the ability, just really whether or not the car holds up.

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RICCIARDO: IT FEELS AS GOOD AS THE FIRST, IT REALLY DOES

Even before the Hungarian Grand Prix Daniel Ricciardo was already the revelation of the 2014 Formula 1 season, and now after a superbly crafted victory at Hungaroring the big smiling Australian’s shares are soaring even higher after he chased the sport’s toughest characters, stalked them for a few laps, then pounced clinically and mercilessly (twice in quick succession) to overtake them and power to victory. The Red Bull driver spoke after his grand afternoon in the cockpit.

How on earth does that feel?

Daniel Ricciardo: It feels as good as the first, it really does. I don’t know, I mean the safety car at the beginning played to our advantage and then I thought when the second one came out it didn’t really help us but we managed to pull it off at the end, had to pass our way through and that was a lot of fun in the last few laps.

You rehearsed that big outbraking move on Fernando last weekend in Germany didn’t you? That was from a long way back…

DR: Yeah it was. I knew we had to make a move quick, the DRS was there and I know it could have been my only chance, so I took it and it paid off. Had to be done.

We go into the summer break, although Spa will be with us soon enough, and you have a great victory. What are you going to do and what does it mean for you in the second half of the season?

DR: Well, definitely going to celebrate tonight and party for a few days I think, enjoy a bit of time off. Then just keep building on what I’ve done in the first six months and then look forward to Spa. Just firstly I want to thank the team, they’ve really let me settle in so well the first six months of the year and to grab two victories it’s honestly phenomenal, so really pleased. Got a few mates here this weekend, so we’ll party hard tonight.

Well done Daniel, that was an amazing victory, very exciting for all of us. You led early one and then obviously came back at the end. When did you think you had it won?

DR: I wasn’t sure. I knew that the first safety car played into our hands, we inherited the lead there, pitting for slicks and then, yeah, we were looking alright. Then we got the second safety car and obviously we pitted again for another set of tyres but we obviously lost the lead. I wasn’t really sure what was going to happen. We were stayed out pretty long that stint and we were leading a fair chunk of the mid-race but then I knew we weren’t going to get to the end on that set of tyres. So we had to pit again and that put me back out of position. Then we knew we had to overtake to win the race. Obviously we had the fresher tyres at our disposal but I knew it was going to be an exciting finish. I honestly had a scare in the middle of the race, for a few laps we had some issues. Basically, we were down on power and had to get a bit crazy on the switches, so I thought the race could have potentially ended early but we got through that and yeah, very happy.

What about overtaking these two, the overtaking manoeuvres in the last few laps?

DR: Yeah, obviously there was only one way to win it and that was to get around them. Obviously I had the advantage of the fresher tyres, but I knew they wouldn’t make it easy. I attempted Lewis into Turn Two, I think the previous lap or maybe two before I eventually got him, but just locked up and went too wide. I had a second crack at it and I still locked up but I managed to just hang on and just had a bit more grip around the outside there, so that was that. And then, once I got close enough to Fernando, I knew I just had to go for it. Being in that sandwich there, Lewis was still I think in the DRS zone, basically I couldn’t waste too much time and that’s what I did and then once I got the lead I knew it was just a couple of laps to go. Yeah, it feels good.

How does this compare to Canada?

DR: It honestly does compare to Canada. Obviously the first victory is special but it definitely leaves you wanting more. I was just as hungry for this second one and it feels just as good – I won’t say better but you realise it a bit more so if feels like you can enjoy it a bit more. And when I crossed the line, everything felt a bit more real, so I guess I took in a bit more of this one today. So, yeah, it feels awesome. And I just want of obviously quickly thank the team as well. To have two victories in the first half of the season with them, obviously I owe a lot of that to them as well, for letting me just settle in, establish myself with them. They never put too much pressure on me, they let me roll into it as I liked – and I think that’s been the best balance for all of us. The results are showing and I’ll enjoy this one as much as Canada.

When do you think your next victory will come? This year you are the only Mercedes destroyer. And do you still continue to develop this year’s car or will you focus on next year after Spa?

DR: I think – answering your second question quickly – I think we’re definitely going to keep trying to push for this year. There’s still a lot to play for. In any case, what we learn this year we can still take forward for next year so the team will keep pushing and I’m sure that now this second victory will keep the motivation strong within the team so that’s good. Sorry, what was the first question?

Three different drivers, three different teams, three different power trains in the last race of this part of the season. Does it mean that in the second part of the season we will maybe see some more competition or did the circumstances of the race create this situation?

DR: I think today obviously the mixed conditions and the safety cars maybe helped out this order in terms of having three different manufacturers up here but I would like to think that it can create something for the second half. I think that in pure dry conditions, Mercedes still have a pretty significant edge on everyone else. Spa, it’s a pretty good place to start the second half of the year. Maybe the weather and the changes they have there could create something exciting but forgetting all the stats, obviously this is a great thing to see today: three teams, three manufacturers all up here. It’s refreshing, for sure.

Who do you side with: Fernando said a few races ago that the championship was basically over? It was for one of the guys from Mercedes. And Sebastian said that mathematically it was still on, so what’s your opinion on that? Is it over or is it not?

DR: I think there’s obviously a couple of opinions. When maybe some of us say it’s over, I think it’s just purely looking at the performance of Mercedes. On a normal weekend with normal conditions on pretty much all circuits, they’ve been dominant. I think days like today, with some changing conditions, some safety cars, it helps us keep our nose in the fight. I think Seb’s right in saying that until it’s mathematically over it isn’t. If you look at today, I closed in on the championship but realistically we’re still a long way off. It doesn’t really change the approach in any case. If we’re in it or not, we still race for the highest position possible and obviously as we saw today, the win was there for grabs and we took it. In any case, I don’t think it changes the approach for Sundays. I think with the Abu Dhabi system they’ve applied this year, it’s still going to be pretty open until late on in the season. We’ll just keep doing what we can.

