Hungarian Grand Prix – qualifying

August 4, 2007 by
Filed under: Uncategorized 

Reminders: Sebastian Vettel has replaced Scott Speed at Toro Rosso and Sakon Yamamoto has replaced Christijan Albers at Spyker.

Weather: air temperature 25°C; track 31°C; wind 4.2m/s; humidity 29%; no rain forecast

Fastest in practice yesterday were RK (1:22.390) in the morning and FA (1:20.919) in the afternoon.

Qualifying Session #1:
AS & VL are first on track
AS 1:24.479
VL 1:23.576
TS 1:22.438
(SY 1:24.537)
AE 1:21.603
JT 1:21.442
RS 1:21.183
SV fights with the Toro Rosso through a corner, runs wide but recovers
HK 1:21.096
FA & KR are the last to take to the circuit
LH 1:19.570
(NH to P2)
(FM to P2)
(KR to P4)
(FA to P3)
Pit-car for RB: suggesting he use the super-soft (option) tyre
2mins left; bottom 6 are VL, SV, TS, JB, AS, SY
SY might have improved his lap time but a Renault (GF?) just ahead of him backed off … not that SY is likely to improve on P22 anyway
Sessions ends
JB to P16, pushing teammate RB out
VL to P15, bumping JB to P17 :(
Bottom 6 are P17=JB, 18=RB, 19=TS, 20=SV, 21=AS, 22=SY

Qualifying Session #2:
Stewards will investigate the SY/GF incident after the session
AW is first on track
AW 1:20.865
5mins gone and only 1 lap time set
(VL to P2)
Everyone except FA and the BMWs are on track
RS 1:20.553
JT 1:19.951
LH 1:19.301
FM fights the Ferrari through the final turn – he’s on the prime (soft) tyre whereas LH is on the option (super soft) compound – FM aborts his lap and pits
(FA to P2)
FM exits his pit box but doesn’t make it to the end of the pit lane before the Ferrari dies – his body language shows he doesn’t know why
Mechanics push FM back into the garage – will he make it out again?
3mins left – everyone’s in the pits
FM makes it out of the pit lane this time
2mins left; bottom 6 are HK, RK, AW, FM, AD, VL
Everyone bar the top 4 (LH, FA, JT, KR) take to the track
(FM doesn’t improve on P14)
Chequered flag is out
(RK to P10, bumping DC)
Bottom 6 are P11=DC, 12=HK, 13=AW, 14=FM, 15=AD, 16=VL

Replay of GF holding up SY shows GF was also held up by a Toro Rosso

Qualifying Session #3:
Fighting for the top 10 spots are LH, FA, JT, KR, NR, NH, MW, RS, GF & RK
The queue at the pit exit is headed by LH, FA & KR
LH 1:22.058
KR is right on the tail of FA – doesn’t KR remember what happened when LH was right behind him at the previous race’s Q3?
NH 1:21.822
10mins left
JT first to pit, followed by teammate RS – both stay with scrubbed prime tyres
KR pits – option tyres
McLaren hold FA after his tyre change – the lollipop man starts a countdown but a cable on the front right tyre warmer gets caught
LH enters the pit box just as FA leaves
JT 1:21.796
5mins left; order is JT, NH, RS, LH, KR, GF, RK, NR, FA, MW
KR 1:20.930
NH 1:20.922
FA 1:20.133
LH 1:19.781
3mins left; LH, FA, NH, KR, NR, RK, JT, RS, MW, GF
KR pits again
2mins left; FA is in the pits – another set of the prime tyres
LH is waiting for FA to leave – did McLaren hold FA too long to let LH get out for a final flying lap?
LH now on the super-soft option tyres
(KR to P3)
Chequered flag is out – McLaren did mess up LH’s chance of another fast lap :(
(NH to P3)
FA 1:19.674 – that’s going to cause some problems in the McLaren garage, I’m sure
Replay shows Ron Dennis throw his headphones down in disgust – maybe it wasn’t planned then?
It looks like the lollipop appeared to have been lifted and it was FA just sitting there delaying LH deliberately!

Ron Dennis stomped down to the drivers’ weigh-in and Alonso tried to slope away before his boss could get hold of him. Yeah, there’s going to be some interesting discussions after the interviews.

Interviews:
FA: seems underwhelmed and quite quiet
LH: “you saw what happened”; when asked if he knew why FA was held up, LH said “you’ll have to ask the team that”!
LH was diplomatic but clearly very annoyed at FA/the team
NH needs to visit a barber :)

Provisional grid: FA, LH, NH, KR, NR, RS, RK, GF, JT, MW, DC, HK, AW, FM, AD, VL, JB, RB, TS, SV, AS, SY.

Outstanding questions:
- will GF be penalised for holding up SY, and/or the STR that held up GF?
- did Yamamoto qualify? (SY 1:24.537 vs FA 1:19.674) Is the cut off still 107% of the pole time?
- will McLaren implode after that pit stop fiasco?

It’s going to be an interesting race tomorrow!

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Comments

5 Comments on Hungarian Grand Prix – qualifying

  1. paul on Sat, 4th Aug 2007 12:37 pm

    2. “When asked as to how long he missed out on setting a final quick lap, [Hamilton] tersely replied: “About the same amount of time I was held up in the pit stop.”

    Explaining his hold, Alonso said: “The team held me back in this. We tried to have some space with the Ferrari (Raikkonen) in front of us.”

    But team boss Ron Dennis said: “It is a matter to be discussed within the team, and we will do so later.”

    [source: BBC]

  2. paul on Sat, 4th Aug 2007 12:38 pm

    3. The FIA website says “Stewards are investigating the incident.”

  3. paul on Sat, 4th Aug 2007 12:40 pm

    4. Post-qualifying quote from Felipe Massa:

    “What happened in Q2 is very frustrating. I made a mistake at the final corner on my first run, but then, when I came back to the pits, there was a misunderstanding over refueling and they let me go without fuel. That’s why I stopped and had to be pushed back to our area by the mechanics.”

    [source: FIA]

  4. paul on Sat, 4th Aug 2007 4:17 pm

    5. Having just read ITV-F1′s article entitled “Dennis says Hamilton triggered delay” I’m even more confused!

  5. Hungarian Grand Prix - race | blog.henman.ca on Sun, 5th Aug 2007 7:33 am

    6. [...] the controversial McLaren (or was it Alonso’s?) pit strategy in qualifying yesterday, and some confusing reports (e.g. “McLaren team boss Ron Dennis absolved Fernando Alonso of [...]

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