Hamilton takes McLaren back to winning ways

2009 Hungarian Grand Prix review

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Lewis Hamilton seized the lead of the Hungarian Grand Prix and never let it go as McLaren bounced back from their terrible start to 2009.

The world champion was followed home by Kimi Raikkonen – the only Ferrari in the race following Felipe Massa’s crash – meaning KERS-powered cars filled the first two places on the podium for the first time.

Mark Webber boosted his championship chances with third – but Sebastian Vettel failed to finish and Jenson Button could only manage seventh.

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Raikkonen and Vettel tangle

Fernando Alonso kept his lead easily at the start – but behind him four cars came out of the first corner side-by-side. They were led by Webber, who re-passed Hamilton’s McLaren, which had made its usual terrific KERS-boosted getaway.

Raikkonen had also made rapid KERS-powered progress and took up fourth behind Hamilton, squeezing Vettel aside as they headed towards turn two. That damaged the Red Bull, and he slipped down the order behind Nico Rosberg and Heikki Kovalainen. Shortly afterwards the stewards announced they would take a look at it after the race. and Vettel laid blame for the contact unequivocally at Raikkonen’s feet.

Button was beaten away from the line by Kazuki Nakajima and fell to ninth. But – just as he did at Bahrain and Sepang – a crucial pass on the second lap put him back in front of the Williams driver.

Alonso’s race ends early

Alonso’s light Renault quickly scampered off into the lead, but Webber couldn’t keep Hamilton back. On lap four another well-timed jab of the KERS button got Hamilton alongside the Red Bull and past around the outside of turn two.

Despite carrying more fuel, Hamilton began cutting into Alonso’s lead. Alonso’s 2.9s advantage lap five was trimmed back to 1.2s by lap nine. From there Hamilton wasn’t able to get much closer – but Alonso was about to come into the pits for a stop which proved the undoing of his race.

The front-right wheel didn’t attach to the R29 properly, and by the second corner the wheel fairing had blown free. Even more alarmingly, in light of recent accidents, the wheel then fell off completely, but mercifully no-one hit it. His race ruined, Alonso limped back into the pits for a new wheel, and later retired.

Red Bull pit problems

Hamilton now took up the lead and quickly extended his advantage over Webber. Despite having gone to the grid with more fuel, Webber came into the pits before Hamilton, on the same lap as Raikkonen.

Webber, too, ran into trouble on his pit stop and the team ended up releasing him as Raikkonen was passing by. The pair avoided contact – and there was no word of an investigation by the stewards – but Raikkonen took the position.

Vettel had more serious problems. After his pit stop on lap 21 he complained to the team that his car felt un-driveable, and there were signs of smoke from the back of the car. The team summoned him to the pits to have the car looked at, but after a brief return to the track with a new front wing tyres, he retired the Red Bull, blaming his problem on the contact with Raikkonen.

Hamilton dominates

After the early round of pit stops Hamilton held onto his lead with Button now up to second – though yet to come into the pits. He was catching Hamilton quickly, but not happy with his car’s performance on the super soft tyres. But a switch to soft tyres on lap 25 only made things worse and he slipped out of the points positions – Giancarlo Fisichella overtaking the Brawn as it came out of the pits.

Hamilton’s hold on the lead never looked anything less than solid, and so did Raikkonen’s grasp on second, despite a slow getaway after his second stop. Webber dropped back from the Ferrari and was caught by Kovalainen and Rosberg. The McLaren driver pitted first of the three, falling behind Rosberg, but Webber held his position.

Timo Glock ran two very long stints which worked well for him, and would have done better had he not got stuck behind Raikkonen. After his final pit stop he came out ahead of not only team mate Jarno Trulli but also Button, and spent the run to the chequered flag vainly chasing Kovalainen. Trulli in turn had Nakajima and Rubens Barrichello close behind him – the second Brawn driver enduring a compromised race after starting outside the top ten.

At the back of the field, newcomer Jaime Alguersuari finished ahead of just one other runner but it was an important one: his team mate Sebastien Buemi

. The Swiss driver spun off at turn two late in the race, and both Toro Rossos set their fastest lap on the final tour.