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FORCE INDIA: SOMETIMES THIS IS HOW MOTORSPORT IS

Force India had a handy car in Hungary, but conditions proved tough as neither car finished with Sergio Perez slamming the wall on the main straight in spectacular fashuion, the Mexican walking away from a severely wrecked car.

Perez expalined, “It’s a very disappointing end to our weekend, just when it looked like we could have scored some big points. I went a little wide on the exit kerb of the final corner, lost the rear and that was it – I was in the wall. It was a very unfortunate end to our race.

“I feel sorry for the team because they deserved some points today. Conditions were very difficult, the track was drying and improving, and it made you want to push to the limit, but there were some wet patches that could catch you out. We’ll take the positive elements of this weekend and get back in the points in the next race,” added Perez.

Earlier Nico Hulkenberg tagged his teammate in the final turn, lost the front wing on huis Force India and crashed out.

He explained, “It was not the best day in the office and I’m feeling very disappointed. The track was drying out and I was quite close behind Checo when I made contact with him at the final corner. The previous lap he had taken a much wider line so I tried to overtake on the inside, but he took a tighter line and I couldn’t back out of the move.”

“I made contact with his car, lost my front wing and went straight on into the barrier. It was my mistake and I’ve apologised to the team. It’s especially frustrating because there was a lot of potential in this race, but I guess it was one of those days when things didn’t go our way,” concluded Hulkenberg.

Team boss Vijay Mallya, who was upbeat before the race and expecting a double points finish, took a philosophcial view on his team’s disappointing performance at the Hungaroring.

He said afterwards, “It is disappointing to come away from this weekend with nothing, especially as the race was shaping up nicely for us. Both Checo and Nico were on course for a points finish, but it was not our day. Sometimes, this is how motorsport is.”

“But a negative result must not detract from our great first half of the year because this is the first race in 2014 in which we have not scored points. Despite the missed opportunity, we remain in fifth place in the championship.”

“It was also a fantastic race for Formula One with wheel-to-wheel racing and a great show for the fans. We have the summer break now, an occasion to regroup and come back stronger in Belgium and get ready for the final eight races,” added Mallya.

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GROSJEAN: I LEAVE THE DOOR OPEN TO ANY NICE OPTION

Romain Grosjean has admitted Lotus’ lack of competitiveness in 2014 is driving reports he could be set to leave the Enstone team.

The Frenchman has emerged as one of the main players in this year’s driver ‘silly season’, amid speculation he could be set to reunite with former manager Eric Boullier at the newly Honda-powered McLaren in 2014.

He has utterly dominated teammate Pastor Maldonado this year, but Lotus’ dismal season was encapsulated in Grosjean’s run to just fifteenth in Hungaroring qualifying on Saturday. It does nothing to quieten the reports about his next move.

“My priority is to win races in the medium term. Short and medium term,” he is quoted by BFMTV in Budapest.

“I leave the door open to any nice option for the future. I want to win grands prix, to fight for the championship.”

However, 28-year-old Grosjean is not writing off Lotus, “I know that Lotus will not have a season next year as difficult as it is this year. I know the team will react because it’s still a very good team.”

“This is clearly an option and we will see what can happen. Last year I was not asked whether I am going somewhere else because Lotus was good, the car worked perfectly and there was no reason to change.”

“Now it is true that with three years of experience in Formula 1 I agree with [management group] Gravity that for the medium term I require that I am in a car that is able to be world champion,” said Grosjean.

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MERCEDES: IT WAS A DIFFICULT AFTERNOON

Lewis Hamilton secured the team’s eleventh podium of the season, driving a brilliant race after starting from the pit-lane and finishing third just ahead of teammate Nico Rosberg in fourth position.

• After a downpour of rain in the final hour before the race, all teams were forced to start on the intermediate tyres
• Lewis ran a two-stop strategy, pitting on laps 8 and 39, running inters/option/prime
• Nico ran to a three-stop strategy, pitting on laps 9, 32 and 56, running inters/option/option/option
• The team has now finished on the podium in every race in 2014 so far and today secured 27 more points in the constructors’ championship
• The team now heads into the summer break with a 174 point lead in the championship with 8 races remaining.

Lewis Hamilton: “It is a great result today; I was just pushing as hard as possible to get as high as I could. It was obviously damage limitation after what happened yesterday. I can’t express the pain I feel when we have issues such as in the last couple of races; it’s hard to swallow and difficult to come back the next day and get the right balance between not attacking too much, but pushing to the limit. The two safety car periods helped quite a lot, but naturally I looked fast and had the pace this weekend, so there was an opportunity for more points. I was in the same race as Nico and if I let him past and he had the opportunity to pull away, then he would have come back and overtaken me. I didn’t understand why the team asked me to do that as he didn’t get close enough to overtake and I didn’t want to lift off and lose ground to Fernando. I would like to say a big congratulations to Daniel and Fernando. It was close at the end and it was getting very hard to keep Nico behind as he was catching at close to 3 seconds a lap. Coming back through shows how great this car and team is, and this result is much more satisfying than an easy win. Going into the break, I’m still in the fight for the championship, which is very satisfying.”

Nico Rosberg: “That was a disappointing afternoon. A few things didn’t work out for me and it was a very up and down race. In the beginning it was all under control. Unfortunately the safety car cost me the lead, because I just missed the pit entry and then I couldn’t pit. I also had some braking issues after the safety car went in and a difficult period of time with handling this, which cost me some positions. Then I was able to push a lot. I had a great last stint and at the end there was one chance to overtake Lewis in the last lap, but it didn’t work out. So that is massively disappointing. We need to sit down and analyse internally what went wrong today. I’m still leading the championship, which is a positive thing, and I’ll be ready to attack again after the summer break.”

