Formula One 2014: Hungaroring

Of course the big news is that Hamilton burnt up a car in qualifying and by burnt up I mean chassis (carbon fiber), engine, and gearbox.

The chassis would be ok, but the engine and gearbox have him starting from pit lane along with Maldonado and Magnussen.

Now they’re blaming it on a fuel leak which is no doubt correct, but the inherent problem with this year’s cars is the extensive electronics in the energy recovery system and the breaking force added by the kinetic drive that powers it have the engineering teams scrambling to produce a power plant that is fast and reliable.  Mercedes has done the best job so far which is why they’re in the lead.

As for Hamilton it remains to be seen is he can produce a comeback like he did last week when he drove himself into a third place.  The Hungaroring has limited passing opportunities, though starting from pit lane Hamilton will have his choice of Mediums and Softs and will likely use that to produce a different pit stop strategy.

At least they didn’t have to worry about dust as it’s been raining, but that also means the track isn’t rubbered in.  The slick track brought out red flags in Q3 as Magnussen bought a wall.

The way things stand now at the August break Hamilton is 14 behind Rosberg, Ricciardo 24 ahead of Vettel and Alonso and Ferrari have survived Nikki Lauda calling the Ferrari a piece of crap which, of course, it is.  Other than that Mercedes is the only team close to producing a good engine and the top half of the field shows that.

Starting Grid

Grid Driver Team Q-Time Q-Laps
1 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1:22.715 20
2 Sebastian Vettel Red Bull Racing-Renault 1:23.201 16
3 Valtteri Bottas Williams-Mercedes 1:23.354 19
4 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull Racing-Renault 1:23.391 18
5 Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1:23.909 17
6 Felipe Massa Williams-Mercedes 1:24.223 19
7 Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 1:24.294 21
8 Jean-Eric Vergne STR-Renault 1:24.720 19
9 Nico Hulkenberg Force India-Mercedes 1:24.775 22
10 Daniil Kvyat STR-Renault 1:24.706 14
11 Adrian Sutil Sauber-Ferrari 1:25.136 12
12 Sergio Perez Force India-Mercedes 1:25.211 11
13 Esteban Gutierrez Sauber-Ferrari 1:25.260 10
14 Romain Grosjean Lotus-Renault 1:25.337 16
15 Jules Bianchi Marussia-Ferrari 1:27.419 14
16 Kimi Räikkönen Ferrari 1:26.792 5
17 Kamui Kobayashi Caterham-Renault 1:27.139 10
18 Max Chilton Marussia-Ferrari 1:27.819 7
19 Marcus Ericsson Caterham-Renault 1:28.643 10
20 Pastor Maldonado Lotus-Renault No time 1
21 Kevin Magnussen McLaren-Mercedes 1:24.585 13
22 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes No time 2

Driver Standings

Rank Driver Team Points
1 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 190
2 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 176
3 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull Racing-Renault 106
4 Fernando Alonso Ferrari 97
5 Valtteri Bottas Williams-Mercedes 91
6 Sebastian Vettel Red Bull Racing-Renault 82
7 Nico Hulkenberg Force India-Mercedes 69
8 Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 59
9 Kevin Magnussen McLaren-Mercedes 37
10 Felipe Massa Williams-Mercedes 30
11 Sergio Perez Force India-Mercedes 29
12 Kimi Räikkönen Ferrari 19
13 Jean-Eric Vergne STR-Renault 9
14 Romain Grosjean Lotus-Renault 8
15 Daniil Kvyat STR-Renault 6
16 Jules Bianchi Marussia-Ferrari 2

Constructor Standings

Rank Team Points
1 Mercedes 366
2 Red Bull Racing-Renault 188
3 Williams-Mercedes 121
4 Ferrari 116
5 Force India-Mercedes 98
6 McLaren-Mercedes 96
7 STR-Renault 15
8 Lotus-Renault 8
9 Marussia-Ferrari 2

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    • on 07/27/2014 at 16:18
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    Ricciardo

    Alonso

    Hamilton

    Rosberg

    Massa

    Raikkonen

    Vettel

    Bottas

    Vergne

    Button

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