F1 '12 - Mercedes AMG GP Hungarian Race Results - Underwhelming finish with Rosberg 10th and Schumacher retires

[Scourge82]

The Mercedes Works team went into the last race before the summer break in damage limitation mode after a horrible qualifying session that saw both drivers knocked out of Q2. Schumacher's woes started even before the race could start. After all the driver lined up on the grid for the start. Charlie Whiting, the race director had some issues with the race lights and Michael turned his engine off thinking the start was aborted. He was pushed into the pits to have his car restarted and start the race from the pitlane.

Rosberg had better luck as he was able to jump up 2 spots to 11th at the start. At the end of the first lap Schumacher would come into the pits to switch to the medium compound, but also is under investigation for speeding in the pitlane. On lap 4, Michael was hit with a drive through penalty for speeding in the pits to completely ruin his weekend. After that he was in a race of his own that saw him as high as 17th for a bit. With 10 laps remaining, the Merc team decides to end his race to save the car for the Belgium grand prix.

Rosberg faired better with a quieter race and took advantage of an undercut through the first round of pitstops to claim 10th place and the final and only point for his team. He would finish the race over 45 seconds off the pace.

It was Lewis Hamilton in his Mclaren Mercedes car that claimed the win, after he dominated the whole weekend. He was chased by the Lotus drivers the whole race, but he managed to stay calm and keep them at bay. Kimi Raikkonen and Romain Grosjean finished 2nd and 3rd, last year's champ Vettel is 4th.Championship leader Fernando Alonso finished in 5th place and button in 6th. Brunno Senna who had a brilliant drive finished 7th, RBR's Mark Webber was able to save his weekend after failing in Q2, by finishing in 8th place, while Massa claims 9th.

Team comments to follow...



Podium, 69 Laps, Hungarian GP Result

#	Driver	Ctry	Team	Time	Gap	Pits
1	Lewis Hamilton		McLaren	1:27.030	1:41:05.503	2
2	Kimi Raikkonen		Lotus	1:26.368	1.000	2
3	Romain Grosjean		Lotus	1:26.553	10.500	2
4	Sebastian Vettel		Red Bull	1:24.242	11.600	3
5	Fernando Alonso		Ferrari	1:26.394	26.600	2
6	Jenson Button		McLaren	1:26.554	30.200	3
7	Bruno Senna		Williams	1:27.018	33.800	2
8	Mark Webber		Red Bull	1:26.968	34.400	3
9	Felipe Massa		Ferrari	1:29.019	38.300	2
10	Nico Rosberg		Mercedes	1:26.966	51.200	2
11	Nico Hulkenberg		Force India	1:28.210	57.200	2
12	Paul di Resta		Force India	1:28.439	62.800	2
13	Pastor Maldonado		Williams	1:26.822	63.600	3
14	Sergio Perez		Sauber	1:26.262	64.400	2
15	Daniel Ricciardo		Toro Rosso	1:26.949	1 lap	3
16	Jean-Eric Vergne		Toro Rosso	1:28.159	1 lap	4
17	Heikki Kovalainen		Caterham	1:27.394	1 lap	3
19	Vitaly Petrov		Caterham	1:28.137	2 laps	3
20	Charles Pic		Marussia	1:31.042	2 laps	2
21	Timo Glock		Marussia	1:34.324	3 laps	2
22	Pedro de la Rosa		HRT	1:33.765	3 laps	2
R	Kamui Kobayashi		Sauber	RETIRED	2 laps	3
R	Narain Karthikeyan		HRT	RETIRED	9 laps	2
R	Michael Schumacher		Mercedes	RETIRED	11 lap	4

Team Comments

Nico Rosberg:

We've had a difficult weekend here in Budapest, and just haven't been quick enough. In the race today, I had a good start and was able to gain three positions by the end, so I got the most out of it. Being happy with one point is not an ideal situation though. We need to find out why we are off the pace at the moment. I hope that we can do better in Spa after the break and we will push hard to make the improvements necessary.

Michael Schumacher:

Today was obviously one of those races that you will not look back at for very long. Our engine temperatures were very high before the start, and when the yellow lights came on, I switched the engine off. After I had started from the pit lane, I picked up a penalty and then a puncture. So all in all, the beginning of the race was not very pleasant for us. Everything you do not need came together. We did not have full telemetry before the start and during the period of overheating, and this is why we finally decided to retire so as not risk any damage which might make us suffer in the next race. Now we can now check the car properly before the break and prior to Spa. This weekend is not one to remember, but then there are weekends like this which you can only accept. I am sure we will be looking much better in the next races to come.