Toto Wolff: “The conditions today made the race very difficult. The safety car periods worked out better for some and worse for others. If you look at the leading three cars before the safety car period, they ended up in fourth, seventh and eighth – and that was what really cost Nico, when he was held by the Safety Car and couldn’t get back to the pits. The result for us was also down to some brilliant driving from Lewis and Nico. To finish third and fourth on a circuit that’s very difficult to overtake on is probably the best we could have done today, given the challenges that were thrown our way. Again we had reliability issues on Lewis’ car and we had some very difficult decisions to make in the race. Obviously, we need to sit down, discuss and analyse the moment when Lewis was asked to let Nico pass – but, like always, we will do this calmly and work our way through any confusion or misunderstanding. There were so many things influencing the decisions we made and we must still determine whether we were right or not. We are not satisfied with third and fourth today, so we will look at everything and try to improve for the next race.”

Paddy Lowe: “It was a difficult afternoon; but it was never going to be easy with one car starting from the pit-lane. On the other side of the garage we were well lined up with a good car and good pace. We opened up a healthy lead from the start in tricky conditions until the race was overturned by a safety car. For reasons we don’t yet understand, the safety car split the pack and Nico got stuck behind it because he had been unable to pit before it was called out. We put Nico on a three-stop strategy and Lewis on a two-stop. This caused an interaction which we explained as best we could to each driver. In the event, neither strategy was capable of recovering the win given the impact of the safety car periods. We had a few issues with brake management on both cars and a fuel pressure issue on Lewis’ car that we will look into more closely. The problems didn’t have a significant effect on performance and at the end of the day, third and fourth was probably the best we could do in the circumstances. As we start ‘half-term’ it’s a good point to say well done to both drivers and the team for all that has been achieved this year, and we wish everybody, including the fans, happy holidays.”

[MIKA27]

RED BULL: WE ALL DESERVE THIS

Red Bull report from the Hungarian Grand Prix, Round 11 of the 2014 Formula 1 world championship, at Hungaroring near Budapest.

Daniel Ricciardo: “Winning this today, it honestly feels as good as the first. It sank in a lot quicker this one, so crossing the line today I knew what was going on a bit more and it’s like I could enjoy it immediately rather than it being delayed, it was awesome. To have to pass guys again to win the race, as I did in Canada, makes it a lot more satisfying, knowing that we did have a bit of a fight on our hands – you beauty! In this environment now I feel, I am a different driver and in a way a different person, a different sportsman than I was last year. I’ve got a lot more belief in myself and it’s cool, I definitely feel like I belong here now and I’ve got confidence; obviously we’ve converted two races into wins this year so far and I think that confidence is showing. I’ve got some friends from Australia here this weekend, so the plan was to always have a few drinks tonight, so I think we’ve got an excuse to now!”

Sebastian Vettel: “It wasn’t a great race. I spun, which was my mistake, and before that I was unlucky with the safety car in the first stint. The timing meant the first four cars lost positions to those running behind. Unfortunately we were then in the wrong mode for the restart and I lost two positions. It’s good for Daniel that he won today, I’m happy for him.”

Christian Horner, Team Principal: “A fantastic grand prix and the performance by Daniel today was truly sensational. Starting in wet conditions, he benefitted from being a little bit further back and being able to get in for slick tyres at the first safety car and then really managed to make his strategy work on the soft tyres through the next stages of the race. We knew we’d have to make a final stop, which would put us behind Alonso and Hamilton who were trying to get to the end. But he closed the gap down quickly and then, with some fantastic overtaking manoeuvres in the last five laps, pulled off a dramatic victory to achieve the second in his career and our second this season. Sebastian’s afternoon was much more frustrating. Unfortunately, after a good start and some good battles, he got the call at the same time as Daniel to pit after the Caterham had an accident, but was too far round the last corner to make it into the pit lane. He then had to stop under the safety car which meant he lost some places. He was making progress but then had the spin and managed to avoid the pit wall, but he flat spotted his tyres and then had a problem at the restart. It was then a question of damage limitation, trying to run the hard tyres to the end of the race and he did a phenomenal job to keep Bottas behind him.”

Thierry Salvi, Renault: “This race was amazing but also quite difficult to manage thanks to the multiple safety cars and changing track conditions. The fuel consumption was less than expected and forced us to use different energy scenarios to recharge the car. Seb did not benefit from the first safety car and so had a lot of work to do throughout the race to recover. Daniel on the other hand had a perfect strategy and was able to extract the maximum from his car. Winning the race is a very good result for the team, and we all deserve this. A lot of effort has gone into trying to catch up and this kind of result helps everyone keep that momentum and motivation high.”

[MIKA27]

TORO ROSSO: WE SCORED POINTS AGAIN WHICH IS QUITE POSITIVE

Toro Rosso report from the Hungarian Grand Prix, Round 11 of the 2014 Formula 1 world championship, at Hungaroring near Budapest.

Jean-Eric Vergne : “I’m very pleased with the weekend, I think it was a good one. As for the race, the team did a fantastic job to call me in straight after the safety car and everything worked well. The race was really nice and I had a lot of fun being in second position for some time. I knew that I didn’t have the pace to keep up with the others around me until the end of the race but it was a great moment. Obviously I would have liked to finish in a better position to get more points but we still have to improve the performance level of the car. I’m confident that step by step this will come soon, so I’m really positive for the second part of the season.”

Daniil Kvyat: “This was a very tough race. I’m not sure what happened at the start, it has never happened to me before. The engine just stalled and so I was forced to start from the pit lane. The first half of the race was not too bad, I tried to catch up but overtaking was difficult and I had a hard time looking after the tyres, especially being stuck behind the other cars. It’s a shame we couldn’t finish the first half of the season on a high note, but I’m sure we can turn things around and come back stronger at the next race.”

