August 6, 2006

After 113 attempts, Jenson Button wins his first race. : In a race that saw both title contenders retire, Jenson Button came from 14th on the grid, having suffered a 10 grid slot penalty for an engine change, to win his first ever race, at the first ever wet running of the Hungarian Grand Prix, after two decades of dry races.

read story | posted by Drood to Auto Racing at 5:34 PM CDT (17 comments total)

Raikkonen had a really scary accident. Alonso was screwed over by an errant wheel. Schumacher suffered karmic payback for driving like a twat.

posted by Drood at 5:50 PM CDT on August 6

He started 14th on the grid? How often does this kind of comeback victory happen in F1?

posted by NoMich at 9:10 PM CDT on August 6

1989, Mansell started in 12th and won. (In the dry.)At the German GP in 2000, Barrichello started 18th I think it was, and won the race. (Similar conditions to today.)

I seem to recall Prost won a race starting from the pitlane once...

And of course Raikkonen started right near the back in Japan last year, and won the race, taking the lead on the last lap.

But yes, it's very rare. In fact in 20 years, I think today was the first time since 1989 that a driver has won in Hungary who didn't start on the front two rows.

posted by Drood at 11:06 PM CDT on August 6

Which is what rain will do for you. A new idea to make F1 interesting; make it rain more often.

I see Michael managed to get classified and get a point after all, as Robert Kubica fine debut was spoiled by his car being underweight.

Five races to go and the lead is ten points. The changes the F1 have made have somehow created a tight championship with very little of interest happening in the race itself. While the cars continue to rely on aerodynamic downforce, it'll remain almost impossible to follow a car over which you do not have a clear advantage, at a range where you can generate unpredictable passing opportunities.

posted by Mr Bismarck at 5:24 AM CDT on August 7

Thanks for the quick history lesson, Drood.

posted by NoMich at 7:20 AM CDT on August 7

I'm a big Schumacher fan , but what he did yesterday was stupid. He should have let De La Rosa and Heidfeld past and just taken 4th place. He would have collected 5 points and been within 6 points of Alonso in the championship. He was lucky Kubica"s car was declared undeweight and eeked out a point.

posted by Cubfan276 at 1:38 PM CDT on August 7

--karmic payback for driving like a twat...

That pretty much sums up the day for Schumacher. He does a lot of stupid things, things other drivers would pay dearly for doing, but Schu is Schu and he just goes on living his charmed life.

Well done, Jenson, it's been a long time coming and you certainly deserve it. Did anyone hear that screaming coming from the Toyota motorcoaches?

If I'm Alonso, I'd be pretty nervous going into this last part of the season. The Renault seems to have lost the advantage it had early in the season.

posted by eccsport78 at 4:38 PM CDT on August 7

Button had the urine extracted on the previous week's Top Gear. Obviously, doing a lap of an airfield in a Suzuki Liana 0.1s slower than Nigel Mansell was the catalyst for his victory.

Great GP. The changing conditions were the great leveller, though the order was determined not so much by racing as by making the right tyre choice at the right time (and not having the wheelnut fly off at the wrong moment). In that sense, it almost had a Le Mans quality about it.

posted by etagloh at 5:38 PM CDT on August 7

Kubica got DQ'ed elevating Schumacher to a points position, but Schumacher managed to avoid having his car go through scrutineering.

Given the state those tyres were in, I'd say he dodged a bullet.

Alonso is starting to go to pieces under the pressure I think.

posted by Drood at 9:37 PM CDT on August 7

Oh yeah, this was my first ever front page post:)

posted by Drood at 1:04 AM CDT on August 8

I'd agree with etagloh, Jenson should give credit to the Top Gear team, obviously their style of conversation is enough to goad anyone into a win ;)

posted by Fence at 3:39 AM CDT on August 8

Alonso is starting to go to pieces under the pressure I think.

So he's the one who mishandled that wheel nut? He had a race as good as Jenson's until that mishap. And Jenson's race was a very good one.

And boy, is there a way Schumacher can please you guys? If he drives a tactical race, he's a bore that never overtakes on the track. If he's in the middle of the action all race long, overtaking than defending his position, he's stupid.

I hate the guy as much as anyone, and was thrilled when Alonso swooped around him on the outside. (I was screaming "Wipe him out!" to Alonso, so I was also a little bit disappointed.) But, damn, he can sure drive a car.

