Grand Prix 2016 Hungarian Grand Prix Practice, Qualifying & Race Discussion

Back in 1986, when the Iron Curtain still divided East and West, the visionary that is Bernie Ecclestone decided to have a Grand Prix in a Communist country. Some say this was the beginning of the end of Communism and Bernie should be mentioned in the same breath as Reagan and Gorbachev, Thatcher and Yeltsin. Personally I think this is a load of old cobblers. Bernie knew he could turn a buck or two and with Hungarians starved of top line sport, apart from football, he knew they would turn up in their droves; which they duly did.

Fast forward 30 years and we are still making our annual pilgrimage to the Hungaroring. Communism, in Hungary at least, is a system of the past. Any trip to Budapest will present you with the usual range of crap fast food stores you now find everywhere else in the World but, at least, the city fathers in the 60's and 70's chose to build their brutalist structures outside the city so much of the original architecture is still preserved.

So what has happened at this circuit over the last 30 races? Nelson Piquet won the first for Williams. Many think of this as a Williams circuit, and they have won 7 races there. However, McLaren have won 11. I suspect Ron Dennis would give his right arm to win this year, although perhaps not as this would spoil the symmetry of his body and put him into OCD overload.

Back in the early years the Hungaroring was often referred to as the "Monaco of the East" as the the races often were very processional and featured little overtaking. That said, Piquet's overtaking maneuver on Senna in '86 and Mansell's on Senna again in '89 are both worth tracking down on YouTube. Damon Hill very nearly won for Arrows in 1997, after being dumped by Williams, and Jenson Button took his first win at the wheel of a Honda in 2006.

Lewis Hamilton has the best record of any driver currently on the grid, in Hungary, with 3 wins. But it's worth remembering that Danny Ric won in 2014 and Seb Vettel in 2015 and, I seem to recall, it has resulted in this race being voted close to the top of CTA's "Race of the Season". I'm not sure if this was a reaction to somebody other than Mercedes winning but the races have been anything other than a procession in the last few years.

Here's a bizarre fact (courtesy of Wiki), for the first 20 years there wasn't a wet race in Hungary. I think the last 10 years have made up for that.

So, Happy 30th Birthday to the Hungarian Grand Prix. Please serve us up a few surprises. Something more than a Mercedes 1-2 on the grid and 1-2 in the race would be nice. Red Bull believe they might have a chance here, with all it's tight twists and turns. I'm sure Ferrari would like to break their 2016 duck but I'm not that hopeful.

Behind these three teams I suspect we will be looking at the also rans. Williams will continue to be a bit crap and be behind Force India and Toro Rosso here as their car doesn't really like corners all that much. You would think the engineers as Williams would have considered that the car needed to go round corners when they first designed it.

McLaren might be able to mix it with the midfield runners a little more here, with only one long straight for their GP2 engine to have to worry about. At the back Haas and Renault will struggle for pace and reliability. Manor and Sauber will just struggle. What might be interesting is the rumour that Sauber will have a new investor. If they bring in some serious money I would suggest they give both drivers and Monisha Kaltenborn the boot but then I'm not investing so they aren't going to take any notice of me.

Hungary - menj, menj, menj as the Hungarian Murray Walker might say.
 
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Just saying......

15.1 (f) Yellow flag – Double Waved: Great danger. Slow down considerably. Be prepared to suddenly change from the projected racing line, or take other evasive action including stopping if necessary. No overtaking. (This signal may be supplemented or replaced by flashing yellow light(s), as an added warning).
 
Ideal Lap (sum best sectors) in the Qual:
Qual – No – Driver – Qual Result – Ideal Lap – Flaw
1 - 6 - N.ROSBERG - 01:19,965 - 01:19,729 - 00,236
2 - 44 - L.HAMILTON - 01:20,108 - 01:19,764 - 00,344
4 - 33 - M.VERSTAPPEN - 01:20,557 - 01:20,100 - 00,457
3 - 3 - D.RICCIARDO - 01:20,280 - 01:20,114 - 00,166
5 - 5 - S.VETTEL - 01:20,874 - 01:20,579 - 00,295
6 - 55 - C.SAINZ - 01:21,131 - 01:20,999 - 00,132
7 - 14 - F.ALONSO - 01:21,211 - 01:21,211 - 00,000
8 - 22 - J.BUTTON - 01:21,597 - 01:21,478 - 00,119
9 - 27 - N.HULKENBERG - 01:21,823 - 01:21,739 - 00,084
10 - 77 - V.BOTTAS - 01:22,182 - 01:21,904 - 00,278
 
