Hungary Grand Prix – Results: 2nd | Videos

Source: autosport.com | lotusf1team.com | twitter

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Lewis Hamilton fended off Kimi Raikkonen to claim victory in the Hungarian Grand Prix. A second double podium finish of the season for Lotus F1 Team, with Kimi leading Romain home at the Hungaroring after superb drives from both to bring a significant haul of points back to Enstone.

Key Moments:

Lap 1: GRO battles hard to maintain P2, RAI drops to P6
Lap 2: RAI reports a KERS issue
Lap 5: Fastest lap for GRO; trades best times with HAM throughout the opening stint
Lap 19: GRO pits for fresh softs; slow getaway costs the Frenchman a shot at HAM
Lap 20: RAI does the same; strong stop and in-laps help him jump ALO
Lap 21: GRO fastest once more
Lap 36: RAI tops the lap time sheets this time, then again on the following lap
Lap 40: Second and final stop for GRO; new medium rubber
Lap 41: RAI reclaims the quickest time of the day
Lap 45: RAI pits for mediums, comes out ahead of GRO and VET in P2
Lap 69: Chequered flag; RAI P2, GRO P3

Blistering heat and clear blue skies provided the perfect backdrop for the Hungarian Grand Prix, with tension on a knife edge in the Lotus F1 Team garage as the countdown began to a race with plenty of potential for good results. Just to add to the pressure, a second formation lap enforced by race control brought cause for engine temperatures and heart rates alike to rise; Charlie Whiting not happy with the grid and demanding another tour of the track.

When the green lights eventually went out, a closely fought but clean start saw Romain bravely defend his second position against Sebastian Vettel into turn one, while Kimi – caught up in a tightly bunched pack – slipped down one place to sixth.

Flying in the early stages, the Frenchman remained glued to the back of leader Lewis Hamilton as the pair rapidly began to pull away from the pack; trading fastest laps along the way. The Finn meanwhile remained boxed behind Fernando Alonso; a lack of KERS hindering any attempts to pass the slower Ferrari in front.

The Lotus F1 Team pairing returned to base for their first change of rubber on laps nineteen and twenty respectively; a slow getaway for Romain costing him the change to close on the McLaren ahead, while good work from the mechanics combined with a couple of quick in-laps helped Kimi jump Fernando Alonso to re-take fifth place.

Finally unleashed from behind the Spaniard, the Finn immediately charged clear of the pack and began to close down the battle between Sebastian Vettel and Jenson Button for the final podium slot.

Both E20s were flying in the middle phase of the race; edging closer to the cars in front as the front of the field increasingly closed up. The second round of stops however was where the race really began to heat up.

Stunning pace at the end of his middle stint brought Kimi right into the fray; jumping both Sebastian Vettel and his team-mate to clinch second place from the Frenchman in a heart stopping battle through the first corner.

With the pit wall breathing a huge sigh of relief to see both cars emerged unscathed from their tussle, the pair then proceeded to chase down the leading McLaren in flying formation.

With ten laps remaining, the front three were within just five seconds of each other; Kimi inching to within the DRS window of Lewis Hamilton and beginning to mount an attack on the McLaren as Romain kept a watching brief just behind.

Despite charging hard right to the death, a second double podium finish of the season would have to suffice as Kimi lead Romain home to take second and third respectively on a great day for the team.

Classified:

Pos  Driver        Team                       Time
 1.  Hamilton      McLaren-Mercedes           1h41:05.503
 2.  Raikkonen     Lotus-Renault              +     1.032
 3.  Grosjean      Lotus-Renault              +    10.518
 4.  Vettel        Red Bull-Renault           +    11.614
 5.  Alonso        Ferrari                    +    26.653
 6.  Button        McLaren-Mercedes           +    30.243
 7.  Senna         Williams-Renault           +    33.899
 8.  Webber        Red Bull-Renault           +    34.458
 9.  Massa         Ferrari                    +    38.300
10.  Rosberg       Mercedes                   +    51.200
11.  Hulkenberg    Force India-Mercedes       +    57.200
12.  Di Resta      Force India-Mercedes       +  1:02.800
13.  Maldonado     Williams-Renault           +  1:03.600
14.  Perez         Sauber-Ferrari             +  1:04.400
15.  Ricciardo     Toro Rosso-Ferrari         +     1 lap
16.  Vergne        Toro Rosso-Ferrari         +     1 lap
17.  Kovalainen    Caterham-Renault           +     1 lap
18.  Kobayashi     Sauber-Ferrari             +    2 laps
19.  Petrov        Caterham-Renault           +    2 laps
20.  Pic           Marussia-Cosworth          +    2 laps
21.  Glock         Marussia-Cosworth          +    3 laps
22.  De la Rosa    HRT-Cosworth               +    3 laps

