2013 Hungarian GP - Hungaroring

[mantikos]

Can anyone who has a membership with autosport.com take a look at the article titled "Hamilton's mini-miracle" by mark hughes and tell us what he explained? Because mark hughes' articles are pretty informative and may shed some new light that hasn't been picked up by people like us

Nothing really we didn't know. Some details that were nice: Even with DRS, the red bull was slower then the mercedes. Both having the same speed at the start/finish line, and the eventual top speed at the end of the straight of the mercedes would be 6 miles/h higher. It would have been difficult for Vettel to get past Hamilton even when Button wasn't a factor.

Also a nice analysis of the lap times around the second pit stops. Vettel didn't had enough life left in his tyres to leapfrog Hamilton. Before Vettel pitted, he was only half a second faster then Button. The in lap made by Vettel was a full second slower then the one made by Hamilton (so at the time Vettel made his last lap, Hamilton would have been around 2s faster, passing Button at the beginning of that lap).

Finally, he mentioned the less grippy sidewalls played a big factor in the performance of Mercedes.

Could you please share the details about the sidewall/tires boosting Merc. Would appreciate it.

[turbof1]

Well he basicilly said that because the sidewalls are stiffer, they flex less. That reduces the amount of load they carry. Mercedes always had, according to him, issues with the front tyres having too much grip compared to the rears. The new sidewall eased that off, making them less prone to overheating.

[theWPTformula]

Regarding the new tyres, the 2012 construction is a lot stiffer so the tyres have less "squash" and includes the Kevlar belt. This has three advantages (I think):

The first being that the Kevlar material transfers less heat from the brakes into the core of the tyre, which means less heat build up.

Secondly, the reduced squash results in less energy build up - an object that absorbs less energy reduces its heat build-up (I can't really explain this point very well, so it's most likely to be incorrect).

Lastly, the reduced "squash" also means that the aerostructures change - the aero paths around the tyre, including the tyre wake, react with the bodywork surrounding it. The stiffer shoulders/sidewalls will alter these paths and can work better in conjunction with the surrounding aerodynamic devices. We have seen McLaren reverting to some 2012 specification bodywork to coincide with the tyre change and it has benefited them.

All theory and I'm no expert. Just my two cents...

[OppositeLock]

Grosjean had all four wheels off the track after the overtake. They had to use super slow motion and a freeze frame to catch it. Maybe they should make the track a bit wider so that more drivers will be brave enough to attempt that move.

[Traction]

Is it just me or was that double piece of defending by Vettel into the first corner the best piece of defending on track for ages?

[andartop]

One could argue the stewards made a huge effort to avoid being biased when looking at the 2 Grosjean incidents, and despite all the recent history of his involvement in racing incidents somehow succeeded in looking at these from a neutral point of view and judging them impartially, hence they had no option but to issue a penalty for overtaking with all 4 wheels off the track.

I do agree there are many inconsistencies in stewards' decisions over similar incidents throughout races, but looking at the photos this was as clear cut as it gets. We'd have an equal amount of posts damning the stewards on their decision had they decided not to impose any penalty, followed by frame-by-frame analyses filling pages and pages of arguing whether he was on track or off track.

[NowyszRacing6]

I was very disappointed to see what happened to grosjean with the penalty. Not only was the pass clean, but the penalty was for BARELY getting 4 wheels off and to NO ADVANTAGE. Unless I'm not seeing it quite right, there's gravel right after that kerb! Not to mention that going any wider will hurt your entry to the next corner, so there's basically no gain. As far as I knew, drivers could put 4 wheels off if there wasn't pavement, and the 4 wheel off rule should only apply when there is pavement behind the kerbing. Thats still missing the bigger issue though, because tracks shouldn't even be built like that to begin with. why the FIA thinks it's so great to have paved runoffs i'm not sure, but all it does is create penalties and reward drivers who make mistakes. They should at least keep some grass before the pavement starts. Sorry if that's a bit of a rant, but somebody really needs to fix this situation, its hurting the racing

[SectorOne]

We can argue about the Massa incident all we like but the fact is he left the track completely against Button.
So either way a penalty was going to come.

[turbof1]

We can argue about the Massa incident all we like but the fact is he left the track completely against Button.
So either way a penalty was going to come.

You can argue he was already past Button and if there wasn't contact, he would have stayed on the circuit and ahead of Button. In other words: no advantage was gained.

[Hangaku]

With regard to all these so-called inconsistencies with the FIA rulings - it all depends how hard one team cries, and whether or not the other team is called Ferrari

I assume that Mercedes didn't cry too hard about Massa being unable to drive without hitting things, and that Ferrari cried a lot (and came up with some really dodgy excuse) so that they only got a fine for Alonso breaking the rules.

[theformula]

So anyone hear about Alonso being warned about his comments after the Hungarian GP by montezemolo? And this all got out by Ferrari announcing it on their website! Why would they make this public??!

[komninosm]

With regard to all these so-called inconsistencies with the FIA rulings - it all depends how hard one team cries, and whether or not the other team is called Ferrari

I assume that Mercedes didn't cry too hard about Massa being unable to drive without hitting things, and that Ferrari cried a lot (and came up with some really dodgy excuse) so that they only got a fine for Alonso breaking the rules.

Here's a good video with all Grosjean incidents and analysis. I agree with what is said by skysports guy.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A6GLT5VdWH8

I also find it more outrageous that Ferrari got a slap on the wrist for DRS penalty.

[andartop]

Outrageous? Really? Other teams and drivers have made an art out of 'getting away with it with a slap on the wrist'!!!

[MOWOG]

Having just finished reading Niki Lauda's book To Hell and Back, NONE of the incidents in the latest race in Hungary would have drawn the slightest concern from any of the teams, drivers or stewards of that era. The FIA is promoting a generation of emasculated drivers. More show, less racing......where's my XBox?

[komninosm]

Outrageous? Really? Other teams and drivers have made an art out of 'getting away with it with a slap on the wrist'!!!

I bet you found those cases outrageous though...
Also part of my point was that earlier this season there was DRS checking tech failure by FIA and they told us they fixed it, so it seems a bit fishy. They should have forced Alonso to pit during the race to fix it, or disabled it as penalty, or at least dock Ferrari's points. Considering how strict they were on Grosjean, that's what you'd expect at least.
Even Massa didn't think there was anything wrong. Partly because he was the one who "pushed" Grosjean off the track some might argue so he didn't want to get involved at any silliness over an iffy pass. The Ferrari Lawyers got him covered though, and the Ferrari-FIA apologists will support that to no ends so it's cool.