Franz Tost (Team Principal): “We showed a very good performance in the qualifying, starting the race with Jev from eighth and Daniil from tenth position. Jev showed a fantastic race under wet conditions, but also in the drying off circumstances, when he was second behind Alonso showing Rosberg, Vettel and Hamilton the back of the car. It was clear that under a full dry track we can’t keep this position. At the end we scored points again which is quite positive. Daniil’s engine stalled at the start. We have never faced this before. We will investigate the reason for this to prevent it in the future. Taking into consideration that Daniil had to start from the pit lane he showed a good race. Thanks to the team which did a good job during the entire weekend, and congratulations to Red Bull and Daniel Ricciardo for the fantastic victory.”

Ricardo Penteado (Renault Sport F1 track support leader): “Both cars crossed the line with all the Power Unit parameters on the green side and energy management was good, considering the evolving conditions. JEV showed incredible form on the changing track and in fact deserved to score more points. Daniil’s race was unfortunately compromised at the start when the engine stalled – we are still investigating why this occurred. Congratulations to our sister team Red Bull and to Daniel on a great victory today.”

[MIKA27]

WILLIAMS: THE PACE OF THE CAR WASN’T FANTASTIC

Williams report from the Hungarian Grand Prix, Round 11 of the 2014 Formula 1 world championship, at Hungaroring near Budapest.

Race Notes

Felipe Massa finished fifth and Valtteri Bottas eighth as Williams Martini Racing scored points with both cars in an eventful Hungarian Grand Prix.

Felipe put in a strong performance in changeable conditions to end his run of bad luck with a solid points finish.

Valtteri ran second in the early stages but was delayed by traffic during his first pit stop, eventually challenging Vettel for seventh in the closing laps.

Williams Martini Racing heads into Formula 1′s summer break fourth in the constructors championship with 135 points.

Rob Smedley, Head of Performance Engineering: “We’ve been used to racing for podiums lately, so today was a bit different. The pace of the car wasn’t fantastic, which we can accept on a tight and twisty track like this. We did what we could, we got two cars home in the points and pulled away from McLaren and Force India in the championship. We’re happy with fourth in the Constructors’ going into the break and we’ve got some good races coming up, so we will come back eager for more podiums at Spa and Monza.”

Felipe Massa: “It was a very difficult race with a lot happening. We had many fights and it was difficult to stay on the track. We took some risks with the tyres in the pitstops and in the end it was a good result. Now we can look forward to the second part of the season and I’m sure we will score a lot more points than we’ve scored up until now.”

Vaaltteri Bottas: “After three podiums in a row P8 is not that satisying, but we got some good points as a team. There was more to come today but we were unlucky with the safety car when I went from P2 to out of the top 10. We need to analyse this race then focus on the next one. There are many more good moments for us to come this season, we are getting stronger.”

[MIKA27]

Kimi pleased with positive signs

Kimi Raikkonen believes there were plenty of good signs for Ferrari in Hungary and hope they can take that into the second half of the campaign.

The Finn endured a shocking qualifying session at the Hungagoring on Saturday as he failed to make it out of Q1 after the team opted not to give him a second run.

However, Sunday proved to be much better day for the 2007 World Champion as he came from 16th on the grid to finish sixth despite being held up by the Sauber of Esteban Gutierrez for a long time.

"Yeah, after yesterday's mistakes, this kind of place it is hard to place and we were lacking straight-line speed, I had difficulties passing the Sauber in the middle of the race with the DRS so obviously it was a bit tricky but we managed to gain places," he is quoted as saying by RichlandF1.

"We were faster than Williams but I just couldn't get past."

It was a good race for Ferrari as Raikkonen's team-mate Fernando Alonso came from fifth on the grid to finish second behind Daniel Ricciardo of Red Bull.

For Raikkonen though his sixth place could not have come at a better time after going two races without a top-10 finish, and he hopes this form will continue after the summer break.

"I hope that the second part of the season can be much better than the first one, but obviously one little bit better day doesn't change an awful lot," he said.

"It doesn't take away the mistakes and the things we have to really improve, make it work as a team much better. That doesn't change from this moment to this afternoon; there are an awful lot of things left to be done to make sure we can be where we should be.

"I believe in the team, that we can put ourselves where we should be. There are some signs, today we had good speed but obviously starting where we started, it was hard to make any better place. I don't think there is going to be a big difference in three or four weeks, but for sure next year. So we try to work more improving things and improve in the second half, make sure things are how we want and should be."

[LLC]

What a great race. I'm not a big Lewis Hamilton fan but I think he handled things the right way today.

[MIKA27]

Hungarian GP: Niki Lauda backs Lewis Hamilton ignoring team orders

Lewis Hamilton was right to ignore team orders to let Nico Rosberg through in the Hungarian Grand Prix, according to Mercedes Formula 1 chief Niki Lauda.

Hamilton refused a request by the team to let Rosberg past him with one-third of the race remaining as the title rivals were running on different strategies.

Mercedes non-executive chairman Lauda thinks that the situation should never have happened in the first place and that the orders were the result of panic.

"I have to defend the team," said Lauda, when asked by AUTOSPORT for his reaction to the controversy.

"The team was under enormous stress today because the race was a very difficult one, there is no question.

"This race, with the safety car at the beginning and the wet conditions, was a completely different race. So every minute you had to decide something different.

"In this stress the team told Lewis he should let Nico by because he was on softer tyres and has to come in anyway.

"If he [Nico] had been in the DRS position, he would have let him by. But Nico never got that close.

"Therefore I do understand that Lewis said 'Why? Why should I stop now in the middle of the circuit to let my team colleague by?' He is fighting for the championship.

"So from my point of view Lewis was right. And why the call came, this happened out of the panic and we had to make up for what we were losing."

WOLFF: HAMILTON ACTIONS NOT ONLY REASON FOR DEFEAT

Although Rosberg's chances of winning the race would have been boosted by Hamilton letting him past, Mercedes motorsport boss Toto Wolff said that the defiance was not the sole reason Daniel Ricciardo took his second win of the season.

"The team result suffered because of many things that were going on in the race," explained Wolff.

