Hungary 2009: Live Race Notes
2009 Season

Hungary 2009: Live Race Notes

Oliver White
26th July, 2009
6 comments
7 min read

Listed below are my notes from the Hungarian Grand Prix, updated as the race unfolds before us. Lewis Hamilton will be wanting to get by the Red Bulls before the first corner, and Fernando Alonso is very light and expected to be the first to pit this afternoon. Conversely, Rubens Barrichello is very heavy and should be able to very far into the first stint. Sebastien Buemi also qualified very well in P11 and the Brawns will be enjoying the raised temperatures.

  • Brundle discussing refuelling (which is going to be banned for next year). Force India have an entirely separate crew with reserve rig should anything go wrong, but Brawn hand the reserve rig to the main refuellers. Seems Force India is more of a fluid way of doing it.
  • Webber thinks Hamilton will get both him and his team mate before the first corner. He’s also worried about Rosberg in the Williams.
  • Martin Whitmarsh is worried about starting on the dirty side of the track. But still thinks KERS will help his drivers.
  • Most drivers on the softer compound tyre. (Super-soft)
  • Vettel on harder tyre. (Soft)
  • Piquet on harder tyre as well, I think. And BAR.
  • L1: HAM good start.
  • L1: RAI good start.
  • L1: ALO leads.
  • L1: VET P7.
  • L1: BAR P18.
  • L1: VET says front wing damage. Could be from RAI.
  • L2: BUT slices past NAK.
  • L2: SUT pits. Doesn’t look healthy. Car on jacks.
  • HAM and RAI touched at the start.
  • L3: ALO 2.3s clear of WEB.
  • L5: HAM passes WEB.
  • L6: ALO 3s ahead of HAM.
  • L6: HAM catching ALO.
  • L7: HAM very quick in S1.
  • L8: ALO lead down to 2.1s.
  • L8: HAM catching ALO by 0.4s per lap.
  • L8: Right rear graining on ALO’s Renault.
  • L9: 1.4s separates HAM and ALO.
  • L9: Red Bull told VET to save fuel. Trying to leap frog KOV and ROS in stops.
  • L10: 1.2s separate HAM and ALO.
  • L9: WEB FL.
  • L11: HAM in ALO’s dirty air.
  • L12: RAI will be investigated after the race, presumably from his start incident.
  • L12: ALO pits. Stays super-soft.
  • L13: ALO Front right wheel is loose. Wheel frisbee flies off.
  • L13: Wheel comes off. ALO on 3 wheels, returning to pits.
  • L13: Wheel came to rest without harm.
  • L13: ALO pits again. Harder compound.
  • Apparently the wheel went on okay, but the frisbee didn’t, and that unraveled the wheel nut as ALO drove around the lap. ALO was also released before the wheel man raised his arm.
  • L16: HAM leads.
  • L17: ALO pits. Retires.
  • L18: Sutil had a water pressure problem on the formation lap, and essentially his car boiled itself.
  • L18: NAK and TRU catching and pressuring BUT.
  • L19: HEI pits.
  • L19: RAI pits. Super soft.
  • L19: WEB pits. WEB was almost released before the hose was off. Harder tyre. Almost clips RAI on pit exit.
  • L20: GLO passes WEB.
  • L20: HAM pits. Super soft.
  • L20: ROS pits. Super soft.
  • L21: ROS gets out ahead of WEB. WEB passes around outside.
  • L22: VET pits. Harder tyre. Slow stop.
  • L22: KOV pits.
  • L22: KUB pits.
  • Red Bull may get in trouble for early release due to lollipop man twitching.
  • L23: NAK pits. Super soft.
  • L23: HAM leads from BUT. BUT yet to stop.
  • L24: PIQ pits. Super soft.
  • L25: PIQ exits ahead of NAK. NAK goes to pass. PIQ edges him out wide onto the run off.
  • L25: ALG P13, yet to make maiden pitstop.
  • BUT told to go long in middle stint.
  • L26: BUT pits. Super soft.
  • L26: BUT exits ahead of FIS, FIS passes through T1.
  • FIS could back BUT up as FIS is fuelled long.
  • L27: ALG P12! Still yet to stop.
