FORMULA 1 - 2016

[MIKA27]

Vettel airs thoughts on Raikkonen-Verstappen duel

After the Hungarian Grand Prix concluded, Sebastian Vettel took a very neutral stance on the heated battle between Max Verstappen and his teammate Kimi Raikkonen.

Vettel believes that Verstappen's aggressive nature is a good trait to have in the sport but added that the penalties issued if one steps over the line at times can be harsh.

The quadruple Champion thinks that in time the youngster will be more composed on the circuit.
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He also went on to say that Raikkonen is one of the fairest drivers on the grid so he cannot rule out whether the Red Bull driver overstepped the line or not.

"Look, I think we're here to race," he explained.

"One of Max's strengths is that he's very aggressive, obviously sometimes you overstep the line but I am against the whole policy of penalties and very complicated ruling. I think it's silly, I think people outside are laughing at us.

"For us it's tricky because there's not much we can do. I think he will calm down, give him a bit of time. But it's also one of his strong points – of course when you are behind him and he's moving here and there it's not great, and Kimi is one of the fairest guys in the field but that's how it is sometimes.

"The race is long, the season is long so I'm sure they'll meet again."

Vettel’s own race was mediocre at best as they couldn’t catch Mercedes or Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo. The German settled for fourth place.

[MIKA27]

Rosberg: It was all down to the start

Nico Rosberg feels he lost the Hungarian Grand Prix off the line as the Hungaroring is a track where it is “not possible to pass.”

Rosberg lost the lead in Formula 1’s title race for the first time this season on Sunday as he was beaten to the chequered flag by Lewis Hamilton.

The Brit slid up into P1 into the first corner while Rosberg had to fight Daniel Ricciardo for second.

It was a position he almost immediately retook after losing, running the 1-2 for Mercedes for the remaining 69 laps.

But despite closing right up on Hamilton on several occasions, assisted by traffic at times, Rosberg was unable to even attempt a pass.

“It was all down to the start in the end,” the 31-year-old explained.

“I lost out a little bit and then into Turn 1 with Daniel on the outside and Lewis on the inside I ran out of space so had to bail out of it.

“That was it really.

“I was happy to take Daniel back at Turn 2 and from there on I was trying to put all the pressure possible on Lewis.

“But of course it is not possible to pass on this track.”

There is still one race to go before Formula 1’s summer break with Rosberg looking forward to racing in Germany for the first time in two years.

“We have the next race coming up very quickly and it is my home race so it is going to be awesome,” he added.

Rosberg trails Hamilton by six points heading into round 12 of the championship.

[MIKA27]

Gutierrez upset with Hamilton's lack of respect after gesture

Haas F1 driver Esteban Gutierrez has called on Lewis Hamilton to "respect all of the competitors" after the Briton made a gesture towards him during the Hungarian GP.

Race winner Hamilton was stuck behind Gutierrez for much of lap 52, before finally putting the Mexican a lap down on the main straight - as his advantage over second-placed Nico Rosberg shrunk from 1.7s to 0.6s.

Hamilton went on to win the race regardless, while Gutierrez took the chequered flag in 12th and was subsequently demoted one place due to a five-second penalty for ignoring blue flags.

Asked about the blue flags after the race, Gutierrez said: "I didn't ignore them.

"I simply had two airplanes coming from behind, coming very quickly - so, of course, I was focused on my race and they came very quickly, and I was trying to find the safest place to let him [Hamilton] by."

Subsequent replays from Hamilton's onboard appeared to show the three-time champion raising his middle finger to Gutierrez while passing him on the main straight - and while the Mexican said he did not see the gesture, he was unhappy to hear about it.

"Not a very respectful move from him, I have to say. I've spoken to him in the past - he's the world champion but he shouldn't do these kinds of things, he should respect all of the competitors.

"You never know, maybe in the future I will be fighting [for] the championship with him so he has to respect that."

   

Steiner: Penalty brought on by Hamilton's gesture

Haas team boss Gunther Steiner defended his driver, suggesting that Hamilton's gesture was what contributed to the stewards' penalising him.

"I don't know what he [Hamilton] was annoyed about because he [Gutierrez] didn't keep him back this long," Steiner said.

"It's one thing Esteban got penalised with five seconds - and we still need to check the data and the timing - but I think the five seconds were taken because the gesture was done, not because he was holding him up.

"Every racing driver is the same, they want to go - and Esteban cannot go up in fresh air, he cannot jump.

"It's a little bit give and take, I think Lewis didn't change his result in the hold-up. Was it needed? Maybe not. But it happened. For me, the five seconds were given because of the gesture."

Hamilton: Gutierrez "just didn't abide by the flags"

For his part, Hamilton conceded that the Hungaroring was a difficult track to let quicker drivers past at - but insisted Gutierrez simply broke the rules.

"This is a hard track to really get out of the way, there's lots of marbles off-line," Hamilton said.

"It wasn't good today in terms of getting through traffic. Some of the drivers were lifting at the most awkward positions, where if you went into the corner too quick you might collide. It was definitely difficult to navigate through them today.

"The one with the Gutierrez - he just didn't abide by the flags that I could see were being waved at him. I lost so much time behind him, and at the same time Nico was catching me, which was really, really tough. Fortunately I eventually got by him down the straight."

 

[MIKA27]

Vettel says Ferrari was "a lot faster" than Red Bull

Sebastian Vettel is convinced Ferrari was "a lot faster" than Red Bull in the Hungarian Grand Prix, despite missing out on a podium position.