"The safety car, where you see the top three runners ended up fourth, seventh and eighth, meant we suffered. Then we had a brake by wire issue on the lap after the safety came in - so lots of things could go wrong.

"It would be wrong to pin it down to one single situation and say this was the reason why the race result suffered or Nico didn't win the race.

"As a matter of fact, when he [Rosberg] was behind him the pace dropped, he wasn't anywhere near for overtaking - that is also clear. So it wasn't an obvious case where he was all over him, that wasn't the case...

"It [the defiance] could be one of, but we don't know if Nico's pace would have been good enough to pull the gap which would have helped him to win the race."

[MIKA27]

McLaren F1 team blames Hungarian GP tyre error on weather radar

McLaren racing director Eric Boullier has blamed the Formula 1 team's radar software for the decision to keep Jenson Button on intermediate tyres in the Hungarian Grand Prix.

Button was running fifth early in Sunday's race before taking on a fresh set of intermediates when the majority of the field switched to slicks during the race's first safety car period.

Though the Briton briefly took the lead from eventual winner Daniel Ricciardo when racing resumed, he fell back as his intermediate tyres overheated, and he dropped to the tail end of the field after being forced to change to slick tyres just two laps after the restart.

He eventually finished 10th, two places ahead of team-mate Kevin Magnussen who had stayed out on his old intermediates while others pitted and briefly held fourth.

"We got the belief it would rain, the radar clearly indicated it would," Boullier told AUTOSPORT.

"We didn't know something was wrong with the software.

"As long as we had this belief we saw the opportunity by doing what we did to get some key positions.

"It's true that with everybody on slicks we understood something was wrong and clearly we understand our call was wrong."

DRIVERS RUE WRONG CALL

Button criticised the team's calls post-race and admitted the tyre strategy was particularly disappointing as it followed a strong opening stint from the 2009 world champion.

"There were lots of wrong decisions in that race," he lamented.

"You win and you lose as a team. We thought it was going to rain but we were the only people that thought that.

"I feel like I did everything right, and in every track condition, which is why it's tough. The first stint was great but it went downhill from there."

Rookie team-mate Magnussen said that while it was frustrating, the ultimate blame lay with the drivers, not the team.

"It was my call to stay on inters," he insisted. "The team always rely on the driver in these situations and I made the wrong decision, it's not really down to the team.

"The team can only say what the radar says. They are not gods, they cannot control the weather.

"So I don't blame the team; these things happen and they're impossible to predict.

"From my perspective, starting from the pitlane we weren't going to [be able to] do much as overtaking is very difficult here.

"Taking that chance would have been amazing if it had worked but it just didn't."

[MIKA27]

Ex-F1 team boss Flavio Briatore to sit on popularity working group

Former Formula 1 team boss Flavio Briatore is to be involved in a new working group being set up by Bernie Ecclestone to look at ways of making the sport more popular.

Pressure has been growing on Ecclestone to try to arrest a decline in television audience and spectator numbers this season amid concerns F1 is not embracing a new generation of fans.

Ecclestone met with team principals at the Hungarian Grand Prix on Saturday morning and informed them that he plans to host a summit meeting over the next few weeks with a few outfits, plus Briatore, to consider ideas.

Briatore has not been involved in F1 since he had to step down at Renault in 2009 due to his part in fixing the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix.

Mercedes motorsport boss Toto Wolff, whose team will be one of those involved in the group, thought it important that only a few teams would be involved in the talks.

He also suggested that the media should be consulted too, to avoid the situation of earlier in the year when team proposals like double points received widespread criticism.

"A couple of guys will sit together [to work out what to do], because it's difficult to do when you invite everybody and come up with priorities and solutions," said Wolff.

"We'll probably get you guys involved to avoid the situation last time when you found our ideas really s***! So that's the procedure."

He added: "Bernie expressed a wish to discuss with teams about how we can improve the show of Formula 1.

"It wasn't a negative meeting, we have seen some great racing and some packed race tracks, at Austria, Montreal and Silverstone.

"But then we have seen smaller audiences here and at Hockenheim - why is that? So we're going to come together and come up with ideas."

SHARING BLAME FOR NEGATIVITY

Red Bull boss Christian Horner caused a stir on Friday when he accused the media of being too negative about F1.

But McLaren racing director Eric Boullier believes that the teams have to take some of the blame for the downbeat assessment of F1 because of criticisms voiced earlier this year by leading figures.

"A lot of people in the paddock have been negative about the change and everything that F1 is trying to do," he said.

"Obviously if we give you material to write negative then you will write negative, so we have to share the blame all of us.

"But by spreading negativity around we distract people from being passionate and watching us, and actually we stop people who could be potentially interested to watch because we are negative.

"The negativeness is part of the problem as why we have an audience which is going down."

[MIKA27]

FERRARI: TEAM SHOWED IT COULD REACT EXTREMELY WELL

Scuderia Ferrari recorded its best result of the season today. Fernando Alonso finished second, having led for a while until three laps from the end, while Kimi Raikkonen staged a great charge up the order to go from 16th on the grid to sixth at the flag.

It was a spectacular race, in part because it started on a wet track with everyone running Intermediate tyres. After a few laps, the Safety Car was required when Marcus Ericsson crashed heavily in the Caterham. The SC came out after the top four, including Fernando, had passed the pits, which jumbled the order, promoting Ricciardo to the lead.

The Safety Car came out again when Sergio Perez crashed the Force India on the pit straight, with Ricciardo changing tyres and mixing up the strategies.

When the race was on again, Alonso therefore found himself leading, although Ricciardo, on a different strategy, retook the position, handing it back to the Spaniard with 15 laps remaining. Raikkonen meanwhile had his best race of the year, making the most of the run of pit stops to get as high up as third at one point.

On lap 60 of 70, Alonso led from Hamilton and Ricciardo, who on fresh rubber was catching the leaders. The battle was very close as Fernando’s tyres were worn out as he still defended bravely from Hamilton.