DRIVER – Sector 1 – Sector 2 – Sector 3
ROSBERG
- 28,308 - 28,759 - 22,662
HAMILTON - 27,955 - 29,290 - 22,519
Difference - (–0,353) (+0,531)(–0,143)

And Rosberg says that he was slow down on the S2....
 
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With the new surface the previous problem where the cars on the dirty side of the track were at a disadvantage on the right has been eroded

I hope Ricciardo makes a decent start because i believe he can run with the Mercs

Vettel: 'Sleeping' Button cost me top-three

Given Ferrari's pace I don't see how they could have ran with Mercedes
 
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Rosberg has been called to the stewards to investigate the yellow flag situation. Weird they didn't do this earlier.

[edit] seems Hamilton asked for clarification as to how much drivers need to lift off under waved yellows. The stewards inquiry into Rosberg may serve the purpose of clarifying the situation, without a penalty being issued.
 
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Rosberg did slow. Pole stands.

Andrew Benson on BBC suggesting all 11 cars who missed 107% will be ranked P12-22 according to P3 times. That includes Red Bull...
 
Once again, a driver has spun, causing yellow flags, and causing lots of other drivers to be unable to improve!

I do suspect that Button would have beaten his teammate, had he not had to slow down...

I am increasingly of the opinion that if a driver causes a yellow flag, he should lose his fastest lap time from the session!
 
It was unfortunate Hamilton was the first car on the scene and where Alonso was positioned he had to lift

Rosberg can consider himself lucky but Hakkinen use to be another one who suggested they lifted by putting his arm up to acknowledge yellow flag
 
w down...

I am increasingly of the opinion that if a driver causes a yellow flag, he should lose his fastest lap time from the session!

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Over the course of today's three quali sessions such a rule wouldn't have left too many drivers on the grid keep their fastest time!
 
Rosberg its tough. My gut when di resta was summarizing thought nico had lifted significantly off in approach. Til he knew what was around the corner & saw it had been cleared But the tough bit comes that purple sector that you feel should be punished but then Everyone in Q3 improving by 1/2 second

But that FIA 107% debacle like to shoot themselves in foot why can't they use common sense for bloody change drop 107% Q1 rule for this race 107% was for backmarkers like HRT not 5 part Q1 were drivers struggled get a lap in & pedantic stewards for being utter :censored: morons
:spank:
as Perez Hulkenburg Palmer Bottas. (Hamilton nearly) all got a banker lap in but was on a hotvlap when drivers crash brought out the red flags
 
Theoretically, Nico should've lifted off throughout the entire yellow section until it was green for him to continue at full speed, however, we all know that yellow flags now mean lift at the start of the yellow section and continue flat out through the rest as you can prove you slowed, so you can't penalise one for doing what has been allowed for so long now!
 
Not sure why you're picking on good old little Minardi who scored far more points than any of the current back end teams in an era when there were less points to score.

Last team to fall foul of the 107% rule were HRT who were clearly racing in a car that was not up to the level of others (and might have been unsafe). It might seem silly because it's not used a lot but it's in places a get out of jail free card in case there really is someone bad. We are living in an age where all you have to do to qualify for a Grand Prix is turn up. Got to have a fall back plan.
 
I think the 107% rule should be scrapped. Minardi aren't racing anymore.

Not sure why you're picking on good old little Minardi who scored far more points than any of the current back end teams in an era when there were less points to score.

agree theres a difference between Minardi & HRT, i liked Minardi (even Manor to that respect), HRT were just a laughing stock & a waste of space
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i rewatched the nico incident & completely changed my mind because i was rewatching, where i thought id seen a huge lift turns out was him just lifting off a bit before he decelatered for corner like he would anyway. but the purple is still difficult to judge because the other drivers in top 5 were all improving by half a second
 
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