And is Fisichella useless or what? Renault are in bad shape for next year. Even Villeneuve would be a better choice than Fisi, if you ask me.

posted by qbert72 at 6:41 AM CDT on August 8

Alonso had a thirty second lead before Räikkönen's error brought out the safety car and he quickly moved away from Jenson's car, before Button began to close him down again. Sadly the mechanical failure of the wheelnut, (it wasn't a human error, the saftey mechanism didn't work properly, so the nut was effectively ripped off by the pit stop and could not go back on properly), meant that we didn't get to see if Jenson could have hunted down and passed Alonso - something I would have liked to have seen, even though I'm delighted that Jenson got his first win.

I'm lost as to how Alonso's performance at the weekend, plus a mechnical problem that was a one-off, as opposed to some issue with the car design or engine = Alonso going to pieces.

It's the first time Alonso hasn't finished since Canada, last year, and to come we have Turkey, Italy, China, Japan, Brazil, which resulted in points of 0-0-0-2-5 for Michael in 2005, (Compared to 8-8-10-6-6 for Fernando).

posted by Mr Bismarck at 9:20 AM CDT on August 8

Qbert: It was a driveshaft failure for Alonso according to Renault late Sunday. Not a wheelnut as first thought. That's what Speed Reports said anyway.

Apparently by "middle of the action" you mean "trying to take anyone out who tries to pass him". He tried with Alonso, tried with Pedro, and then took himself out on Heidfeld. Michael is crap most of the time he's stuck in the midfield. And I'm equally as bored when Alonso romps off into the distance.

And saying "wipe him out" to Alonso, clearly you don't watch F1 for the right reason, hoping drivers sink to the same level as Schumacher. Go watch NASCAR. I do not want to see ANY driver sink to that wankers level.

Since Schumacher got into the title hunt, Alonso's attitude has changed. He bitched and moaned about Schumacher cutting him up in the pit at the last race, and now this absolute insanity with Doornbos. This is NOT the laidback Alonso that won the title last year. There's been all sorts of little things in recent races that just aren't the Alonso from last year.

And Alonso's lead was 40 seconds when the safety car came out I think, not 30.

posted by Drood at 3:55 PM CDT on August 8

As mentioned above, Pat Symonds of Renault has confirmed it was the wheelnut, Drood. It wasn't that someone didn't do their job putting it on, though - there's a safety mechanism to stop them coming off, that's supposed to disengage when they put the air gun on it. It didn't trigger, so the air gun effectively ripped the wheel nut off. So there was no way it was going back on properly... cue Alonso's exit.

The lead being 40 seconds rather than 30 makes it seem even less like Fernando's losing it... He was walking it, before Räikkönen's moment and the wheelnut came off.

Obviously everyone puffs their chances when they have opportunity, but all the noises coming from Renault are positive. They were back, in Hungary, after three races off of Ferrari's pace, they were much more competitive than Ferrari last season in Turkey and they have a package of aero changes coming for the race. Bad luck can always changes things, (and obviously Ferrari won't be standing still), but I don't see Fernando cracking, although it wouldn't surprise me if Fisi's form lost Renault the constructor's title.

posted by Mr Bismarck at 5:17 PM CDT on August 8

trying to take anyone out who tries to pass him

Where's Michael interest in this? Alonso is already out. He needs to finish the race and make some points. The way I saw it, he was giving the guys behind him an aggressive but fair fight. I didn't see the Heidfeld pass, though. I only saw the Speed replay, and they cut off parts of the race because it ran too long. Uncool of them.

And saying "wipe him out" to Alonso, clearly you don't watch F1 for the right reason, hoping drivers sink to the same level as Schumacher. Go watch NASCAR. I do not want to see ANY driver sink to that wankers level.

Blah. You're the guy who's always whining about the evil that is Schumi, and you wouldn't like to see just once someone serving him some of his own medicine? I call bullshit.

I'm not talking about hurting him, just taking his car out. It's raining, it can easily pass as an accident. If Fernando had done it, he'd still be 11 points ahead in the drivers championship (he was lucky Michael DNF'ed), and he would have shown Michael that he's ready for a fight in the trenches.

posted by qbert72 at 9:22 PM CDT on August 8

Alain Prost and Ayrton Senna would have done it in a heartbeat. See: 1988, 1989 and, err, 1990.

posted by Mr Bismarck at 3:13 AM CDT on August 9

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