Then, when with four laps to go, the Australian passed the Englishman, it was more difficult for Alonso who could not hold off the Red Bull which sailed past one lap later to give Ricciardo his second career win. However, Alonso used all his skill to fend off the Mercedes.

The second and sixth places mean Scuderia Ferrari is back in third ahead of Williams in the Constructors’ classification.

Marco Mattiacci: “It was a great race and very pleasing to see our team fight back from an extremely complicated Saturday. Kimi and Fernando demonstrated just what they are capable of and the whole team was up to the task. However, this result is just a step on a journey which started a few months ago. Fernando’s second place is a confidence booster and a sign that the major effort everyone is making to bring Ferrari back to the top is moving in the right direction, however we have to be realistic about it. Here, the weather and the track conditions leveled out the performance differences and that’s why we must not delude ourselves. Now we must just go back home, set on always doing better.”

Fernando Alonso: “This podium means a lot to me and the whole team, because after so many difficult races, we managed to get the most out of everything, also taking a few risks and second place seems like a win. To do 31 laps at the end on used Soft tyres was a great challenge. At that point, the strategy suggested that if we had made a third stop, we could have finished fourth, but we decided to run to the flag instead. This race shows that anything is possible when there are unusual conditions like today, with a wet start and the appearance of the Safety Car. We managed to make the most of all opportunities that presented themselves, taking the best decisions even at the most difficult moments. Sure, the characteristics of the circuit, with its limited overtaking opportunities, helped us and that’s why we have to be realistic and continue to work on the car, to improve in all aspects.”

Kimi Raikkonen: “Today’s race was difficult, but much more fun than the others, as I had a good feeling with the car, the pace was good and I felt I could push. After the way qualifying went yesterday, sixth was the most we could hope for. At the start, I got away well but then I lost vital time behind a Sauber and when I caught Massa’s Williams, I couldn’t get past: here in general, overtaking is not easy and we lack speed down the straights. Sure, this is a good team result, but we must not get too excited, because even if there are signs of improvement, we still have much work to do in a lot of areas to get to where we want to be. We’ve had a very complicated start to the season, but I hope the second part of the championship will go better. I have great faith in the team and I feel we are going in the right direction. Even if it’s going to take some time, I’m sure the results will come.”

Pat Fry: “After mixed fortunes in qualifying yesterday, today the team showed it could react extremely well and keep a cool head when faced with the variable situations that arose during the race. It’s never easy in cases like this, with rain at the start, the Safety Car, having to avoid traffic and especially with having to keep faster cars behind us, but the team performed very competently. The F14 T demonstrated the good race pace it had already shown on Friday and that has helped us re-take third place in the Constructors’ classification. After the summer break, we come to two races that will be difficult for us, on two tracks where it will be important to make the most of any opportunity, just as we did today. On behalf of the team, I wish to congratulate Fernando and Kimi. We had promised them redemption and we were true to our word. We know that there is still a long way to go, but we will spare nothing in our efforts, continuing to work hard to improve, day by day.”

[MIKA27]

F1 TEAM BOSSES ACCUSE MEDIA OF NEGATIVE REPORTING

The high profile Lewis Hamilton versus Nico Rosberg battle is not the only raging feud currently taking place in Formula 1.

Red Bull‘s Christian Horner lost his temper with “the negativities” being spread by journalists during the Friday press conference in Hungary.

“All we do is focus on the negatives and it has to be said, it gets pretty boring for us to sit up here and field these questions,” he said.

Not only that, amid some alarming TV ratings and dwindling crowds for the Hockenheim-Hungaroring double-header, it is believed the issue of the media’s role to play was discussed at length during Bernie Ecclestone’s meeting with key teams on Saturday.

Journalist Ralf Bach, reporting for Sport Bild, was in a particularly feisty mood on Friday when he questioned the teams’ morality in simply following Ecclestone to controversial race destinations.

Bach said in the FIA press conference that “Bahrain is killing their own people”, and wondered if they would also blindly follow the Formula 1 supremo “to North Korea”.

McLaren team boss Eric Boullier did not respond to that question, but reports on Sunday suggested he was furious and even asked the FIA to consider revoking Bach’s accreditation.

A McLaren team source denied that, but did admit that Boullier had been upset with some of the questions posed on Friday.

And The Times quotes the Frenchman as saying: “By spreading negativity around, we distract people from being passionate and watching us and we stop people who could be potentially interested to watch because we are negative.

“The negativity is part of the problem of why we have an audience which is going down,” Boullier added.

[MIKA27]

More praise for Ricciardo

F1 World Champions Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton are singing Daniel Ricciardo's praises after he beat them to the win in Hungary.

On fresher rubber than the two ahead, Ricciardo made a late charge for the victory at the Hungaroring on Sunday.

Overtaking both Hamilton and Alonso in back-to-back laps, the Red Bull driver raced to his second career victory.

Asked whether Ricciardo had established himself, Alonso, who for the second race in successive battled the 25-year-old, said: "Yeah, definitely. I think he's leading the Champion team. That says it all.

"He's doing a fantastic job this year and now he had a few bottles. In Hockenheim I had a very fresh tyre which probably allowed me to pass with some advantage but even with that it was not easy.

"I really didn't have the tools to fight but I tried to do my best - but definitely, congratulations to him for today, for the whole Championship and it's going to be an interesting fight in the next couple of years."

As for Hamilton, who brought his W05 home in third place, he reckons Ricciardo has been "driving fantastically well from the beginning of the year. So, it's not only now, it's through the whole year he's shown his capability and is going from strength to strength.

"Not only one of the nicest guys in the paddock but also one of the best drivers here, for sure."

[MIKA27]

Former Caterham staff bringing lawsuit against team

A group of former Caterham employees are bringing legal action against the team after being laid off earlier this month.

A representative of the group said up to 50 former employees are behind the move following the dismissal of staff by Caterham’s new owners. They claim the redundancies were announced without warning and “will result in significant compensation claims against the team”.

