How do you rate the 2014 Hungarian Grand Prix? What made the race in your opinion? Changeable conditions, freedom for the drivers to race, just lucky that it was such a good race? Is there anything else that can be done to “spice” the racing up? Please use the comments section to state why you voted the way you did.
Best race in ages. Stick a bit of rain in it and things get interesting. The only drop of vinegar in the wine is that ROS, ALO, BOT and VET got their race destroyed because the first SC was deployed with a delay, so they had to go an additional lap before pitting. Makes ALO’s 2nd all the more impressive. Without that he could’ve won it.
Indeed, no reason for a delay, unless they were slow to see it.. conspiracy 😉
The sign came out when they were already past the pit entrance. Just rotten bit of luck. MAS and RIC were the first to profit from it. That first SC won RIC the race, else it would have been ALO’s or Rosbergs race.
gave it a 10. was just on the edge of my seat the whole time. back to real racing. complex strategies, weather changes, safety cars, DRS didnt really work, great classic track that punishes mistakes heavily.
FOM broadcast director was killing me in those final laps focusing on battle for 4th and I’m looking at the time differences between 2nd and 3rd yelling at the TV to switch to that battle! Jeez they really need to hire a good TV director!!!!
I so agree with you!! We missed overtakes and crashes and all sorts of interesting things because the director had gone to sleep. His/her usual trick is to cut to the crowd or some obscure person in the garages when all we want is to see the racing. 🙂
They are really sh^t this year
Gave it a 9 – as I don’t give 10s easily.
Looking at DOTW, a little sad to see that Rosberg got a few votes while Vergne didn’t.
Can’t help feeling that JEV came out on top in their head to head even if he did finish some way back.
10/10 for me.
RIC made the Silver Arrows pay for their collective desire, drivers included, to not want to win a race. Deiter must be pissed. Brackley must be too. A Silver Arrow should have been on the top step. Their inability to control their driver was pathetic, but that will internally blow up in his face now. An internal political win for ROS, again. Oh and some very, very tasty overtakes.
#FutureAussieWDC
#WhatAWastedArrow
In the post race analysis, it was proven that had Lewis let Nico past, they would have ended up 2nd and 4th instead of 3rd and 4th, so Hamilton only cost the team the tiniest handful of points, but still clawed a little back in the driver’s, I think it will soon be all out war between them.
P.,S. Loving the stewards letting the driver’s just race.
Ditto Clear View. Agree on points re: stewards and war.
It’s super good to see the Stewards letting some racing happen and also yes, it will be all out war now I think. I think there will be a few more GP’s not won on the back of that war and the likes of Bottas, Alonso, Ricciardo, Vettel will be right there.
Some good racing coming up.!!
As for the post race analysis you speak of, well there is a bit of a variation out there at the moment in terms of analysis. You must consider a few extra factors, like the spin of LH at the start, Rosberg’s really, really poor stint post first safety car, as well as the hold up / tyre decimation mid race. Overall, it all combined to leave an Arrow off the top step.
Looks like the view is now widely accepted that Mercedes could and should have won. As I said. It took about 24hrs for it to filter out.
3 things held them back.. Lewis’ bent front wing section, Rosberg’s brake bias being moved forward after SC1, but most of all, their own failing with strategy, which is bigger that both above, as it impacted their races more, and also hints that in future they will be vulnerable to RB once they catch up on engine speed. 2015 doesn’t look so sewn up at the moment..
Their inability to control their driver was pathetic, but that will internally blow up in his face now
Really ?
“I have to defend the team,” said Lauda, when asked by AUTOSPORT for his reaction to the controversy.
“The team was under enormous stress today because the race was a very difficult one, there is no question….
“In this stress the team told Lewis he should let Nico by because he was on softer tyres and has to come in anyway.
“If he [Nico] had been in the DRS position, he would have let him by. But Nico never got that close.
“Therefore I do understand that Lewis said ‘Why? Why should I stop now in the middle of the circuit to let my team colleague by?’ He is fighting for the championship.
“So from my point of view Lewis was right. And why the call came, this happened out of the panic and we had to make up for what we were losing.”
There are alternative views now, pretty solid, that show Mercedes should have, and could have, won. Including from inside Mercedes too. Lewis stopped his team winning a Grand Prix. Cardinal sin no.1 equal to hitting thy team mate.
” …. Their inability to control their driver was pathetic, … ”
Still you surprise. But then you don’t really, because I know you are not a Hamilfosi, are you?
It was pathetic that Merc didn’t pit Lewis immediately after Nico’s final stop and switch him to a 3 stop strategy.