Ross Brawn:

Nico did a good job today, and 10th place is about where the car was, if not a little better. He drove very well to make the tyres last which is a positive sign, and a good strategy saw him pick up places. Michael had a much more eventful race. He started from the pit lane, incurred a penalty and then had a puncture so it wasn't exactly an ideal start to the afternoon. During that period, we lost all telemetry on his car, and subsequently had various problems during the race which we weren't entirely sure what they were, therefore we decided to retire the car. We are clearly not as competitive as we want to be and, whilst we got everything out of the car today, we need to find more performance and lap time.

Norbert Haug:

After a problematic qualifying where we did not make it into Q3 for the first time this season, we could not expect a good race result today. After his first stop on lap 15, Nico was already 26 seconds down to the leader, and he lost another 25 seconds during the following 52 laps. About half a second a lap - a gap that we experienced already at the previous races in Silverstone and Hockenheim. So it is very clear that we have a lot of work ahead of us, and I am convinced that we will improve our performance during the remaining nine races. After his start from the pit lane and his drive-through penalty, the team brought Michael in as a precaution with 11 laps to go. Congratulations to Lewis Hamilton and Vodafone McLaren Mercedes on their 75th win with a Mercedes engine in the last 15 years.

[Scourge82]

Not much the Merc team could do. They knew they were behind and there was nothing they could do about. But great drive by Hamilton. He was slower than the Lotuses but managed to keep them behind by using KERS at the right moments. Same for Kimi, he had a failing KERS system but cam back from behind to leap Vettel, Button and Grojean.

[Scourge82]

Team Comments

Nico Rosberg:

We've had a difficult weekend here in Budapest, and just haven't been quick enough. In the race today, I had a good start and was able to gain three positions by the end, so I got the most out of it. Being happy with one point is not an ideal situation though. We need to find out why we are off the pace at the moment. I hope that we can do better in Spa after the break and we will push hard to make the improvements necessary.

Michael Schumacher:

Today was obviously one of those races that you will not look back at for very long. Our engine temperatures were very high before the start, and when the yellow lights came on, I switched the engine off. After I had started from the pit lane, I picked up a penalty and then a puncture. So all in all, the beginning of the race was not very pleasant for us. Everything you do not need came together. We did not have full telemetry before the start and during the period of overheating, and this is why we finally decided to retire so as not risk any damage which might make us suffer in the next race. Now we can now check the car properly before the break and prior to Spa. This weekend is not one to remember, but then there are weekends like this which you can only accept. I am sure we will be looking much better in the next races to come.

Ross Brawn:

Nico did a good job today, and 10th place is about where the car was, if not a little better. He drove very well to make the tyres last which is a positive sign, and a good strategy saw him pick up places. Michael had a much more eventful race. He started from the pit lane, incurred a penalty and then had a puncture so it wasn't exactly an ideal start to the afternoon. During that period, we lost all telemetry on his car, and subsequently had various problems during the race which we weren't entirely sure what they were, therefore we decided to retire the car. We are clearly not as competitive as we want to be and, whilst we got everything out of the car today, we need to find more performance and lap time.

Norbert Haug:

After a problematic qualifying where we did not make it into Q3 for the first time this season, we could not expect a good race result today. After his first stop on lap 15, Nico was already 26 seconds down to the leader, and he lost another 25 seconds during the following 52 laps. About half a second a lap - a gap that we experienced already at the previous races in Silverstone and Hockenheim. So it is very clear that we have a lot of work ahead of us, and I am convinced that we will improve our performance during the remaining nine races. After his start from the pit lane and his drive-through penalty, the team brought Michael in as a precaution with 11 laps to go. Congratulations to Lewis Hamilton and Vodafone McLaren Mercedes on their 75th win with a Mercedes engine in the last 15 years.

[DavidV]

The last ls of Kimi's second stint got him just ahead of his teammate Grosjean.
Those 5 laps in which he was 1 second per lap faster really made his race.

Maldonado finally got a drivethrue for causing a collision when he drove the Force India of Paul di Resta of the track.

[Sticky]

Very well done as always Scourge. Added in the team comments and promoted to front page.