Lawyers have been appointed on behalf of the employees, who also intend to submit their grievances to the FIA. Chris Felton, partner at Gardner Leader law firm, said “the employees concerned were dismissed without consultation or warning, either in person or on the telephone”.

“They have not been paid for July or offered any further payments in accordance with their contract or their employment rights,” Felton added. “The fact that they are not being told anything at all by Caterham is concerning.”

“Running roughshod over employees’ rights is not usual behaviour in Formula One where, although difficult decisions are sometimes made about appointments, employees are always adequately compensated and usually treated with dignity by their teams.

“We would not expect any former Caterham employee to be prejudiced for standing up for their rights when they have been unfairly dismissed with no pay for July, no future earnings and families to support.

“The FIA expect certain standards from its F1 teams and it is these standards we are asking them to uphold and provide assurances that the new owners of Caterham are seen as fit and proper.”

Caterham is under new management following its sale by Tony Fernandes four weeks ago. A group of investors from Switzerland and the Middle East purchased the team, which is now being run by former F1 driver Christijan Albers.

Two weeks after the sale Caterham announced it had “parted company with a number of employees” which it described as “a necessary step taken by the new owners of Caterham F1 Team whose priority is the future of the team”.

[MIKA27]

RAIKKONEN: I TRUST FERRARI, NEXT YEAR THINGS WILL GET BETTER

Kimi Raikkonen was looking ahead to the 2015 Formula 1 season rather than seeing the Hungarian Grand Prix as the start of an immediate Ferrari revival.

After an uncompetitive first half of 2014 with the complex and problematic F14T, the Finn finished a solid sixth in Hungary – his best result of the season so far.

And Raikkonen’s teammate Fernando Alonso was in the running for the race win until the dying moments, when he was passed by winner Daniel Ricciardo.

Formula 1 now breaks for three full weekends before hostilities resume in Belgium late next month. But the Finnish media quoted Raikkonen as saying: “I don’t see things changing much in three or four weeks. Next year things will get better.

“I am pleased with today, but on the whole I am very disappointed with the way things have gone. We need to make sure we don’t make the same mistakes.

Kimi Raikkonen on his way to sixth in Hungary

“I trust Ferrari and I know they are working hard, so that’s why I am confident about next year. Then we should be able to fight for race wins again,” he added.

Team boss Marco Mattiacci was also playing down the significance of Hungary, even though he admitted it was a much-needed morale boost for the Maranello camp.

“I think we should be careful to judge what has happened over this weekend,” he is quoted by the Spanish daily AS. “We must remember that we still have a huge amount of work to do.

“We know the strong and the weak points of the car and a weekend with a podium is not going to change that. We have to change the car 180 degrees.”

And Sunday’s result also cooled the hostility between Ferrari and Mercedes‘ Niki Lauda, after the great Austrian last week called the red 2014 car “sh*t”.

“Ferrari was today better than Mercedes, so everything is calm again,” Lauda smiled.

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PLENTY TO TALK ABOUT AS FORMULA 1 TAKES A BREAK

Formula 1 headed for its annual holidays this week with some drivers looking forward to the break more than others and plenty to talk about before the next race in Belgium.

“I’m not so excited about going into the summer break, as we speak,” championship-leading Mercedes driver Nico Rosberg told reporters after finishing fourth and behind team mate Lewis Hamilton in Hungary on Sunday.

“Hopefully I will be excited, but it’s going to take some time,” added the downcast German, whose overall lead was cut to 11 points.

Mercedes will want to resolve behind closed doors the latest flare-up between their drivers after Hamilton ignored a request to allow Rosberg, on a different strategy, to overtake him at the Hungaroring.

“We have to discuss internally. That’s the best way forward for us as a team,” said Rosberg. “We need to discuss it, we will discuss it, and we will see how we move forward.”

The team’s non-executive chairman Niki Lauda reckoned the break would take care of matters, however, “because drivers forget quickly.

“After the holidays they start completely normal again,” said the Austrian, who backed Hamilton’s actions.

Of equally pressing importance for the dominant team is getting to the bottom of the reliability problems that have now hit Hamilton for the last two races.

In Germany he suffered a front brake disc failure and in Hungary a fuel leak set the car on fire before he had set a lap time in qualifying, forcing the Briton to start from the pitlane.

“Whenever you have a failure on an engine or a car, you have to do a better job,” said Lauda. “(Technical head) Paddy (Lowe) and (engine head) Andy Cowell will take care of this right away on Monday. They have to fix all these problems and they will.

“I’m sure we have learned lots here, especially on Lewis’s engine problem, and we have to fix it. In the next races it will be fixed.”

Another key meeting will be between the sport’s commercial supremo Bernie Ecclestone and selected teams to discuss ways of boosting viewing figures and crowds in some markets.

Team bosses met Ecclestone in Hungary on Saturday and a more restricted group is set to gather again during the break to discuss ideas.

Auto Motor und Sport reports that a Formula 1 popularity task force will be headed by Christian Horner, Toto Wolff, Luca di Montezemolo and Vijay Mallya.

While races in Canada, Britain and Austria saw capacity crowds, this month’s German Grand Prix attracted only 52,000 people on the Sunday at a home race for Mercedes, Rosberg and Red Bull‘s quadruple champion Sebastian Vettel.

There has been nothing wrong with the racing itself, with this season serving up some thrillers including Hungary, but there is agreement that much more needs to be done to promote the sport.

This season marked the start of a new, quieter V6 turbo engine era and that has been accompanied by considerable negativity from those missing the ear-splitting noise of previous years.

“Bernie expressed a wish to discuss with teams about how we can improve the show of Formula One,” Mercedes motorsport head Toto Wolff told reporters in Hungary, suggesting the media could also be involved.

“A couple of guys will sit together, because it’s difficult to do when you invite everybody and come up with priorities and solutions,” added the Austrian.

