[Race] The GROAT - Round 1 - 2014 Hungaroring vs 1981 Monaco vs 1997 Hungaroring

[crmalcolm]

2014 Hungaroring (Wikipedia)

The race started at 14:00 local time. The track was wet before the race, as thunderstorms had hit the area throughout the day. The air temperature ranged between 20 to 21 °C (68 to 70 °F), with the track temperature between 27 to 28 °C (81 to 82 °F).

All the runners began the race on intermediate tyres. At the start of the race, Nico Rosberg led into the first corner, while Valtteri Bottas overtook Sebastian Vettel on the outside of turn one to take second position. Fernando Alonso also overtook Vettel shortly after turn one to take third, but Vettel repassed him later on in the lap. Having started from the pit lane, Lewis Hamilton had not been permitted to participate in the formation lap. As a result, his brakes were cold, and on the first lap he spun off at turn two. The front left of his car lightly scraped against the barriers, mildly damaging the front wing, but otherwise his car sustained no serious damage and Hamilton rejoined the track, albeit last in 22nd position.

By lap 9, Rosberg had pulled out an advantage over the field and Hamilton had made his way up to 13th, but a crash by Marcus Ericsson meant that the safety car was deployed. All the drivers pitted under the safety car – all switching to dry tyres except the two McLarens who put on more intermediates – but the timing of the safety car's deployment meant that the top four runners (Rosberg, Bottas, Vettel and Alonso) missed the pit entry and had to do the entire lap behind the safety car before they could pit, costing them a considerable amount of time to the cars behind. Following the pit stops, Rosberg had moved down from 1st to 4th, and Bottas lost out massively to move down from 2nd to 11th, while Hamilton maintained 13th. Daniel Ricciardo benefited greatly from the safety car timing and was now leading the race. The safety car stayed out for longer than usual as Romain Grosjean lost control of his car and crashed under safety car conditions, but racing resumed on lap 14 and Jenson Button quickly passed Ricciardo for the lead. The following lap Rosberg was overtaken by Jean-Éric Vergne, demoting him to fifth, while Hamilton overtook four cars in one lap to move up to ninth. Having done only two laps on the intermediates, Button pitted from the lead for dry tyres on lap 16 as it became clear that the track was drying. McLaren's decision to put him on a second set of intermediates at his first stop had cost him greatly and he rejoined down the order in 16th.

On lap 17 Nico Hülkenberg retired after colliding with his teammate Sergio Pérez, though Pérez avoided any major damage. At this point Hamilton was up to seventh behind Vettel and only a second back from Rosberg, who was still fifth and stuck behind Vergne. Alonso was excelling in the conditions and had moved up to third by lap 18. On lap 23 Pérez spun at the final corner and crashed into the pit wall, meaning that Force India had suffered their first double retirement of the season. This brought out another safety car, prompting Ricciardo and Massa to pit from first and second, rejoining in sixth and seventh behind Alonso, Vergne, Rosberg, Vettel and Hamilton, all of whom stayed out under the safety car. The safety car came in on lap 27, and Alonso proceeded to pull out a lead over a train of cars reaching from second to fifth. The train of cars was led by Vergne, who was still holding up Rosberg, closely followed by Vettel and Hamilton. On lap 33 Rosberg pitted for softs from third and rejoined in 13th, while Vettel spun at the final corner – in the same place as Perez did – but miraculously managed to avoid contact with the wall. This allowed Hamilton to catch up to Vergne, and the following lap he overtook Vergne on the outside at turn four. On lap 39 Alonso pitted for soft tyres, and a lap later Hamilton pitted for medium tyres, rejoining in fourth and fifth respectively. This promoted Ricciardo back into the lead of the race. Rosberg had been making up positions but had been jumped by Hamilton in the pit stops and was down in ninth.

By lap 47, Rosberg had made further progress and was now almost a second behind Hamilton, with no cars separating them. Hamilton was given team orders to let Rosberg past, as Rosberg was on the softer tyre and had one more stop to make, while Hamilton was on a two stop strategy and did not have to pit again. However, Hamilton did not concede the place, replying on the radio: "I'm not slowing down for Nico. If he gets close enough to overtake, he can overtake me." Hamilton was aware that he was effectively racing Rosberg at this point, and he did not want to lose a considerable amount of time by lifting to let his title rival through, as Rosberg was still over a second behind him. Race-leader Ricciardo and Rosberg pitted for soft tyres on laps 54 and 56 respectively, rejoining in fourth and seventh. By lap 62, Alonso, Hamilton and Ricciardo were running very closely in first, second and third, with Hamilton 0.4 seconds behind Alonso and Ricciardo 0.4 seconds behind Hamilton. Meanwhile, Nico Rosberg was running fourth, over twenty seconds behind Ricciardo, but was rapidly closing the gap by up to three seconds a lap on his newer soft tyres, setting the fastest lap of the race while doing so. On lap 63, Alonso cut the chicane, but avoided any penalty and maintained the race lead. Ricciardo passed Hamilton around the outside of turn two on lap 67, and then the following lap passed Alonso at turn one for the race lead with two laps to go. Alonso continued to defend his position from Hamilton, but both of their tyres had fallen off of their respective operating cliffs – having both done close to 30 laps on their tyres – and by the final lap Rosberg had caught up to the back of them. Rosberg attempted to overtake Hamilton on the outside into turn two, but Hamilton defended and held position. Ricciardo crossed the line to win his second race of the season by 5.2 seconds, with Alonso coming second and Hamilton and Rosberg close behind in third and fourth.