The result lifts Webber to second in the drivers’ championship race, making him the leading rival to Button. The Brawn driver’s lead is trimmed to 18.5 points and Brawn’s lead in the constructors’ championship is now only 15.5.

Lewis Hamilton, meanwhile, more than doubled his championship tally, moving into eighth place with 19 points.

Driver of the race

Hard to pick anyone other than Lewis Hamilton for driver of the race. Here’s who you picked on Twitter:

lukeatherton – hammy baby!!
dcowlives – Has 2 b Hamilton, expected him 2 take lead but not stay there & in such commandng fashion. 10/10 to the boy from Stevenage.
rubvic – I think Lewis did the best job, and managed to open a confortable gap.
HansiF – Congratulations to Jaime Alguersuari who finished ahead of his team mate in his first ever Grand Prix
shaohanmandy – I should say ….Lewis
noelinho – Hamilton has to be driver of the race, but a great drive from Rosberg too. He’s definitely worth an honorary mention.
TweetingSteve – Hamilton no doubt – great start, great overtaking of Weber and great race from the front.
Jake360 – Kimi drove the best in my opinion with a car not as good as the Mclaren. Can’t take anything away from Lewis though.
Pearlaceous – Got to be Ham for me :)
Greg0800 – Glock

Who was your driver of the race? Have your say below.

Read more: Rate the race: Hungarian Grand Prix

Update: Raikkonen has not been punished for his actions at the start. Red Bull have been reprimanded for releasing Webber unsafely into the path of Raikkonen.

Update 2: Renault banned from European Grand Prix following Fernando Alonso’s wheel loss

Author information

Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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104 comments on “Hamilton takes McLaren back to winning ways”

  1. I’m suprised at Brawn’s performance today. They seem to have gone backwards ever since they started to introduce big updates to the car. Could it be worth them going back to the Turkey spec and seeing where that puts them..??

    But congratulations go out to Lewis for a superb drive and well deserved win..!!

    1. it would be worth a try, wouldn’t it? even ron brawn was quoted saying that they are experiencing this tyre temperature problems, since the new upgrades. so definitely it would be worth a try to revert back to istanbul trim.

      http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/77333

    2. You can’t just go back, remember that everyone else has gone forward. If you did revert you’d end up with the performance of a wheelbarrow.

      1. atleast its wort a try, isn’t it? if the current trend follows, webber or vettel will swallow button’s lead by japan. to make matters worse, they have mclaren,ferrari,williams,toyota to take points off them.

      2. Of course you can go back. True, other teams have updated their cars to go faster, but look at how close the 2009 spec cars are to the lap times of 2008 spec cars around each track. The 09 cars are all still slower, so even the current “fastest” teams haven’t improved greatly over the brawn car before its updates.

      3. According to Button the car is worse to drive and probably slower than it was before, so they may well be better off with an older spec/set-up.

  2. Driver of the race: Lewis, no doubts. I think that is the drive of the year so far. Fantastic start and overtake in Mark, great managing of the car and tyres and engine. He was brilliant today.

    1. Totally agree. If only he had this car at the beginning of the year. He is head and shoulders the best driver on the grid. Just compare him to his teammate.

      1. why is kovi so substandard? after all the beat shoemaker at ROC in 2004. atleast he must ahve finished on the podium. bad drive from him to say the least.

        1. Have you ever seen the ROC? A fun day out in the park indeed – and not really a benchmark for F1 is it?
          I think it more accurate to say Schuey is the master of F1 but not ROC, and Kovi maybe the other way round..?

        2. Kovalainen came second in GP2 (behind Rosberg) just like Piquet came second behind Hamilton.

          Maybe you should compare Kovalainen to Piquet. Then I’d say Kovalainen didn’t perform so poorly. Or at least not so consistently poorly.

      2. I don’t think you can say he is head and shoulders above Alonso..

  3. Great GP, plenty on incidents and great strategies to keep all interested. I blogged here at the weekend saying I felt Mclaren had genuine pace and also keep an eye out for Kimi – just wish I had put my money where my mouth was on my Predictions on Friday – lol!!

    1. stupid alonso & ING spoilt my prediction. what the heck were they thinking? to add salt to the injuries, they messed it up in spectacular fashion. that renault on three wheels look like a bullock-cart. really ridiculous.