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ECCLESTONE: WE DO NOT NEED FLAVIO

Formula 1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone says Formula 1 will abandon its highly controversial plan for standing re-starts after safety car periods from 2015, and says there is no need for Flavio Briatore to serve as consultant to help improve the ‘show’.

In Hungary, reportedly alarmed with the sport’s dwindling spectator and television appeal, Ecclestonemet with team bosses.

But Ecclestone denied it was resolved that Flavio Briatore was the key to a more popular future for the sport.

“We do not need Flavio. We can do it ourselves,” he told Auto Motor und Sport.

The publication said there are reports a popularity task force will instead be headed by Christian Horner, Toto Wolff, Luca di Montezemolo and Vijay Mallya.

Ecclestone said the priority is some “fine tuning” rather than radical moves, as he said the “incredible race” in Hungary showed that Formula 1 is not fundamentally broken.

“There just shouldn’t be the stupid and unnecessary rules that we’ve put in over the years,” said the 83-year-old. “I want a world championship of drivers, not engineers.

“We have alraedy told the stewards that they should not punish every little thing. I want drivers who race each other rather than constantly ask what they can and cannot do,” said Ecclestone.

The biggest news on Tuesday is that one rule already printed in black and white in the 2015 regulations looks set to be axed.

“There will be no standing starts after safety cars,” announced the diminutive Briton. “What we saw in Budapest was good enough.”

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ALAN JONES: NO DOUBTING RICCIARDO NOW

Put “baby-faced assassin” Daniel Ricciardo behind the wheel of a Mercedes and there would be no doubt he would take the Formula One title race to the wire, according to compatriot Alan Jones, Australia’s last Formula 1 world champion.

The only driver to have beaten Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg to the top of the podium this campaign, Ricciardo won a dramatic Hungarian Grand Prix on Sunday to seal his second victory of the season, underlining his class with a high-quality drive and further shading Red Bull team mate Sebastian Vettel.

Ricciardo’s success has raised Australian hopes of a first F1 title-holder since Jones’s 1980 triumph and the former Williams driver said the expectation was justified.

“He’s a contender, there’s no doubt about it,” the 67-year-old told Reuters in a phone interview. “He’s not a contender this year obviously because Mercedes have got the jump on everyone. Get him a good car next year. If you put that (Mercedes engine) in that bloody Red Bull, he would be a contender.”

“Or get him a Mercedes, because he’s proven he can qualify consistently in the top four. He can run up there with the best of them. He doesn’t pile up the road or have any accidents.”

After a two-year apprenticeship with feeder team Toro Rosso, Ricciardo has proved a revelation this season, mounting the podium five times, including a maiden win in Canada last month.

The win at Hungaroring put him third in the standings behind the Mercedes pair, 71 points adrift of Rosberg and 60 below Hamilton with eight races remaining.

While Ricciardo has benefited from safety car interventions in both victories, his calm in a frenetic finish in Hungary, in which the top four drivers were separated by a little more than six seconds, left few in doubt he belongs in the A-grade.

Ricciardo has also had to vie for top honours with a Renault engine, which remains well off the pace of the Mercedes power unit, according to team principal Christian Horner.

“I think Daniel’s drive was exemplary,” Jones said. “He did a really super job in looking after his tyres, displayed a lot of maturity and I think he’s well and truly cemented himself in the team now.

“Daniel took a fantastic overtaking manoeuvre on (Fernando Alonso) to get the job done,” Jones added, referring to the two-time world championship winning Ferrari driver.

“There was some speculation that in Canada that he got it handed to him to a certain degree but this one he well and truly earned. He just drove really well.”

Ricciardo took his Red Bull seat from hard-bitten compatriot Mark Webber, who came close to breaking Australia’s championship drought in 2010, only to blow his chance late in the season with a crash in South Korea.

In contrast to the straight-talking Webber, who sometimes wore a face of thunder at post-race media conferences, Ricciardo is rarely seen without a big toothy grin and has tried in vain to convince fans a cold-blooded competitor lurks within.

“Don’t be fooled by the sunshine exterior,” Ricciardo wrote last year on his blog, explaining why he has an image of a honey badger, one of the animal kingdom’s most ferocious fighters, on the back of his helmet.

“Press the right buttons and I can be a very dark individual. Very angry. No, honestly I can be. Stop laughing.”

Already boasting the toughness to step out of quadruple world champion Vettel’s shadow at Red Bull, Ricciardo also had the temperament to deal with the pressure of being his country’s motor sport standard-bearer in the post-Webber era, said Jones.

“I call him a baby-faced assassin. He hasn’t got that honey badger on the back of his helmet for nothing,” he added. “He’s very affable, he’s a terrific kid and he’s always smiling but he grows horns when it counts, when he’s got his bum in the car.”

Though lavishing praise on Ricciardo, Jones said he could see little of himself in the young driver.

“No, he’s too nice. I know I couldn’t race Formula One in this day and age,” he said. “There’s too much corporate bloody pressure on you and you’ve got to be nice with everybody, you’ve got to watch your Ps and Qs. You’ve got to be half a bloody politician.”

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MEXICO COULD BE DOUBLE POINTS FINALE IN 2015

The Mexican Grand Prix could close next year’s world championship with a double points finale, according to FIA vice president Jose Abed, who represents Mexico on the governing body’s World Motor Sport Council.

It was confirmed last week that, after a more than two decade absence, the sport is returning in 2015 to the iconic Mexico City layout, which is being renovated.

It will disappoint some, however, that Abed confirmed to Grupo Formula radio that the exhilarating Peraltada corner will be axed from the new Formula 1 layout.

“Firstly, the old banked curve is too dangerous,” he explained, “and the second reason is that we need to accommodate another 40,000 spectators.”

But the 2015 Mexican Grand Prix could be spectacular for another reason, Abed revealed, “Perhaps we will see the season finale in Mexico — with double points,” he said.