Vettel finished in fourth place after being unable to pass Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo in the latter stages of the race, when the Australian struggled with older tyres.

It was the third grand prix in a row where Ferrari has been outscored by Red Bull, which is now just one point behind in the standings.

"I think we were a lot faster, but we know as well this is Hungary and we need to be not just a lot faster," said Vettel, who is now 82 points behind championship leader Lewis Hamilton.

"I think we had half a second to a second in hand in the end, but it wasn't enough to get past.

"We had the fresher set and we knew we would come back in the end, but it's tricky to pass.

"In the race we had the pace to go on the podium but it was clear that if you are ahead you can be fairly aggressive, which Red Bull was and there was no way to pass.

"In the end we were faster but we couldn't get past on the track. I think it shows that if we qualify higher up we have an easier time in the race," added Vettel, who had qualified in fifth.

Vettel conceded that, while he thinks Ferrari was faster, Mercedes remains in a league apart.

"The car was fine today in terms of pace. Obviously we are not matching Mercedes, they seem to be in a league of their own."

[MIKA27]

Hamilton 'over-managed' Hungarian GP, didn't delay Rosberg - Wolff

Mercedes motorsport boss Toto Wolff has dismissed suggestions Lewis Hamilton deliberately attempted to back up team-mate Nico Rosberg towards Formula 1 rival Daniel Ricciardo during the Hungarian Grand Prix.

At last year's Chinese GP, Rosberg felt Hamilton hampered his race chances by unnecessarily backing him up into Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel.

At the Hungaroring, Hamilton again controlled the pace at the front, to such an extent he was warned over the radio to pick up his pace otherwise Rosberg would pit first at the second stop to ward off the challenge from Ricciardo.

Despite arguing he was driving to the best of his ability, Hamilton soon found pace, allowing Rosberg to also push and ensuring the duo finished one-two.

Wolff said: "I don't think he was backing him up at all. I'm sure he didn't want to back him up.

"The whole weekend we discussed with them the need to be very cautious on the tyres. When you hear the constant messaging 'the tyres might not last', you want to manage them.

"They managed them very well in the first stint on the super-softs, and then we bolted on the softs and we didn't have any experience on those tyres.

"He [Hamilton] over-managed it probably. He had everything under control, he knew Nico was behind and didn't realise the train was approaching fast.

"There was a different strategy behind him, so I guess he didn't have the complete picture. For him it looked OK, that's why he just took it easy.

"He was really cautious in looking after the tyres, and this is what he said."

Hamilton said his actions were not meant to hamper Rosberg.

"If I'd pushed harder at the beginning then maybe I wouldn't have got to the end the way I needed," he said.

"I was turning my engine up and down, managing it as much as I needed to.

"I wasn't backing Nico up. He was quick enough to close the gap if he really wanted to and challenge, but shortly after that [the radio message] I was able to pick up pace and still really go for it."

Rosberg felt Hamilton did drive "over-cautiously", but did not go as far as what unfolded in China.

"I was just fully focused forwards," said Rosberg.

"I'm happy the pace was slow because I was trying to put the pressure on him and trying to get some mistakes going from him.

"I did everything I could to force the mistakes, but there was not enough to get by."

[MIKA27]

Palmer baffled by Hungarian GP spin that cost him first F1 points

Renault's Jolyon Palmer says he has "no idea" how the spin that cost him his first Formula 1 points in the Hungarian Grand Prix happened.

Palmer had moved up from 17th on the grid to run 10th in the closing stages, making good use of a long first stint, jumping Nico Hulkenberg in the pits and then benefiting from a pitstop problem for Sergio Perez.

But then he spun at Turn 4 with 23 laps to go, leaving him to finish 12th.

"I had the pace on Hulkenberg. I was driving really within myself," said Palmer when asked by Autosport to explain the incident.

"I wasn't exactly hanging anything out and hadn't had any big moments, everything was under control but then I lost the car in Turn 4.

"I have not a clue why.

"I have no idea what happened. I didn't do anything different. I didn't do a different line, I didn't do a different engine speed.

"I never had oversteer the whole race in that corner and then I turned in and lost the car completely.

"I had a massive snap and then I was pointing backwards."

Tenth place would have been only Renault's second points finish of its difficult transitional season back under factory ownership.

"This weekend has been perfect apart from one corner," rued Palmer.

"It's easily my best race ever. The strategy was really good. The pit stop. Everything came together and for some reason I lost the car so I'm gutted.

"The good news is that we didn't luck into this, which shows we have the pace and can do it again."

He is optimistic Renault's improved form will not be a one-off.

"We've made a big breakthrough so I think it will carry on for another couple of races," Palmer said.

"But my first F1 points were there for the taking and I didn't take them."

[skalls]

Exciting qualifying.  Boring race.  Hammy finally got a good start for a change.

I still hate the radio rules.  Engineers should be able to tell their drivers to do x, y or z setting.  They shouldn't be telling them "coast, lift blah blah blah."  The drive through Jenson had to do was stupid.

Was also surprised Max didn't get a penalty for blocking.  To me it was pretty clear it was a double move.

[Colt45]

So, I've a question for members who are truly into F1.....

I like all types of racing, and watch F1 when I can. What I've found is that it's one of the few, if not only, series where qualifying position can almost determine the race outcome. I did see most of the Hungarian GP, and other than the start, I basically felt like I was watching a parade. That's how I end up feeling most races I see.

