THE Lewis Hamilton with McLaren was the master of the game at the Hungarian Grand Prix and claimed an outright victory having led both free practice and qualifying.
Applying a "two pit stop" strategy, the Englishman won the mid-season race by one second, with nine rounds remaining on the F1 calendar. The Ferrari driver, Fernando Alonso, who finished fifth from sixth place in qualifying, extended his lead at the top of the drivers' standings at 40 points.
And the 10 first drivers started on soft P Zero Yellow tires chosen by Pirelli in combination with medium P Zero White for Hungary. Red Bull's Mark Webber finished eighth – the highest-placed driver to start on a medium tire since 11th in qualifying. The only cars to start with medium White were the two Marussia and HRT's Pedro de la Rosa.
Hamilton led from the start and made a pit stop on lap 18 handing the advantage of first place to the Lotus driver, Romain Grosjean – second in qualifying – but soon regained it due to the Frenchman's delay in the pits.
Hamilton's last stop for a change in the second set of intermediates came on lap 40, which brought Kimi Raikkonen (Lotus) briefly at the top. After a very strong second stint 25 soft tire laps where he overtook three cars, Raikkonen's strategy earned him second overall ahead of Grosjean.
With 20 laps to go and the newest P Zero White medium tires, Raikkonen began a thrilling pursuit of Hamilton to the finish. Grosjean finished third, resulting in two Lotus drivers on the podium.
The top three drivers opted for a two pit stop strategy, with Hamilton doing one stint on softs and two on mediums, while the two Lotus drivers did two stints on soft and one on medium tyres. Ο Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull) he was the highest-ranked driver of those who followed a three-pit stop strategy, finishing fourth and setting the fastest lap of the race in P Zero Yellow. Two other drivers who adopted a three pit stop strategy were McLaren's Jenson Button and Red Bull's Mark Webber, finishing sixth and eighth respectively.
Pirelli's racing director, Paul Hembery commented: “Due to the mixed conditions to date, the teams had not run enough on soft tyres, that's why everyone started with a lot of questions. Gradual wear of both compounds proved good with the difference between soft and medium tires limited to a few tenths of a second, which gave teams several strategic opportunities combined with remarkable flexibility".
"Lewis Hamilton's pace in qualifying allowed him to save a set of soft tires for the race in which he showed impressive dominance, fighting hard to keep it until the end. As always, overtaking was very difficult on the slow Hungaroring, meaning the teams attempted to overtake their rivals with appropriate pit stop strategies. Due to variety of strategies, the time differences were minimal, despite the fact that with the cars running within breathing distance of each other, tire wear increases, as they slide more due to aerodynamic vortices. The first part of his season 2012 it was unforgettable, with very tough competition where the tires definitely made the difference, that's why we're already looking forward to the rest of the year".
Pit stop summary – Hungarian Grand Prix 2012
Hamilton: SU MN (18) MN (40) 2
Räikkönen: They are They are (20) IN (45) 2
Grosjean: They are They are (19) IN (39) 2
Vettel: They are They are (17) MN (38) They are (58) 3
Alonso: They are MN (17) MN (43) 2
Button: They are MN (15) They are (34) MN (45) 3
Senna: They are MN (16) MN (42) 2
Webber: MN MN (20) SN (39) They are (55) 3
Massa: They are MN (18) MN (43) 2
Rosberg: SN MN (16) MN (40) 2
Hulkenberg: They are MN (15) MN (39) 2
Di Resta: SN MN (16) MN (38) 2
Maldonado: They are MN (15) MN (41) DT (52) 3
Perez: SN MN (21) MN (47) 2
Ricciardo: SN SN (14) They are (34) MN (47) 3
Vergne: They are SN (12) They are (30) MN (46) MN (64) 4
Kovalainen: SN MN (17) MN (36) They are (56) 3
Kobayashi: They are MN (8) They are (40) 2
Petrov: SN MN (18) MN (35) MN (51) 3
Pic: MN SN (20) MN (39) 2
Glock: MN SN (18) MN (40) 2
De La Rosa: MN MN (22) SN (41) 2
Karthikeyan: SN MN (18) They are (39) 2 NC
Schumacher: SN MN (1) DT (4) MN (32) 3 NC
Source : newsbeast.gr
