Les faits marquants du Grand Prix de Hongrie

Le Grand Prix de Hongrie se présente comme la dernière épreuve avant la traditionnelle pause estivale accordée et imposée aux équipes engagées au Championnat du Monde de Formule 1 FIA. La course se tiendra sur le Hungaroring, aux alentours de Budapest, pour une des manches les plus populaires de l'année. Surnommé « le tourniquet hongrois », ce circuit est long de 4,381 km. Il est généralement comparé à une piste de karting, avec un virage serré enchaînant sur un autre. C'est, après Monaco, le deuxième tracé le plus lent de la saison. Les motoristes doivent donc proposer des V8 efficaces et souples à bas régime.

Les moteurs Renault ont souvent bien réussi en Hongrie. L'équipe Williams-Renault s'y est imposée à cinq reprises dans les années 1990, alors que Fernando Alonso y a glané son premier succès en F1, en 2003, avec le Renault F1 Team. Pour finir, Mark Webber y a triomphé avec Red Bull Racing en 2010. Mais ce Grand Prix de Hongrie 2012 marque également les 20 ans du premier titre mondial de Williams Renault ; c'est sur ce circuit que Nigel Mansell avait assuré sa couronne en 1992.

La puissance absolue délivrée par le moteur n'est pas une caractéristique déterminante en Hongrie, puisque le circuit propose une vitesse moyenne assez faible, autour de 182 km/h. Seules la ligne droite d'arrivée et la portion de 790 mètres comprise entre les virages 3 et 4 permettent à la mécanique de s'exprimer à plein régime. Il n'est sollicité à pleine charge que sur 55 % du tracé, à peu près comme à Singapour.

Ces dernières années, la température moyenne à Budapest était d'environ 26°C. Les ingénieurs doivent donc mettre l'accent sur le refroidissement du moteur. Cette caractéristique est renforcée par la nature de la piste, qui ne laisse que peu d'occasions au V8 de « souffler ».

La partie la plus sinueuse du circuit est le deuxième secteur, où les monoplaces ne dépassent jamais les 245 km/h. Le plus souvent négociés en troisième, les virages semblent être imbriqués les uns dans les autres, le n°5 étant toutefois assez long. Ne pas être à fond sur l'accélérateur est une bonne chose dans cette portion, car les nombreuses bosses influent sur l'équilibre de la voiture.

Le Hungaroring pourrait être comparé à une cuvette assez sale, avec la présence de beaucoup de poussière, voire de sable. Ces particules sont nocives pour les différents composants du moteur. Extrapolé d'un modèle utilisé en rallye-raid, le filtre à air Renault devrait permettre d'éviter toute usure excessive des pièces.

Button enjoys return to competitiveness

Jenson Button said he "really enjoyed" the German Grand Prix as he returned to the podium for the first time since China.

Having won the opening race of the season and been second in China, Button was set for a championship challenge as the McLaren appeared to be the car to beat. Since then he had only scored seven points, however, until his second place at Hockenheim and he said he was pleased to fight at the front again and encouraged by McLaren's pace.

"It was a fun race out there, I really enjoyed it," Button said. "Most importantly we're there or thereabouts in terms of speed. It was very difficult to overtake Fernando [Alonso], and to overtake Sebastian [Vettel] but all in all it was a really good race. I really enjoyed it out there; a couple of good moves on Michael [Schumacher] and Nico [Hulkenberg]. I must just say there's been some negative talk about our pit stops in the past but the boys today did an unbelievable job. 2.4 seconds I think our pit stop was, which is just a blink of an eye so congratulations to those guys, and good to get back on the podium."

When asked about the overtaking incident that saw Vettel pass him off the track for second place on the penultimate lap - manoeuvre that earned Vettel a 20 second penalty post-race - Button would not be drawn on the move.

"I don't think there's anything I need to say, you can see the footage and see what you think yourself. That's the only bit of the race really I don't want to talk about, the rest of it was great. I really enjoyed it. Some really good fights out there and some great strategy. It's so nice to be back in the mix at the front, fighting with those two guys and that's exactly where we should be; hopefully we'll be the same in Hungary."

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Penalty demotes Vettel to fifth

Sebastian Vettel has been demoted to fifth place at the German Grand Prix after being given a post-race penalty for overtaking Jenson Button while off the circuit.

On the penultimate lap Vettel passed Button on the exit of the turn six hairpin by running over the kerb and off the track. At the time Button radioed his team to flag the incident and the FIA confirmed that it would be investigated.

