The
2011 Hungarian Grand Prix, formally the
XXVII Eni
Magyar Nagydij, was a
Formula One motor race that was held on 31 July
2011, at the Hungaroring.[1] It was the eleventh round of the
2011 Formula One season. The race, contested over 70 laps, was won by McLaren's
Jenson Button, in his 200th
Grand Prix start, after starting from third on the grid.
Championship leader
Sebastian Vettel, who started the race from pole position, finished in second place for
Red Bull, and
Fernando Alonso completed the podium in third position for
Ferrari.
As a consequence of the race,
Vettel extended his lead in the
World Drivers' Championship to 85 points over
Mark Webber, who finished the race in fifth position.
Lewis Hamilton, fourth in the race, remained in third place in the championship, three points behind Webber in third, and one ahead of
Alonso. In the World Constructors' Championship, Red Bull's championship lead was cut to 103 points over McLaren, with Ferrari a further 65 points behind in third position.
After mixed conditions wreaked havoc in the support races, the Grand Prix started with a wet surface. At the start of the race, the track was described as, "not very wet, but slippery" by Jenson Button; this meant that it would be much more difficult to get heat into the tyres at the start of the race. This also provided dilemmas for the team's engineers, as the were not wet enough to use the full wet tyres, which would disintegrate very quickly if used, while the dry tyres were presumed to not give enough grip. This meant that all of the drivers started on intermediates.
Vettel easily established a lead into the first corner, with Lewis Hamilton following in second after spending the first two corners successfuly defending from
Button in third. The
Ferraris and Mark Webber struggled to get off the line on a damp track, the
Mercedes cars of Rosberg and
Michael Schumacher were fourth and fifth. Alonso and Webber dropped down to sixth and seventh, with
Felipe Massa down in eighth followed by
Paul di Resta and
Kamui Kobayashi.
Massa took seventh from Webber early on the first lap, while Michael Schumacher and Fernando Alonso battled throughout the rest of the lap for fifth, culminating with Alonso passing
Schumacher at the last corner. The Ferraris continued their recovery, as Alonso quickly dealt with Rosberg and closed in on Button, but he ran wide at
Turn 3, allowing Rosberg to reclaim the position. Massa passed Schumacher, with Webber also following him through. Lewis Hamilton made repeated attempts to pass Vettel around Turns 1 and 2.
The World Champion was able to hold him off until the fifth lap when he made a mistake and went wide at Turn 3, handing the lead to
Hamilton, and allowing Jenson Button to catch up. Hamilton, now on a clear track was released and started to pull away from the rest of the field and was
5.5 seconds clear after ten laps. Alonso had by then taken fourth from Rosberg again, whereas his teammate Massa spun off on the slippery conditions, rejoining down in 9th.
Jarno Trulli become the first retirement with a water leak.
As the track began to dry out, Webber was the first to pit for slick tyres and immediately set quick sector times. Button changed to slicks a lap later, but the leading duo of Hamilton and Vettel as well as Alonso stayed out a lap longer. Hamilton was unaffected due to the lead he had built, but Vettel and Alonso conceded places to Button and Webber who were able to pass them before they had fully heated up their slick tyres. After the entire field had pitted for slicks, the order at the front was Hamilton leading Button, followed by the Red Bulls of Vettel and Webber with Alonso, Rosberg, di Resta, Schumacher, Massa and Kamui Kobayashi completing the top ten.
- published: 25 Aug 2011
- views: 4738