Fastest lap: Vettel, 1:24.136

Not classified/retirements:

Driver        Team                         On lap
Karthikeyan   HRT-Cosworth                 63
Schumacher    Mercedes                     61

World Championship standings, round 11:                

Drivers:                    Constructors:             
 1.  Alonso       164        1.  Red Bull-Renault          246
 2.  Webber       124        2.  McLaren-Mercedes          193
 3.  Vettel       122        3.  Lotus-Renault             192
 4.  Hamilton     117        4.  Ferrari                   189
 5.  Raikkonen    116        5.  Mercedes                  106
 6.  Rosberg       77        6.  Sauber-Ferrari             80
 7.  Grosjean      76        7.  Williams-Renault           53
 8.  Button        76        8.  Force India-Mercedes       46
 9.  Perez         47        9.  Toro Rosso-Ferrari          6
10.  Kobayashi     33       
11.  Maldonado     29       
12.  Schumacher    29       
13.  Di Resta      27       
14.  Massa         25       
15.  Senna         24       
16.  Hulkenberg    19       
17.  Vergne         4       
18.  Ricciardo      2

Videos: Kimi VS Romain after pitstop, podium ceremony, team radio, SkySports and BBC interview Kimi – James Allison – Eric Boullier

Hungary 2012 Kimi Räikkönen vs Romain Grosjean by Essikimi

Hungary 2012 Podium by Essikimi

 

Quotes:

Press conference

Kimi Raikkonen: “We always try to win and sometimes you get close and it is a bit disappointing that we cannot. We know the reason: we are not so strong in qualifying and make it hard for ourselves on Sunday. We should be able to put ourselves in a good position and get good points, but it is a long season. We are improving all the time, and if it comes, great, if not we keep trying. I have been in this business long enough to not worry about things too much. I didn’t [win], so there’s no point to worry about it.

I had an OK start but we had some issue with KERS and I could only use 50 per cent so I lost a position to Fernando [Alonso]. The first few laps were not good as we tried to get the KERS working. It makes no difference if you don’t get past. We were second and third today. It’s good for the team but we keep trying to win and hopefully it will come soon. The team told me it would be very close with Romain and I made a mistake with the speed limiter, maybe five metres after the line I was still on it, so I think I didn’t do a good enough job out there. We went side by side for the first corner but I could keep the position quite easily.”

Grosjean plays down Raikkonen clash – “It was close with Kimi, he did what he had to do,” Grosjean said. “I got marbles on my tyres and struggled to recover, but it is what it is. It was the same story with Kimi [as with Vettel] – I was inside of Seb so it was alright.”

Lotus team quotes:

Kimi Raikkonen – 2nd: “It’s a shame we couldn’t quite get the win but it’s a good result for the team and we’ll keep pushing to make that final step. My start was not too bad but then we had some issues with the KERS and I lost a place to Fernando [Alonso]. When we got it working again we were stuck in the pack so it was a bit frustrating, but once we were in clear air we could push and it looked like we could make up a few places in the second stops. The team said it would be very close with Romain, but it was okay in the end. We managed to catch Lewis [Hamilton] but it was impossible to pass.”

Romain Grosjean – 3rd: “It’s a good result for the team, but to be honest I’m a bit disappointed. We had a good battle for the lead with Lewis [Hamilton] all through the first two stints, but then I got stuck behind Michael [Schumacher] who didn’t respect the blue flags at all which cost me a lot of time. Because of this I lost a place to Kimi, and at the same time a possible chance to fight for the win. It’s very hard to overtake here; every time I came close to someone in front I would lose a bit of front end grip which made it impossible. Still, that’s racing and we’ve take home a lot of points for the Constructors’ Championship which is a real positive.”

Eric Boullier, Team Principal: “Both cars on the podium end a pretty good weekend for the team. For everyone back at Enstone we must pay credit as they work so hard for results like this, but seldom get to taste the champagne at the track. I’m very happy that Romain came back after a tough weekend in Germany and I’m very happy to see Kimi fighting for the win. Our new approach to qualifying is delivering. We qualified better this weekend and we chased the leader of the race for many laps. On a different track layout which allows overtaking I think we could have won this race.”

James Allison, Technical Director: “It was an excellent race from both our drivers, from the E20 and from the whole team. We made very strong progress with a good haul of Drivers’ and Constructors’ points today. We’re only just past the halfway mark in the season so it’s not fantasy to think that we’re still in the hunt in both championships. The general trend is of our car getting stronger and I hope that we can press that home in the coming races.”