2009 Hungarian Grand Prix
Encyclopedia
The 2009 Hungarian Grand Prix (formally the XXV ING Magyar Nagydíj) was a Formula One
motor race held on July 26, 2009 at the Hungaroring
in Mogyoród
, 18 km (11.2 mi) north of Budapest
, Hungary
. It was the tenth race of the 2009 Formula One season
. The race, contested over 70 laps, was won by world champion Lewis Hamilton
for McLaren
-Mercedes, after starting from fourth place on the grid. The world champion Kimi Räikkönen
finished second for Ferrari
, with Red Bull Racing
's Mark Webber
finishing third. Championship leader Jenson Button
had a poor race to finish seventh, losing ground to Webber in the championship.
Hamilton's win was his first since the 2008 Chinese Grand Prix
, which was also the last time he had appeared on the podium. The result also marked the first time that a car equipped with a regenerative brake
system (KERS) had won a race. Räikkönen's second place was Ferrari's best result of the season so far, but the team's weekend was somewhat overshadowed by team-mate Felipe Massa
's serious accident during the second part of the Saturday afternoon qualifying session which left him with a fractured skull. The race also saw the debut of World Series by Renault
racer and 2008 British Formula Three
champion Jaime Alguersuari
, who became the youngest Formula One driver in the championship's 59-year history, at the age of 19 years and 125 days. This also leaves him as the first Formula One driver to be born in the 1990s. He replaced the fired Sébastien Bourdais
at Scuderia Toro Rosso
.
led the Drivers' Championship on 68 points for Brawn GP
, 21 points clear of Red Bull Racing
's Sebastian Vettel
. Vettel's team-mate Mark Webber
, who signed a new one-year contract before the race weekend, was 1.5 points behind Vettel and an equal number ahead of Button's team-mate Rubens Barrichello
.
Brawn GP also held the lead in the Constructors' Championship, with a lead of 19.5 points from a resurgent Red Bull Racing, who were a further 48 points clear of Toyota. Toyota held an advantage of only 1.5 points over defending champions Scuderia Ferrari
.
Webber won the previous race in Germany
from pole position, to claim his first win at the 130th attempt. Despite an early drive-through penalty assessed for a dangerous manoeuvre to keep the Brawn GP car of Barrichello behind him at the start, the Australian driver had enough time in hand to rejoin out front and win by nearly ten seconds from Red Bull Racing team-mate Vettel.
Felipe Massa
was third, to earn his first podium of the 2009 season to date. Championship leader Button could only muster a fifth place finish, after being overhauled by the one-stopping Williams of Nico Rosberg
, who finished fourth having started fifteenth.
Prior to the race, the Hungarian Grand Prix had produced different winners for each of the last seven years, with Heikki Kovalainen
(McLaren
-Mercedes; 2008
), Lewis Hamilton
(McLaren–Mercedes; 2007
), Button (Honda
; 2006
), Kimi Räikkönen
(McLaren–Mercedes; 2005
), Michael Schumacher
(Ferrari; 2004
), Fernando Alonso
(Renault
; 2003
) and Barrichello (Ferrari; 2002
) taking the chequered flag. The Hungaroring had also been the scene of the maiden victories of Button, Alonso and Kovalainen.
Much of the talk prior to the weekend was about the appointment of Jaime Alguersuari
to replace Sébastien Bourdais
at Scuderia Toro Rosso
. Alguersuari did not have any circuit testing experience in a Formula One car, and had only undertaken straight-line aerodynamic tests the week before the Grand Prix, in Faenza
. Felipe Massa felt that Alguersuari — who had 118 prior single-seater races under his belt, with 17 wins — was too young and inexperienced to be driving a contemporary Formula One car. Mark Webber and Jenson Button also expressed their fears about Alguersuari driving at the Hungaroring. However, Sebastian Vettel came to the support of the Spaniard, saying that he should take his time to build up speed.
Apart from the upturn in McLaren's performance, the usual Friday pace-setters were also competitive, with Williams
drivers Nico Rosberg
and Kazuki Nakajima
both setting times that were good enough for top five positions in both sessions. The Red Bull of Mark Webber was also in the top five in both sessions, as he continued his recent good form.
Brawn GP implemented their usual strategy of running with fuel during Friday practice sessions. In the first session, Jenson Button was tenth and Rubens Barrichello was thirteenth. In the second session, Barrichello improved to seventh place, while Button dropped back to thirteenth. That said, Button's lap time was only 0.727 seconds off the fastest time of Hamilton, in an extremely tight session.
Jarno Trulli
was the top Toyota in both sessions, finishing up sixth and eighth, beating team-mate Timo Glock
, who was fourteenth and tenth. Renault
had a mixed session, with Alonso and Nelson Piquet, Jr. struggling to get the ideal setup for the car. Alonso was seven tenths of a second off in both sessions, while Piquet improving to just a tenth and half behind his team-mate. Massa and Räikkönen posted times good enough for P7 and P8 in the first session, but were adrift in the second session, with neither driver in the top ten, which left the Ferrari drivers disappointed with the lack of pace.
BMW Sauber
were another team to struggle in practice, with times some six tenths of a second off the pace, which left both drivers unhappy with the setup. Nick Heidfeld
's time in the second session was their best showing, ending up in ninth position. Force India
outpaced Toro Rosso in both sessions, with both cars lapping within a second of the best times. Giancarlo Fisichella
(16th and 17th) and Adrian Sutil
(18th and 16th) were both confident that they could improve on those times on Saturday. Sébastien Buemi
found himself doing much of the setup work for the Italian outfit, improving his lap time by eight tenths of a second, between sessions. Alguersuari produced a solid performance in both sessions, but still ranked last in both sessions. Each driver completed 82 laps over the two sessions.
McLaren again topped the times during the Saturday practice session with Hamilton posting the best time. Heidfeld was a surprise second for BMW Sauber, with Nico Rosberg in third. Kovalainen was fourth, ahead of the Toro Rosso of Buemi and the Toyota of Glock. Glock's session was far from trouble-free, as his Toyota developed a hydraulic leak during its first flying lap. He returned to the track just before the end of the session, to record the sixth best time. Only seven tenths of a second split Heidfeld in second from Barrichello's Brawn in thirteenth. At one point, Jaime Alguersuari was as high as second position, before falling down to 18th by the end. Both Force Indias lapped slower than the teenager, with Sutil also having an incident, misjudging turn eight and hit the barrier.
The qualifying session on Saturday afternoon was split into three parts. The first part ran for 20 minutes, and cars that finished the session 16th or lower were eliminated from qualifying. The second part of qualifying lasted 15 minutes and eliminated cars that finished in positions 11 to 15. The final part of qualifying determined the positions from first to tenth, and decided pole position
. Cars which failed to make the final session could refuel before the race, so ran lighter in those sessions. Cars which competed in the final session of qualifying were not allowed to refuel before the race, and as such carried more fuel than in the previous sessions. Weather conditions for the session saw the air temperature at 23 °C (73.4 °F), and the track temperature at 41 °C (105.8 °F).
The first part of qualifying saw Rosberg top the times, with a lap of 1:20.793, towards the end of the session. Hamilton and Webber were the only other drivers to record laps in the 1:20s. Alguersuari, who was 19th with several minutes remaining, slowed out of turn 12 with a hydraulic failure that left him unable to return to the pits. He fell to 20th and last on the grid, after Sutil (who moved up to 18th) lapped quicker than he did. The two were joined on the sidelines by the BMW Saubers of Heidfeld and Robert Kubica
, and the second Force India of Fisichella.
After a seven-minute break, the second part of the qualifying session got underway. With just a second covering the fifteen remaining drivers, many drivers set their quickest laps in the final few minutes of the session. As the session ended, the Ferrari of Massa, who was sixth at the time, was involved in a serious accident at turn four. Replays showed debris striking his helmet, when he was travelling at 162 mph. The impact knocked him unconscious, with his car straying towards the grass verge on the inside of turn four. The onboard footage from his car showed that he had his feet on both the accelerator and the brake pedals. The Ferrari decelerated at a force of between 0.6 and 1.4g
and impacted with the barrier at 62 mph. After the car imbedded itself in the tyre barrier, the engine could be heard still revving on the limiter
, indicating that Massa's foot was still pressing the accelerator and that he was thus unconscious. This accident came just six days after FIA Formula Two Championship
driver Henry Surtees
was fatally injured after being struck on the head by a wheel bouncing across the circuit at the Brands Hatch
track in the United Kingdom
, and provoked some discussion about the safety of open cockpit racing cars . The debris, a spring from the rear suspension damper (weighing around 800 grams), was suspected of having come from the car of Barrichello, who had reported that something had come loose minutes beforehand. Brawn confirmed the part had indeed come from Barrichello's car, and changed the same part on team-mate Button's car ahead of the race. It was also subjected to an inspection during the third qualifying session, leaving Button with only one run for qualifying, due to the lengthy inspection.
Despite Massa's accident, some drivers improved their times towards the end of the session as they had passed the zone before the accident, meaning that Massa fell to eighth position. Button and Nakajima both progressed into the third part of qualifying, with their times set despite the yellow flag at turn four for Massa's accident. Barrichello's problem meant that he and the Brawn team missed out on the top ten shootout for the first time this season. He was joined on the sidelines by Buemi, Glock, Nelson Piquet, Jr. and Trulli. Even though Massa's time was quick enough to progress to Q3, his crash ruled him out of any further participation in the session. He was slowly extricated from his damaged Ferrari, and taken to the infield medical centre, where he was stabilised before being airlifted to hospital. This meant that there were only nine drivers in the final part of qualifying, which was delayed by twenty minutes due to the lengthy amount of time taken to remove Massa, repair the tyre barrier and check the track for any further debris.
With qualifying nearing its conclusion, the official timing system malfunctioned, leaving the drivers bemused in the pit lane afterwards, asking each other their times for comparisons. The problem was later revealed by Formula One Management and LG
as being a broken cable. When the timing system came back online, Fernando Alonso discovered that he had set the fastest time, recording his first pole since the 2007 Italian Grand Prix
. Joining him on the front row was Vettel, with Webber and Hamilton on row two. On row three were Rosberg, who was top when the system went down, and defending race-winner Kovalainen. When the cars' starting weights were released post-qualifying, Alonso was light compared to all those around him. He was some 17.5 kg lighter than Vettel, and at the extreme, 27 kg lighter than Button, who qualified eighth.
Ferrari
latterly confirmed that Massa would miss the Grand Prix due to his accident. He suffered a head cut, bone damage to his skull and a concussion, and remained under observation in intensive care, in the Állami Egészségügyi Központ military hospital in Budapest. He underwent successful surgery for the injuries he suffered in his accident. This meant that for the first time since the 2005 United States Grand Prix
, a field of fewer than 20 drivers took part in a Grand Prix. It was also the first time that Ferrari fielded only one car in the race since the 2002 French Grand Prix
when Rubens Barrichello failed to start due to ignition problems.
