Lewis Hamilton wins Hungary Grand Prix 2012

Lewis Hamilton wins Hungarian Grand Prix 2012

Kimi Raikkonen exerted tremendous pressure on Lewis Hamilton. However, Lewis Hamilton battled to keep back Kimi Raikkonen and won the Formula One Hungary Grand Prix 2012. It was indeed justice for him as all through the weekend including the practice and qualifying, Lewis Hamilton was the fastest driver on the grid. A very calm and controlled race under tremendous pressure ensured that Lewis Hamilton won the F1 Hungarian Grand Prix 2012.

Romain Grosjean was P2 during the initial laps and was never very far behind Lewis Hamilton. However, he had to settle for the third place. Sebastian Vettel was P4. Fernando Alonso finished at 5th position, followed by Jenson Button at 6th, Bruono Senna at 7th, Mark Webber at 8th, Felipe Massa at 9th.

Disaster stuck Michael Schumacher as his car stalled and other cars were asked to do another formation lap. Two formation laps had not happened for a long long time. As the other cars went on for the second formation lap, Michael Schumacher's Mercedes car was pushed to the pit lane and it was started. The second disaster for Michael Schumacher stuck immediately when they changed the strategy and after the first lap he came to the pits to change his tyres for a long run. Unfortunately, he was found to be speeding during the pitlane and handed over a drive-through penalty. Though he later overtook the backmarkers and was running at 18th position, he retired from the race in lap 60 finishing a miserable race.

His teammate Nico Rosberg finished 10th.

Positions P11-P22 are as follows:
Nico Hulkenberg
Paul Di Resta
Pastor Maldonado
Sergio Perez
Daniel Ricciardo
Jules Vergne
Heiki Kovalainen
Kamui Kobayashi
Vitaly Petrov
Charles Pic
Timo Glock
Pedro de la Rosa

Narain Karthikeyan retired from the race in lap 60 out of the 69 lap race after sustaining left suspension damage breaking the reliability record of the poorly funded HRT team.

Position

Position	Driver	Team	Laps	Time/Retired
1	Lewis Hamilton	McLaren-Mercedes	69	Winner
2	Kimi Räikkönen	Lotus-Renault	69	+1.0 secs
3	Romain Grosjean	Lotus-Renault	69	+10.5 secs
4	Sebastian Vettel	Red Bull Racing-Renault	69	+11.6 secs
5	Fernando Alonso	Ferrari	69	+26.6 secs
6	Jenson Button	McLaren-Mercedes	69	+30.2 secs
7	Bruno Senna	Williams-Renault	69	+33.8 secs
8	Mark Webber	Red Bull Racing-Renault	69	+34.4 secs
9	Felipe Massa	Ferrari	69	+38.3 secs
10	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes	69	+51.2 secs
11	Nico Hulkenberg	Force India-Mercedes	69	+57.2 secs
12	Paul di Resta	Force India-Mercedes	69	+62.8 secs
13	Pastor Maldonado	Williams-Renault	69	+63.6 secs
14	Sergio Perez	Sauber-Ferrari	69	+64.4 secs
15	Daniel Ricciardo	STR-Ferrari	68	+1 Lap
16	Jean-Eric Vergne	STR-Ferrari	68	+1 Lap
17	Heikki Kovalainen	Caterham-Renault	68	+1 Lap
18	Kamui Kobayashi	Sauber-Ferrari	67	+2 Laps
19	Vitaly Petrov	Caterham-Renault	67	+2 Laps
20	Charles Pic	Marussia-Cosworth	67	+2 Laps
21	Timo Glock	Marussia-Cosworth	66	+3 Laps
22	Pedro de la Rosa	HRT-Cosworth	66	+3 Laps
Retired	Narain Karthikeyan	HRT-Cosworth	60	+9 Laps
Retired	Michael Schumacher	Mercedes	58	+11 Laps

Lewis Hamilton won the F1 Hungarian Grand Prix 2012 and brought an end to a series of DNFs, to make the championship interesting.
Race Summary: 69 laps
Winner: Lewis Hamilton