  4. Amazing race for Hamilton and Raikkonen. I had never expected this. I would have thought Webber could have won here.

    Button sure had a very disappointing race. He could have gotten a good result, but I guess he just couldn’t get his tyres to work. No excuses that it’s too cold this time though.

    Glock had a great race. Never noticed him really during the race, but in the end he had a good result.

    Alonso was lucky his wheel came off. Otherwise he would have had to face the embarssment of that pathetic strategy.

    Like I predicted, he ended up behind Trulli and Buemi after his first stop. He’d have been lucky to have finished the race in P9.

    I really don’t see why they keep trying that nonsense.

    1. Although unlikely, maybe Renault predicted that alonso would suffer the degredation he did, after 12/13 laps he was having major problems so that could account to why he was light.

      1. Yeah, lets hope that that was it. Like when McLaren knew Hamilton had problems with his tyres and therefore needed a 3 stop race.

        Better that than the idea that they were stealing pole just to take some fake publicity.

        1. i think you are correct Patrickl. I don’t see any justification why they keep doing the same thing other then some fake publicity. I feel this is pretty much all Alonso’s doing.

  5. at last the unthinkable has been achieved. mclaren’s race pace was genuine after all. i found it very strange that both hakkinen & webber despite carrying more fuel than hamilton came into the pits before him. are the ferrari & renault engines inefficient in fuel consumption? i never expected a mclaren win, especially here at hungary. even hammi was down playing his chances. neverthless the victory has come at the right place * at the right time. if they push harder into the development of their car, i see them winning the remainder of the season. WHAT WAS ALONSO THINKING!!!! worst blunder i’ve seen in recent times. that loose tyre could have struck anyone. lucky it didn’t happen.

    driver of the day————>> Lewis Hamilton
    fools of the day————->>Fernando Alonso & Nicole Scherzinger(for that artificial crocodile tear ;) )

    1. “Nicole Scherzinger(for that artificial crocodile tear ;) )” LOL! :D

    2. If its an artificial crocodile tear(s), then it must be genuine, cause a crocodile tear is already artificial. :-)

      By the way, I’m still trying to spot what car hakkinen was driving. ;-)

      1. lol i think he meant Kimi

  6. Excellent win for McLaren! I just wonder if Ham had got podiums in Aus, Monaco and Germany (which were all possible) he would still be defending his title. Thats the way it goes though. I sort of hope Button wins the championship still, but Webber would also deserve it. Vettel is getting a bit annoying now.

    I expected McLaren to come back earleir in the season, but was not expecting them to win at all this year. Just proves the car was just under developed after all, not fundamentally flawed as some suggested.

    All the best to Massa for recovery. That must have hurt somewhat.

    1. Paige Michael-Shetley
      27th July 2009, 9:18

      Not so sure about that one, mate. Reflecting on those races:

      Oz- As it unfolded, Hamilton would have had a 4th place finish and five points if he and Ryan had not lied to the stewards.

      Monaco- He probably would have challenged for the podium if he hadn’t tried to win pole in Q1. He wouldn’t have beaten Button, who was too quick that weekend in the Brawn, but he would have had a legitimate shot at 2nd or 3rd depending on where he qualified. For all intents and purposes, let’s say he would have finished 2nd without his error at Mirabeau in Q1.

      Germany- This was tough luck, as the contact with Webber wasn’t necessarily his fault. (In fact, Webber apologized to McLaren for it.) If he had gotten through turn one unscathed, he probably would have finished on the podium. He wouldn’t have had the pace to beat Webber for the win, but he may have had enough to beat Vettel (who was held up by Kovalainen) for 2nd and certainly would have beaten Massa for 3rd. Let’s be generous and give him 8 points for 2nd.

      These finishes would have given him 21 additional points, putting him at 40 points and around 4th-5th in the driving championship standings. He’d be 29 points behind Button and would have an extremely tall order to not only overcome that deficit in seven races, but also leapfrog the Red Bull, who probably still have the top car right now.

      In any event, fantastic performance by Hamilton. Given the rate of development by McLaren, in which Hamilton has certainly played no small role given that they can’t use DLR in tests; and his both ruthlessly quick and cerebrally composed drive this weekend; there should be absolutely no doubt now that he is very much in the same sentence as Alonso in the “best driver in F1” conversation.