(UTC
+2), with the race beginning a couple of minutes later. Alonso retained his pole position lead into the first corner, followed by a fast-starting Hamilton, Webber, Räikkönen and Vettel, who had made a slow start from the "dirty" side of the grid. Hamilton and Räikkönen nearly touched on the run to turn one, which in effect slowed the Finn slightly and allowed to Webber to maintain third. Hamilton ran slightly wide on the exit of the first corner, which allowed Webber to challenge him. The counter-effect caused Räikkönen and Vettel to stack up, with the German's Red Bull making slight contact with the rear of the Ferrari. Vettel lost further places to Rosberg and Kovalainen as a result of the incident. Räikkönen would latterly be investigated after the race for both of his first lap incidents. At the end of the first lap, Sutil came into the pits from 19th place with water pressure problems. The problem was terminal and he became the first retirement of the afternoon. Alonso started to pull away from the field, setting his fastest lap of the race – 1:23.529 – on lap four.
Positions remained static until the start of lap five. Hamilton pressured Webber in turn one, and with the aid of the KERS button, overtook the Australian before turn two. Once clear of Webber, Hamilton started to cut into the gap that Alonso had built up at the front. Alonso's Renault was suffering from graining on its rear tyres (when the tyres shed little bits of rubber before sticking to the tread of the tyre, effectively separating the tyre from the track surface very slightly), and also a fuel pump problem, which forced him to change to a different fuel setting on the car. Alonso pitted on lap twelve, and was stationary for 6.4 seconds. However, he was released with his front right wheel incorrectly attached, causing the wheel-mounted brake duct or "spinner" to rotate while the wheel was turning. The duct then fell off and disintegrated at turn four, as Alonso continued to go round the circuit. The wheel then parted from the car at turn nine, and Alonso drove the car back to the pits on three wheels. The missing wheel was replaced, enabling him to continue in the race, but he returned to the pits on the following lap, as the earlier fuel pump problem proved terminal.
With Hamilton extending his lead to almost six seconds – including his fastest lap of 1:22.479 on lap sixteen – Räikkönen and Webber both pitted on lap nineteen. Räikkönen was at a standstill for 8.3 seconds, while a slight problem with the fuel rig cost Webber valuable seconds. He was eventually released just as the Ferrari was trundling down the pit lane. The two cars just avoided a collision, which almost caused the Red Bull to career into a number of the Williams mechanics, who were standing in the pit lane at the time. Hamilton pitted the following lap, but was slightly delayed by Rosberg's Williams, which had entered the pit lane as Hamilton was about to exit the McLaren pit box. This promoted Kovalainen into the lead, followed by Vettel but both drivers pitted at the end of lap 21, to hand the lead back to Hamilton. Vettel's sluggish pit-stop cost him track position, as he filtered out behind Rosberg.
During Hamilton's stint on a second set of super-soft tyres, he was told by race engineer Phil Prew to look after his tyres as he had a comfortable gap of 15 seconds over Räikkönen. Championship leader Button, who was heavily fuelled at the start, had improved up to second by the time of his first stop on lap 25. Vettel was struggling with his car, and was passed for eighth position by Barrichello on lap 27. He then reported to his race engineer Guillaume Rocquelin that something was broken on his car. He pitted at the end of the lap from eleventh position, having lost more places, and his pit crew routinely replaced the nosecone and took a detailed look at the rear suspension. He rejoined a lap down before retiring on lap 30. Debutant Alguersuari made his first Formula One pit stop on lap 28, when running in thirteenth place. Glock also moved into the points-scoring positions at this stage of the race by using the strategy of a long 32-lap first stint. Buemi spun at turn two on lap 38, and subsequently rejoined the circuit behind his team-mate Alguersuari.
Hamilton was left unchallenged for the rest of the race, making his final pit stop on lap 46, and came home to win his first race as World Champion. This was his first victory since the 2008 Chinese Grand Prix
, his tenth in total, and also the first time that he had won at a circuit twice, having won at nine different circuits previously. This was also the first occasion on which a KERS car had won a Grand Prix; Räikkönen (in another KERS car) came in second, setting his fastest lap on the final lap. Webber finished third, a result which moved him into second in the championship standings past Vettel. Webber also recorded the first fastest lap of his career, with a lap of 1:21.931 on lap 65. Rosberg finished fourth for the third race in succession, heading home Kovalainen, Glock, Button and Trulli rounded out the top eight point scorers. Outside the point-scoring positions were Nakajima, Barrichello (the first time that a Brawn car had finished a race outside the points), Heidfeld, Piquet, Kubica, Fisichella and the Toro Rossos of Alguersuari and Buemi. With Button's seventh place, his lead in the drivers' championship over Webber was cut by four points, to 18.5 points.
Räikkönen also achieved his best result of the 2009 season to date, but was unaware that the moves that he made at the start of the race were under investigation, to be looked at after the race.
Webber's podium finish moved him into second place in the championship standings. He was surprised, however, at the way proceedings played out, describing his result as "a little bit of a surprise. I think we expected to be a little bit quicker after our running on Friday but to be honest we knew these guys would be around us. It was a pretty difficult venue for us and we knew that we didn’t have the advantage maybe that we had in the last few events. All in all for me I am still pretty happy to get the result we did. I think we had a better chance to fight Kimi if maybe we did a slightly different pit stop and maybe chose a different tyre but that was my call. I was worried about how long the length of the stint was and it was quite difficult to know which tyre to put on but overall we still have a lot of positives. We are still up here. We haven’t been blown away by any means. We are in the hunt and we can take our car to a lot of venues and be competitive, so our guys and Renault have a lot to be proud of. We are still very much a force, so it is still a positive day for us."
Two hours after the race's conclusion, representatives of Ferrari, Red Bull and Renault were summoned to see the race stewards due to the various incidents that occurred during the race. Ferrari and Räikkönen were cleared of any wrongdoing in either of his incidents with race-winner Hamilton and Vettel on the first lap of the race. Red Bull were given a reprimand for the second race running, due to the unsafe release of Webber into the direct path of Räikkönen in the pit lane, at the first round of pit stops. Red Bull had been in a similar situation at the , when Vettel was released unsafely into the path of Kazuki Nakajima during qualifying, and the team were given a €
10,000 fine. Renault received the harshest punishment of the three incidents, in the form of a suspension from the next race of the season, the . The race stewards felt that Renault "knowingly released car no. 7 [Alonso] from the pitstop position without one of the retaining devices for the wheel-nuts being securely in position, this being an indication that the wheel itself may not have been properly secured. Being aware of this, [Renault] failed to take any action to prevent the car from leaving the pitlane. [Renault] failed to inform the driver of this problem or to advise him to take appropriate action given the circumstances, even though the driver contacted the team by radio believing he had a puncture, resulting in a heavy car part detaching at Turn 5, and the wheel itself detaching at Turn 9." which was in breach of Articles 3.2 and 23.1.i in the Sporting Regulations. Within half an hour of the decision, Renault filed the mandatory cost of €6,000 to appeal against the decision. The International Court of Appeal heard the case on August 17; the Monday before the European Grand Prix and the court upheld bid for the suspension to be overturned. The team was fined $50,000 for the breach of the regulations in Hungary, and were allowed to race at Valencia.
Massa's condition continued to improve over the course of the weekend, the Brazilian having been sedated in a coma for 48 hours. After being visited by Ferrari
and Fiat
president Luca Cordero di Montezemolo and also Rubens Barrichello, doctors from the Állami Egészségügyi Központ military hospital released a statement saying that Massa could make a full recovery. Massa could be released from hospital within a week to ten days, depending on how well he progresses. Massa's doctor, Dino Altmann, also told the media that he is certain that Massa will race again, having stated that the trauma suffered by the Brazilian was not as bad as first thought, and that his condition has improved rapidly, taking his first steps since the crash, when he left the intensive care unit. Massa left hospital on August 3, returning home to Brazil to recuperate. He checked into the Sociedade Beneficente Israelita Brasileira Hospital Albert Einstein in São Paulo
for a series of medical tests that would allow him to recuperate at home, rather than in hospital. All the results of the tests for abnormalities came back negative, and Massa was given the all-clear to continue his recuperation.
Rumours began circulating that any one out of Ferrari advisor Michael Schumacher
, and the team's two test drivers Luca Badoer
and Marc Gené
would be replacing Massa for the European Grand Prix, and the succeeding events. On July 29, Schumacher agreed to drive the car until Massa was fit enough to return, subject to medical tests. However, Schumacher called off his return on August 11, due to a lingering neck injury which he had suffered six months earlier, while testing a Honda CBR1000RR
motorcycle at Circuito Cartagena. Badoer replaced Massa in Valencia, and competed in his first Grand Prix since . The gap of nine years, nine months and 24 days was the second-longest gap between Grands Prix competed, with only Jan Lammers
(ten years, three months; when he returned to Formula One in ), having a lengthier spell between races.
The Hungarian Grand Prix was also the last appearance for Renault's Nelson Piquet, Jr. as he parted company with the team on August 3, 2009. Romain Grosjean
was announced as his replacement, with his GP2 Series
team Barwa Addax
signing up Davide Valsecchi
to replace him; ending his title aspirations.
– Felipe Massa was injured in the second phase of qualifying and therefore did not set a time for Q3. – Owing to Massa's inability to start the race, all cars behind him moved up one place to close the gap.
Constructors' Championship standings
Formula One
Formula One, also known as Formula 1 or F1 and referred to officially as the FIA Formula One World Championship, is the highest class of single seater auto racing sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile . The "formula" designation in the name refers to a set of rules with which...
motor race held on July 26, 2009 at the Hungaroring
Hungaroring
The Hungaroring is a racing circuit in Mogyoród, near Budapest, Hungary where the Formula One Hungarian Grand Prix is held. In 1986, it became the location of the first Formula One Grand Prix behind the Iron Curtain. Bernie Ecclestone wanted a race in the USSR, but a Hungarian friend of his...
in Mogyoród
Mogyoród
- Location :The town is 18 km from Budapest next to the M3 freeway in the valley of the Gödöllői-hills. Its highest point is the Somlyó-mountain, which can be seen from the freeway or the HÉV. Many people move here because of its proximity to Budapest while retaining the quiet of the country...
, 18 km (11.2 mi) north of Budapest
Budapest
Budapest is the capital of Hungary. As the largest city of Hungary, it is the country's principal political, cultural, commercial, industrial, and transportation centre. In 2011, Budapest had 1,733,685 inhabitants, down from its 1989 peak of 2,113,645 due to suburbanization. The Budapest Commuter...
, Hungary
Hungary
Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...
. It was the tenth race of the 2009 Formula One season
2009 Formula One season
The 2009 Formula One season was the 60th FIA Formula One World Championship season. The season took place over 17 rounds, and started with the on 29 March 2009. It ended on 1 November 2009 with the inaugural ....
. The race, contested over 70 laps, was won by world champion Lewis Hamilton
Lewis Hamilton
Lewis Carl Davidson Hamilton, MBE is a British Formula One racing driver from England, currently racing for the McLaren team. He was the Formula One World Champion.Hamilton was born in Stevenage, Hertfordshire...
for McLaren
McLaren
McLaren Racing Limited, trading as Vodafone McLaren Mercedes, is a British Formula One team based in Woking, Surrey, United Kingdom. McLaren is best known as a Formula One constructor but has also competed and won in the Indianapolis 500 and Canadian-American Challenge Cup...
