Extended Highlights | 2011 Hungarian Grand Prix

Sky has closed in and once again we have changeable and challenging conditions for the drivers. The 26th Hungarian Grand Prix here at the Hungara Ring. Five lights disappearing will signal the desperate scrabble for grip away from the grid and we are into that process now. They drop the first and second clutches who can get some traction from those rear tires and get 700 horsepower into that racetrack and at the moment it's Vettel down to the first corner. Hamilton second at the moment. Ferrari's quite cautious on the brakes. Button seems to be holding his third place. Everybody sliding wide but so far no contact. Supreme driving of Ferrari very sideways and Buttons up the inside of Hamilton down into turn two. It's the best place to be but can he keep the speed? Hamilton will now be on the inside for three if he can hold it and indeed he does. Vettel from Hamilton and look at Rosberg start again. He's up into fourth place. So is Schumacher. Schumacher attacking Rosberg as well up the hill towards turn four. Both Mercedes flying off the grid ahead of both Ferraris. Mark Webber then struggling there. He's with Paul di Resta. He's had a very good start and up into ninth place as well. Vettel from Hamilton. Button sideways through turn five. Rosberg held it over Michael Schumacher. There's di Resta then ahead of and behind them we've got Kobayashi Petrov. Rosberg wide again and he'll have to yield to Button there. He kept a place. He didn't gain anything and look at Alonso behind both Mercedes Benz and that's really struggling for some grip David. Well indeed you can see that Sebastian Vettel got an absolute flyer off the line and then was not under any pressure on the run down to the first corner as we see. It's Michael Schumacher being passed around the outside by Alonso. Is he going to be able to maintain it on the run down under braking which will be down into turn 12 and he is indeed. He maintains that position but a very tentative Jenson Button alongside Lewis Hamilton on that run down to turn two. I thought he had him. Yeah me too and Schumacher dipped the wheel into the slippery curve again and Alonso having another run. That was all about pride into turn 12. Schumacher was not going to be passed around the outside. Now Alonso's got the inside. Can he find Indeed he can as he heads down the pit straight. So Alonso pretty much taking Michael Schumacher any which side he wanted to there. Schumacher coming back up the inside. They'll be looking to keep these tyres as cool as they can. The rubber tread blocks move around and they start overheating. It feels like bubble gum when you're out on the tyres as they overheat. Let's take a quick run through the field and now we've got to the end of the first lap. Vettel led Hamilton by half a second. Hamilton completely sideways. No traction control these days. It's all about the driver's right foot. It looks like rally driving out there. Vettel had to get out of the throttle. Let's put Hamilton right on his tail as they go into turn four. Very close action. So Vettel from Hamilton. Button third. Rosberg fourth. Alonso fifth. Michael Schumacher sixth. One thing's clear to me. Red Bull do not have an advantage in these conditions because Vettel's under pressure from Hamilton. And look at this then. So Alonso's made it past Rosberg and Massa. Oh look at this side by side for the lead. Vettel on the inside. Hamilton just gets run out of road by Sebastian Vettel. Desperately trying to get some power into the racetrack. Has to downshift in the middle of turn three. It's so slow. And then this completely unsighted turn four. The DRS is enabled. Charlie Whiting the race director thinks there's enough grip and safety out there. So we have that facility available despite them being on intermediate tyres. Every car started the race on the inters. Lewis Hamilton. Surely it can only be a matter of time before he finds a way past Sebastian Vettel. And Alonso right on the back of Button as well. Now Rosberg's holding down fifth place. Massa's sick. And Hamilton goes up the inside into turn two this time. Now he's got the high ground. Vettel will hang it out round the outside. Hamilton will have to cut back underneath. There's Vettel. We've got a Ferrari going wide at the exit of turn two as well, Martin. That was Alonso, I believe, has gone wide in two. Indeed. Yeah, he's dropped in behind Rosberg just in front of his teammate. Well spotted, David, in the background there. So Nico Rosberg then is back up into fourth place somehow. Vettel held it around the outside of turn two as Hamilton's sort of shaping up, don't you think? He's just testing him out to see where his grip is. Getting a replay here of Alonso. Gets away, gets a tyre onto the painted white line. And then you can see