1981 Monaco (Motorsport Magazine)
Sunday was a superb holiday-brochure day, with blue sea, blue sky, bright warm sunshine, a large but not overpacked crowd, and everything was set for a good race. The whole organisation had gone perfectly, everyone was happy, or as happy as they could allow themselves to be, and the twenty cars were being readied for the 3.30 p.m. start. The normal routine is for the Prince and Princess of Monaco to lunch at the Palace with their favoured entourage, then descend the slopes from the Palace in a suitable car, make a lap of the circuit to declare the track ready for racing, take their seats in the Royal box (and stuff Royal cotton wool in their ears, to endure the awful two hour racket of these awful racing people) and then present the winner with his prize, or at least with his cup if not with his cheque. This year none of it happened, for the Prince and Princess were away in America with more important things to attend to, among them the graduation from College of their son. The racing world planned to manage all right without them, arranging for Maurice Trintignant (winner at Monaco in 1955 and 1958) to inaugurate the circuit in a Grand Prix Bugatti.

When everything is set for the race, that part of the town in the middle of the circuit is sealed off in its entirety, so when a fire broke out in the kitchens of the fancy new plastic hotel built where the old station used to be, and above the newly constructed seafront tunnel, there was a fair degree of panic. Add to that two motorcycle policemen having a head-on collision and the fire-brigade being hampered at getting to the fire, it is no wonder that proceedings were held up. The fire was brought under control at the expense of a lot of water, most of which ran though the floors and through the roof of the tunnel which forms part of the circuit. The organisation deserve every credit for keeping the whole affair under control and though the great god television was held up for an hour there was no panic and no acrimony because concise and clear statements were given out (in four languages) so that everyone knew what was going to happen.

The tunnel was declared a “no-passing” zone, indicated by a yellow flag at the entrance and green beyond the exit and if the water dried up during the race the flags would be removed. This was not to say you could not drive through the water if you wanted to, nor did you have to go slowly, it was simply a “no-overtaking” ban. From the pits the cars were allowed two warm-up laps in place of the regulation one lap, and as 4.30 p.m. approached Nelson Piquet led a very orderly twenty cars round on the parade lap and back to the starting grid. The green light shone and they were away into the cramped Saint Devote chicane; Piquet was first out and up the hill to the Casino lik’e a rocket, waiting for no-one, but the twenty car field was reduced to eighteen as the dust settled and the McLaren-MP4 of de Cesaris and the Alfa Romeo V12 of Andretti were seen lying derelict by the roadside. Everyone blamed everyone else, naturally, and Prost (Renault) and Surer (Ensign) were lucky to still be going all right, though the Swiss took the Ensign out into the pits for a new wheel and a quick check-over.

Piquet was running away from everyone, with Villeneuve in second place followed by Mansell doing his utmost to fend off the likes of Reutemann, Jones, Patrese, de Angelis and Laffite, and he was doing it well. By lap 7 the pattern of the opening phase of this race of corners and gearchanges was settled, Piquet in the leading Brabham was well away, Villeneuve was a strong second, bearing in mind that he could burn up his tyres or cook his brakes too easily if he exaggerated, and third was the worthy Mansell but behind him Reutemann, Jones, Patrese and de Angelis were getting a bit agitated. Then came a French trio in the order Laffite, Prost and Arnoux, then a lonesome Watson in the MP4 McLaren, an equally lonely Tambay in the Theodore car followed by Cheever in the blue Tyrrell. Bringing up the rear were Stohr in the second Arrows, Giacomelli in the remaining Alfa Romeo, Pironi in the second Ferrari and Alboreto keeping up with them comfortably. A long way back, after his pit stop, and about to be lapped by Piquet was Surer in the Ensign, now running strongly. The “ten green bottles” syndrome was still being enacted for Stohr went slowly up the hill to the Casino, the Cosworth engine in his Arrows car popping and banging.