-Mercedes, after starting from fourth place on the grid. The world champion Kimi Räikkönen
Kimi Räikkönen
Kimi Matias Räikkönen , nicknamed Iceman, is a Finnish racing driver, who will drive in Formula One for Lotus in . After nine seasons racing in Formula One, in which he took the Formula One World Drivers' Championship, he competed in the World Rally Championship from 2009-2011.Räikkönen entered...
finished second for Ferrari
Scuderia Ferrari
Scuderia Ferrari is the racing team division of the Ferrari automobile marque. The team currently only races in Formula One but has competed in numerous classes of motorsport since its formation in 1929, including sportscar racing....
, with Red Bull Racing
Red Bull Racing
Red Bull Racing is a Formula One racing team based in Milton Keynes, England which currently holds an Austrian licence. It is, along with Scuderia Toro Rosso, one of two teams owned by beverage company Red Bull GmbH. The team have won two Constructors' Championship titles, in and , becoming the...
's Mark Webber
Mark Webber
Mark Alan Webber is an Australian Formula One driver.After some racing success in Australia, Webber moved to the United Kingdom in 1995 to further his motorsport career...
finishing third. Championship leader Jenson Button
Jenson Button
Jenson Alexander Lyons Button MBE is a British Formula One driver currently signed to McLaren. He was the 2009 World Drivers' Champion.Button began karting at the age of eight and achieved early success, before progressing to car racing in the British Formula Ford Championship and the British...
had a poor race to finish seventh, losing ground to Webber in the championship.
Hamilton's win was his first since the 2008 Chinese Grand Prix
2008 Chinese Grand Prix
The 2008 Chinese Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on October 19, 2008 at the Shanghai International Circuit, Shanghai, China. It was the 17th and penultimate race of the 2008 Formula One season. The race, contested over 56 laps, was won by Lewis Hamilton for the McLaren team after...
, which was also the last time he had appeared on the podium. The result also marked the first time that a car equipped with a regenerative brake
Regenerative brake
A regenerative brake is an energy recovery mechanism which slows a vehicle or object down by converting its kinetic energy into another form, which can be either used immediately or stored until needed...
system (KERS) had won a race. Räikkönen's second place was Ferrari's best result of the season so far, but the team's weekend was somewhat overshadowed by team-mate Felipe Massa
Felipe Massa
Felipe Massa is a Brazilian Formula One racing driver. He finished second in the Drivers' World Championship, and is under contract to race for Scuderia Ferrari until the end of the season.-Early years:...
's serious accident during the second part of the Saturday afternoon qualifying session which left him with a fractured skull. The race also saw the debut of World Series by Renault
World Series by Renault
The World Series by Renault, formerly the World Series by Nissan from 1998 to 2004, is a motor racing series. The series consists of the flagship Formula Renault 3.5 Series , the Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 and the Eurocup Mégane Trophy...
racer and 2008 British Formula Three
2008 British Formula Three season
The 2008 British Formula Three season was the 58th British Formula Three Championship season. It began on 24 March 2008 at Oulton Park's Easter Monday meeting and ended on 12 October at Donington Park after 22 rounds in four different countries. Jay Bridger sealed the National Class championship at...
champion Jaime Alguersuari
Jaime Alguersuari
Jaime Víctor Alguersuari Escudero , is a Spanish racing driver who became the youngest Formula One driver to start a Grand Prix in history at the 2009 Hungarian Grand Prix. Alguersuari is the first driver to be born in the 1990s to compete in Formula One....
, who became the youngest Formula One driver in the championship's 59-year history, at the age of 19 years and 125 days. This also leaves him as the first Formula One driver to be born in the 1990s. He replaced the fired Sébastien Bourdais
Sébastien Bourdais
Sébastien Olivier Bourdais is a French race car driver. He is one of the most successful drivers in the history of the Champ Car World Series, having won four successive championships from 2004 to 2007....
at Scuderia Toro Rosso
Scuderia Toro Rosso
Scuderia Toro Rosso , also known simply as Toro Rosso or by its abbreviation STR, is an Italian Formula One racing team...
.
Background
Heading into the weekend, Jenson ButtonJenson Button
Jenson Alexander Lyons Button MBE is a British Formula One driver currently signed to McLaren. He was the 2009 World Drivers' Champion.Button began karting at the age of eight and achieved early success, before progressing to car racing in the British Formula Ford Championship and the British...
led the Drivers' Championship on 68 points for Brawn GP
Brawn GP
Brawn GP Formula One Team, the trading name of Brawn GP Limited, was a Formula One motor racing team and constructor, created by a management buyout of Honda Racing F1 Team. It only competed in the 2009 Formula One World Championship, with drivers Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello. The team...
, 21 points clear of Red Bull Racing
Red Bull Racing
Red Bull Racing is a Formula One racing team based in Milton Keynes, England which currently holds an Austrian licence. It is, along with Scuderia Toro Rosso, one of two teams owned by beverage company Red Bull GmbH. The team have won two Constructors' Championship titles, in and , becoming the...
's Sebastian Vettel
Sebastian Vettel
Sebastian Vettel is a German Formula One racing driver, currently driving for Red Bull Racing. He is the current World Champion, having won the championship in and ....
. Vettel's team-mate Mark Webber
Mark Webber
Mark Alan Webber is an Australian Formula One driver.After some racing success in Australia, Webber moved to the United Kingdom in 1995 to further his motorsport career...
, who signed a new one-year contract before the race weekend, was 1.5 points behind Vettel and an equal number ahead of Button's team-mate Rubens Barrichello
Rubens Barrichello
Rubens Gonçalves "Rubinho" Barrichello is a Brazilian Formula One racing driver. He is currently racing for Williams F1.Barrichello has scored the seventh highest points total in Formula One history. Barrichello drove for Ferrari from to , as Michael Schumacher's teammate, enjoying considerable...
.
Brawn GP also held the lead in the Constructors' Championship, with a lead of 19.5 points from a resurgent Red Bull Racing, who were a further 48 points clear of Toyota. Toyota held an advantage of only 1.5 points over defending champions Scuderia Ferrari
Scuderia Ferrari
Scuderia Ferrari is the racing team division of the Ferrari automobile marque. The team currently only races in Formula One but has competed in numerous classes of motorsport since its formation in 1929, including sportscar racing....
.
Webber won the previous race in Germany
2009 German Grand Prix
The 2009 German Grand Prix was the ninth race of the 2009 Formula One season. It was held on July 12, 2009 at the Nürburgring in Nürburg, Germany; the earliest German Grand Prix on the calendar, since 1926....
from pole position, to claim his first win at the 130th attempt. Despite an early drive-through penalty assessed for a dangerous manoeuvre to keep the Brawn GP car of Barrichello behind him at the start, the Australian driver had enough time in hand to rejoin out front and win by nearly ten seconds from Red Bull Racing team-mate Vettel.
Felipe Massa
Felipe Massa
Felipe Massa is a Brazilian Formula One racing driver. He finished second in the Drivers' World Championship, and is under contract to race for Scuderia Ferrari until the end of the season.-Early years:...
was third, to earn his first podium of the 2009 season to date. Championship leader Button could only muster a fifth place finish, after being overhauled by the one-stopping Williams of Nico Rosberg
Nico Rosberg
Nico Erik Rosberg is a racing driver for the Mercedes GP Formula One team. He races under the German flag in Formula One, although he competed for Finland earlier in his career...
, who finished fourth having started fifteenth.
Prior to the race, the Hungarian Grand Prix had produced different winners for each of the last seven years, with Heikki Kovalainen
Heikki Kovalainen
Heikki Johannes Kovalainen is a Finnish Formula One racing driver who spent the 2008 and 2009 seasons with British based team McLaren and the 2010 and 2011 seasons with Team Lotus....
(McLaren
McLaren
McLaren Racing Limited, trading as Vodafone McLaren Mercedes, is a British Formula One team based in Woking, Surrey, United Kingdom. McLaren is best known as a Formula One constructor but has also competed and won in the Indianapolis 500 and Canadian-American Challenge Cup...
-Mercedes; 2008
2008 Hungarian Grand Prix
The 2008 Hungarian Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on August 3, 2008, at the Hungaroring in Mogyoród, near Budapest, Hungary. It was the 11th race of the 2008 Formula One season. Contested over 70 laps, the race was won by Heikki Kovalainen for the McLaren team, from a second...
), Lewis Hamilton
Lewis Hamilton
Lewis Carl Davidson Hamilton, MBE is a British Formula One racing driver from England, currently racing for the McLaren team. He was the Formula One World Champion.Hamilton was born in Stevenage, Hertfordshire...
(McLaren–Mercedes; 2007
2007 Hungarian Grand Prix
The 2007 Hungarian Grand Prix was the eleventh race of the 2007 Formula One season, held between 3 to 5 August at the Hungaroring racing track in Budapest...
), Button (Honda
Honda F1
Honda Racing F1 Team was a Formula One team run by Japanese car manufacturer Honda, from 1964 to 1968 and from 2006 to 2008. Honda's involvement in F1 began with the 1964 season; their withdrawal in 1968 was precipitated by the death of Honda driver Jo Schlesser during the 1968 French Grand Prix. ...
; 2006
2006 Hungarian Grand Prix
The 2006 Hungarian Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on August 6, 2006 at the Hungaroring, Budapest. It was the 13th race of the 2006 Formula One season...
), Kimi Räikkönen
Kimi Räikkönen
Kimi Matias Räikkönen , nicknamed Iceman, is a Finnish racing driver, who will drive in Formula One for Lotus in . After nine seasons racing in Formula One, in which he took the Formula One World Drivers' Championship, he competed in the World Rally Championship from 2009-2011.Räikkönen entered...
(McLaren–Mercedes; 2005
2005 Hungarian Grand Prix
The 2005 Hungarian Grand Prix was a Formula One race, held on July 31, 2005 at the Hungaroring circuit.__FORCETOC__-Report:The 2005 Hungarian Grand Prix was the thirteenth race of the 2005 Formula One season, and saw the beginning of the end of tobacco advertising in F1 due to the Europe-wide ban...
), Michael Schumacher
Michael Schumacher
Michael Schumacher is a German Formula One racing driver for the Mercedes GP team. Famous for his eleven-year spell with Ferrari, Schumacher is a seven-time World Champion and is widely regarded as the greatest F1 driver of all time...
(Ferrari; 2004
2004 Hungarian Grand Prix
The 2004 Hungarian Grand Prix was a Formula One race held on August 15, 2004 at the Hungaroring.__FORCETOC__- Qualifying :-Race:- Notes :* Lap Leaders: Michael Schumacher 70...
), Fernando Alonso
Fernando Alonso
Fernando Alonso Díaz is a Spanish Formula One racing driver and a two-time World Champion, who is currently racing for Ferrari....