      Speaking of Alonso…

      Isn’t it convenient that Ferrari will have an open seat for Valencia while Renault will be banned for one of two races in which Alonso MUST be on the grid for the good of all of F1?

  7. What a turnaround for McLaren! good for them!

    Its going to be a great second half of the season and with the BrawnGP team seeming to be going backwards, the improved McLaren may just help take some points from the RedBulls.

    Its going to go down to the wire!

    Best wishes to Massa also. Lets hope he makes a speedy recovery.

  8. Great great drive from the top 3. Had to wait 7 months to see Lewis win, saved 2009 for me! :D

    Tuff luck for the spaniard! Really enjoyed that!

    Kimi shouldn’t be penalised if you ask me, but then again if Webber got penalised for that Nurburgring start, then so be it. Since the stewards are supposed to be consistent.

  9. Fascinating start: Raikkonen aggressive (though in my mind legit) like Webber off the grid in Germany. Hamilton perfectly weighed use of KERS, not over-reaching this time, getting out of trouble from Kimi, almost taking second at the first corner, excellent overtake later. Shouldn’t underestimate his ability to make a lot of clear air between himself and second place when he’s in the groove. And Vettel? Just now he seems to be a kid being bossed off the track. Given the dive in Brawn’s performance, that would suggest Webber is now in with a real chance of gaining the title (!) with neither Button nor Barrichello seemingly willing or able to take drivers on (like Hamilton or Massa previous two seasons say) to get those extra points that could just keep the title out of reach. And along with Lewis, Kimi looks set to be a real pain in the butt for all the contenders. So too Rosberg. The end of the season bodes well after all!

    1. And all the best to Massa.

  10. Lewis, for sure. Despite he was dirty side on the grid, he had a reasonably good start. After that, he drove smoothly like a champion. Cheers!

  11. Seeing lewis and kimi lead the race was very refreshing!

  12. Great drive by Lewis, well done to the team, esp to Martin he was over the moon. And yes we did laugh out loud at Nicole, what on earth is wrong with that woman!

    1. the way she was jumping when hammi passed webber, i though her tops were going to fall off! wouldn’t that have been nice ;) ?

    2. Are americans always that emotional? I thought they were just faking it for shows like pimp my ride, but maybe that’s normal behavior there?

      1. it look very artificial to me though. for a moment i though she was deliberately jumping up & down , waiting for he gown to fall. pity it didn’t happen :(

        1. I’ve seen pictures of when exactly that happened during a show in Amsterdam. Trust me, you don’t want to see her gown come down.

      2. Look, she’s just madly in love with him. I can understand that!

        1. Oh god. Get a life.

  13. Something may be up – according to Jonathan Noble on Twitter:

    Representatives of Renault and Red Bull Racing have been summoned to see the race stewards at the Hungarian GP

    1. why? if anyone had to be summoned, it has to be raikkonen for that reckless maneuver. hope they don’t penalize webber for some hypothetical reason.

      1. There was nothing wrong with what Raikkonen did. He had to move to avoid Webber, and Vettel had plenty of space on his right to avoid contact. He just failed to use it.

        1. Pedro Carvalho
          26th July 2009, 18:31

          I’m not sure, I need to take a look at the first lap again, but I believe that Kimi and Vettel touched 2 times – first on the straight, and again around turn 1.

          The first one seemed casual, but I do think that the second one was worth a penalty (especially bearing in mind eg. Bourdais Fuji 2008 or Mark this year in Germany).

          Either way, they announced no penalty for Kimi so it’s just my opinion.

    2. What was the incident was between a Renault and a Red Bull?

      1. renault is the engine supplier for red bull, unlike mercedes they take false credit for every red bull victory.

  14. YAY that Brawn Sucked and BOOOOOOOO that Hammy won!
    Happy for Kimi and Ferrari. Kimi seemed quite motivated today.
    Oh, and get rid of KERS for the rest of the year, its so annoying. or at least don’t let them use it on straight off the grid. It should be a square fight to the first corner. Maybe then we would see Hamiliton in the front less often :)

    1. Raikkonen wouldn’t have been in front either. Ferrari rely more on KERS than McLaren.

      Ferrari simply blow their Q3 knowing that they can make up places at the start.