The day before, I was able to see quite a bit of the IMSA race from Lime Rock - one of my favorite forms of racing, and I think much more gritty and exciting. The drags from Colorado were pretty exciting as well - over 300 mph in under 4 seconds in an 1/8 of a mile....

So, things like pit strategy, team orders and the like aside, what do F1 fans think about the actual racing?

[OZCUBAN]

3 hours ago, Colt45 said:

So, I've a question for members who are truly into F1.....

I like all types of racing, and watch F1 when I can. What I've found is that it's one of the few, if not only, series where qualifying position can almost determine the race outcome. I did see most of the Hungarian GP, and other than the start, I basically felt like I was watching a parade. That's how I end up feeling most races I see.

The day before, I was able to see quite a bit of the IMSA race from Lime Rock - one of my favorite forms of racing, and I think much more gritty and exciting. The drags from Colorado were pretty exciting as well - over 300 mph in under 4 seconds in an 1/8 of a mile....

So, things like pit strategy, team orders and the like aside, what do F1 fans think about the actual racing?

I agree Colt ,I have been a F-1 fan most of my life and for most of the last say 5 years it has been a bit of a processional bore fest LOL 

whilst all agree safety should be paramount ,it's like the political correctness gone to far and at times a bit of a knee jerk reaction ,

if someone was going to ask me lets bring back refuelling and equip the drivers with decent tyres and let them race flat out ,cos that's what most drivers want anyway ,these new rules especially the radio ones are a farce 

cheers 

[MIKA27]

Colt, IMO the actual racing these days is pretty boring. Being a fan, I always hope each season becomes better but then the FIA etc, come up with stupid rules etc to try spicing up what should be about man and machine.

I've said it 100 times, I miss the days of refuelling, tire rules as these two would liven up racing with strategies and Formula 1 really was exciting those days. To me, much of F1 today is not pushing to the limit whereas even going back 10-15 years ago, was far better racing.

I think on another note, the FIA need to hire others to design exciting tracks, remove Herman Tilke as much of the bore fests are his making, add to that the FIA and their rule tweaks turn the best of races into snooze fests.

[MIKA27]

VETTEL: F1 SET A BAD EXAMPLE WITH ROSBERG’S POLE LAP

Ferrari driver Sebastian Vettel believes that Formula 1 set a bad example by not penalising Nico Rosberg for not slowing down enough during a double waved yellow period in qualifying for the Hungarian Grand Prix, and as a result the Mercedes driver claimed pole position for the race which sends the wrong signal to drivers in junior categories.

Vettel told media during the weekend at Hungaroring, “The worst thing about this is we are an example. Next week there will be a go karting race somewhere and there will be a double waved yellow somewhere because somebody went off and marshals will go out and help.”

“The way the kids think: I don’t need to lift much because in F1 it is okay, that is the pinnacle and that is okay so that is how we can behave.”

“That is what I don’t like about it. In the past we didn’t have the technology to time the different sectors around the track and only had sectors one, two and three so the rule of thumb was you are not allowed to improve in a yellow sector. Double yellow in the rule book says be prepared to stop.”

“Arguably if you go 2 kph or 4 kph slower or brake earlier and you drop half a tenth I don’t think you are preparing to stop. It is one of those things that we are trying improve and make it fair to give us drivers a chance to finish our lap even if unfortunate with the yellow flag in qualifying or practice.”

Vettel added, “In my opinion it has gotten worse. We have had a lot of discussions and in the past it was clear not to improve under yellow but now we can. We need to debate how much is considered a lift and how much is not.”

“One thing is for the people who are trying to rescue and recover the car and get the track green again and the other is the example we are giving. I am not a big fan of penalising every single one. We didn’t set a good example in [qualifying],” concluded the quadruple F1 world champion.

[MIKA27]

BUTTON: WHITING NEEDS TO READ UP ON WHAT IS SAFE AND WHAT ISN’T

Jenson Button said he should not have been penalised for receiving a radio message to warn him about a brake failure during the Hungarian Grand Prix.

The 2009 world champion lost use of his brakes during the early part of the race and told his McLaren team, who responded by saying, “do not shift, we have lost hydraulic pressure”.

This radio dialogue between him and his engineer on the McLaren pit wall resulted in a stewards’ inquiry and he was given a drive-through penalty because the dialogue was seen as unrelated to a safety issue.

At the time, Button said: “So, the brake pedal going to the floor is not classed as a safety issue? Quite interesting I think Charlie [Whiting, the FIA Race Director] needs to read up on what is safe and what isn’t?”

Later, he said: “The brake pedal went to the floor and obviously it’s never nice for a driver to get that feeling. For me that’s a safety concern – a safety problem.

“The guys gave me a switch change, so it didn’t happen again, so the pedal wouldn’t go to the floor again and we got penalised for that.

“We had a drive-through for that even though I was last. We’re told that if you’re told you have a problem you have to pit. I’m guessing that you have to pit earlier than we did.

“There are certain things we shouldn’t be telling drivers because we need to deal with it ourselves, but when you have a power unit that’s so complex, a driver can’t figure it out himself.

“And when your brake pedal goes to the floor, I figure that’s a safety concern and I don’t think you should get punished. It could end in an incident.”

[MIKA27]

ARRIVABENE: FERRARI IS A STRONG AND UNITED TEAM

Ferrari team chief Maurizio Arrivabene has broken his silence to play down speculation the Italian team could lose Sebastian Vettel and James Allison., insisting that the Maranello outfit is united despite the mounting pressure.