(Renault
Renault F1
Lotus Renault GP, formerly the Renault F1 Team, is a British Formula One racing team. The Oxfordshire-based team can trace its roots back through the Benetton team of the late 1980s and 1990s to the Toleman team of the early 1980s. Renault had also competed in various forms since , before taking...
; 2003
2003 Hungarian Grand Prix
The 2003 Hungarian Grand Prix was a Formula One race held on August 24, 2003 at the Hungaroring. It was won by Renault's Fernando Alonso from pole, becoming at the time the youngest ever driver to win a Grand Prix, beating the previous record of Bruce McLaren...
) and Barrichello (Ferrari; 2002
2002 Hungarian Grand Prix
The 2002 Hungarian Grand Prix was a Formula One race held at Hungaroring on August 18, 2002.-Qualifying:-Race:-Notes:*Lap leaders: Rubens Barrichello 76 , Ralf Schumacher 1 *First race: Anthony Davidson...
) taking the chequered flag. The Hungaroring had also been the scene of the maiden victories of Button, Alonso and Kovalainen.
Much of the talk prior to the weekend was about the appointment of Jaime Alguersuari
Jaime Alguersuari
Jaime Víctor Alguersuari Escudero , is a Spanish racing driver who became the youngest Formula One driver to start a Grand Prix in history at the 2009 Hungarian Grand Prix. Alguersuari is the first driver to be born in the 1990s to compete in Formula One....
to replace Sébastien Bourdais
Sébastien Bourdais
Sébastien Olivier Bourdais is a French race car driver. He is one of the most successful drivers in the history of the Champ Car World Series, having won four successive championships from 2004 to 2007....
at Scuderia Toro Rosso
Scuderia Toro Rosso
Scuderia Toro Rosso , also known simply as Toro Rosso or by its abbreviation STR, is an Italian Formula One racing team...
. Alguersuari did not have any circuit testing experience in a Formula One car, and had only undertaken straight-line aerodynamic tests the week before the Grand Prix, in Faenza
Faenza
Faenza is an Italian city and comune, in the province of Ravenna, Emilia-Romagna, situated 50 km southeast of Bologna.Faenza is noted for its manufacture of majolica ware glazed earthenware pottery, known from the name of the town as "faience"....
. Felipe Massa felt that Alguersuari — who had 118 prior single-seater races under his belt, with 17 wins — was too young and inexperienced to be driving a contemporary Formula One car. Mark Webber and Jenson Button also expressed their fears about Alguersuari driving at the Hungaroring. However, Sebastian Vettel came to the support of the Spaniard, saying that he should take his time to build up speed.
Practice and qualifying
Three practice sessions were held before the race; the first was held on Friday morning and the second on Friday afternoon. Both sessions lasted 1 hour and 30 minutes with weather conditions dry throughout, the air temperature at 24 °C (75.2 °F), and the track temperature at 30 °C (86 °F). for session one. Session two saw the air temperature at 28 °C (82.4 °F), and the track temperature at 45 °C (113 °F). The third session was held on Saturday morning and lasted an hour, and was also dry throughout, with the air temperature at 21 °C (69.8 °F), and the track temperature at 26 °C (78.8 °F). McLaren were the pace-setters in both Friday practice sessions, with Kovalainen topping the first and Hamilton topping the second.Apart from the upturn in McLaren's performance, the usual Friday pace-setters were also competitive, with Williams
WilliamsF1
Williams Grand Prix Engineering Limited, trading as AT&T Williams, is a British Formula One motor racing team and constructor. It was founded and run by Sir Frank Williams and Patrick Head...
drivers Nico Rosberg
Nico Rosberg
Nico Erik Rosberg is a racing driver for the Mercedes GP Formula One team. He races under the German flag in Formula One, although he competed for Finland earlier in his career...
and Kazuki Nakajima
Kazuki Nakajima
is a Formula One driver from Japan who drove for the Williams-Toyota team from to . Prior to that he had been their test driver, as well as a competitor in the GP2 Series for the DAMS team....
both setting times that were good enough for top five positions in both sessions. The Red Bull of Mark Webber was also in the top five in both sessions, as he continued his recent good form.
Brawn GP implemented their usual strategy of running with fuel during Friday practice sessions. In the first session, Jenson Button was tenth and Rubens Barrichello was thirteenth. In the second session, Barrichello improved to seventh place, while Button dropped back to thirteenth. That said, Button's lap time was only 0.727 seconds off the fastest time of Hamilton, in an extremely tight session.
Jarno Trulli
Jarno Trulli
Jarno Trulli is an Italian Formula One racing driver. He has been a regular in Formula One since 1997, driving for Minardi, Prost, Jordan, Renault and Toyota. He won the 2004 Monaco Grand Prix for Renault, his only Grand Prix victory to date. He is known for being a qualification expert...
was the top Toyota in both sessions, finishing up sixth and eighth, beating team-mate Timo Glock
Timo Glock
Timo Glock is a German motor racing driver, currently driving in Formula One for the Virgin Racing team. At the 2004 Canadian Grand Prix, standing in for Giorgio Pantano who had a contract dispute with Jordan Grand Prix, he joined a select group of drivers who have scored a World Championship...
, who was fourteenth and tenth. Renault
Renault F1
Lotus Renault GP, formerly the Renault F1 Team, is a British Formula One racing team. The Oxfordshire-based team can trace its roots back through the Benetton team of the late 1980s and 1990s to the Toleman team of the early 1980s. Renault had also competed in various forms since , before taking...
had a mixed session, with Alonso and Nelson Piquet, Jr. struggling to get the ideal setup for the car. Alonso was seven tenths of a second off in both sessions, while Piquet improving to just a tenth and half behind his team-mate. Massa and Räikkönen posted times good enough for P7 and P8 in the first session, but were adrift in the second session, with neither driver in the top ten, which left the Ferrari drivers disappointed with the lack of pace.
BMW Sauber
BMW Sauber
BMW has been involved in Formula One in a number of capacities since the inauguration of the World Drivers' Championship in . The company entered occasional races in the 1950s and 1960s , before building the BMW M12/13 inline-four turbocharged engine in the 1980s...
were another team to struggle in practice, with times some six tenths of a second off the pace, which left both drivers unhappy with the setup. Nick Heidfeld
Nick Heidfeld
Nick Lars Heidfeld is a German racing driver.Despite scoring regular podium finishes in and , Heidfeld has yet to win a race since entering Formula One in . This means that amongst the current drivers, he has had the most GP starts without standing at the top spot on the podium...
's time in the second session was their best showing, ending up in ninth position. Force India
Force India
Sahara Force India Formula One Team, the trading name of Force India Formula One Team Limited, is a Formula One racing team based in Silverstone, United Kingdom which currently holds an Indian licence. The team was formed in October 2007 when a consortium led by Indian businessman Vijay Mallya and...
outpaced Toro Rosso in both sessions, with both cars lapping within a second of the best times. Giancarlo Fisichella
Giancarlo Fisichella
Giancarlo Fisichella , also known as Fisico, Giano or Fisi, is an Italian racing driver. He has driven in Formula One for Minardi, Jordan, Benetton, Sauber, Renault, Force India and Ferrari. Nowadays, he drives for AF Corse's GT2 Ferrari in various sportscar events...
(16th and 17th) and Adrian Sutil
Adrian Sutil
-Biography:Sutil is the son of professional musicians Monika, a German, and Jorge, a Uruguayan. He has two brothers named Daniel and Raphael. He weighs 165 pounds and is 6 feet tall. A talented pianist, Sutil started karting at 14 before moving up to Swiss Formula Ford 1800 in 2002...
(18th and 16th) were both confident that they could improve on those times on Saturday. Sébastien Buemi
Sébastien Buemi
Sébastien Olivier Buemi is a Swiss racing driver, who competes for Scuderia Toro Rosso in Formula One.-Formula BMW:...
found himself doing much of the setup work for the Italian outfit, improving his lap time by eight tenths of a second, between sessions. Alguersuari produced a solid performance in both sessions, but still ranked last in both sessions. Each driver completed 82 laps over the two sessions.
McLaren again topped the times during the Saturday practice session with Hamilton posting the best time. Heidfeld was a surprise second for BMW Sauber, with Nico Rosberg in third. Kovalainen was fourth, ahead of the Toro Rosso of Buemi and the Toyota of Glock. Glock's session was far from trouble-free, as his Toyota developed a hydraulic leak during its first flying lap. He returned to the track just before the end of the session, to record the sixth best time. Only seven tenths of a second split Heidfeld in second from Barrichello's Brawn in thirteenth. At one point, Jaime Alguersuari was as high as second position, before falling down to 18th by the end. Both Force Indias lapped slower than the teenager, with Sutil also having an incident, misjudging turn eight and hit the barrier.
The qualifying session on Saturday afternoon was split into three parts. The first part ran for 20 minutes, and cars that finished the session 16th or lower were eliminated from qualifying. The second part of qualifying lasted 15 minutes and eliminated cars that finished in positions 11 to 15. The final part of qualifying determined the positions from first to tenth, and decided pole position
Pole position
The term "pole position", as used in motorsports, comes from the horse racing term where the number one starter starts on the inside next to the inside pole. The term made its way, along with several other customs, to auto racing. In circuit motorsports, a driver has pole position when he or she...
. Cars which failed to make the final session could refuel before the race, so ran lighter in those sessions. Cars which competed in the final session of qualifying were not allowed to refuel before the race, and as such carried more fuel than in the previous sessions. Weather conditions for the session saw the air temperature at 23 °C (73.4 °F), and the track temperature at 41 °C (105.8 °F).
The first part of qualifying saw Rosberg top the times, with a lap of 1:20.793, towards the end of the session. Hamilton and Webber were the only other drivers to record laps in the 1:20s. Alguersuari, who was 19th with several minutes remaining, slowed out of turn 12 with a hydraulic failure that left him unable to return to the pits. He fell to 20th and last on the grid, after Sutil (who moved up to 18th) lapped quicker than he did. The two were joined on the sidelines by the BMW Saubers of Heidfeld and Robert Kubica
Robert Kubica
Robert Józef Kubica is the first Polish racing driver to compete in Formula One. Between 2006 and 2009 he drove for the BMW Sauber F1 team, promoted from test driver to race driver during 2006...
, and the second Force India of Fisichella.
After a seven-minute break, the second part of the qualifying session got underway. With just a second covering the fifteen remaining drivers, many drivers set their quickest laps in the final few minutes of the session. As the session ended, the Ferrari of Massa, who was sixth at the time, was involved in a serious accident at turn four. Replays showed debris striking his helmet, when he was travelling at 162 mph. The impact knocked him unconscious, with his car straying towards the grass verge on the inside of turn four. The onboard footage from his car showed that he had his feet on both the accelerator and the brake pedals. The Ferrari decelerated at a force of between 0.6 and 1.4g
G-force
The g-force associated with an object is its acceleration relative to free-fall. This acceleration experienced by an object is due to the vector sum of non-gravitational forces acting on an object free to move. The accelerations that are not produced by gravity are termed proper accelerations, and...
and impacted with the barrier at 62 mph. After the car imbedded itself in the tyre barrier, the engine could be heard still revving on the limiter
Rev limiter
A rev limiter is a device fitted to an internal combustion engine to restrict its maximum rotational speed. This is usually carried out to prevent damage to the engine, however sometimes these devices are fitted to prevent an engine reaching the point at which it develops maximum power...