  • L27: BUE pits.
  • VET says something is broken on car and he cannot control it anymore.
  • VET’s car is dragging its back on the ground. Rear suspension damage maybe.
  • L28: VET pits. Right rear suspension. New nose, new tyres – hard. Looking at left front as well. Releasing VET back into race.
  • L29: TRU pits. Goes from harder to super soft tyres. F1.com reckon TRU was on super soft before.
  • L29: ALG pits. Relatively safe maiden stop. Cheers from his sister in the garage.
  • RAI having a good race.
  • ALO philosophical about retirement.
  • L30: FIS pits. Stays super soft.
  • L31: VET pits and retires.
  • L32: BUT is complaining of oversteer. “How can be so bad all of a sudden?”
  • L32: GLO pits. Stays super soft.
  • L33: GLO exits in P7. Leapfrogs TRU and BUT.
  • L34: BAR pits.
  • L34: KOV all over WEB
  • VET’s front suspension was the cause of his retirement.
  • WEB told he can still get RAI if his tyres go off.
  • L35: KOV is eyeing P2 or P3 to get both McLaren’s on the podium.
  • L35: ROS is also catching KOV in a WEB-train. ROS is on harder tyre.
  • L36: KOV is right on WEB’s gear box. WEB on harder tyre, KOV on softer.
  • L37: ALG lapping faster than his team mate. A great debut. He may be last, but still doing well. Hope his neck holds up.
  • L38: HAM pulling out 3-4 tenths per lap.
  • L39: HAM RAI gap – 6.8s.
  • L39: BUE ran off track at T2. Recovered.
  • L39: RAI now catching HAm with personal best.
  • L40: RAI is really hustling his car. He has the bit between his teeth. Classic RAI.
  • L41: BUT under pressure from PIQ and NAK – they could leapfrog him in the next stops.
  • L42: BAR in P13.
  • L42: Radio to WEB, HAM will come out from his stop very close to him.
  • L42: KOV backed off from WEB. Maybe he’s thinking of leapfrogging in the pitstops.
  • L43: Brawn say BUT’s issues are all tyre related. However, it’s coming back to him, apparently.
  • L44: KOV pits. Harder tyres. Exits in P6, ahead of GLO.
  • L46: RAI pits. Harder tyre. Can’t get a gear. Delayed stop due to trouble with finding 1st gear.
  • Smedley views the race from the pitwall.
  • When did GLO get ahead of KOV?
  • L47: HAM pits. Harder tyre. Exits well ahead of WEB.
  • VET blames RAI for damage to car that led to retirement. Says he has a button on hos steering wheel, but it doesn’t do anything. Alluding to KERS.
  • L48: FIS pits.
  • L49: PIQ pits.
  • L50: ROS pits. Super soft to harder tyre.
  • L50: HEI pits.
  • L51: WEB pits. Super soft compound. Exits ahead of ROS. Net P3.
  • WEB on super soft vs. ROS on harder.
  • L52: KOV issue. Front brake temp are too high. KOV moved brake bias back a little. Should be okay, they say.
  • First KERS win?
  • L53: ALG keeping up with those around him, although yet to stop again.
  • L53: KUB pits.
  • L53: ALG pits.
  • GLO hassling RAI, but yet to stop again.
  • L55: ALG exited ahead of team mate.
  • L55: HAM 17s ahead of RAI.
  • L55: Ferrari report Massa’s second CT scan is good.
  • L56: BUT pits. Harder tyre.
  • BUT exited pits in P10.
  • L57: NAK pits. Harder tyre.
  • L58: BAR pits.
  • L58: WEB catching RAI.
  • L59: TRU pits.
  • L59: BUT suddenly has good pace.
  • L60: Kravitz reporting BUT has leapfrogged TRU.
  • L61: GLO pits. Harder tyre.
  • L61: BAR P10.
  • L61: BAR, NAK, TRU all close on track.
  • L62: ALG still ahead of team mate.
  • L63: TRU train. P8, P9, P10, TRU, NAK, BAR.
  • L64: Flavio leaving the track. ALO is out of the race. PIQ is probably out of the team as well. How poignant is it that Flavio is leaving the track?
  • L66: FL for WEB.
  • L70: HAM wins.

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