    2. A bit of a nonsensical comment since without being lured into developing KERS by FIA, McLaren (and Ferrari) would probably already be near the front all the time!

  15. Congratulations to Whitmarsh on his first win as team principal, he has really aged these past few months.

    Once again the stewards proved to be inconsistent. 70 whole laps to investigate a minor incident, yet they conveniently chose not to bother with it. Kimi’s move on Hamilton was similar to Webber’s on Barichello. Both not deliberate, but still reckless. Yet Webber was penalised within the first pit stop window. Would have been better they just said ‘car 4 given a stern warning’ and be done with that.

    Great determined drive from Hamilton. Brawn seem to suddenly recall they didn’t do much pre season testing. :-) They need to keep up or it wont help their cause for sponsorship.

  16. i thought lewis drove a fantastic race, was it me or did it seem that the overtaking rules have had an effect on the race today?

    also there seemed to be a bit of anomosity between lewis and webber in the room before the podium, anyone have any why?

    1. Going back to Monza last year perhaps?

      Great drive by Hamilton. He celebrated but also had this to say after the race:

      “Finally, my thoughts are with Felipe today. Despite our celebrations, it’s important to remember that there’s a guy lying in a hospital bed tonight, and I think I speak on behalf of everyone when I say that we all had Felipe in our hearts and minds today and we wish him a speedy recovery.”

      hear hear

    2. Must be honest, I didn’t see it. But Webber was always the first to pop up with his view on Lewis’s ‘over-aggressive’ style in his (Hamilton’s) first two season, then effectively put him out of the previous race (Germany) with similar aggression! But whatever the case, it’d be a but dumb of Webber to provoke Hamilton too much as they’re almost certain to be fighting for positions over the next few races – with the WDC only in sight for one of them.

      1. webber must remain in hammi’s good books, or else he might not help the aussie in his championship pursuit ;). hammi will play an important role in taking of points of brawn.

    3. Probably because of Webber’s frequent criticism of Hamilton – e.g. the move Webber labelled as dangerous last year at Fuji when Hamilton broke v late into turn 1 and forced half of the field off the track or when Webber said that Hamilton’s driving behind the safety car was a “bit s**t” in 2007 when Vettel and Webber collided?

  17. a heart warming race from Kimi

    got 2nd from 7th

    if only felipe got to drive that car and fought with ham

  18. HURRAY!!!!

    He’s Back!!!

    He’s got a competitive car and (always) great hands to handle it :)

    Long Live The World Champion!!!

    Great job from the McLaren Team. Keep it up and we’ll continue to see you guys more often, up there at the podium!

    I’m tired of Red Bull and Brown… It was kind of fun to start with something new, but, now, let the pros handle it.

    Great race also from both Finns :)

    1. Great race also from both Finns :)

      i think kovi really underperformed, as he does always. wondering what is wrong with him. he could have easily ended up on the podium, if he could have just pushed a little bit harder.

    2. Hear hear!

  19. Confirmed: No penalty for Raikkonen over the start; Red Bull get a reprimand for unsafely releasing Webber.

    1. again shows how inconsistent the stewards are, i’m absolutely gutted. atleast kovi would have made it to the podium.

  20. Renault are to be “suspended” from the European Grand Prix, which I take it to mean they won’t be allowed to compete. Waiting for confirmation…

    1. very harsh!

      1. Wow!!! Alonso maybe to take Massa’s place at Valencia?! If so, his place there next season would be rubber-stamped.

      2. Hmmm, I guess they are a bit panicked about pieces coming off of cars now.

        Still this sounds like a bad joke. Did they expect Alonso to park his car the minute he came out of the pit?

      3. Pedro Carvalho
        26th July 2009, 18:35

        I find it unbelievable that Renault failed to warn Alonso of the impeding disaster knowing what would happen (at least it says so in Autosport…)

        Are they a bunch of loonies?

  21. “FOM said on Sunday after the race that the finish line sensor had failed as a consequence of a broken cable, but that no data had been lost.”

    Its always a cable coming loose excuse.

  22. Great drive by Hamilton!!! Glad to see him winning. And he managed it while conserving his tyres through his experience. Thats something.