, indicating that Massa's foot was still pressing the accelerator and that he was thus unconscious. This accident came just six days after FIA Formula Two Championship
FIA Formula Two Championship
-Chassis:Named after both Jonathan Palmer and Patrick Head, the Williams JPH1 chassis and survival cell is of carbon fibre composite monocoque construction. The car was designed to comply with 2005 FIA F1 Safety Regulations. Head protection conforms to the latest 2009 F1 standards...
driver Henry Surtees
Henry Surtees
Henry John Surtees was a British racing driver and the son of John Surtees.-Formula BMW UK:Henry Surtees finished his debut season in the championship 7th in the overall points standings, and second in the Rookie Cup...
was fatally injured after being struck on the head by a wheel bouncing across the circuit at the Brands Hatch
Brands Hatch
Brands Hatch is a motor racing circuit near West Kingsdown in Kent, England. First used as a dirt track motorcycle circuit on farmland, it hosted 12 runnings of the British Grand Prix between 1964 and 1986 and currently holds many British and international racing events...
track in the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
, and provoked some discussion about the safety of open cockpit racing cars . The debris, a spring from the rear suspension damper (weighing around 800 grams), was suspected of having come from the car of Barrichello, who had reported that something had come loose minutes beforehand. Brawn confirmed the part had indeed come from Barrichello's car, and changed the same part on team-mate Button's car ahead of the race. It was also subjected to an inspection during the third qualifying session, leaving Button with only one run for qualifying, due to the lengthy inspection.
Despite Massa's accident, some drivers improved their times towards the end of the session as they had passed the zone before the accident, meaning that Massa fell to eighth position. Button and Nakajima both progressed into the third part of qualifying, with their times set despite the yellow flag at turn four for Massa's accident. Barrichello's problem meant that he and the Brawn team missed out on the top ten shootout for the first time this season. He was joined on the sidelines by Buemi, Glock, Nelson Piquet, Jr. and Trulli. Even though Massa's time was quick enough to progress to Q3, his crash ruled him out of any further participation in the session. He was slowly extricated from his damaged Ferrari, and taken to the infield medical centre, where he was stabilised before being airlifted to hospital. This meant that there were only nine drivers in the final part of qualifying, which was delayed by twenty minutes due to the lengthy amount of time taken to remove Massa, repair the tyre barrier and check the track for any further debris.
With qualifying nearing its conclusion, the official timing system malfunctioned, leaving the drivers bemused in the pit lane afterwards, asking each other their times for comparisons. The problem was later revealed by Formula One Management and LG
LG Group
LG Corp. is the second-largest South Korean conglomerate company following Samsung, and it is headquartered in the LG Twin Towers in Yeouido-dong, Yeongdeungpo-gu, Seoul. LG produces electronics, chemicals, and telecommunications products and operates subsidiaries like LG Electronics, LG Display,...
as being a broken cable. When the timing system came back online, Fernando Alonso discovered that he had set the fastest time, recording his first pole since the 2007 Italian Grand Prix
2007 Italian Grand Prix
The 2007 Italian Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held from 7 to 9 September 2007 at Autodromo Nazionale Monza, Italy. It was the thirteenth race of the 2007 Formula One season....
. Joining him on the front row was Vettel, with Webber and Hamilton on row two. On row three were Rosberg, who was top when the system went down, and defending race-winner Kovalainen. When the cars' starting weights were released post-qualifying, Alonso was light compared to all those around him. He was some 17.5 kg lighter than Vettel, and at the extreme, 27 kg lighter than Button, who qualified eighth.
Ferrari
Scuderia Ferrari
Scuderia Ferrari is the racing team division of the Ferrari automobile marque. The team currently only races in Formula One but has competed in numerous classes of motorsport since its formation in 1929, including sportscar racing....
latterly confirmed that Massa would miss the Grand Prix due to his accident. He suffered a head cut, bone damage to his skull and a concussion, and remained under observation in intensive care, in the Állami Egészségügyi Központ military hospital in Budapest. He underwent successful surgery for the injuries he suffered in his accident. This meant that for the first time since the 2005 United States Grand Prix
2005 United States Grand Prix
The 2005 United States Grand Prix was one of the most controversial Formula One motor races in modern history. It was held on June 19, 2005 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. It was the ninth race of the 2005 Formula One season. Out of 20 cars entered for the race, only the six cars from the teams...
, a field of fewer than 20 drivers took part in a Grand Prix. It was also the first time that Ferrari fielded only one car in the race since the 2002 French Grand Prix
2002 French Grand Prix
The 2002 French Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Magny-Cours on July 21, 2002. It was the 11th race of the 2002 Formula One season and the race in which Michael Schumacher secured his 5th World Drivers' Championship title in record time, equalling Juan Manuel Fangio's record set over...
when Rubens Barrichello failed to start due to ignition problems.
Race
The conditions on the grid were dry before the race, the air temperature at 26 °C (78.8 °F), and the track temperature at 43 °C (109.4 °F). The formation lap for the race began at 14:00 local timeCentral European Summer Time
Central European Summer Time is one of the names of the Daylight saving time offset using the UTC offset of UTC+02:00, 2 hours ahead of Coordinated Universal Time. It is used as a summer daylight saving time in most European countries. During the winter, Central European Time is used...
(UTC
Coordinated Universal Time
Coordinated Universal Time is the primary time standard by which the world regulates clocks and time. It is one of several closely related successors to Greenwich Mean Time. Computer servers, online services and other entities that rely on having a universally accepted time use UTC for that purpose...
+2), with the race beginning a couple of minutes later. Alonso retained his pole position lead into the first corner, followed by a fast-starting Hamilton, Webber, Räikkönen and Vettel, who had made a slow start from the "dirty" side of the grid. Hamilton and Räikkönen nearly touched on the run to turn one, which in effect slowed the Finn slightly and allowed to Webber to maintain third. Hamilton ran slightly wide on the exit of the first corner, which allowed Webber to challenge him. The counter-effect caused Räikkönen and Vettel to stack up, with the German's Red Bull making slight contact with the rear of the Ferrari. Vettel lost further places to Rosberg and Kovalainen as a result of the incident. Räikkönen would latterly be investigated after the race for both of his first lap incidents. At the end of the first lap, Sutil came into the pits from 19th place with water pressure problems. The problem was terminal and he became the first retirement of the afternoon. Alonso started to pull away from the field, setting his fastest lap of the race – 1:23.529 – on lap four.
With Hamilton extending his lead to almost six seconds – including his fastest lap of 1:22.479 on lap sixteen – Räikkönen and Webber both pitted on lap nineteen. Räikkönen was at a standstill for 8.3 seconds, while a slight problem with the fuel rig cost Webber valuable seconds. He was eventually released just as the Ferrari was trundling down the pit lane. The two cars just avoided a collision, which almost caused the Red Bull to career into a number of the Williams mechanics, who were standing in the pit lane at the time. Hamilton pitted the following lap, but was slightly delayed by Rosberg's Williams, which had entered the pit lane as Hamilton was about to exit the McLaren pit box. This promoted Kovalainen into the lead, followed by Vettel but both drivers pitted at the end of lap 21, to hand the lead back to Hamilton. Vettel's sluggish pit-stop cost him track position, as he filtered out behind Rosberg.
Hamilton was left unchallenged for the rest of the race, making his final pit stop on lap 46, and came home to win his first race as World Champion. This was his first victory since the 2008 Chinese Grand Prix
2008 Chinese Grand Prix
The 2008 Chinese Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on October 19, 2008 at the Shanghai International Circuit, Shanghai, China. It was the 17th and penultimate race of the 2008 Formula One season. The race, contested over 56 laps, was won by Lewis Hamilton for the McLaren team after...
, his tenth in total, and also the first time that he had won at a circuit twice, having won at nine different circuits previously. This was also the first occasion on which a KERS car had won a Grand Prix; Räikkönen (in another KERS car) came in second, setting his fastest lap on the final lap. Webber finished third, a result which moved him into second in the championship standings past Vettel. Webber also recorded the first fastest lap of his career, with a lap of 1:21.931 on lap 65. Rosberg finished fourth for the third race in succession, heading home Kovalainen, Glock, Button and Trulli rounded out the top eight point scorers. Outside the point-scoring positions were Nakajima, Barrichello (the first time that a Brawn car had finished a race outside the points), Heidfeld, Piquet, Kubica, Fisichella and the Toro Rossos of Alguersuari and Buemi. With Button's seventh place, his lead in the drivers' championship over Webber was cut by four points, to 18.5 points.
Post-race
The top three finishers appeared on the podium and in the subsequent press conference, where Hamilton was overjoyed at being back at the front of the field: "It’s an incredible feeling to be back here after what feels such a long time away and with such a struggle with me and my team. But as I said on the in lap I am just so proud of the guys, as I go into the factory and I see how hard everyone is pushing. Everyone wants to win just as much as I do and they never gave up. They have never given up which is something very rare to see in such a large group of people. I am very, very proud of them. We didn’t expect to win this weekend. Undoubtedly we have caught up quite a bit but we never felt we had the pace to win. But the car felt fantastic and it is incredibly special to get back up here, not only on the podium, but to get a win. It is amazing."Räikkönen also achieved his best result of the 2009 season to date, but was unaware that the moves that he made at the start of the race were under investigation, to be looked at after the race.
Webber's podium finish moved him into second place in the championship standings. He was surprised, however, at the way proceedings played out, describing his result as "a little bit of a surprise. I think we expected to be a little bit quicker after our running on Friday but to be honest we knew these guys would be around us. It was a pretty difficult venue for us and we knew that we didn’t have the advantage maybe that we had in the last few events. All in all for me I am still pretty happy to get the result we did. I think we had a better chance to fight Kimi if maybe we did a slightly different pit stop and maybe chose a different tyre but that was my call. I was worried about how long the length of the stint was and it was quite difficult to know which tyre to put on but overall we still have a lot of positives. We are still up here. We haven’t been blown away by any means. We are in the hunt and we can take our car to a lot of venues and be competitive, so our guys and Renault have a lot to be proud of. We are still very much a force, so it is still a positive day for us."
Two hours after the race's conclusion, representatives of Ferrari, Red Bull and Renault were summoned to see the race stewards due to the various incidents that occurred during the race. Ferrari and Räikkönen were cleared of any wrongdoing in either of his incidents with race-winner Hamilton and Vettel on the first lap of the race. Red Bull were given a reprimand for the second race running, due to the unsafe release of Webber into the direct path of Räikkönen in the pit lane, at the first round of pit stops. Red Bull had been in a similar situation at the , when Vettel was released unsafely into the path of Kazuki Nakajima during qualifying, and the team were given a €
Euro
The euro is the official currency of the eurozone: 17 of the 27 member states of the European Union. It is also the currency used by the Institutions of the European Union. The eurozone consists of Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg,...
