Kimi roars at Hungaroring!

A well deserved win for Kimi


"Which, if not victory, is yet revenge" - Kimi Raikkonen must have taken Milton's words to his heart after his ruesome showing at Germany. After all, if sport is war, you ought to win. And when you dont win and your opponent does, you ought to have revenge. Kimi had his, setting the track ablaze with a stupendous performance. Great racing combined with brilliant pit-wall strategy from the McLaren paddock helped Kimi emerge victorious at Hungaroring, ahead of Messers Schumacher Sr & Schumacher Jr - the podium starved brothers. Alonso finished high and dry at eleventh, the Spaniard having won six of the twelve previous races. Among the others in points were the Toyota's, the BAR's and the William's, all six of them!

Saturday qualifying was a bit of a surprise with Michael Schumacher grabbing pole position, closing in on the late Ayrton Senna's record of 65 pole positions. Michael is now on 64 from 225 races as compared to Ayrton's 65 from 161 races. Montoya. whose fortunes seemed to have reversed over the past couple of races came up with P2 while Trulli, the dreaded mobile chicane started abreast Raikkonen who well knew that his race would be over if he were to see the tail of Trulli's Toyota for more than a couple of corners. That said, Alonso was on sixth, banking on the Renault's acceleration to get him the much needed initial thrust. Alonso's last corner screw-up during qualifying is one of the very few mistakes that the Spaniard has committed this season. Indian driver Narain Karthikeyan was sandwiched between the Minardi's with Tiago not managing to set a timing.

The race started with everybody expecting Montoya to either overtake Schumacher at the first corner owing to better equipment or take him out altogether, the latter being more convenient for Raikkonen the Finn. However, a perfect start from Schumacher annuled those possibilities.
Raikkonen made quick work of Trulli and Montoya and went on to trade laps with Schumacher.
Klein's Red Bull went for a toss after he made contact with Villeneuve's rear tyre. Barrichello and Alonso brushed each other, while David Coulthard the other Red Bull driver spun off after hitting a stray piece of wing. With David Coulthard gone, it was game over for the Milton Keynes team even before the first lap was completed.

Raikkonen had a brilliant race with the Finn matching Schumacher's speed for starters and then pounding out lap after lap of sheer ecstacy that eventually culminated in a wonderful win. Raikkonen ran light, pitted on the eleventh and chased Schumacher on a track on which overtaking was an almost impossible affair. When Schumacher pitted, Raikkonen's car was nothing more than a blur of silver and black. And when his own second pit stop came up, it was a literal "splash and dash" affair, the ultra-quick pit stop putting the Finn out ahead of the German. Schumacher gave up after a couple of laps, and Raikkonen hurried past the chequered flag, the Finn punching his fist into the air in jubliation.

Schumacher, who started on pole drove ultra-quick, his each turn and bank proving to the on-lookers that it was the machine and not the man who was the culprit. However, Ross Brawn, undoubtedly the most brilliant of pit-wall thinkers could not hold his machine on the front for long after the Woking team's pit strategists out thought their Maranello counterparts. A great race, a well deserved second, the Macher's second podium of the season, ofcourse discounting the Indianapolis sham. Brother Ralf was hot on Schumacher's track, but then, as already said, catching up and over taking are two different things when it comes to Hungaroring.

Montoya was the unlucky one of the race, the Columbian putting up a fine display before eventually retiring on lap 41 in slow trot back to the pits. It was bad time for Championship leaders Renault, with both their drivers not finishing in the points. Alonso finished eleventh, a far cry from his first position a couple of years ago, when at this very circuit he became the youngest ever driver to win a Formula One race. Fissichella, the other Renault driver would have managed to land in the points, but his grassy moments ensured that Webber would hound on him and grab a couple of points.

It was indeed ironical to see the BAR's and the Williams' twined in the points table. Afterall, Sir Williams and Nick Fry arent the closest of buddies in planet paddock, especially after their wrangle over Button! Taku managed to grab his first points of the season and Webber, cashing in on Fissichella's mistake managed to ensure that both the William's were clear.

It was a sad race for Villeneuve, for whom no race seems to go well. Villeneuve retired his race after smoke bellowed out of his Sauber. His team mate's fortunes were no better, with Massa's fuel tank blazing while he was on a scheduled pit stop. Massa managed to saunter to the finish, down seven laps on Kimi.

Karthikeyan, the Indian driver managed to come in twelfth, ahead of team mate Monteiro who seems to have slacked down in the last two races. The Indian driver managed to stay away from most of the other drivers, displaying control as he pulled up to allow the front runners. As for the Minardi's, what else but to say but "No points as usual"?

The driver's championship table looks much the same as it did a couple of weeks ago, with Raikkonen managing to come within 26 points of Alonso. Schumacher lurks behind him, while Trulli seems to have sealed his fourth spot. On the constructor's list, McLaren are within striking distance, twelve points down on the French team.

With Hungaroring completed, the teams break for a summer vacation. Vacation it might seem, but a lot of teams, rather every team has got a lot of work to do. First up, the McLaren's would be analysing their almost unacceptable engine failure rates. The problem ought to be nailed down and the rest of the season should see Kimi Raikkonen joust for the championship. Surely, the Finn deserves a fine car. The Renault's would be working on their top-line speeds and would also try to improve their tyre handling. The Ferrari's would be back in action at home, with the Maranello team being the only one that would be testing.

Next up is the race at Turkey, a country hosting an F1 event for the first time. Turkey should be an interesting race, considering that it would be an anti-clockwise race. More on turkey after the vacation!