Alonso leads the Drivers Championship after German Grand Prix

Alonso leads the Drivers championship after German Grand Prix 2012

Alonso continued his winning ways and now leads the drivers championship with 154 points. Mark Webber despite his low key performance continues at 120 points and in second place. His team mate Sebastian Vettel who was foolish enough to overtake Jenson Button with all four wheels outside the racing line was penalised and demoted to 5th from 2nd position. Else, it would have been pretty close. Kimi Raikkonen is now at 98 points and fourth in the race. Lewis Hamilton who is having a miserable patch continues to be at 92 for the last few races and is now at 5th position.

Michael Schumacher despite his starting grid position of 3rd in the German Grand Prix couldn't add a lot of points to his tally and is now at 29 points and 12th in the race. Realistically the championship race is mostly between the top four drivers now.

Ranking	Driver	Team	Points
1	Fernando Alonso	Ferrari	154
2	Mark Webber	Red Bull	120
3	Sebastian Vettel	Red Bull	110
4	Kimi Raikkonen	Lotus	98
5	Lewis Hamilton	McLaren	92
6	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes	76
7	Jenson Button	McLaren	68
8	Romain Grosjean	Lotus	61
9	Sergio Perez	Sauber	47
10	Kamui Kobayashi	Sauber	33
11	Pastor Maldonado	Williams	29
12	Michael Schumacher	Mercedes	29
13	Paul de Resta	Force India	27
14	Felipe Massa	Ferrari	23
15	Nico Hulkenberg	Force India	19
16	Bruno Senna	Williams	18
17	Jean-Eric Vergne	Toro Rosso	4
18	Daniel Ricciardo	Toro Rosso	2
19	Heikki Kovalainen	Caterham	0
20	Vitaly Petrov	Caterham	0
21	Timo Glock	Marussia	0
22	Charles Pic	Marussia	0
23	Narain Karthikeyan	HRT	0
24	Pedro de La Rosa	HRT	0

Revised Classification of German Grand Prix results

Sebastian Vettel has been penalised by the German Grand Prix stewards for his overtaking of Jenson Button after leaving the track on lap 66 Vettel has been penalised by adding 20 seconds to his time. Accordingly he drops down to 5th. Jenson Button becomes second and Kimi Raikkonen becomes 3rd. Kamui Kobayashi becomes 4th.

The revised Classification for German Grand Prix is as follows:

Position	Name	Team
1	Fernando Alonso	Ferrari
2	Jenson Button	McLaren
3	Kimi Raikkonen	Lotus
4	Kamui Kobayashi	sauber
5	Sebastian Vettel	Red Bull
6	Sergio Perez	Sauber
7	Michael Schumacher	Mercedes
8	Mark Webber	Red Bull
9	Nico Hulkenberg	Force India
10	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes
11	Paul di Resta	Force India
12	Felipe Massa	Ferrari
13	Daniel Ricciardo	Toro Rosso
14	Jean-Eric Vergne	Toro Rosso
15	Pastor Maldonado	Williams
16	Vitaly Petrov	Caterham
17	Bruno Senna	Williams
18	Romain Grosjean	Lotus
19	Heikki Kovalainen	Caterham
20	Charles Pic	Marussia
21	Pedro de la Rosa	HRT
22	Timo Glock	Marussia
23	Narain Karthikeyan	HRT
RET	Lewis Hamilton	McLaren

Alonso wins from pole in German Grand Prix 2012

Alonso wins from Pole in German Grand Prix 2102

In a close race, Alonso kept his composure and won despite being challenged at one point by Jenson Button.

In the opening lap, Sebastian Vettel was challenged by Michael Schumacher. However, Alonso and Vettel quickly pulled away and Schumacher appeared to be driving a lone race at No. 3 till Jenson Button appeared in the scene and overtook him. Michael Schumacher used a three stop strategy and finished at 7th position. He posted the fastest lap times at the end after changing into soft tires, however he despite being on the tail of Sergio Perez finished at No. 3.