Rosberg's able to run around the outside as he goes through turn three. This is going to be an absolute nail-biter for the strategists and for which driver is going to make that call. You see Lewis Hamilton once again positioning himself on the outside into turn one to try and get a drive straight in that car in the run to two. And surely he must get up alongside Sebastian here. But being cautious on the brakes. Oh, he's gone wide. Hamilton takes the lead as Vettel can find no grip whatsoever on that paint out there. So Hamilton forces Vettel into a mistake and Vettel's got a different McLaren on the back of him now. And of course, what put Hamilton right there was he had the DRS available down the pit straight into turn one. And we know that the McLaren tends to be quicker in a straight line anyway than the Red Bull. So we got Webber down in seventh place, eight seconds off the lead and the other Red Bull then now down to second place. You can see Sebastian once he got a wheel on that white line, Martin. It was exactly a replay of what we saw with Alonso. He just had to open the steering and let the car run wide rather than risk getting into a spin. And this is Alonso versus Massa down into turn one. Alonso right around the outside. And that looks like Felipe Massa who made no attempt whatsoever to stop the team leader from passing him, frankly. So and this is why Alonso was behind him. Presumably he's made his second mistake of the race and that allowed Massa back through and is down at turn 12 in the braking. And this is Massa passing him and Massa basically had to let him straight back through down into turn one. You have to think Alonso would have been up there with Button Vettel had he not been making errors. Yeah, but that said he's only 10 seconds from a leader Hamilton and although in dry conditions that would be, as we see, that's Massa into the tyres. Little nudge there. Does he keep the car running? That's in the exit of turn two. It's an unusual place. Exit of turn two. It is indeed. As he goes through, that's an unusual place. That's where we saw Alonso and Vettel running wide. Look at Alonso's rear wing wide open. The DRS, the drag reduction system, and that's put him up alongside. And he's got a much, much more grip in the braking zone there. Has he overdone it slightly? He'll still get much better traction through the exit. He can straighten the car earlier than Rosberg. Button Pitts, former McLaren, he fancies a set of slick tyres and we know he loves these conditions, doesn't he, Jenson? When a crank a front wing, they know they need to compensate between slicks and intermediates. They would normally, in my experience, David, you take a little bit of front wing off for the slick tyres compared to the inters. And Lewis Pitts, Vettel follows him in as well. Sebastian Vettel for Red Bull will be, this is another pit stop race, brand new tyres there. And of course, only of the front runners, only Hamilton had a brand new set available. That could be pretty handy right now because they heat up faster, don't they? New tyres, as long as you can get the releasing agent off the surface, new tyres heat up more quickly. There's Michael Schumacher coming through the picture as well. He's yet to stop, so he's right up with the leaders at the moment. Button then will still be in a net third place. And there is Vettel with Button ever closer. That's worked out very well for Jenson Button. Coming in a lap early, DRS rear wing wide open as he homes in on the Red Bull. Vettel moving back over onto the drier line and he almost gets a little nudge there. Come on, get on with it, says Jenson. And he's got a good run, he can get up the inside into turn two. Will Vettel give him any space? Didn't have any choice, did he? Button takes over second place in the Grand Prix. And this is Webber then, Webber coming past Alonso. We've seen this before with the Renault, was it in Barcelona? We had some of the bodywork at the time. We questioned whether it could only be bodywork, but unless they've got an oil line there, possible safety car situation here. We'll watch out for that. Remember that the exhausts go all the way to the front of the side pods on the Renault. And as you say, we have seen this before. Clearly a fire that, whoa, was that a sort of an explosion? There was an explosion on the side of the car that hit the Marshall there. Mercedes of Michael Schumacher has parked the car. Third retirement of the day. See those tyres steaming? He did with the prime tyre he had on board there, that was a yellow tyre. Why would he have put the prime tyre on rather than the super soft? He doesn't have to run that tyre. And he's spun it, as Massa passes what must be Rosberg, or at least goes alongside him up into turn four. And Rosberg got out of shape in turn three. It's not