I agree with Mattpt55’s race report:
“The best race of the season by far, today’s result should be a concern for the Brackley squad as creeping unreliability is beginning to eat into their unerring dominance. More importantly, their artificial equalization of strategy might be causing them more trouble than it’s saving them, as switching Lewis to an extra stop and covering Ricciardo would have left them dicing for the win rather than 2nd or 3rd. “.
Who needs to worry about spicing up the show with races like this one. It had it all, thrills, spills and a Cinderella story of Hamilton’s pit lane to podium glory.
This season is quickly becoming a vintage year!
I think a bit too much is made of Hamilton’s result. Going through the field in that car is hardly an achievement and we’ve seen pit->3 before when safety cars are involved. But the race itself was a cracker, that’s for sure.
” … Going through the field in that car is hardly an achievement … ”
Ha ha. LOL. That’s the best laugh I have had since “still I surprise” appeared on TJ13.
I vote for that as the understatement of the year.
Smug cerebral pole sitter finishes fourth, in a car perfectly set up and tested over two days. Can’t even get past JEV iin a Torro Rosso “in that car”.
Pit-lane starter, brainless and down and depressed, with hints of “more than bad luck” on his side of the garage, with blatant biased strategy calls from the pit wall, finishes 3rd, in a new untested car. Gets past JEV in the Torro Rosso in a jiffy “in that car”.
Lewis Hamilton, still he surprises.
Go, HAM, go.
Long may he continue to provide F1 with the thrills & spills that I want to see.
I’ll send you a box of kleenex…
Rosberg was powerless once he had to move the brake bias forward under the first SC.. hence his lock-up when passing Vergne and getting mugged by the car behind.. once that happened Rosberg was only fighting for a podium at best IMO.
I think Hamilton would still have contended for the win even with a bent front wing section, if they had done an aggressive tyre strategy like Ricciardo.
The race was terrific, it basically had everything except my ideal winner, so I gave it a 9.
Ricciardo is consistently showing remarkabe speed, craft and opportunism. He has far exceeded my expectations and it’s incredible and somewhat ironic how he has made Vettel appear to be impersonating Webber in terms of lacking speed and results more often than not. The previous Red Bulls must have suited him like a glove and then some. I give Vettel plenty of credit, but it seems Newey had even more credit in the title runs between 2010 and 2013.
Anyhow, Alonso and Hamilton joined Daniel on the podium after great performances as well. It was vintage-2010 like driving from Alonso.
And again Hamilton had A LOT of work to due thanks to nothing but bad luck. To compound on how hard he had to work for this podium, Mercedes really lost the plot in atempting to have team orders. It would have effectively ruined Hamilton’s race and given Rosberg a huge underserved lead before the summer break. I hope you are all ready to spend some weeks reading keyboard warriors go one over the incident and Hamilton’s long list of flaws. Nevermind Lauda having to come out and explain the obvious.
The show needs no spicing. No megaphones, no sparks. It’s just about competitive racing.
Edit, I meand vintage-2012-like Alonso.
as mentioned above and elsewhere in more detail the biggest tell is Merc giving Hamilton the slower strategy. It may well be just another unfortunate thing to happen, but the data was already in by the time of Lewis’ last stop that the softs were the better choice, either to the end like Alonso, or as with Nico and Daniel, with another stop. A penny for Ross Brawn’s thoughts. Certainly, shame on Paddy Lowe to simply spin that the sc ruined their chances of a victory.
Lweis was always going to get the slower strategy as that his SOP with all teams – the driver, who has track position get’s first dibs on strategy. That priciple has only been ‘violated’ once over two years – last year in Suzuka when Vettel got preference over Webber despite being behind, but with Webber’s general uselessness it mattered not.
Choice off when to pit is one thing.
Splitting tyre strategy to disadvantage one of two close championship contenders is quite another – particularly when it was of no conceivable advantage to the team.
With two short stints on brand new options, Hamilton would have won the race… And Rosberg would probably have finished second.
Mercedes blundered.
Tyre strategy was 50-50 for MB. Nico and Lewis got to the same point at the same time with 13 laps to go.
Funny. It hapeened to other drivers too. You weren’t as vocal on their behalf, too.
Which ones (in first and second place in the championship, separated by 14 points, with their team having effectively secured the constructors’ race) did you have in mind ?
And just for a bonus, can you point to the one who had two new sets of options and was sent back out on the prime ?
Mercedes screwed their strategy.
They should have had a fairly easy 1-2.