    I reckon this is probably his 2nd best win after Silverstone 2008. He drove within his car limits, and didn’t put a foot wrong.

    Plus, Kimi on podium. Good for Ferrari.

    And lets hope Massa comes back to racing soon, although, I say that more from my heart than my brain.

  23. Wonderful!!!! I Was Like Webber 2 Weeks Ago! Screaming Cheering Near Crying Because This Team Has Been Through Everything!

    Just Missing Out On Title In 2007… The Big Spygate.. Finally Getting What They Deserve In The 2008 Title.

    Then An Uncompetive Car In 2009, The Liargate… Then The Contravisty Around That..

    The Hamilton Mistake At Monaco

    Then The Accident At The Nurburing

    I Was Left Saying When? When Was It Going To Happen? Will It?

    IT HAS AND IS DESERVED!

    Lewis Drove Impeciablily! Absolutly Outstanding Not One Mistake! Was Amazing!!

    The Team Have Worked Day & Night Since Pre Season Tests.. And Theyve Turned At Car That Usually Starts From 12th-20th

    Up To 1st-8th

    That Is Amazing!!

    Vodafone McLaren Mercedes You Deserve This… Enjoy!

    Woow I Havent Felt Like This Since Brazil 2008! Hammy Is Back.. Mclaren Is Back.. And I Am Back Cheerinn When He Wins :L

    Also Well Done Heikki He Did A Good Job To :)

    Also Get Welll Soon Felipe …
    Felipe Spero In Una Pronta Guarigione! (Felipe I Hope For A Speedy Recovery!) Google Translator Hahha

    Oh And Almost Forgot

    Adios Nelsinho :L

    1. cool down mate!!! i’ll have an heart attack otherwise ;)

    2. Lol, you sound (read) like one very very happy fan :)

  24. Sorry But Last Year

    He Won Like Every 2/3 Events

    This Has Been Building Since The Start Of The Year!!

    And I Tell Ya

    Its F****** Amazing!!! I LOVE THIS FEELING!! :)

    Sorry For The Swear Word :L

  25. I would say Kimi as he had a great start and drove consistently to finnish 2nd. Hamilton also drove great and did not over do it, to get the win. Today the win was due to pure speed in the car.

  26. Lewis win and Kimi´s second place is only because of charasterics of hungaroring wich suits both cars.

    Offcourse, great drive from both gentlemans…

  27. Fantastic race by Lewis Hamilton, showing the champion he is (from an Alonso fan), still don’t understand why is Alonso’s fault the type of strategy selected, and anyway I think he did brilliant bearing in mind was driving a “Clio”

  28. Lewis and Kimi is equally the drivers of the race for me. Lewis was really fantastic today, and his pass on Webber cemented the win for him, that was really a clever move. Kimi came for 7th and he had a broken exhuast pipe, he had to fight that Ferrari all the way. Glock also had a very good race.

  29. Happy to see Lewis and Kimi’s face on the podium.
    Especially kimi…..he had a brilliant start….i dont believe in all criticism against kimi, why the s**t are we always talking about motivation, he is not a free f**k that just wants to waste his time over here not interested having got so many other talents………….
    why do we always go on assumptions………
    He has done well so just appreciate him…….not just assume that massa would have done better than him if he was in his place………Kimi is a great driver and its just the car that has given him a tag of not being “Motivated”
    I hope that we all just stop doubting his motivation and just look at his previous years and these performances where he got
    Ferrari’s 1st points
    Ferrari’s 1st podium
    Ferrari’s first P2
    This season. He just Ferrari from having the worse start of a season.HE IS GREAT DRIVER AND I JUST HOPE KIMI AND MASSA JUST KEEP WORKING AND WINNING. GET WELL SOON MASSA..

  30. Good drive by Hamilton, he smashed it.
    Great to see Webber now 2nd in the championship

  31. BTW is this already the time to start saying how terrific Hamilton is at developing the car?

    1. Only if the McLaren Technology Centers CFD supercomputer is called Hamilton ;)

      1. I agree Patrick. Lewis and Heikki spent hours and hours in the simulator developing this poor and mistaken car with their inputs, this effort will pay in the future and we are watching Lewis growing as a driver in front of eyes — working in one of his flaws, the technical feedback.

        This season is making him even stronger as a superb driver.