Sebastian Vettel controversially overtook Jenson Button "off the race track". McLaren team was heard on the radio saying "FIA is away". However, Vettel's overtaking is being investigated by FIA and the result of the investigation will be known later.

India's Narain Karthikeyan finished 23rd. Lewis Hamilton of McLaren etired. With Alonso winning the German Grand Prix, he retains the lead in the drivers championship.

Position	Name	Team
1	Fernando Alonso	Ferrari
2	Sebastian Vettel	Red Bull
3	Jenson Button	McLaren
4	Kimi Raikkonen	Lotus
5	Kamui Kobayashi	sauber
6	Sergio Perez	Sauber
7	Michael Schumacher	Mercedes
8	Mark Webber	Red Bull
9	Nico Hulkenberg	Force India
10	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes
11	Paul di Resta	Force India
12	Felipe Massa	Ferrari
13	Daniel Ricciardo	Toro Rosso
14	Jean-Eric Vergne	Toro Rosso
15	Pastor Maldonado	Williams
16	Vitaly Petrov	Caterham
17	Bruno Senna	Williams
18	Romain Grosjean	Lotus
19	Heikki Kovalainen	Caterham
20	Charles Pic	Marussia
21	Pedro de la Rosa	HRT
22	Timo Glock	Marussia
23	Narain Karthikeyan	HRT
RET	Lewis Hamilton

Illegal engine mapping by Red Bull team in Hockenheim

Illegal engine mapping by Red Bull in Hockenheim

In the German Grand Prix 2012 in Hockenheim, Red Bull is under investigation for illegal engine mapping. Jo Bauer, steward in Hockenheim said that upon inspection it was found that the Red Bull cars which qualified 2nd and 3rd had different engine characteristics. In the mid rpm range, they had much lower maximum torque levels as compared to other races. This is a clear violation because, FIA had stipulated that engine characteristics cannot be changed from race to race.

Jo Bauer said "in my opinion this is therefore in breech of Article 5.5.3 of the Technical regulations as the engines are able to deliver more torque at a given engine speed in the mid rpm range." He said that the new torque map will artificially alter the aerodynamics of the cars "in contravention of Technical Directive 036-11"

FIA had placed severe restrictions on engine maps after the exhaust-blown diffuser saga. Further information is awaited.

EDIT: After a meeting with Red Bull and Renault representatives and after they examined the ECU data, the stewards of Hockenheim concluded that the map presented doesn't breach the text of the Article 5.5.3. However, the stewards didn't accept all the arguments of the team.

Spaniard Alonso rules in German Qualifying

Spaniard Alonso rules the wet in Formula One German Grand Prix Qualifying

In the 2012 Formula One German Grand Prix qualifying at Hockenheim, Fernando Alonso scored the pole position beating the strong challenge of the German Sebastian Vettel who came second. Another German Michael Schumacher who is often known as the God of Formula One had set the fastest time before others set better times in a slightly drying track.

Mark Webber of Red Bull - an australian was the joker in the pack - and came in P3 ahead of Michael Schumacher. Nico Hulkenberg came in 5th and Pastor Maldonado scored the 6th place. Jenson Button of McLaren for a change outqualified his team mate Lewis Hamilton. They scored 7th and 8 th positions respectively. Paul di Resta of Force India came in 9th and Kimi Raikkonen of Lotus scored the P10 position.

Mark Webber has incurred a 5 place penalty for the race due to a gear box change. So Michael Schumacher will start at 3rd position and Mark Webber will start at 8th place on the grid. This results in three Germans Sebastian Vettel, Michael Schumacher and Nico Hulkenberg starting at 2nd, 3rd and 4th positions in the German Grand Prix.

Michael Schumacher was on the verge of being knocked out in the first segment of the qualifying Q1. He however came 0.055 seconds faster than Jean-Eric Vergne. Michael Schumacher was timed at 1:16.686 to push Jean-Eric Vergne out who was timed at 1:16.741.