Why do your standards only apply to drivers fighting for the win? So you say Merc should not have given out different strategies, but for drivers that fight for 3rd, 4th, 5th etc it is ok?
The point is that Hamilton’s side of the garage is NOT allowed the freedom choice of changing strategy once the race has started.
Mercedes have a rigid rule book regarding strategy. They stick to the decision made before the race, because their German owner’s mindset says “rules are rules” and despite what is happening on the track, they have to stick to the rules.
As Lewis said after Monaco 2014 (and has been subsequently confirmed by Toto):
“When I was at McLaren we had two strategists and the strategy from my strategist was to get the best overall result for me,” Hamilton told Sky Sports F1 afterwards.
“Unfortunately [at Mercedes] we have one overall strategist, and he’s amazing, but unfortunately the role in the team is that he has to look out for the number one [driver in the race] and the guy in second has to come second.”
Has been SOP in F1 for many years. The only team that does it differently is McLaren. Lewis could have stayed there if he preferred their method.
If they stick to this, it will cost them more wins (after this one) once Red Bull catch up on package speed…. they were very efficient at winning, when they had a small advantage in 2011/2013, i.e. less strategy errors.
I’ll go with a 9 for the race.
No real mystery to the MB strategy saga for me. MB want the WCC and the well-drilled race strategists were *only* looking to get the best combined points result for the team. Nico, who is leading the WDC and better-placed to get the win on the day (given Hamilton’s qualifying woes), was favoured on that basis. Lewis just wants the WDC (duh!), is intent of closing the points gap to Nico (really??) and seems to genuinely think he’s being screwed over. Guess what? He had different ideas to everyone else in silver. A clash of world views. Sparks ensue 🙂
Hamilton is one of *the* great racers but I’ll just say that most of what he does / says outside of his car on a Sunday afternoon does him no favours whatsoever (it was the same at McLaren).
Speaking of McLaren? WTF? Hey, wait a minute! There’s that Sam Michael guy again…
Yeah, Sam Michael is an interesting pick up. I am dubious about him too.
and seems to genuinely think he’s being screwed over
In this case, he was.
Albeit by incompetence rather than conspiracy.
Oops.
Fantastic race. I gave it a ten. Knickerwettingly good! I couldn’t watch the last few laps! I had to peep between my fingers.
I’ll give it a 9. One simple reason… If even the misses starts watching and being excited, well then it must be a great race.
Agreed, mine was screeching at the TV like a flaming banchee for a good 10 laps, when usually she’s like “has is finished yet” or “do you have to watch the interviews post race?” But yesterday she lapped it all up. (she got a thing for Lewis so I think that played a part, but was great to have another enthusiastic spectator, my kids think I’m mad when I’m shouting at the telly, clapping and jumping up and down lol)
Oh after the finish flag she started nagging again. Lucky you 😂
….it was absolutely riveting……
Simply, WOW! I have been following Formula 1 since I was 4 years old, and this race easily ranks in the top 20.
As a disclaimer to the above, I happened to attend the GP, my first live race, so perhaps my sentiment has been influenced too much by the novelty.
That being said, for sheer unpredictability, this race stands out as the best of the year so far and, contrary to some opinion, the rain wasn’t the critical factor (although definitely the underlying one). The safety cars, and their timing relative to the duration of the race, created the strategy overlap (2 vs. 3 stops).
As for the live experience, it was definitely an experience I will remember forever. However, I don’t feel an intense desire to do it again. The prices, for everything, are completely ridiculous, and people can say what they like about being green etc… The engines sounded shit, much softer and weaker than GP2, and the cars looked slow.
I know sound is lost energy, the cars are technically marvelous, and the most efficient F1 has ever produced, but unfortunately efficiency doesn’t excite in the same way as a howling V10 would. People don’t put posters of a Polo Bluemotion on their doors; that space is reserved for the hyper cars, and the current breed of F1 cars felt very anaemic in the flesh.
Anyway, disenchantment to one side, and moving back to the race and the results…
I think Rosberg is going to be badly affected by the outcome of this race. He had everything under control until circumstances turned against him, while at the same time favouring Lewis (for the first time in a long while).
All of the podium finishers made best use of their equipment and opportunities. Ricciardo got all the luck, Hamilton a fair slice of luck, and some great skilled overtakes; Alonso pretty much dragged that car into position. While Alonso deserves some praise, I would like to point out that Raikkonen was already effectively a pitstop behind Alonso after theit first stops. Thereafter they were fairly even, for once, so it goes without saying that the Ferrari was not a bad car on Sunday.