Team boss Arrivabene had a low-profile Hungarian grand prix, refusing to speak to the English speaking media amid reports the Maranello team is in crisis.

One rumour was sparked by Red Bull boss Christian Horner, who said he sensed Vettel might soon want to switch to Mercedes.

“Sebastian never said once that he doesn’t like the atmosphere in Ferrari,” Italian reporters quoted Arrivabene as saying in Budapest. “On the contrary, he has said numerous times that he is very comfortable in the team.”

“A couple of months ago, journalists began to ask Kimi the same question, and after him it was my turn, that (James) Allison would soon take my place.

“Now that we confirm the contract with Kimi the press is saying that Allison is leaving! You know what? Please, let us work in peace,” he added.

Arrivabene denied that morale at Ferrari is low.

“That’s not true,” the Italian insisted. “This is a strong and united team. This supposedly low morale is all just stories to try to make us have low morale, but we never give up — never, never, never.”

[MIKA27]

HORNER SAYS RENAULT ARE STILL 45 BHP BEHIND MERCEDES

Red Bull team chief Christian Horner believes that the TAG Heuer badged Renault power unit are down about 45 horsepower on the pace setting Mercedes engine

Renault unleashed a major upgrade at the Monaco Grand Prix, but their is still a gap insists Horner, “I think that Renault have made some great steps, we know that there’s more in the pipeline and I think there’s definitely more to come and it’s how it works in harmony with the chassis.”

“I think we know that we are 35 kilowatts (about 45 horsepower) behind, that’s what the Renault guys tell us, and we know the plans they have in place to close that gap down.”

Renault revealed in Hungary that it would not introduce any more Monaco-sized updates this year, but Horner says there is plenty more performance to be extracted from the current package.

“Well we have some fuel and some tuning and drivability that there is definitely performance to come from. We’re quite confident that they’ll still be some steps of performance by tidying up what we actually have.”

[MIKA27]

Bernie Ecclestone's mother-in-law Aparecida Schunck kidnapped in Sao Paulo: reports

The mother-in-law of Formula One chief Bernie Ecclestone has been kidnapped in Sao Paulo and criminals are demanding 120 million Reals ($49 million) in ransom, according to reports in a leading Brazilian news magazine.

Aparecida Schunck, the mother of Ecclestone's wife, Fabiana Flosi, was seized in the Brazilian city on Friday night, Veja and other news organisations reported.

It did not give more details, and local police could not be reached to confirm the reports.

Ecclestone, who Forbes magazine estimates is worth $US3.1 billion ($4.15 billion) - along with his family - and one of the most powerful men in sport, married Flosi in 2012, three years after meeting her at the Brazilian Grand Prix.

Ecclestone, who is now 85, divorced his then wife of 25 years, Croatian model Slavica Radic, in order to marry the young Brazilian. The couple now live in England.

Kidnapping was common in Brazil a decade ago with several people seized each day, often for sums of just a few hundred dollars.

A crackdown by police, including the formation of a special anti-kidnap division, reduced the number considerably, and the crime has become much rarer.

Brazil is currently in the midst of its worst economic crisis in almost a century.

News of the kidnap comes a day after New Zealander Jason Lee said he'd been kidnapped by men in police uniforms and forced to hand over money withdrawn from ATMs in Brazil's Olympic host city Rio de Janeiro.

[MIKA27]

McLaren 'best of the rest' behind top three - Fernando Alonso

McLaren were "best of the rest" in Hungary according to Fernando Alonso and are fighting in their own "mini-championship" behind the top three.

The Woking team has outscored Sauber, Manor, Renault, Haas, Toro Rosso and Williams over the last three races and have scored just one point less than Force India since the Austrian Grand Prix.

Last weekend Alonso and team-mate Jenson Button both made Q3 for the first time since reuniting with Honda and although Button retired from the race, Alonso started seventh, passed Toro Rosso's Carlos Sainz before losing out to Kimi Raikkonen to finish in the same position he started.

"It's a pity we couldn't improve, but still I think we were best of the rest," said Alonso after the race.

"Mercedes, Red Bull and Ferrari are out of reach at the moment for everyone – they're on another level – so, in the other mini-championship, we were quite competitive and I feel we delivered the maximum we could.

"There wasn't much action in the race though. For us, it was a little bit of a boring afternoon at some points – not the usual Hungaroring show – and the only retirement, unfortunately, was Jenson."

Alonso is confident McLaren and Honda have turned a corner with good performances at both Silverstone and the Hungaroring - two very different circuits.

"I’m happy about how the weekend went and hopefully we can keep this up progress," he added. "We’ve been more or less competitive here and at Silverstone, on two very different circuits, so I’m looking forward to next weekend at Hockenheim."

[MIKA27]

Hamilton denies triggering Rosberg investigation

Lewis Hamilton had denied that a conversation he had with the FIA's Charlie Whiting had an influence on the decision by the stewards to investigate Nico Rosberg over the yellow flag issue in Hungarian GP qualifying.

The stewards had initially decided not to conduct a formal investigation into Rosberg's pole lap.

However, the German was summoned by an FIA document timed at 7.16pm, over three hours after qualifying ended, after new evidence emerged.

Sources have indicated that Hamilton had been in contact with the FIA, although it is not clear if he actually provided any new information.