        1. Bernification
          27th July 2009, 17:20

          And where are all those people who say that Hamilton can’t manage his tyres?

  32. Lewis was awesome. And I’m saying this as an aussie who wants to see webbo win everything. He is reminding me a little of damon hill however – bloody quick in a quick car, but struggles in a ‘modest’ car. But he thoroughly deserved the win.

    Not sure if it was the bbc or our local commentators, but I heard someone say kimi might be heikki’s replacement next year – what the???

    1. Hamilton actually had a couple of great drives in that poorly performing car. Melbourne, Malaysia, China, Bahrain and even Spain.

      In Monaco he was great in practise, but obviously he messed up in quali.

      I’d say he even did reasonably well in Turkey where the car really wasn’t going. He beat Kovalainen there (and consistenly through the whole season) and that’s really the only benchmark we have.

      He has done nothing but show what a great champion he is all season.

      Besides, that McLaren is still a ‘modest’ car. The Red Bulls should have been quite a lot faster still.

      1. Lewis did a very good job, I agree, but do not forget that he was 4rth at the start, and 1st and 2nd couldn’t finish the race… So OK, he did a good job and I congratulate him, but it would impress me more if for instance Vettel was also in the fight all the race :)

  33. Fantastic to see Lewis back on top…now I can finally wear this season’s version of the rocket red victory t-shirt with a degree of confidence ;)

    Also great to see Webber second in the championship…how awesome would it be to see him chase down Button and bring home the title?

  34. No way Pedro :)

    1. That was for Clay

  35. How do people feel about Briatore leaving the pitlane early? I thought that was extremely disrespectful.

    I’m not a fan of Piquet, but still.

  36. Unfortunate for Kovalainen to finish behind Rosberg, in the self-same, fully-updated car that won the race in a walk. He got stuck in traffic yes but who did he pass to get free? His teammate passed Webber to win the race. I’ve always liked him, he has bona fide pace, but he just doesnt seem to show up on Sundays.

    1. @dmw – not all teams treat their drivers equally, Kovi didn’t get the latest upgrades that Hammister got!! So much for driver impartiality!!

      1. Kovi had the update in Hungary.

  37. Ans so he finally wins, I was hoping this day wouldn’t come this season, because as I predicted, the media and us have immortalized Lewis. As you may have figured out, I’m not a fan and Lewis, but I have to say..it was a great drive, the car looked very well balanced, and he’s done very well. Having said all this, I am still not sold on Lewis, but well done to the Mclaren team for fixing that car up.

    How I wish Renault could have done the same. Alonso was in with a shout for good in points haul…and then the wheel comes off. Now they are banned from the next race..crap!

    What a way to start your week huh?

  38. No one talks about Kimi now. Acc to me he drove a better race, but all credits for Hammister for the early passes. Resurgence of the old dogs eh??

    1. Hamilton won the race. That’s more than coming second.

      Besides as Raikkonen said, Hamilton was simply pacing himself to keep the gap to Raikkonen. Hamilton could go faster as he did when Raikkonen attempted to close the gap.

  39. They were talking a lot about Massa but they should have stop celebrating with champagne on the podium it looked odd.

    1. Well, well, well… The HATERS never get tired. Always trying to find something to bash Lewis…

      1. Oh f*ck off.

      2. Becken, i agree totally – why do Hamilton’s activities have to be defined in terms of other drivers? Anyway, i noted the same for Schumacher and recently Lance Armstrong – i am starting to think its inevitable for super achievers to attract lots of snide remarks from loosers. Somebody should get a phd out this phenomenon.

        1. Agreed, NDINYO. I’m a devoted Ferrari fan, but I still admire Hamilton. It’s like they didn’t see Hamilton wish Massa well in that video posted on this website.

    2. Guys I doesn”t wanted to hurt anybody.Its simply I was saying at that moment it was not sure what was Massa condition,so I posted that comment.As far as Becken is concerned I love Lewis that he won the race that will take points away from Brawn & open up the championship nicely so dont misunderstand me.

  40. Glory days of refuelling, loads of unpredictable woes unfortunately pit issues, alonso in the renault leading light early on, the early dominant force of brawn struggling. That epic toyota overtake on the outside at turn 5.

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