10,000 fine. Renault received the harshest punishment of the three incidents, in the form of a suspension from the next race of the season, the . The race stewards felt that Renault "knowingly released car no. 7 [Alonso] from the pitstop position without one of the retaining devices for the wheel-nuts being securely in position, this being an indication that the wheel itself may not have been properly secured. Being aware of this, [Renault] failed to take any action to prevent the car from leaving the pitlane. [Renault] failed to inform the driver of this problem or to advise him to take appropriate action given the circumstances, even though the driver contacted the team by radio believing he had a puncture, resulting in a heavy car part detaching at Turn 5, and the wheel itself detaching at Turn 9." which was in breach of Articles 3.2 and 23.1.i in the Sporting Regulations. Within half an hour of the decision, Renault filed the mandatory cost of €6,000 to appeal against the decision. The International Court of Appeal heard the case on August 17; the Monday before the European Grand Prix and the court upheld bid for the suspension to be overturned. The team was fined $50,000 for the breach of the regulations in Hungary, and were allowed to race at Valencia.
Massa's condition continued to improve over the course of the weekend, the Brazilian having been sedated in a coma for 48 hours. After being visited by Ferrari
Ferrari
Ferrari S.p.A. is an Italian sports car manufacturer based in Maranello, Italy. Founded by Enzo Ferrari in 1929, as Scuderia Ferrari, the company sponsored drivers and manufactured race cars before moving into production of street-legal vehicles as Ferrari S.p.A. in 1947...
and Fiat
Fiat
FIAT, an acronym for Fabbrica Italiana Automobili Torino , is an Italian automobile manufacturer, engine manufacturer, financial, and industrial group based in Turin in the Italian region of Piedmont. Fiat was founded in 1899 by a group of investors including Giovanni Agnelli...
president Luca Cordero di Montezemolo and also Rubens Barrichello, doctors from the Állami Egészségügyi Központ military hospital released a statement saying that Massa could make a full recovery. Massa could be released from hospital within a week to ten days, depending on how well he progresses. Massa's doctor, Dino Altmann, also told the media that he is certain that Massa will race again, having stated that the trauma suffered by the Brazilian was not as bad as first thought, and that his condition has improved rapidly, taking his first steps since the crash, when he left the intensive care unit. Massa left hospital on August 3, returning home to Brazil to recuperate. He checked into the Sociedade Beneficente Israelita Brasileira Hospital Albert Einstein in São Paulo
São Paulo
São Paulo is the largest city in Brazil, the largest city in the southern hemisphere and South America, and the world's seventh largest city by population. The metropolis is anchor to the São Paulo metropolitan area, ranked as the second-most populous metropolitan area in the Americas and among...
for a series of medical tests that would allow him to recuperate at home, rather than in hospital. All the results of the tests for abnormalities came back negative, and Massa was given the all-clear to continue his recuperation.
Rumours began circulating that any one out of Ferrari advisor Michael Schumacher
Michael Schumacher
Michael Schumacher is a German Formula One racing driver for the Mercedes GP team. Famous for his eleven-year spell with Ferrari, Schumacher is a seven-time World Champion and is widely regarded as the greatest F1 driver of all time...
, and the team's two test drivers Luca Badoer
Luca Badoer
Luca Badoer is an Italian Formula One driver who has raced for the Scuderia Italia, Minardi, Forti Corse and most recently, Ferrari teams...
and Marc Gené
Marc Gené
Marc Gené i Guerrero is a motor racing driver, from Catalonia, Spain. He is best known as a tester for Williams and Ferrari in Formula One, Minardi Formula One driver and factory driver for Peugeot's Le Mans team, with which he won the 2009 24 Hours of Le Mans...
would be replacing Massa for the European Grand Prix, and the succeeding events. On July 29, Schumacher agreed to drive the car until Massa was fit enough to return, subject to medical tests. However, Schumacher called off his return on August 11, due to a lingering neck injury which he had suffered six months earlier, while testing a Honda CBR1000RR
Honda CBR1000RR
The CBR1000RR, also known as the Fireblade, is a liquid-cooled inline four-cylinder sport bike that was introduced by Honda in 2004 to replace the CBR954RR.-Racing roots:...
motorcycle at Circuito Cartagena. Badoer replaced Massa in Valencia, and competed in his first Grand Prix since . The gap of nine years, nine months and 24 days was the second-longest gap between Grands Prix competed, with only Jan Lammers
Jan Lammers
Johannes "Jan" Lammers, , is a racing driver and team principal from the Netherlands. He participated in 41 Formula One Grand Prix races, debuting on January 21, 1979. He won the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1988 and later participated in the race with his own team Racing for Holland...
(ten years, three months; when he returned to Formula One in ), having a lengthier spell between races.
The Hungarian Grand Prix was also the last appearance for Renault's Nelson Piquet, Jr. as he parted company with the team on August 3, 2009. Romain Grosjean
Romain Grosjean
Romain Grosjean is a racing driver, who holds dual nationality from France and Switzerland, but competes under a French racing licence. He was the 2007 Formula Three Euroseries drivers' champion and the inaugural GP2 Asia Series champion and drove in Formula One in 2009...
was announced as his replacement, with his GP2 Series
GP2 Series
The GP2 Series, GP2 for short, is a form of open wheel motor racing introduced in 2005 following the discontinuation of the long-term Formula One feeder series, Formula 3000. The format was conceived by Bernie Ecclestone and Flavio Briatore, while Ecclestone also has the rights to the name GP1...
team Barwa Addax
Barwa Addax
Barwa Addax Team is a Spanish motorsport team owned by Alejandro Agag, which competes in the GP2 Series, GP3 Series and formerly in the GP2 Asia Series.-GP2 Series:Barwa Addax was formed as a result of Agag's purchase of the Campos Racing GP2 team...
signing up Davide Valsecchi
Davide Valsecchi
-Formula Renault:Valsecchi drove in Renault-based series from 2003 to 2007, rising from Italian Formula Renault and the Formula Renault Eurocup to the more powerful cars of the World Series by Renault in 2006...
to replace him; ending his title aspirations.
Qualifying
| Pos | No | Name | Constructor | Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Grid |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 7 |  Fernando AlonsoFernando Alonso Fernando Alonso Díaz is a Spanish Formula One racing driver and a two-time World Champion, who is currently racing for Ferrari.... |
Renault Renault F1 Lotus Renault GP, formerly the Renault F1 Team, is a British Formula One racing team. The Oxfordshire-based team can trace its roots back through the Benetton team of the late 1980s and 1990s to the Toleman team of the early 1980s. Renault had also competed in various forms since , before taking... |
1:21.313 | 1:20.826 | 1:21.569 | 1 |
| 2 | 15 |  Sebastian VettelSebastian Vettel Sebastian Vettel is a German Formula One racing driver, currently driving for Red Bull Racing. He is the current World Champion, having won the championship in and .... |
Red Bull Red Bull Racing Red Bull Racing is a Formula One racing team based in Milton Keynes, England which currently holds an Austrian licence. It is, along with Scuderia Toro Rosso, one of two teams owned by beverage company Red Bull GmbH. The team have won two Constructors' Championship titles, in and , becoming the... -Renault Renault F1 Lotus Renault GP, formerly the Renault F1 Team, is a British Formula One racing team. The Oxfordshire-based team can trace its roots back through the Benetton team of the late 1980s and 1990s to the Toleman team of the early 1980s. Renault had also competed in various forms since , before taking... |
1:21.178 | 1:20.604 | 1:21.607 | 2 |
| 3 | 14 |  Mark WebberMark Webber Mark Alan Webber is an Australian Formula One driver.After some racing success in Australia, Webber moved to the United Kingdom in 1995 to further his motorsport career... |
Red Bull Red Bull Racing Red Bull Racing is a Formula One racing team based in Milton Keynes, England which currently holds an Austrian licence. It is, along with Scuderia Toro Rosso, one of two teams owned by beverage company Red Bull GmbH. The team have won two Constructors' Championship titles, in and , becoming the... -Renault Renault F1 Lotus Renault GP, formerly the Renault F1 Team, is a British Formula One racing team. The Oxfordshire-based team can trace its roots back through the Benetton team of the late 1980s and 1990s to the Toleman team of the early 1980s. Renault had also competed in various forms since , before taking... |
1:20.964 | 1:20.358 | 1:21.741 | 3 |
| 4 | 1‡ | Lewis Hamilton Lewis Hamilton Lewis Carl Davidson Hamilton, MBE is a British Formula One racing driver from England, currently racing for the McLaren team. He was the Formula One World Champion.Hamilton was born in Stevenage, Hertfordshire... |
McLaren McLaren McLaren Racing Limited, trading as Vodafone McLaren Mercedes, is a British Formula One team based in Woking, Surrey, United Kingdom. McLaren is best known as a Formula One constructor but has also competed and won in the Indianapolis 500 and Canadian-American Challenge Cup... -Mercedes |
1:20.842 | 1:20.465 | 1:21.839 | 4 |
| 5 | 16 | Nico Rosberg Nico Rosberg Nico Erik Rosberg is a racing driver for the Mercedes GP Formula One team. He races under the German flag in Formula One, although he competed for Finland earlier in his career... |
Williams WilliamsF1 Williams Grand Prix Engineering Limited, trading as AT&T Williams, is a British Formula One motor racing team and constructor. It was founded and run by Sir Frank Williams and Patrick Head... -Toyota |
1:20.793 | 1:20.862 | 1:21.890 | 5 |
| 6 | 2‡ |  Heikki KovalainenHeikki Kovalainen Heikki Johannes Kovalainen is a Finnish Formula One racing driver who spent the 2008 and 2009 seasons with British based team McLaren and the 2010 and 2011 seasons with Team Lotus.... |
McLaren McLaren McLaren Racing Limited, trading as Vodafone McLaren Mercedes, is a British Formula One team based in Woking, Surrey, United Kingdom. McLaren is best known as a Formula One constructor but has also competed and won in the Indianapolis 500 and Canadian-American Challenge Cup... -Mercedes |
1:21.659 | 1:20.807 | 1:22.095 | 6 |
| 7 | 4‡ | Kimi Räikkönen Kimi Räikkönen Kimi Matias Räikkönen , nicknamed Iceman, is a Finnish racing driver, who will drive in Formula One for Lotus in . After nine seasons racing in Formula One, in which he took the Formula One World Drivers' Championship, he competed in the World Rally Championship from 2009-2011.Räikkönen entered... |
Ferrari Scuderia Ferrari Scuderia Ferrari is the racing team division of the Ferrari automobile marque. The team currently only races in Formula One but has competed in numerous classes of motorsport since its formation in 1929, including sportscar racing.... |
1:21.500 | 1:20.647 | 1:22.468 | 7 |