Intriguingly, in the post-race press conference Hamilton talked extensively about the yellow flag issue and gave details about how Rosberg's apex speed on the yellow flag lap had been the same as on his previous lap, so it's possible that he provided similar information to the FIA.

Toto Wolff confirmed that Hamilton had been in touch with Whiting after qualifying, although the team principal was keen to play down the significance of that contact.

"I don't believe I influenced the stewards' enquiry," said Hamilton tonight.

"I have spoken to Charlie for clarification, because as I said in the press conference, which obviously I don't want to bring up again, but in the next scenario when I'm in the same position where I was all I have to do is lose a tenth in Turn 8, and even though there's a car facing me on the track in Turn 9, all I have to do is lose a tenth.

"Lifting and coasting into a corner, that's fuel saving. And braking at the same place and getting on the power five metres earlier or whatever it was, and being the same speed at the apex and actually much quicker at the exit…

"And also at the apex of the corner there was a yellow flag on the right for the Turn 9. It's just important to know. If that is the case, the precedent was set yesterday.

"He said he's going to think about it, because that's not how it should be. If I do the same thing in the next race, do we get penalised. All the young racers, all of us here, need to know."

Hamilton expects the matter to be discussed in the next driver's briefing in Germany next week.

"I believe so. I will definitely raise it, because as I said knowing that on a double waved yellow now is [lift] and then gas it and go back on it, and still go purple.

"I can still get pole while there's someone crashed or marshals on the track or a car in the middle of the road. If I get round him with only using a tenth, there should be no penalty."

[MIKA27]

Analysis: How Hamilton gave Red Bull false hope in Hungarian GP

While the Hungarian Grand Prix did not produce the most thrilling of races for victory, the intrigue about the strategies and the battles for the lower positions kept the tension on until the chequered flag dropped, as Adam Cooper explains.

At first glance the Hungarian GP may appear to have been a little disappointing, and it's inevitable that any race that has 21 finishers, few incidents and virtually no significant passing leaves spectators wanting more.

And yet it was an afternoon of much intrigue, and while we didn't see any passing, we had tense battles for the lead, third place and fifth place that ran all the way to flag.

And while Lewis Hamilton was ultimately in command, Nico Rosberg was right there throughout, waiting to pounce on any mistake. The German's tenacity nearly paid off.

There were two key moments in the race. The first was the start, always a crucial deciding factor at a track where overtaking is so difficult.

And the second came half way through the race, when Daniel Ricciardo and Red Bull put Mercedes under pressure. The world champion team had to hold its strategic nerve and hope that Lewis Hamilton would find extra pace at the right time, which is exactly what he did.

Given Hamilton's history of poor starts in 2016, and the extra element of internal tension added by the yellow flag controversy that helped Rosberg to secure pole, the first lap was always going to be fascinating.

To that you could throw in the fact that the dirty line has traditionally handicapped anyone starting, like Hamilton, from an even numbered spot.

We had a thoroughly entertaining first couple of corners, and in fact the dirty side, didn't prove to be a handicap, presumably a result of the recent resurfacing and/or the heavy rain on Saturday.

Hamilton successfully fended off the Red Bull at the start – it would appear he genuinely didn't know it was Ricciardo – and a cynic might suggest that he actually left the Aussie a little more room than he would have granted his own teammate…

Ricciardo had a good go at it, but in the end he ended up in third, as crucially Rosberg got back into second to restore the Mercedes status quo.

"It was a great start actually, just in terms of a spectacle," Paddy Lowe told Motorsport.com. "The whole top five made pretty good starts. Intuitively it doesn't feel like a very long straight here, but actually it's the fifth longest. It's only 100 metres less than Barcelona. With those longer ones you end up having a tow effect.

"Into Turn One, they were virtually five abreast, weren't they? Our hearts were in our mouths, because it looked like Lewis lost the lead to Ricciardo, but he clung onto it through Turn One.

"And Nico absolutely lost P2 through Turn One, but made a fantastic manoeuvre to get back the second place. It was a great spectacle, and I'm glad to come out of it with a one and two."

The first stint saw Rosberg drift to around 2.5 seconds behind Hamilton, but after the first stops and the switch to soft tyres, the gap came down almost immediately, and within a couple of laps – with Hamilton noting he was "struggling for pace" - it came down to around a second.

That was close as Rosberg could get without losing grip and putting his tyres at risk.

 

Ricciardo pressure

It was at this stage that the focus turned away from the Mercedes and to the progress of Ricciardo. He had stopped a lap earlier than Hamilton, and two laps before Rosberg, and having initially lost a little time when stuck behind Valtteri Bottas he had really picked up his pace.

Indeed he was closing fast on both the W07s, and he got a little extra motivation when his engineer told him he was a second quicker than them.

A few laps later Hamilton was told "you need to pick up the pace a little bit," to which he replied, "I'm working on it." This was fascinating stuff.

Was Hamilton in tyre trouble, or was he as some suggested indulging in a little gamesmanship and backing Rosberg up, hoping that Nico might get jumped by Ricciardo and lose a few vital points?

Rosberg himself didn't view it that way: "No not at all, I was just fully focussed forwards, I was quite happy that the pace was slow because I was trying to put the pressure on, trying to get some mistakes going from him. I did everything I could, got some mistakes, but not enough to get by."

In fact Hamilton was pacing himself and protecting his soft tyres, as he wasn't sure how they would last over a full stint.