In the next segment of the qualifying ie. in Q2 Michael Schumacher's team mate Nico Rosberg came slowest among the 17 drivers. Nico Rosberg was also the only driver who could not break the 1 min 41 second barrier. He was timed at 1:41.551 seconds. It is to be noted that in the Q2 Michael Schumacher was P1 for sometime till Lewis Hamilton took the P1 position from him.

Another huge difference in performance between team mates was seen in Ferrari. While Alonso scored the pole position, his team mate Felipe Massa was 13 positions down at 14th place.

Nico Rosberg too will drop 5 places due to a gear box change and will start at 22nd position. India's Narain Karthikeyan will start at 24th position in his HRT car.  All the cars came within the 107% qualifying time and hence we will see a full grid of 24 cars tomorrow in the Formula One German Grand Prix 2012.

With the track expected to remain dry on sunday, it is going to be an absorbing battle in the Formula One German Grand Prix.


Qualifying position:

Position	Name	Team	Time
1	Fernando Alonso	Ferrari	1:40.621
2	Sebastian Vettel	Red Bull	1:41.026
3	Mark Webber	Red Bull	1:41.496
4	Michael Schumacher	Mercedes	1:42.459
5	Nico Hulkenberg	Force India	1:43.501
6	Pastor Maldonado	Williams	1:43.950
7	Jenson Button	McLaren	1:44.113
8	Lewis Hamilton	McLaren	1:44.186
9	Paul di Resta	Force India	1:44.889
10	Kimi Raikkonen	Lotus	1:45.811
Q2
11	Daniel Ricciardo	Toro Rosso	1:39.789
12	Sergio Perez	Sauber	1:39.933
13	Kamui Kobayashi	sauber	1:39.985
14	Felipe Massa	Ferrari	1:40.212
15	Romain Grosjean	Lotus	1:40.574
16	Bruno Senna	Williams	1:40.752
17	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes	1:41.551
Q1
18	Jean-Eric Vergne	Toro Rosso	1:16.741
19	Heikki Kovalainen	Caterham	1:17.620
20	Vitaly Petrov	Caterham	1:18.531
21	Charles Pic	Marussia	1:19.220
22	Timo Glock	Marussia	1:19.291
23	Pedro de la Rosa	HRT	1:19.912
24	Narain Karthikeyan	HRT	1:20.230
	107% Time		1:20.991

A rare mistake by God of Formula One

A Rare mistake by God of Formula One: Schumacher kisses the barriers

On a wet friday practice, God of Formula One Michael Schumacher spun and hit the barriers in the second practice. Michael Schumacher who had scored a P4 in the first practice, hit the barriers in the second. He conceded that it was his mistake as he was talking with his engineers on the radio while changing some settings and placed the tyre on the white line and the car spun. The car hit the barriers nose first and then the rear hit the barriers.

Michael Schumacher is known to be extremely good in giving feedback about his car while driving. He is reputed to drive as fast as he does even while giving continuos feedback over radio to his engineers. They say he uses half of his brain for driving and the other half for analysing and giving feedback. It is some kind of super human ability. However, in Hockenheim he made a very rare mistake while doing what he effortlessly does all the time.

A rare blip from the God of Formula One.


The weather forecasts suggest that there will be two days of rain followed by a race in dry conditions on sunday. If it is a wet race, then the mercedes will be good.

Michael Schumacher's team mate Nico Rosberg has been hit with a five grid slot penalty as he had to change his gear box.

In the First practice (FP1), Jenson Button was P1 and in the Second Practice (FP2) Pastor Maldonado scored the P1. Hope Maldonado doesn't hit anyone in the race.

Dani Clos of HRT again drove in the FP1 in the place of Narain Karthikeyan and came 24th as predicted with a time of 1:21.740 as against a time of 1:21.138 of Pedro de La Rosa in the FP1. Narain drove in the second practice and came 22nd vis a vis 24 of this team mate Pedro de La Rosa.

On saturday practice, it is to be seen whether the God of Formula One Schumacher kisses the Pole position or not.