| 8 | 22 | Jenson Button Jenson Button Jenson Alexander Lyons Button MBE is a British Formula One driver currently signed to McLaren. He was the 2009 World Drivers' Champion.Button began karting at the age of eight and achieved early success, before progressing to car racing in the British Formula Ford Championship and the British... |
Brawn Brawn GP Brawn GP Formula One Team, the trading name of Brawn GP Limited, was a Formula One motor racing team and constructor, created by a management buyout of Honda Racing F1 Team. It only competed in the 2009 Formula One World Championship, with drivers Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello. The team... -Mercedes |
1:21.471 | 1:20.707 | 1:22.511 | 8 |
| 9 | 17 |  Kazuki NakajimaKazuki Nakajima is a Formula One driver from Japan who drove for the Williams-Toyota team from to . Prior to that he had been their test driver, as well as a competitor in the GP2 Series for the DAMS team.... |
Williams WilliamsF1 Williams Grand Prix Engineering Limited, trading as AT&T Williams, is a British Formula One motor racing team and constructor. It was founded and run by Sir Frank Williams and Patrick Head... -Toyota |
1:21.407 | 1:20.570 | 1:22.835 | 9 |
| 10 | 3‡ |  Felipe MassaFelipe Massa Felipe Massa is a Brazilian Formula One racing driver. He finished second in the Drivers' World Championship, and is under contract to race for Scuderia Ferrari until the end of the season.-Early years:... |
Ferrari Scuderia Ferrari Scuderia Ferrari is the racing team division of the Ferrari automobile marque. The team currently only races in Formula One but has competed in numerous classes of motorsport since its formation in 1929, including sportscar racing.... |
1:21.420 | 1:20.823 | No time | |
| 11 | 12 |  Sébastien BuemiSébastien Buemi Sébastien Olivier Buemi is a Swiss racing driver, who competes for Scuderia Toro Rosso in Formula One.-Formula BMW:... |
Toro Rosso Scuderia Toro Rosso Scuderia Toro Rosso , also known simply as Toro Rosso or by its abbreviation STR, is an Italian Formula One racing team... -Ferrari Scuderia Ferrari Scuderia Ferrari is the racing team division of the Ferrari automobile marque. The team currently only races in Formula One but has competed in numerous classes of motorsport since its formation in 1929, including sportscar racing.... |
1:21.571 | 1:21.002 | 10 | |
| 12 | 9 |  Jarno TrulliJarno Trulli Jarno Trulli is an Italian Formula One racing driver. He has been a regular in Formula One since 1997, driving for Minardi, Prost, Jordan, Renault and Toyota. He won the 2004 Monaco Grand Prix for Renault, his only Grand Prix victory to date. He is known for being a qualification expert... |
Toyota | 1:21.416 | 1:21.082 | 11 | |
| 13 | 23 | Rubens Barrichello Rubens Barrichello Rubens Gonçalves "Rubinho" Barrichello is a Brazilian Formula One racing driver. He is currently racing for Williams F1.Barrichello has scored the seventh highest points total in Formula One history. Barrichello drove for Ferrari from to , as Michael Schumacher's teammate, enjoying considerable... |
Brawn Brawn GP Brawn GP Formula One Team, the trading name of Brawn GP Limited, was a Formula One motor racing team and constructor, created by a management buyout of Honda Racing F1 Team. It only competed in the 2009 Formula One World Championship, with drivers Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello. The team... -Mercedes |
1:21.558 | 1:21.222 | 12 | |
| 14 | 10 | Timo Glock Timo Glock Timo Glock is a German motor racing driver, currently driving in Formula One for the Virgin Racing team. At the 2004 Canadian Grand Prix, standing in for Giorgio Pantano who had a contract dispute with Jordan Grand Prix, he joined a select group of drivers who have scored a World Championship... |
Toyota | 1:21.584 | 1:21.242 | 13 | |
| 15 | 8 | Nelson Piquet, Jr. |
Renault Renault F1 Lotus Renault GP, formerly the Renault F1 Team, is a British Formula One racing team. The Oxfordshire-based team can trace its roots back through the Benetton team of the late 1980s and 1990s to the Toleman team of the early 1980s. Renault had also competed in various forms since , before taking... |
1:21.278 | 1:21.389 | 14 | |
| 16 | 6 | Nick Heidfeld Nick Heidfeld Nick Lars Heidfeld is a German racing driver.Despite scoring regular podium finishes in and , Heidfeld has yet to win a race since entering Formula One in . This means that amongst the current drivers, he has had the most GP starts without standing at the top spot on the podium... |
BMW Sauber BMW Sauber BMW has been involved in Formula One in a number of capacities since the inauguration of the World Drivers' Championship in . The company entered occasional races in the 1950s and 1960s , before building the BMW M12/13 inline-four turbocharged engine in the 1980s... |
1:21.738 | 15 | ||
| 17 | 21 | Giancarlo Fisichella Giancarlo Fisichella Giancarlo Fisichella , also known as Fisico, Giano or Fisi, is an Italian racing driver. He has driven in Formula One for Minardi, Jordan, Benetton, Sauber, Renault, Force India and Ferrari. Nowadays, he drives for AF Corse's GT2 Ferrari in various sportscar events... |
Force India Force India Sahara Force India Formula One Team, the trading name of Force India Formula One Team Limited, is a Formula One racing team based in Silverstone, United Kingdom which currently holds an Indian licence. The team was formed in October 2007 when a consortium led by Indian businessman Vijay Mallya and... -Mercedes |
1:21.807 | 16 | ||
| 18 | 20 | Adrian Sutil Adrian Sutil -Biography:Sutil is the son of professional musicians Monika, a German, and Jorge, a Uruguayan. He has two brothers named Daniel and Raphael. He weighs 165 pounds and is 6 feet tall. A talented pianist, Sutil started karting at 14 before moving up to Swiss Formula Ford 1800 in 2002... |
Force India Force India Sahara Force India Formula One Team, the trading name of Force India Formula One Team Limited, is a Formula One racing team based in Silverstone, United Kingdom which currently holds an Indian licence. The team was formed in October 2007 when a consortium led by Indian businessman Vijay Mallya and... -Mercedes |
1:21.868 | 17 | ||
| 19 | 5 |  Robert KubicaRobert Kubica Robert Józef Kubica is the first Polish racing driver to compete in Formula One. Between 2006 and 2009 he drove for the BMW Sauber F1 team, promoted from test driver to race driver during 2006... |
BMW Sauber BMW Sauber BMW has been involved in Formula One in a number of capacities since the inauguration of the World Drivers' Championship in . The company entered occasional races in the 1950s and 1960s , before building the BMW M12/13 inline-four turbocharged engine in the 1980s... |
1:21.901 | 18 | ||
| 20 | 11 | Jaime Alguersuari Jaime Alguersuari Jaime Víctor Alguersuari Escudero , is a Spanish racing driver who became the youngest Formula One driver to start a Grand Prix in history at the 2009 Hungarian Grand Prix. Alguersuari is the first driver to be born in the 1990s to compete in Formula One.... |
Toro Rosso Scuderia Toro Rosso Scuderia Toro Rosso , also known simply as Toro Rosso or by its abbreviation STR, is an Italian Formula One racing team... -Ferrari Scuderia Ferrari Scuderia Ferrari is the racing team division of the Ferrari automobile marque. The team currently only races in Formula One but has competed in numerous classes of motorsport since its formation in 1929, including sportscar racing.... |
1:22.359 | 19 | ||
– Felipe Massa was injured in the second phase of qualifying and therefore did not set a time for Q3. – Owing to Massa's inability to start the race, all cars behind him moved up one place to close the gap.
Race
| Pos | No | Driver | Constructor | Laps | Time/Retired | Grid | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1‡ | Lewis Hamilton Lewis Hamilton Lewis Carl Davidson Hamilton, MBE is a British Formula One racing driver from England, currently racing for the McLaren team. He was the Formula One World Champion.Hamilton was born in Stevenage, Hertfordshire... |
McLaren McLaren McLaren Racing Limited, trading as Vodafone McLaren Mercedes, is a British Formula One team based in Woking, Surrey, United Kingdom. McLaren is best known as a Formula One constructor but has also competed and won in the Indianapolis 500 and Canadian-American Challenge Cup... -Mercedes |
70 | 1:38:23.876 | 4 | 10 |
| 2 | 4‡ | Kimi Räikkönen Kimi Räikkönen Kimi Matias Räikkönen , nicknamed Iceman, is a Finnish racing driver, who will drive in Formula One for Lotus in . After nine seasons racing in Formula One, in which he took the Formula One World Drivers' Championship, he competed in the World Rally Championship from 2009-2011.Räikkönen entered... |
Ferrari Scuderia Ferrari Scuderia Ferrari is the racing team division of the Ferrari automobile marque. The team currently only races in Formula One but has competed in numerous classes of motorsport since its formation in 1929, including sportscar racing.... |
70 | +11.529 | 7 | 8 |
| 3 | 14 | Mark Webber Mark Webber Mark Alan Webber is an Australian Formula One driver.After some racing success in Australia, Webber moved to the United Kingdom in 1995 to further his motorsport career... |
Red Bull Red Bull Racing Red Bull Racing is a Formula One racing team based in Milton Keynes, England which currently holds an Austrian licence. It is, along with Scuderia Toro Rosso, one of two teams owned by beverage company Red Bull GmbH. The team have won two Constructors' Championship titles, in and , becoming the... -Renault Renault F1 Lotus Renault GP, formerly the Renault F1 Team, is a British Formula One racing team. The Oxfordshire-based team can trace its roots back through the Benetton team of the late 1980s and 1990s to the Toleman team of the early 1980s. Renault had also competed in various forms since , before taking... |
70 | +16.886 | 3 | 6 |
| 4 | 16 | Nico Rosberg Nico Rosberg Nico Erik Rosberg is a racing driver for the Mercedes GP Formula One team. He races under the German flag in Formula One, although he competed for Finland earlier in his career... |
Williams WilliamsF1 Williams Grand Prix Engineering Limited, trading as AT&T Williams, is a British Formula One motor racing team and constructor. It was founded and run by Sir Frank Williams and Patrick Head... -Toyota |
70 | +26.967 | 5 | 5 |
| 5 | 2‡ | Heikki Kovalainen Heikki Kovalainen Heikki Johannes Kovalainen is a Finnish Formula One racing driver who spent the 2008 and 2009 seasons with British based team McLaren and the 2010 and 2011 seasons with Team Lotus.... |
McLaren McLaren McLaren Racing Limited, trading as Vodafone McLaren Mercedes, is a British Formula One team based in Woking, Surrey, United Kingdom. McLaren is best known as a Formula One constructor but has also competed and won in the Indianapolis 500 and Canadian-American Challenge Cup... -Mercedes |
70 | +34.392 | 6 | 4 |
| 6 | 10 | Timo Glock Timo Glock Timo Glock is a German motor racing driver, currently driving in Formula One for the Virgin Racing team. At the 2004 Canadian Grand Prix, standing in for Giorgio Pantano who had a contract dispute with Jordan Grand Prix, he joined a select group of drivers who have scored a World Championship... |
Toyota | 70 | +35.237 | 13 | 3 |
| 7 | 22 | Jenson Button Jenson Button Jenson Alexander Lyons Button MBE is a British Formula One driver currently signed to McLaren. He was the 2009 World Drivers' Champion.Button began karting at the age of eight and achieved early success, before progressing to car racing in the British Formula Ford Championship and the British... |
