The Hungarian Grand Prix 2007 was more in news due to its qualifying incidents than the race itself. The race, as expected, was a boring affair. Lewis Hamilton of McLaren lead the procession from first to last and ended up with another victory for him and his team. What happened before that was simply unimaginable and McLaren boss Ron Dennis got more than he had bargained for.
Like any other Saturday during a race weekend, the teams took to the circuit for qualifying. It promised to be exciting as Ferrari looked to be much in form. However, it became clear very early that there’s no stopping the McLarens. Both drivers, Alonso and Lewis looked ominous. It came down to the wire to decide who amongst themselves will take the pole. Its not a secret that both are trying to gain an upper hand within the team and none is prepared to give an inch to his rival.
At the start of Q3, all drivers came out for the fuel burn phase. As per McLaren team strategy, Alonso was to lead the field but Lewis had other ideas. He sensed his team favoring the two time world champion and decided to ignore team orders. If he thought that was it, he obviously took on with a wrong person. Alonso started crafting his own strategy trying to beat Lewis in his own mind game. He got the opportunity during the final round of pit stops where he deliberately delayed Lewis and denied him the opportunity to go for another hot lap. Alonso safely secured the pole or so it seemed.
Things took an ugly turn that night when the race stewards decided that both Alonso and McLaren acted in the detriment of sport and should be penalized. Its unclear whether Lewis is the one who complained to the stewards. Alonso was handed a 5 place starting grid penalty and he started the race from 6th. Lewis started on pole as a result of the decision. McLaren were also docked any points that they scored from the race as penalty for Alonso impeding Hamilton during qualifying. The team appealed against that decision according to latest reports. In the meanwhile, Ferrari driver Massa suffered yet another misfortune and started the race from 14th place. His team mate Kimi started the race from 3rd on the grid behind Heidfeld of BMW.
During the race, by the first corner, Kimi easily overtook Heidfeld to settle nicely behind Lewis. Both Alonso and Massa tried the best to make their way up the field. While Alonso was held up by Ralf of Toyota for much of the race, Massa was likewise held up by the less fancied Sato in a Super Aguri. Fernando eventually finished the race in 4th while Massa finished in 13th, up just one place. Lewis, Kimi and Heidfeld took 1st, 2nd and 3rd respectively. The only consolation for Ferrari was the Fastest Lap set by Kimi in the ultimate lap of the race. The full results are as follows -
1 - Lewis Hamilton - McLaren-Mercedes - 70 - 1:35:52.991
2 - Kimi Räikkönen - Ferrari - 70 - +0.7 secs
3 - Nick Heidfeld - BMW - 70 - +43.1 secs
4 - Fernando Alonso - McLaren-Mercedes - 70 - +44.8 secs
5 - Robert Kubica - BMW - 70 - +47.6 secs
6 - Ralf Schumacher - Toyota - 70 - +50.6 secs
7 - Nico Rosberg - Williams-Toyota - 70 - +59.1 secs
8 - Heikki Kovalainen - Renault - 70 - +68.1 secs
9 - Mark Webber - Red Bull-Renault - 70 - +76.3 secs
10 - Jarno Trulli - Toyota - 69 - +1 Lap
11 - David Coulthard - Red Bull-Renault - 69 - +1 Lap
12 - Giancarlo Fisichella - Renault - 69 - +1 Lap
13 - Felipe Massa - Ferrari - 69 - +1 Lap
14 - Alexander Wurz - Williams-Toyota - 69 - +1 Lap
15 - Takuma Sato - Super Aguri-Honda - 69 - +1 Lap
16 - Sebastian Vettel - STR-Ferrari - 69 - +1 Lap
17 - Adrian Sutil - Spyker-Ferrari - 68 - +2 Laps
18 - Rubens Barrichello - Honda - 68 - +2 Laps
Ret - Vitantonio Liuzzi - STR-Ferrari - 42 - Electrical
Ret - Anthony Davidson - Super Aguri-Honda - 41 - Accident
Ret - Jenson Button - Honda - 35 - Throttle
Ret - Sakon Yamamoto - Spyker-Ferrari - 4 - Accident