working out well. It's been a bad two laps for Mercedes-Benz. And these two are getting extremely friendly. As Weber goes defensive, Alonso gets on the power nice and early, but the rear tyres won't handle it. They just won't transmit it into the racetrack. And thinks better of sending one up the inside of the Aussie, as Al-Jazwari puts a sweet move on Barrichello and makes it stick, with Puemi right behind them. That's for 9th, 10th and 11th. These Pirellis, as you found out in your tyre feature, Martin, seem to be very sensitive to variations in temperature. And the message I think, oh, and that's... Is it raining out the back? Hamilton's going slowly, and it's pouring the rain out there. This is going to be a race to the pits if you think this rain is going to be coming over. And it's one of the tightest pit lanes of the year, stacking cars up. If you get two cars coming in, line astern like McLaren are. And it's Button then in front of Hamilton. Button in the lead. Vettel right behind him. Hamilton's been off the road. That blue smoke must have been Hamilton recovering from a spin. They've simply come across the corner where it's wet. And we've got two Red Bull mechanics coming out into the pit lane. But they're staying on the track, look. Both McLarens stay on the track. Button leads the Grand Prix. But it's now that maybe you'd have thought these super soft tyres would be at a premium, a bit more mechanical grip from the rubber, surely. And here then, at the turn six and seven chicane, as he puts the power down, around she goes. And that is exactly what we saw going on. Oh, he's so lucky he didn't get wiped out by the Force India there. The Force India of Paul di Resta. Because Lewis just dropped the clutch, look, spins it round. And di Resta has to drive off the racetrack. Button then with Hamilton all over him. Of course, in these conditions, as they start to lose tyre temperature, it'll be the yellow harder rubber that loses temperature first. And that is why I'm sure Hamilton's suddenly coming back at him. These are so difficult conditions to know how much grip there'll be. Some sort of issue here of finding his pit box. And you can see the car's getting off wide. That was one of the Red Bulls there. That was Weber, I think, that's got wide in turn three. And we've got the Renault off the track behind them as well. So, surely, it must be getting too difficult for the drivers to keep temperature in Hamilton's hands. Sorry to cut across you there, David. Hamilton leads the Grand Prix again. He still can find grip on those tyres. It's played right back into his hands, as Button slips down to second place now. And of course, as you slow down more and more, you lose more and more temperature. It's a snowball effect. And we're going to see why Hamilton leads as Jensen in turn two goes off the track. And so do Petrov and co. behind him. Here's the view from Vettel's car as he tries not to run in to the Renault. I thought we might see somebody doing a three-point. That's a handbrake turn followed by a three-point turn. And there's still nose to tail in McLaren. So Hamilton must have had a problem. The DRS is open. And Button takes the lead of the Grand Prix yet again. Hamilton down the outside. So surely, somewhere in there, Lewis made a mistake. Because Button was a second or two behind him. Button leads. This is absolutely crucial for these two guys racing in the same team. Because whoever's got track position, if they do come in, which it looks like they'll have to, will get the first pit stop. If you stack them up, you're going to lose a massive amount. So now Hamilton's back in the lead. So there comes Lewis Hamilton. He's cried enough. I just can't find enough grip. What are they putting on? Intermediates. Intermediates going on and a crank of front wing to adjust the balance to shoot the other tyres. As we see Fernando Alonso overtaking the McLaren, which is on the intermediates, which is the wrong tyre now. It's stopped raining. Yeah. And to confirm that, Alonso has just breezed past Hamilton. I wonder if we're So drive-through penalty for car three, forcing another driver off the track. Car three is Lewis Hamilton. You can't change your tyres or work on the car while you're doing that. So Hamilton is about to have double bad news. He's got to pit for tyres and he's then got to do, he's got to do a drive-through within three laps. And this will be a confirmation of just pure extra grip as Alonso almost runs into him. He's got so much more grip. Down into turn six and seven. Nick Hamilton, his brother, not impressed with that at all. And so from looking pretty handy to win this Grand Prix, he's now behind Massa and Webber. That makes him sixth. Webber comes up alongside Massa out of the last corner. DRS wide open. He's got the position and as long as