Hungary For Tyres

It's been said throughout the F1 season that this year's Pirelli tyres would play a pivotal role in the Championship. That certainly happened yesterday as Jenson Button secured his third win of the season in his 200th race.

The race started in light rain conditions, meaning that everyone started on the intermediate tyres. The Ferraris suffered the worst start as both of the Mercedes cars overtook them into fourth and fifth, Alonso had also overtaken Massa. By the third lap both of the Ferraris had overtaken Schumacher. Neither Red Bull car looked to have the race pace again and Hamilton overtook Vettel on the fifth lap. The wet conditions meant that any tyre that touched the wet kerb would surely spin off, Massa found this out on lap eight but was able to continue. Alonso managed to overtake Rosberg a lap later to secure fourth.

By the thirteenth lap, the conditions had dried up enough for the drivers to go onto the super soft tyres. Button and Webber were the first two to take the gamble and Button was able to overtake Vettel into second and Webber overtook Alonso into fourth. Amongst this, Maldonado received a drive through penalty for speeding in the pit lane.

There were three retirements in eight laps as Trulli retired on lap twenty with an oil leak. This was followed by Heidfeld five laps later, his Renault car caught fire just after pitting, the car then blew up from the side but luckily no-one was close enough to get seriously hurt, although a marshall had a near-miss. Schumacher then went for a spin which resulted in a gear box and he retired on lap twenty-eight.

Sergio Perez received a drive through penalty on lap thirty-three for overtaking Kovalainen under yellow flag conditions. By lap forty the super soft tyres were reaching the cliff and Webber, Vettel and Button all decided to go onto the soft tyres for their durability. Alonso had overtaken both Red Bulls during the pitting session but Vettel regained third place five laps later. Hamilton had remained on the super soft tyres and Button was able to catch him and overtake him on lap forty-seven. Webber had also overtaken Alonso, who also remained of the super soft, into fourth.

At this point there were spots of light rain. This caused Button to lose temperature in his soft tyres and Hamilton was able to catch him and regain the lead. A lap later the battle continued until Hamilton pitted because the grip was almost nil. But, because of the light rain, Hamilton asked to go back on the intermediates, as did Webber. This cost them dear, although Webber quickly pitted again to go back onto the soft tyres.

Hamilton had no such luck and was overtaken on lap fifty-four by Alonso for fourth. It got worse for Hamilton as he received a drive through penalty for causing Di Resta to go off the track whilst he corrected a spin. Hamilton first pitted to go onto the soft tyres and after he'd done his drive through, he found himself behind Massa and Webber in sixth place. But Massa was still on the super-soft tyres and both Webber and Hamilton overtook the Ferrari on lap fifty-eight. Kovalainen became the fourth retirement on lap sixty before Hamilton was able to overtake Webber on lap sixty-four to earn fourth. Button won the race with his winning strategy of staying on the soft tyres. Result in full:

1.Button (McLaren), 2.Vettel (Red Bull), 3.Alonso (Ferrri), 4.Hamilton (McLaren), 5.Webber (Red Bull), 6.Massa (Ferrari), 7.Di Resta (Force India), 8.Buemi (Toro Rosso), 9.Rosberg (Mercedes), 10.Alguersuari (Toro Rosso), 11.Kobayashi (Sauber), 12.Petrov (Renault), 13.Barrichello (Williams), 14.Sutil (Force India) 15.Perez (Sauber), 16.Maldonado (Williams), 17.Glock (Virgin), 18.Ricciardo (Hispania), 19.D'Ambrosio (Virgin), 20.Liuzzi (Virgin) DNF: Trulli (Lotus), Heidfeld (Renault), Schumacher (Mercedes), Kovalainen (Lotus)