Even more controversy at Red Bull?

A week since the Red Bull team was investigated for their torque mapping, and though initially cleared by the stewards, the FIA decided to clarify the ruling and outlawed the mapping Red Bull made. Now, in Hungary, a new controversy has occurred. And once again, Red Bull is the root of it.

There are rumblings in the paddock at Hungaroring on Saturday, that the FIA investigated Red Bull earlier this season, this one regarding the ride-height system during the Canadian Grand Prix last month.

According to Sky Sports, the investigation was conducted by official from the FIA´s technical delegation, but the results from this investigation is yet to be published. Craig Slater has more:

“There are fresh murmurings from some of the teams about the Red Bull car. We’ve already had this issue into their engine mapping; they’ve been forced to change that.

“Some of the teams are now learning that in the Canada grand prix a few races ago, a race which Lewis Hamilton won, the FIA had a query about Red Bull’s ride height. We haven’t got any more details about this yet but it could well be that this develops into quite a significant story throughout the day.”

This will be followed closely by the reporters present at Hungaroring and I will bring the latest updates as soon as I have more.

In the meantime, Mark Webber finished the final practice session in P1, ahead of Lewis Hamilton in second and Sebastian Vettel in third.

Move over Hammy, Webber tops final practice

Red Bull´s Mark Webber put up a fight against McLaren´s Lewis Hamilton, to compete for the P1 position i nthe final practice session at Hungaroring, ahead of the qualifying session starting in a few hours.

With a 1:21.550, Webber was little more than one tenth faster than Hamilton, who was P1 for some time. Vettel made it to P3, just 0.028 behind Hamilton, as Bruno Senna completed another great session result and finished fourth. Fernando Alonso fifth, Kimi Raikkonen sixth, Romain Grosjean seventh, Felipe Massa eighth, Paul di Resta ninth and Jenson Button tenth.

Pastor Maldonado makes it elevent, then it´s Kamui Kobayashi, Jean-Eric Vergne, Nico Hulkenberg, Sergio Perez, Daniel Ricciardo, Michael Schumacher, Nico Rosberg, Heikki Kovalainen, Vitaly Petrov, Charles Pic, Timo Glock, Pedro de la Rosa and Narai Karthikeyan.

 

 

Hamilton remains fastest as rain hits Hungaroring

Half way through the second practice session at Hungaroring, the rain started to fall. And fall it did.

During the dry runs, Lewis Hamilton was able to stay in front of the field, his second time this weekend, in a time of 1:21.995. Kimi Raikkonen finished in second, with a surprise third place finish for Bruno Senna. Fourth is Felipe Massa from team mate Fernando Alonso, Jenson Button gos sixth and Paul Di Resta seventh. Eighth is Sebastian Vettel, ninth is Romain Grosjean and Michael Schumacher remains tenth.

The rain fell hard and briefly stopped the action on the track, until a few drivers ventured out to examine the conditons. And one who did that, was Michael Schumacher, who suffered a minor bump with the barriers, as he locked the brakes going into Turn 12. The conditions were treacherous, but it soon cleared up and drivers could switch to the dry tyres again to complete the session.

From 11th it´s Nico Rosberg leading Pastor Maldonado, Nico Hulkenberg, Mark Webber, Kamui Kobayashi, Jean-Eric Vergne, Damiel Ricciardo, Sergio Perez, Vitaly Petrov and Heikki Kovalainen.

Hamilton starts Hungary weekend on top, Button second

Lewis Hamilton was the man to beat during the first practice session in Hungary, as the teams and drivers looks toward a well-deserved month long summer break before re-starting the season at Spa on September 2nd.

Jenson Button, who finished 2nd in todays´first session a tenth down, said on Wednesday that they are now back in the hunt, after a huge improvement in Germany due to an upgrade to the car that paid off.

“The result in Germany puts us right back in the hunt,” Button said. “In that situation, there’s nothing better than a back-to-back weekender: you return to the cockpit almost before you’ve unpacked your bags from the previous race, so it’s great to carry forward that momentum.

“There’s every reason to believe we can get another good result this year. Our pace at Hockenheim gives us cause for encouragement.”

Button finished 3rd in the race, but was promoted to 2nd after Sebastian Vettel received a post-race 20-second penalty, for his late race overtaking move on Button, where Vettel left the track to overtake the Briton.

McLaren have been very good in the practice sessions, but a string of bad luck, retirements, poor pit-stops and a scramble to find pace, has left Hamilton in 5th place with 92 points and Button in 7th with just 68. The team is still 3rd in the constructor’s championship, but has Lotus breathing down their necks, one single point behind.

3rd place finisher today was Fernando Alonso, who comes into the Hungarian Grand Prix on a high, after winning the German GP last weekend, 4th was Nico Rosberg, who held on for 3rd for some time, after taking it away from team mate Michael Schumacher, who finished in 6th, behind Grosjean in 5th. Felipe Massa ended his session in 7th, ahead of Kimi Raikkonen, Valtteri Bottas and Sergio Perez in the final top ten spot.

Pastor Maldonado ended his session in 11th ahead of Kamui Kobayashi, Mark Webber, Paul Di Resta and Sebastian Vettel 15th. Then we have the Toro Rosso drivers with Daniel Ricciardo leading Jean-Eric Vergne, Jules Bianchi 18th for Force India, as Vitaly Petrov goes 19th for Caterham. Charles Pic is 20th ahead of Heikki Kovalainen, then Timo Glock, Pedro de la Rosa and Dani Clos.

Rosberg, Webber to move five places back

Nico Rosberg and Mark Webber will have to move five places down on the grid, after Saturday´s qualifying session.