he's not too greedy on the brake pedal, he'll keep that quite comfortably. And Lewis Hamilton is right on the scene too, as he has got good traction, but he's on the outside for turn two. Massa doesn't leave him any space. Hamilton fancies a little look up the inside. Massa parks his car in the middle of the track. Don't blame him. Well, this is over P5 and P6. Button, a new fastest lap of the Grand Prix at 1.23.9. That's mighty. Alonso pointing in the wrong direction at turn 12. There's a big gap behind him. And look, Hamilton's done it into six. Turn six and seven. A bit of traffic in the way. So now Hamilton will set about with those. At least he's got some fresh tyres on now and the right tyres finally for Hamilton in this phase of the Grand Prix. And Button's lead up to 6.4. He just smashed Vettel on the previous tour. And just laying down a marker to the World Championship leader. Listen, son, just settle for second place if I were you and your 18 points. And let's have a look at Alonso gyrating on the brake pedal. Looks like a nice classic case of KERS harvesting and brake balance and damp track. Because a man of Alonso's calibre doesn't spin cars going into corners. Go for it. You've got to go for it. But he's locked his own wheel. Will he get in? And I think the second... Oh, they're going to contact. Guaranteed. Driving into a wedge. Guaranteed to disappear. And that cost Al-Jaswari. While another... While a driver is fighting another, there's no point diving up the inside and trying to surprise him. Because you will surprise him. And he will turn in on you. He won't see you coming. Rosberg, surely this will be easy meat for him. He'll be in the DRS zone. Well, detection right now as they cross that white line. Okay, but he actually can barely make the car go through the corner. He's trying to do 36 laps on those tyres. And he's lost two places in one straight. Because Adrian Sutil follows Rosberg. Make that three. As Al-Jaswari finally makes it one lap later. Perez next up for a shot at the Japanese salvo driver. This is so difficult for the leaders. When you come across a pack fighting each other that hard. And does he know he's there? Does Perez know they're there? Yes. And that might just be a chance for Hamilton to pounce. Usually the first man on the scene when they're fighting like that loses out. You just have to be careful not to try and follow them through. And then get yourself as Al-Jaswari. He's at the inside in turn 12. Hamilton is going to take the place from Webber. Seize the opportunity. Webber wrong-footed in the traffic. And Webber now trying to do something about that immediately. But he will be in the DRS zone now. It's a roll reversal as they cross that white line less than a second apart. Webber can get his rear wing open. Very tight line for Hamilton through the last corner. And he's gone. And Webber's nearly got lost there. Hamilton disappeared. Super grip he found there, didn't he? Yeah, but very late that Mark Webber opened his DRS. He had the ability to get it open. But he was almost at the start finish straight before he opened it. The man you need when the track doesn't want to let you know what's going to happen. He's acknowledging the crowd because he's got a few hundred meters to go. Button brilliantly wins the Hungarian Grand Prix. The class of the field, the championship leader Vettel follows his home, follows him home by three and a half seconds. And supreme skill we've seen this afternoon as drivers had to fight very difficult conditions. As ever, Alonso somehow keeps it pointing in the right direction for a podium. They're half a minute ahead of Hamilton and Webber. Hamilton quite clearly then has that covered. DiResta needs to be careful he doesn't lose a place there on the final lap. So Paul DiResta will be seventh. Hamilton fourth. Webber fifth. Massa will be sixth. Here is Lewis Hamilton, a man I don't believe will be too pleased when he steps out of that McLaren. Doesn't go over to the wall with his normal fist in the air. Paul DiResta is seventh. Buemi eighth. Rosberg ninth. Alja Suari should come across in 10th place in three or four seconds time and he does that now. Button wins the race. Once again he absolutely aced it while others made mistakes in challenging conditions. Jenson Button wins the 2011 Hungarian Grand Prix and deservedly so. For some reason I like these conditions, don't ask me why, but it worked out again. So a great call by the team to put me on the prime tyre when they did and I think a great call by all of us when we decided not to go to the Inter. All around amazing weekend. I want to say a big thank you to the whole team, the mechanics, the engineers, everyone within the team that's worked so hard to produce the car that we have now and I think we're going into the break on a nice high.