Unintentionally, Surer held up Villeneuve through a particularly twisty part of the circuit and the following bunch closed up on the Ferrari, while Piquet got further ahead. On lap 14 Mansell got a bit sideways and Reutemann bent the nose of his Williams on the back of the Lotus 87 and by the time he stopped at the pits, had a new nose fitted and rejoined the race he was down to fifteenth place. No-one was waiting for anyone. Mansell stopped to change a rear wheel, did one more lap and went back to the pits, where a rear suspension rocker arm was found broken, so that was that. Villeneuve’s brakes were beginning to feel a bit less than one hundred per cent efficient, so he did not press any harder than was necessary to maintain his pace.

Jones on the other hand was piling on the coal, with Mansell and Reutemann gone from in front of him and on lap 20 he dived past the Ferrari, took second place and set his sights on the leading Brabham. It was “Jonesyboy” at his hardest and best and little by little the gap closed, while behind him Patrese got by Villeneuve, the Ferrari driver content to run as fast as he could without stressing the car or indulging in heroics against faster rivals at this early stage in the race. Every now and again the moving chicane in the shape of Stohr’s white and orange Arrows A3 would re-appear, going awfully slowly, but it wasn’t his fault for the engine would not run properly no matter what the mechanics did. In fifth place was de Angelis with the second Lotus 87 but he was not making much headway, though he was safely ahead of the froggie-trio who had been joined by Watson. At the back of the field Reutemann was carving his way through and among them was a very dispirited Pironi who was having a totally demoralising weekend, while the happy Alboreto was still keeping up nicely.

It began to look as if a situation of stalemate was developing between Piquet and Jones, with a gap of around seven seconds, which was just as well for since their argy-bargy in Zolder, which ended up with Piquet in the rough stuff there had been no love lost between the two of them. During practice various trouble-making journalists had transmitted dire threats from one to the other; but they had never spoken face-to-face. The Brazilian Piquet is a very determined young man and the Australian is . . . well, an Australian, and they are not cast or forged, they are carved from the solid. Piquet and Jones were now about to lap the tail-enders, starting with Alboreto and then having Giacomelli, Pironi, Cheever and Tambay to circumnavigate, and this saw Jones at his best. They got clear of the traffic by lap 38 and on lap 39 the Williams was right under the tail of the Brabham and you could imagine Jones saying “What are you going to do to me?” and Piquet looking in his mirrors and thinking “If that Australian thug tries anything I’ll have him off into the barriers”. The situation was really tense and for three breathtaking laps the Williams was really leaning on the Brabham, but it was deadlock. Meanwhile Villeneuve was comfortably in third place and wondering if they were going to give him first place on a plate.

Quite a while before this situation arose, de Angelis went up the hill to the Casino with his engine making a horrid noise; at the old station hairpin he dropped a lot of oil and clanked his way on trying to get back to the pits. Arnoux arrived on the oil and slid gracefully into the barriers and out of the race, so now Laffite was fourth and Watson fifth, though neither of them had ever passed anyone! Reutemann’s climb back up the field was halted when first and second gears broke up in his gearbox and the Williams long period of reliability was interrupted. At half-distance only Piquet, Jones, Villeneuve, Laffite and Watson remained on the same lap, Tambay, Pironi, Giacomelli, Alboreto, Cheever (who had had a spin) and Surer were all well behind. As Jones was putting the pressure on Piquet there was a shattering bang from the engine of the renault and Prost and another “green bottle” had gone.

On lap 46 Jones goofed slightly down on the harbour front and Piquet got away a little, but not for long as the Williams was up behind the Brabham three laps later only to ease back slightly, deliberately this time, for there were still 25 laps to go. Down at the back of the field Alboreto was ahead of Giacomelli, to the joy of one and the chagrin of the other, but on lap 51 they fell over each other at Saint Devote and that was that. Tambay was in trouble and going slowly without his full complement of gears and as Piquet hurtled along the harbour front on lap 54 he arrived at the Tabac corner at just the wrong moment. He misjudged overtaking the Theodore and slid into the barriers with a sickening “crunch” and as Jones went by into the lead he must have smiled to himself. Watson had been bravely hanging on to Laffite’s Talbot-Matra and would have inherited fourth place had his engine not blown up, so now we only had seven cars left and nobody was going to catch anyone so we could have stopped the race there and then with the perfectly satisfactory result of Jones in first place, Villeneuve second, Laffite third, Pironi fourth, Cheever fifth, Surer sixth and Tambay seventh, but there was still a long way to go; 20 laps in fact.