Rosberg was forced to change his gearbox after the second practice session on Friday afternoon, after he finished the session in 2nd place. Rosberg looked to be strong this weekend, at least for pole, but he will now have to add five places more to his qualifying lap times. Romain Grosjean, another potential pole sitter for Sunday´s race, is equally hampered by a five-place penalty, as he had to change his gearbox after the British Grand Prix at Silverstone, a fortnight ago.

And finally Mark Webber receives five places down on the grid, as his mechanics worked after hours, using one of the four exceptions of the curfew rule, in order to establish what the issue was. And it was a gearbox change for Webber as well.

 

Alonso fastest in final German practice

As the drivers did their best to make up for lost time after the wet second training session Friday afternoon, is was Fernando Alonso who set the fastest lap time in the third and final session on Saturday.

Followed by Lewis Hamilton and Sergio Perez in 2nd and 3rd respectively, most of the focus were turned to Lotus and their new double DRS, their own version of Mercedes´ DRS system. But it hasn´t been as overwhelming as the team had hoped for, while Kimi Raikkonen finishing in 4th is very good, Romain Grosjean ended his training in 11th place. Still it remains to be seen if the system can have a positive effect in the race.

After Nico Rosberg set a pace in the 1:17.4 area, the drivers started to shave off tenths of seconds. Felipe Massa snatched the fastest time away from the German, the Bruno Senna joined in on the fun and took 3rd, then Mark Webber followed by Pastor Maldonado and Sebastian Vettel. And so it went.

The Ferrari mechanics worked a lot on Alonso´s tyres, but as he came ut he set the fastest time, only to be bettered by Lewis Hamilton, who interestingly was on the harder medium compound, where Alonso had the softer tyres fitted. But Alonso returned to the front, setting a fastest time of 1:16.014.

So Mark Webber came 5th, then Sebastian Vettel, Pastor Maldonado, Felipe Massa, Kamui Kobayashi and Bruno Senna to finish the top ten. Behind them came Romain Grosjean, Nico Hulkenberg, Paul di Resta , Daniel Ricciardo, Michael Schumacher, Jean-Eric Vergne, Nico Rosberg, Heikki Kovalainen,  Vitaly Petrov, Pedro de la Rosa, Timo Glock, Charles Pic Marussia, Narain Karthikeyan, Jenson Button.

Maldonado tops the times in second practice

Pastor Maldonado was the fastest man at Hockenheim in the second practice session Friday afternoon, as rain hit the circuit and made serious runs difficult.

It was hard for the drivers to find the grip they needed on the wet circuit, and once out on track, the drivers found the conditions treacherous. The most dramatic event was just before the chequered flag, when Michael Schumacher crashed his Mercedes with five minutes to go. The front wing and part of the nose got damaged, but nothing serious.

So Pastor Maldonado 1st, then Nico Rosberg, Sebastian Vettel, Sergio Perez, Romain Grosjean, Nico Hulkenberg, Daniel Ricciardo, Jenson Button, Mark Webber and Kimi Raikkonen.

Jean-Eric Vergne 11th, then Felipe Massa, Kamui Kobayashi, Charles Pic, Timo Glock, Bruno Senna, Heikki Kovalainen, Paul di Resta, Lewis Hamilton, Fernando Alonso, Vitaly Petrov, Narain Karthikeyan, Michael Schumacher and finally Pedro de la Rosa.

Pos.	Driver	Team	Time	Laps
1.	Pastor Maldonado	Williams	01:27.476	14
2.	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes	01:27.564	24
3.	Sebastian Vettel	Red Bull	01:27.902	24
4.	Sergio Perez	Sauber	01:28.402	26
5.	Romain Grosjean	Lotus	01:28.420	20
6.	Nico Hülkenberg	Force India	01:28.495	22
7.	Daniel Ricciardo	Toro Rosso	01:28.513	23
8.	Jenson Button	McLaren	01:28.516	16
9.	Mark Webber	Red Bull	01:28.877	21
10.	Kimi Räikkönen	Lotus	01:29.327	22
11.	Jean-Eric Vergne	Toro Rosso	01:29.364	26
12.	Felipe Massa	Ferrari	01:29.719	15
13.	Kamui Kobayashi	Sauber	01:29.785	24
14.	Charles Pic	Marussia	01:30.090	19
15.	Timo Glock	Marussia	01:30.220	16
16.	Bruno Senna	Williams	01:30.291	22
17.	Heikki Kovalainen	Caterham	01:30.331	26
18.	Paul di Resta	Force India	01:30.437	14
19.	Lewis Hamilton	McLaren	01:30.617	16
20.	Fernando Alonso	Ferrari	01:31.207	20
21.	Vitaly Petrov	Caterham	01:32.241	22
22.	Narain Karthikeyan	HRT	01:32.349	17
23.	Michael Schumacher	Mercedes	01:32.777	18
24.	Pedro de la Rosa	HRT	01:42.566	8

Hockenheim training: Button fastest with Hamilton second

The German Grand Prix is this weekend, and the McLaren duo seemed to be in their element in the first free practice session.

Jenson Button set the fastest time of all on a damp circuit, with team mate Lewis Hamilton second. Fernando Alonso finished third from Michael Schumacher, Sergio Perez, Nico Hulkenberg, Nico Rosberg, Felipe Massa, Pastor Maldonado and Romain Grosjean.

In 11th we have Kamui Kobayashi, followed by Sebastian Vettel, Valtteri Bottas for Williams, Daniel Ricciardo, Kimi Raikkonen 15th despite Lotus installing their own version of Mercedes´ double DRS, Jules Bianchi for Force India, then Jean-Eric Vergne, the Caterham boys with Vitaly Petrov ahead of Heikki Kovalainen, then Mark Webber ahead of Charles Pic and Timo Glock for Marussia and finally Pedro de la Rosa and Dani Clos for HRT.