"The problem is that all the teams anticipated it being quite difficult to make the two stop work, on supersofts and two softs," said Lowe. "So there was lot of management out there, let's put it that way. It's very difficult, live within a race, to calibrate the management that's necessary."

"With the tyres it's like having a hundred pounds and spending it over the distance," Hamilton explained.

"I knew what my target was, and I just tried to spend it as wisely as I knew. If I pushed perhaps a little bit more at the beginning, maybe I wouldn't have got to the end the way I needed to. I felt like it was pretty perfectly managed, I didn't have any problems."

The pressing issue for Mercedes was that while Hamilton thought he was doing the right thing, Ricciardo had by become a serious threat, and it was essential that he picked up his pace.

The Ricciardo threat led to a fascinating conversation shortly before half distance where the team made it clear to Hamilton that they might have to pit Rosberg first to protect him from Ricciardo, and that the win might be at risk.

In other words what mattered to Mercedes was the one-two, and if circumstances dictated that Rosberg stopped first to stay ahead of Ricciardo – and in so doing managed to jump Rosberg – then so be it.

"That was the situation," said Lowe. "When you reach a point where the second place guy is under threat from behind, then we need that gap."

 

Early Red Bull stop

The crunch came was when the Australian made an unexpectedly early second stop on lap 33, putting him onto a fresh set of tyres.

Mercedes made the call to keep both its cars out on the basis that Hamilton could pick up the pace and match Ricciardo with his older tyres, and while doing so pull Rosberg out of harm's way.

"The real stress point was Red Bull went for a very early final stop with Ricciardo," said Lowe. "I'm sure to put us under a lot of pressure. It was a good tactic.

"They were taking the gamble with the early stop, as you would do, because otherwise they were just going to sit and wait and finish P3. It was worth a gamble. As you saw, he could still defend from Vettel at the very end, so that tyre was much better than everybody predicted."

In fact from a Red Bull perspective this was also about keeping Ricciardo safely clear of Sebastian Vettel.

"We were mainly protecting against Sebastian," said Christian Horner.

"Once we reached a point where we believed we were safe until the end of the race, we could see that Sebastian was pushing on with things, trying to get an undercut, so we decided to take the stop and make sure that we got track position and at the same time put Mercedes under a little bit of pressure.

"But what it exposed was that as soon as they were under a little pressure, they were able to turn things up quite a lot..."

"Absolutely we had to cover his pace," said Lowe. "Because we had to assume it was still a final stop, and as we saw to be the case, it's very difficult to overtake. So they took a gamble there, and we had to decide whether to cover it, or whether to stick it out and match his pace, which luckily we were able to do."

At this stage the team made it clear to Hamilton that he really had to get going.

"Lewis didn't know all the information that we knew," said Lowe. "And at the point that it was defined for us by Ricciardo's stop, we were making more direct demands upon him to push the tyres harder.

"And that was ultimately the persuasion that we put to Lewis to speed up. When Ricciardo stopped it was no longer an issue of it would be nice, it was absolutely essential we matched his pace, otherwise we would have lost the win on either car."

Rosberg, meanwhile, didn't expect to see an orchestrated on-track change of positions, as was the case in Monaco.

Fortunately for Mercedes Hamilton did speed up. Having managed his tyres earlier in the stint, and saved a chunk of his £100, he was now able to spend it. Hamilton insisted that Ricciardo's bold strategy was never really on his radar.

"I wasn't really focussed on it," he said. "And I knew I had a lead and I knew what I had to do to stay ahead. I was aware that he had stopped earlier, but I was able to match his times when he did stop, and I was actually quicker, so it was never an issue."

He insisted that even the message that hinted at Rosberg getting the first stop – potentially giving him a chance to steal the lead – had not bothered him: "In my mind it was not going to be changing. I wasn't backing Nico up, and if he was quick enough he could have closed the gap if he wanted to, and challenged. Shortly after that I was able to pick up pace, and then I guess there was never a threat."

 

Hamilton hits traffic

There were a couple of times when Rosberg got a bit closer. On lap 52 Hamilton got caught up behind Esteban Gutierrez, and the gap briefly came down to 0.6s before it opened up again. And then on lap 62 it shrank to the same margin when Hamilton locked up, as the pressure Rosberg was exerting nearly paid dividends.

"I didn't have any concerns during the race," said Hamilton. "Apart from Turn 12, when I went wide, that was the only moment where I had a slight concern for a moment, because I braked on the bump. Before I was braking after it or before it, and this time it just happened to be perfectly on the bump and caused a lock-up, and I went straight. But otherwise, no..."

Had that moment been a little bit more extreme for Hamilton, Rosberg might have been able to sneak by. But in the end Hamilton stayed safely ahead to the flag.

"There was a point when Lewis made a mistake at Turn 12 and went wide, and they closed up pretty there," said Lowe.

"We saw from Raikkonen and Verstappen it's a really difficult place to get past, even with a big differential. Which is why it was so essential to cover Ricciardo's early stop, if we'd come out behind him, even if he was struggling in the last five laps, he may well have held it.

"That was the point of maximum tension in the race, apart from the start. In terms of issues it was a very quiet race, fortunately. There were no technical issues."

So a near perfect Sunday for Mercedes, but one that could have gone a little differently had that unpredictable qualifying session not gone the team's way.

Indeed had Sergio Perez not messed up Turn 5 on his final lap in Q2, the Mexican would have comfortably demoted Hamilton to 11th on the grid. And that would have made for a very interesting race...