Brawn Brawn GP Brawn GP Formula One Team, the trading name of Brawn GP Limited, was a Formula One motor racing team and constructor, created by a management buyout of Honda Racing F1 Team. It only competed in the 2009 Formula One World Championship, with drivers Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello. The team... -Mercedes |
70 | +55.088 | 8 | 2 |
| 8 | 9 | Jarno Trulli Jarno Trulli Jarno Trulli is an Italian Formula One racing driver. He has been a regular in Formula One since 1997, driving for Minardi, Prost, Jordan, Renault and Toyota. He won the 2004 Monaco Grand Prix for Renault, his only Grand Prix victory to date. He is known for being a qualification expert... |
Toyota | 70 | +1:08.172 | 11 | 1 |
| 9 | 17 | Kazuki Nakajima Kazuki Nakajima is a Formula One driver from Japan who drove for the Williams-Toyota team from to . Prior to that he had been their test driver, as well as a competitor in the GP2 Series for the DAMS team.... |
Williams WilliamsF1 Williams Grand Prix Engineering Limited, trading as AT&T Williams, is a British Formula One motor racing team and constructor. It was founded and run by Sir Frank Williams and Patrick Head... -Toyota |
70 | +1:08.774 | 9 | |
| 10 | 23 | Rubens Barrichello Rubens Barrichello Rubens Gonçalves "Rubinho" Barrichello is a Brazilian Formula One racing driver. He is currently racing for Williams F1.Barrichello has scored the seventh highest points total in Formula One history. Barrichello drove for Ferrari from to , as Michael Schumacher's teammate, enjoying considerable... |
Brawn Brawn GP Brawn GP Formula One Team, the trading name of Brawn GP Limited, was a Formula One motor racing team and constructor, created by a management buyout of Honda Racing F1 Team. It only competed in the 2009 Formula One World Championship, with drivers Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello. The team... -Mercedes |
70 | +1:09.256 | 12 | |
| 11 | 6 | Nick Heidfeld Nick Heidfeld Nick Lars Heidfeld is a German racing driver.Despite scoring regular podium finishes in and , Heidfeld has yet to win a race since entering Formula One in . This means that amongst the current drivers, he has had the most GP starts without standing at the top spot on the podium... |
BMW Sauber BMW Sauber BMW has been involved in Formula One in a number of capacities since the inauguration of the World Drivers' Championship in . The company entered occasional races in the 1950s and 1960s , before building the BMW M12/13 inline-four turbocharged engine in the 1980s... |
70 | +1:10.612 | 15 | |
| 12 | 8 | Nelson Piquet, Jr. |
Renault Renault F1 Lotus Renault GP, formerly the Renault F1 Team, is a British Formula One racing team. The Oxfordshire-based team can trace its roots back through the Benetton team of the late 1980s and 1990s to the Toleman team of the early 1980s. Renault had also competed in various forms since , before taking... |
70 | +1:11.512 | 14 | |
| 13 | 5 | Robert Kubica Robert Kubica Robert Józef Kubica is the first Polish racing driver to compete in Formula One. Between 2006 and 2009 he drove for the BMW Sauber F1 team, promoted from test driver to race driver during 2006... |
BMW Sauber BMW Sauber BMW has been involved in Formula One in a number of capacities since the inauguration of the World Drivers' Championship in . The company entered occasional races in the 1950s and 1960s , before building the BMW M12/13 inline-four turbocharged engine in the 1980s... |
70 | +1:14.046 | 18 | |
| 14 | 21 | Giancarlo Fisichella Giancarlo Fisichella Giancarlo Fisichella , also known as Fisico, Giano or Fisi, is an Italian racing driver. He has driven in Formula One for Minardi, Jordan, Benetton, Sauber, Renault, Force India and Ferrari. Nowadays, he drives for AF Corse's GT2 Ferrari in various sportscar events... |
Force India Force India Sahara Force India Formula One Team, the trading name of Force India Formula One Team Limited, is a Formula One racing team based in Silverstone, United Kingdom which currently holds an Indian licence. The team was formed in October 2007 when a consortium led by Indian businessman Vijay Mallya and... -Mercedes |
69 | +1 lap | 16 | |
| 15 | 11 | Jaime Alguersuari Jaime Alguersuari Jaime Víctor Alguersuari Escudero , is a Spanish racing driver who became the youngest Formula One driver to start a Grand Prix in history at the 2009 Hungarian Grand Prix. Alguersuari is the first driver to be born in the 1990s to compete in Formula One.... |
Toro Rosso Scuderia Toro Rosso Scuderia Toro Rosso , also known simply as Toro Rosso or by its abbreviation STR, is an Italian Formula One racing team... -Ferrari Scuderia Ferrari Scuderia Ferrari is the racing team division of the Ferrari automobile marque. The team currently only races in Formula One but has competed in numerous classes of motorsport since its formation in 1929, including sportscar racing.... |
69 | +1 lap | 19 | |
| 16 | 12 | Sébastien Buemi Sébastien Buemi Sébastien Olivier Buemi is a Swiss racing driver, who competes for Scuderia Toro Rosso in Formula One.-Formula BMW:... |
Toro Rosso Scuderia Toro Rosso Scuderia Toro Rosso , also known simply as Toro Rosso or by its abbreviation STR, is an Italian Formula One racing team... -Ferrari Scuderia Ferrari Scuderia Ferrari is the racing team division of the Ferrari automobile marque. The team currently only races in Formula One but has competed in numerous classes of motorsport since its formation in 1929, including sportscar racing.... |
69 | +1 lap | 10 | |
| Ret | 15 | Sebastian Vettel Sebastian Vettel Sebastian Vettel is a German Formula One racing driver, currently driving for Red Bull Racing. He is the current World Champion, having won the championship in and .... |
Red Bull Red Bull Racing Red Bull Racing is a Formula One racing team based in Milton Keynes, England which currently holds an Austrian licence. It is, along with Scuderia Toro Rosso, one of two teams owned by beverage company Red Bull GmbH. The team have won two Constructors' Championship titles, in and , becoming the... -Renault Renault F1 Lotus Renault GP, formerly the Renault F1 Team, is a British Formula One racing team. The Oxfordshire-based team can trace its roots back through the Benetton team of the late 1980s and 1990s to the Toleman team of the early 1980s. Renault had also competed in various forms since , before taking... |
29 | Suspension | 2 | |
| Ret | 7 | Fernando Alonso Fernando Alonso Fernando Alonso Díaz is a Spanish Formula One racing driver and a two-time World Champion, who is currently racing for Ferrari.... |
Renault Renault F1 Lotus Renault GP, formerly the Renault F1 Team, is a British Formula One racing team. The Oxfordshire-based team can trace its roots back through the Benetton team of the late 1980s and 1990s to the Toleman team of the early 1980s. Renault had also competed in various forms since , before taking... |
15 | Fuel pump | 1 | |
| Ret | 20 | Adrian Sutil Adrian Sutil -Biography:Sutil is the son of professional musicians Monika, a German, and Jorge, a Uruguayan. He has two brothers named Daniel and Raphael. He weighs 165 pounds and is 6 feet tall. A talented pianist, Sutil started karting at 14 before moving up to Swiss Formula Ford 1800 in 2002... |
Force India Force India Sahara Force India Formula One Team, the trading name of Force India Formula One Team Limited, is a Formula One racing team based in Silverstone, United Kingdom which currently holds an Indian licence. The team was formed in October 2007 when a consortium led by Indian businessman Vijay Mallya and... -Mercedes |
1 | Water pressure | 17 | |
| DNS | 3‡ | Felipe Massa Felipe Massa Felipe Massa is a Brazilian Formula One racing driver. He finished second in the Drivers' World Championship, and is under contract to race for Scuderia Ferrari until the end of the season.-Early years:... |
Ferrari Scuderia Ferrari Scuderia Ferrari is the racing team division of the Ferrari automobile marque. The team currently only races in Formula One but has competed in numerous classes of motorsport since its formation in 1929, including sportscar racing.... |
0 | Injured | ||
Standings after the race
Drivers' Championship standings| Pos | Driver | Points |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jenson Button Jenson Button Jenson Alexander Lyons Button MBE is a British Formula One driver currently signed to McLaren. He was the 2009 World Drivers' Champion.Button began karting at the age of eight and achieved early success, before progressing to car racing in the British Formula Ford Championship and the British... |
70 |
| 2 | Mark Webber Mark Webber Mark Alan Webber is an Australian Formula One driver.After some racing success in Australia, Webber moved to the United Kingdom in 1995 to further his motorsport career... |
51.5 |
| 3 | Sebastian Vettel Sebastian Vettel Sebastian Vettel is a German Formula One racing driver, currently driving for Red Bull Racing. He is the current World Champion, having won the championship in and .... |
47 |
| 4 | Rubens Barrichello Rubens Barrichello Rubens Gonçalves "Rubinho" Barrichello is a Brazilian Formula One racing driver. He is currently racing for Williams F1.Barrichello has scored the seventh highest points total in Formula One history. Barrichello drove for Ferrari from to , as Michael Schumacher's teammate, enjoying considerable... |
44 |
| 5 | Nico Rosberg Nico Rosberg Nico Erik Rosberg is a racing driver for the Mercedes GP Formula One team. He races under the German flag in Formula One, although he competed for Finland earlier in his career... |
25.5 |
Constructors' Championship standings
| Pos | Constructor | Points |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Brawn Brawn GP Brawn GP Formula One Team, the trading name of Brawn GP Limited, was a Formula One motor racing team and constructor, created by a management buyout of Honda Racing F1 Team. It only competed in the 2009 Formula One World Championship, with drivers Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello. The team... -Mercedes |
114 |
| 2 |  Red BullRed Bull Racing Red Bull Racing is a Formula One racing team based in Milton Keynes, England which currently holds an Austrian licence. It is, along with Scuderia Toro Rosso, one of two teams owned by beverage company Red Bull GmbH. The team have won two Constructors' Championship titles, in and , becoming the... -Renault Renault F1 Lotus Renault GP, formerly the Renault F1 Team, is a British Formula One racing team. The Oxfordshire-based team can trace its roots back through the Benetton team of the late 1980s and 1990s to the Toleman team of the early 1980s. Renault had also competed in various forms since , before taking... |
98.5 |
| 3 | Ferrari Scuderia Ferrari Scuderia Ferrari is the racing team division of the Ferrari automobile marque. The team currently only races in Formula One but has competed in numerous classes of motorsport since its formation in 1929, including sportscar racing.... |
40 |
| 4 | Toyota |
38.5 |
| 5 | McLaren McLaren McLaren Racing Limited, trading as Vodafone McLaren Mercedes, is a British Formula One team based in Woking, Surrey, United Kingdom. McLaren is best known as a Formula One constructor but has also competed and won in the Indianapolis 500 and Canadian-American Challenge Cup... -Mercedes |
28 |
- Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.
External links
- Official Hungarian Grand Prix results from