It was too far for Jones for his engine began to stutter and in the cockpit a red light was shining. This meant that the fuel pressure generated by the mechanical pump had dropped below 90 p.s.i., and the injection system needs 120 p.s.i. to make it work properly. Switching on the electric pump, normally only used for starting, did not help, so with more than enough time in hand over Villeneuve’s Ferrari, Jones signalled to his pit that he was stopping next time round for more petrol, just in case the trouble was low level in the tank or the system not picking up the last few gallons. Completely unknown to Villeneuve, the Williams dived into the pits, a 2 1/2 gallon container of petrol was emptied into the tank and Jones was back on the track before Villeneuve arrived. When he went past his pit and they signalled the much reduced gap he assumed Jones had had a spin somewhere, but when next time round the gap was smaller he realised the Williams was in trouble. In trouble it was, for the stuttering was getting worse and the red light was still shining, indicating that the fuel pressure was still below 90 p.s.i. There were eight laps still to run and Villeneuve used all the Ferrari would give, making his own fastest lap of the race on lap 71 (though a lot slower than Jones’ fastest lap recorded earlier in the race) and passing the stricken Williams in front of the pits as they completed lap 72. Monte Carlo erupted. Hooters and sirens echoed round the harbour, flags waved, hats flew, tears ran down the cheeks of all the Ferrari fans, marshals waved flags in all directions and the myriad of Villeneuve fans prayed fervently that the turbo-charged V6 Ferrari engine would hold together for four more laps. Of course, it did and there was no need to ask who was a popular winner. A lucky win, yes, profiting from Jones’ bad luck but when the good luck is being handed out you’ve got to be there, and ready, it’s no good being a lap behind and cruising along dispiritedly. Jonesey must have thought once again “Goddam, that guy never gives up.”


1997 Hungaroring (Motorsport Magazine)
Until now, Hill was used to qualifying between 12th and 15th, but in Hungary he took an amazing third, behind title contenders Michael Schumacher and Jacques Villeneuve.

“I was able to get everything I wanted out of the car, and it just felt really great to drive. It was doubly exciting that we were right up there near the top of the list. It was a very responsive car to set up. There was an opportunity to push everything out as far as I could. It’s always fun when you can turn things on their head. The minnows were having their day, and I was having a great time!

“But I didn’t have great hopes for the race. Up to that point, the car had been terribly unreliable, so there wasn’t much hope that it would last.”

Hill passed Villeneuve’s Williams at the start and slotted into second. Most observers thought he would soon drop back, and even the man himself didn’t expect too much.

“I remember thinking, `Great, we’ve got a good start’, but I expected Michael to disappear. I did what I was used to doing — hang onto his gearbox as much as I could and try to not let him get away.

“But as we went on I could see his tyres beginning to go. He was starting to slide around more and more. I couldn’t believe it: he wasn’t getting away, and he was really struggling. The Goodyears were just too soft and they were graining up like hell and causing him all sorts of grief. So he was a sitting duck, really. Except that this was Hungary, a track virtually impossible to pass on.”

Which is why Schumacher was as stunned as the rest of us by what happened next.

“On lap 10 he came out of the last corner and was really struggling. I managed to get a tow from him down the straight and took a lunge down the inside. I knew that he had much more to lose than I did, and I squeezed through. I couldn’t believe it! There I was, in an Arrows, leading a grand prix, having just overtaken Michael. It was the closest you can get to actually laughing while racing!

“Once I got past, I got into the same mode as if I was driving a Williams, which was, `Put the hammer down and get out of here, because we’re going to need every bit of advantage.’ I was pulling further and further into the lead. After lap 20, I thought, `If the car breaks down now, I’ve had a really good day, and I’ll just be very thankful for what I’ve had.’

“But it just kept on going and going. I can understand why everyone was suspicious because it just did not fit the form book at all, but it was really just down to the tyres: Goodyear were too adventurous, Bridgestone had a better compound, and the track and the conditions suited our car perfectly.”

Alas, the dream did not last On the penultimate lap Hill slowed suddenly, and former team-mate Villeneuve began to reel him in.

“The hydraulics went and I couldn’t change gear. Then the throttle wouldn’t work either, because that was operated by the hydraulics. I was just stuck in fifth gear. There was no way I could make it go any faster. I couldn’t rev the engine, I couldn’t change gear, I just had to tug along. I didn’t think I was going to make it to the finish.”

Villeneuve swept past early on the final lap, but somehow Damon kept the Arrows running and cruised home in second place. A mixture of relief and despair hung over the Arrows camp.

“I remember thinking, `********!’ But then you think, `Second ain’t bad, I suppose.’ I don’t think anyone felt that we’d been cheated. You had to laugh really, because we shouldn’t have been there in the first place. The person who was more gutted than anyone was poor old Jackie Oliver.

“It was a race to remember, and a lot of people still talk to me about it. At that time I was in negotiation with McLaren for 1998, so the next thing to do was phone up Ron Dennis and say, There you go!’ But that didn’t really work out”

[S griffin]

Hungaroring 2014 was a thriller, helped by the weather. Monaco 1981 was one of the best wins of all time. Hungary 97 was an upset that was denied by late drama.

Monaco 81 I'll choose for the performance of Gilles Villenueve