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Force India takes blame for Perez's bungled Hungarian GP pitstop

Force India has accepted the blame for the "miscommunication" that led to Sergio Perez's bungled second pitstop during the Formula 1 Hungarian Grand Prix.

Perez finished 11th at the Hungaroring but had been running ahead of team-mate Nico Hulkenberg, who wound up 10th, when he entered pitlane on lap 40 to find the team did not have tyres ready.

Deputy team principal Bob Fernley explained that no message had been passed to the pitcrew after the decision to pit was made.

"It was a miscommunication on the pitwall," he told Autosport.

"It was our fault, nothing to do with him. We made a mistake.

"We missed a call on the pitwall picking it up in the procedures."

Perez told Autosport his race had been "running to plan" until that point, even though the VJM09 lacked downforce load in Hungary.

"The first stint was very strong; we were on plan to complete it and then we went on to mediums," he said.

"But they were sliding around and I couldn't manage it well to make them work, so we decided we had a nice window to stop.

"They called me in, but when I stopped there were no tyres so we lost a lot of time.

"It's annoying, but it can happen sometimes. We've seen it in the past.

"Probably more than ninth place was available for us, but it's how it is sometimes."

Following a strong recent run in which it closed on fourth-placed Williams in the constructors' championship, Force India's poor performance in Hungary was a setback, although Fernley could at least draw a positive.

"From lap one, 10th was probably the best we could do, and 10th was the best we got," he said.

"It probably deserved to go to Nico, but could have gone to [Perez], so nothing lost.

"It wasn't an inspiring weekend; I don't think we qualified as well as we could, and as a result of that we couldn't race as well as I'd have liked to have done.

"But when you have a bad weekend and you only lose one point to the people you're looking at trying to compete with [Williams] then it's not so bad."

Fernley believes this weekend's final race before the summer break in Germany is an opportunity to atone.

"We were optimistic for Hungary, and I think our pace over the weekend was good," he said.

"We're still aiming for that best of the rest position each time, but other teams did better than we did and we've got to rectify that in Germany."

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HAMILTON: I’M STILL CHASING

Triple world champion Lewis Hamilton still sees himself as hunter rather than hunted in the Formula One title race despite victory in Hungary putting him in the overall lead for the first time this season.

The Briton seized the lead from Mercedes team mate and title rival Nico Rosberg after an unprecedented fifth victory at the Hungaroring on Sunday that opened up a six-point lead over the German.

With half the 21-race season now completed and Germany’s Hockenheim circuit next up on Sunday, Hamilton, who has often spoken of how he thrives in adversity, still sees himself in hot pursuit.

“I’m just still in the same mentality of chasing, I’m still chasing,” he told reporters.

“(It’s) been great to be able to come back with fewer engines, with the struggle that we had at the beginning of the year, so I’m very, very proud of that but conscious that there’s still a long way to go.”

Hamilton trailed Rosberg by a massive 43 points after May’s Spanish Grand Prix following a spate of reliability problems in the early part of the season.

The 31-year-old, who singled out that Barcelona race and the collision between the Mercedes pair as the low point of his season, has hit back with a run of five wins from the last six races including victory in the last three.

His early season troubles have left him short of power unit components, however, and Hamilton knows he may have to take a grid penalty or start from the back of the grid at some point later in the year.

In order to limit the damage to his title hopes, Hamilton is aiming for maximum points with races like Silverstone two weeks ago, where he claimed a sensational win on home soil after dominating all weekend.

“I really would love to come out of the next race with another result like this so that when I do go to Spa or Monza, whichever one it is that I have to take my penalty…that it’s minimum damage,” he said.

“So I need to make sure I stay on it, like Silverstone weekends, from now on.”

Hockenheim is the last race before the August break, with the Belgian Grand Prix at Spa and then Italy’s Monza following on after that.

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HAMILTON: I’M STILL CHASING

Triple world champion Lewis Hamilton still sees himself as hunter rather than hunted in the Formula One title race despite victory in Hungary putting him in the overall lead for the first time this season.

The Briton seized the lead from Mercedes team mate and title rival Nico Rosberg after an unprecedented fifth victory at the Hungaroring on Sunday that opened up a six-point lead over the German.

With half the 21-race season now completed and Germany’s Hockenheim circuit next up on Sunday, Hamilton, who has often spoken of how he thrives in adversity, still sees himself in hot pursuit.

“I’m just still in the same mentality of chasing, I’m still chasing,” he told reporters.

“(It’s) been great to be able to come back with fewer engines, with the struggle that we had at the beginning of the year, so I’m very, very proud of that but conscious that there’s still a long way to go.”

Hamilton trailed Rosberg by a massive 43 points after May’s Spanish Grand Prix following a spate of reliability problems in the early part of the season.

The 31-year-old, who singled out that Barcelona race and the collision between the Mercedes pair as the low point of his season, has hit back with a run of five wins from the last six races including victory in the last three.

His early season troubles have left him short of power unit components, however, and Hamilton knows he may have to take a grid penalty or start from the back of the grid at some point later in the year.

In order to limit the damage to his title hopes, Hamilton is aiming for maximum points with races like Silverstone two weeks ago, where he claimed a sensational win on home soil after dominating all weekend.

“I really would love to come out of the next race with another result like this so that when I do go to Spa or Monza, whichever one it is that I have to take my penalty…that it’s minimum damage,” he said.

