Button wins at wet Hungaroring

Jenson Button has won his very first Grand Prix at the 2006 Hungarian Grand Prix after a chaotic race in which de la Rosa finished second with Heidfeld third. The penalties from the FIA after the free practice sessions and qualifying made it a difficult race for the championship contenders. Both proved to be worthy champions as they put in dazzling performances.

With heavy rainfall in the morning, this was always going to be a tricky race to call… and so it proved. As the lights went out Kimi Raikkonen made a perfect getaway from pole as Barrichello slotted into second and de la Rosa third as Massa was swamped following a poor getaway. Michael Schumacher was showing he meant business with an incredible start had taken him from 11th to 4th, with Fernando Alonso taking sixth from 13th on the grid, just behind Giancarlo Fisichella in fifth.

Fernando was on a mission, dispatching first his team-mate before harrying Schumacher for fourth. On lap four he made his way past the Ferrari in an epic move around the outside of turn five. As the rain still fell and conditions remained treacherous Webber slid off the track, while Raikkonen continued to pull away up front.

But Jenson Button was also on a move, passing Schumacher for fourth having started 14th after Barrichello had stopped incredibly early on lap 5. Schumacher was losing pace, and before the first round of pitstops he and Fisichella were locked in an intense battle which was resolved in the Italian’s favour at the first turn when the Italian flew past and the German appeared to side swipe him as he struggled for grip offline. All this served to do however was annihilate his own front wing. The German stopped for fuel and a front nose assembly, while the Italian spun as he chased after Fernando.

All the leaders were in for pitstops when a safety car period raised its head, the result of Raikkonen driving straight into Liuzzi’s gearbox as he attempted to lap the Toro Rosso driver. With the leader out, Alonso inherited first place on a track that was drying fast as the sun came out.

Button by now was second, on merit. His Honda team had pulled something out of the bag and the car was running brilliantly. Schumacher meanwhile had been lapped by Alonso and was having a nightmare.

The safety car had bunched the field up, but Button was flying and had pulled the gap to Alonso down to under half a second. The Briton came in for his second stop and changed onto dry tyres. He emerged in second and the onus was now on Alonso to move. He did so almost immediately, emerging just behind the Briton.

But an apparent problem with Alonso’s front right caused his tyre to wobble and for Fernando to leave the track at Turn 2, bringing an enthralling battle between him and Button to a premature conclusion.

Somehow, and nobody could quite figure out how, Schumacher now sat second and was looking odds on to improve his position in the fight for the championship with Alonso now out of the running. The German had been pretty well off the pace for most of the race, but some smart driving in tricky conditions had left him well up the order.

But all of a sudden de la Rosa was on Schumacher’s tail, and just a handful of laps from the end the Spaniard was through and Schumacher was slowing, eventually pulling into the pits to retire.

Nick Heidfeld had driven a solid race to finish third, as Barrichello came home fourth to give the Honda boys even bigger grins. David Coulthard was 6th for Red Bull, while Robert Kubica came home 7th on his F1 debut despite taking his front wing off after a number of early spins, Felipe Massa picked up a single point and Fisichella failed to finish after a disappointing day for both championship contenders.

After the disqualification of Kubica, the full results are as follows:
1 J. Button Honda 1:52:20.941 10
2 P. de la Rosa McLaren + 30.837 8
3 N. Heidfeld BMW + 43.822 6
4 R. Barrichello Honda + 45.205 5
5 D. Coulthard Red Bull + 1 laps 4
6 R. Schumacher Toyota + 1 laps 3
7 F. Massa Ferrari + 1 laps 2
8 M. Schumacher Ferrari + 3 laps 1
9 T. Monteiro Midland F1 + 3 laps 10 C. Albers Midland F1 + 3 laps 11 S. Speed Scuderia Toro Rosso + 4 laps 12 J. Trulli Toyota + 5 laps 13 T. Sato Super Aguri + 5 laps Did not finish
14 R. Kubica BMW + 1 laps 15 F. Alonso Renault + 19 laps 16 K. Räikkönen McLaren + 44 laps 17 V. Liuzzi Scuderia Toro Rosso + 45 laps 18 N. Rosberg Williams + 51 laps 19 G. Fisichella Renault + 52 laps 20 C. Klien Red Bull + 63 laps 21 M. Webber Williams + 68 laps 22 S. Yamamoto Super Aguri + 70 laps