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Fancy that; a Hungarian GP worth talking about?
Of course we have to thank the rain and a couple of timely crashes, but still.....
I saw a comment somewhere that Merc's strategy with Nico showed a team that was so cocky, they failed to put enough thought into it. I tend to think there may be something in that. Anyone who remembers can think back to the Schumacker period when Brawn/Toad/MS were obsessive about their race strategy, and as a consequence, got it right so often, it was frightening. Having the best car/driver combination is great, but strategy allows you to minimise the variables.
Nico really did get caught half and half. As soon as it was clear that Lewis wasn't going to give way, they should have adapted, and if they did, they likely would have won. That doesn't allow for the possibility of the Honey Badger not allowing him past, but that is something we'll never know.
Dan won that one on a very cool strategy. He was looking very sick behind Button early on, and that timing of the safety car, combined with Jenson putting the inters on, was the big winning play. With all that said, he was still remarkable in sitting back behind the guys in front and avoiding ruining his racin' tyres in the third stint. That had to show a lot of faith and patience in the strategy. It was a well deserved win and he did it in style in the last few laps.
Fred was absolutely awesome in those last 15 laps. About as awesome as Nico was the opposite when he came up to Lewis. To me, Nico is like Prost. He would rather lay up on the short lie and guarantee a 4, rather than go for the big hit across the water and try for the birdie. He seems to have his eye well and truly on the championship and grafting his way to it. It's the smart move, but how in hell he could not get a run on Lewis on the straight and brake later into turn 1 (as Dan did on Alonso)on tyres that were 3 seconds faster is taking the safe approach a little far. You don't get remembered for that crap.
I am very annoyed with Eriksson! When I was doing my tips, I was doing it on the stupid phone and meant to put Eriksson, but instead typed Magnussen. In the end it WAS the former who was first out and I would have actually scored 3 points, instead of 0. Hell of a crash that one, and he would have been terrified looking at those barriers when his car flicked. It is so true that in the days before safety cells and smart barriers, that was a fatal.
Vettel is such an interesting study. Early on he was so racy. All over the back of the Williams (which did turn out to be relatively slow on the day), and right in the hunt even after the safety car miss, i thought he would still figure in the result. In the end with that spin, he just seemed to give up. I'll bet he was tickled pink when they told him that Ricciardo had won.
All in all a really interesting and quite uncharacteristically exciting Hungarorarorarringinging.
Comments
All it takes is rain and safety cars.
I do agree about Merc being cocky. I don't blame Clewlis for not letting Nico pass. If Nico got on his tail and pressured then Clewlis probably would have let him pass. But no, he stayed back and only pressured near the end when it was too late to win.
I don't get Vettel. Seems like he is the new Webber. Great one stint, then ordinary the next. Add reliability woes...
Great to seen Daniel take his chances when Merc are off. But who are we kidding, they are so much faster than anyone else. It's a two horse race. Could be a boring second half and the only saviour is a Prost/Senna battle.
Rosberg was immensely unlucky with the safety car situations. I also thought it was interesting that DRS was enabled so early in the race. It still was quite wet out there.
I heard an interesting suggestion of someone who said the pitlane should be closed during a safety car situation until the leader passes the pit entry. It would make safety car situations less interesting, but it is fair in the end. I'm not sure if it's the way to go, but it could work.