“So I need to make sure I stay on it, like Silverstone weekends, from now on.”

Hockenheim is the last race before the August break, with the Belgian Grand Prix at Spa and then Italy’s Monza following on after that.

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MANOR WORKING TO SECURE HARYANTO’S FUTURE

Manor are still working with Rio Haryanto and the Indonesian driver’s management to secure his seat for the rest of the season, but the Formula One team said it has options should they fail to work out a deal.

Haryanto, Indonesia’s first Formula One driver, has a contract with Manor for the full season but the funding his sponsors have committed only guaranteed his drive up to the just-completed Hungarian Grand Prix.

Haryanto’s main sponsor is state-owned oil company Pertamina, which has contributed five million euros ($5.48 million) towards the funding needed to secure his seat at the sport’s smallest team.

With the German Grand Prix scheduled for next weekend, there is little time to secure the additional funding, which Indonesian media has put at 15 million euros.

The British team’s racing director Dave Ryan said following Sunday’s race that keeping Haryanto was Plan A, “We’ve got Rio onboard and we’re working with Rio’s management and we’re doing everything we can to secure his drive for the rest of the year.”

When asked if Manor had a Plan B should Haryanto fail to secure the required funding Ryan said: “Yes, we’ve got a Plan B, we’ve got a Plan C, we’ve got a Plan D. Of course we have options and we have ideas. But plan A is to keep Rio in the car so that’s the intention.”

Haryanto said he was trying to focus on the next race in Germany, “For my side I’m right now focusing only for Germany and the team is also focusing for Germany.”

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Haas halts 2016 development to focus exclusively on 2017 car

The Haas team have halted development of its current car to focus exclusively on next season's challenger as it bids to get off to a similar flying start in 2017, according to team principal Guenther Steiner.

The American-led outfit, which has a technical partnership with Ferrari and Dallara, halted development of the 2016 car "quite early" as they are satisfied its level of performance can see out the season whilst also allowing it to get a head start on next year.

"We are fulltime on the '17 car," explained Stiner. "We are not doing anything with the ‘16 car anymore.

"Where we are with the ‘17 car, we think we are in a good place, but until after we go out next year at the first test, we don’t know because other people are developing. We are always trying to hit a moving target, but everybody’s confident we are getting there.

"Wind tunnel sessions are filled with parts to try, we are doing CFD, we are maxed out on everything as allowed by the FIA and everybody seems to be confident that we are on the right path. Where we are – only next year will tell when we get on the track."

Steiner doesn't believe the late Halo decision will impact their development plans, despite being well underway with the design of the chassis of which the Halo forms an integral part.

"At the moment, we are assuming that there will be a Halo," he added. "And if there is none, it’s pretty simple to take it out before we go to production.

'The production of the moulds and the tooling will start sometime in September, so we’ve got still some time and, by then, it will be decided what to do."

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Wolff reckons title battle will go down to the wire

According to Mercedes mastermind Toto Wolff, the Drivers’ Championship battle between Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton will carry on right until the last race of the season in Abu Dhabi.

After winning the recently concluded Hungarian Grand Prix, Hamilton is now six points clear of his teammate, leading the Championship table for the first time in 2016.

The Brit suffered an incident plagued start to the season, where he fell 43 points behind Rosberg on the table, but a first win of the season in Monaco after the two collided at the Spanish Grand Prix turned things around for him.

"I don't think that one can see a pattern in there," Wolff said.

"We've been with each other four years now and it’s important that they concentrate on their strengths, and you will see a couple of races go towards one, and then towards the other.

"We had the same discussion when Nico was doing really well at the end of the season. Can he maintain that momentum into next year? He did, was outperforming Lewis quite a lot at the beginning, and everyone was saying is this the new Nico?

"But then it turned around, and there is no single event I could attribute to a change of performance."

When quizzed by reporters on whether the German will lose momentum now that the triple World Champion is back to his winning ways, Wolff answered: "No, because at the beginning of the season he won so many points against Lewis you can see it swings both directions."

"We’ll see that swing through the season, and my feeling is that the championship will go to the end."

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Alonso not expecting fruitful German GP

As the F1 paddock heads to Hockenheim for the German Grand Prix, McLaren driver Fernando Alonso has admitted that it will be hard to replicate their result at the recently concluded Hungarian Grand Prix.

The Spaniard finished in a respectable seventh place, while his teammate Jenson Button qualified in the top ten before suffering a brakes issue on race day.

Alonso and Button have made no secret about their lack of pace and always look forward to circuits that demand less power, like the Hungaroring.

However, with the Hockenheimring being a power hungry circuit, the double World Champion is not expecting a strong result this weekend.

"It is quite a technical circuit which requires fairly high downforce, and although most of the corners are relatively low-speed, they come after long, power-hungry straights, so the set-up of both the power unit and chassis for both eventualities can be quite tricky," he revealed.

"For this kind of circuit, you need a car with which you can push, and I feel we’re making improvements in that area.

"For sure it will be different to Hungary – we can’t expect to be the number four team there, and our midfield rivals will be stronger, but we'll try to maximise everything we have in our armoury and give it our best shot.

"I'm pleased to be heading back to Hockenheim after we missed a race in Germany in 2015. It’s been a good circuit for me in the past – I’ve had three victories on this circuit, and five in Germany, so there’s lots of happy memories.

"The whole team has worked incredibly hard over the first half of the year, so it’ll be great to be able to have some luck and bring both cars home without any major issues."