Roughly two hours after the race the stewards confirmed that Vettel had been given a 20-second post-race penalty in lieu of a drive-through. As a result Button was promoted to second, Kimi Raikkonen to third and Kamui Kobayashi to fourth.

Before he had been given his penalty Vettel defended the move: "I think clearly it's not an advantage if you try to accelerate on the paint rather than on the circuit. So as I said the only intention was not to crash and to give him enough room. I had the nose, I was a little bit in front because I was braking later and then I was pretty sure he was not giving up like that!"

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Sauber delighted with points haul

Peter Sauber described the team's result in the German Grand Prix as "outstanding" after both its cars finished in the top six.

Kamui Kobayashi finished fourth having started 12th and Sergio Perez was sixth from 17th as both drivers displayed impressive pace to secure a 20-point haul. Kobayashi was promoted one place after the race when Sebastian Vettel was penalised for an illegal overtake on Jenson Button, and speaking before that decision Sauber was already delighted with the result.

"We started from P12 and P17 and finished fifth and sixth (before Vettel's penalty)," Sauber said. "I think it's fair to say this performance was outstanding, and it was rewarded by 18 championship points. Congratulations to the drivers who both did an excellent job, and thank you to the whole team."

Despite the impressive result, Kobayashi admitted he was conscious that the result could have been even better given an improved qualifying performance.

"I am very happy for the team that we have managed to get a good result again," Kobayashi said. "We have been unlucky in the two most recent races, and also had a bad qualifying yesterday. The performance of our car, especially in the dry, is really strong. If we only had qualified better we could have achieved even more today. At the beginning of the race it was a bit difficult on the medium tyres, but our strategy was good. Considering where we came from, 18 points is an excellent result."

Perez added that he didn't even have a smooth race despite making up 11 places, with a potential puncture affecting his strategy.

"I am so pleased for all of us that we have recovered after we had such a bad qualifying," Perez said. "We have shown a strong pace in the race. However, my strategy was a little bit compromised because I had to do my first pit stop a bit earlier than planned. I felt something strange on the left hand side of the car - perhaps it was a puncture - but I don't' really know yet what it was. This obviously meant we had to extend the later stint and I ended up with quite old tyres. The team did a great job today and this will give us a good boost for next week's race in Budapest."

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Mercedes drivers disappointed with pace

Michael Schumacher and Nico Rosberg said the Mercedes was simply not strong enough to compete with the top teams at the German Grand Prix after finishing seventh and tenth.

Schumacher qualified third on the grid but slipped back during the race before his third and final pit stop demoted him to seventh by the finish.

"We started reasonably well and had a fight at the start with Sebastian, but from then on we were just not quick enough," he said. "Starting third and finishing seventh is not the way you would like to finish but unfortunately there wasn't much more available. I squeezed everything and every bit out of it and that's what it is. Let's wait to see what happens in Hungary, it can be interesting."

Rosberg, who started 21st and adopted a three-stop strategy to move up to tenth, said Mercedes needed to improve quickly to remain in the chase.

"We're not as strong as we want to be at the moment. We need to work on that for now and try to move forward again because the others have got away a bit recently."

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Qualifying still hurts Lotus

Kimi Raikkonen believes Lotus can push Ferrari, Red Bull and McLaren for victories but said it still needs to qualify higher to do so.

Sebastian Vettel's post-race 20 second penalty relegated him from second place to fifth and in turn promoted Raikkonen to third. On track, however, Raikkonen had finished the race 9.4 seconds behind provisionally third-placed Jenson Button, and having started tenth he admitted that Lotus was unable to challenge for the top three from such a lowly position.

"We did the best we could today from the position we started," Raikkonen said. "My start was okay, but then I think Lewis [Hamilton] had a problem in front of me and I had to slow down to avoid hitting the back of his car. This let Paul [Di Resta] through in the DRS zone and from there we had a big hill to climb as it was tricky to get back past.

"Maybe if we had found a bit more pace in the wet yesterday we could have started higher and pushed the leaders, but it is what it is. For sure we were hoping for a bit better here, but the car worked well all through the race and we still brought home some good points for the team so there are some positives to take to the next race."

Speaking before Raikkonen was promoted, director of trackside operations Alan Permane said that the pace was good enough to race the top three.

"Romain [Grosjean] was compromised by his first lap incident which severely damaged his floor, losing him a lot of downforce," Permane said. "With Kimi moving tenth to fourth (before Vettel's penalty) we saw the strategy work as we wanted it to. We were hoping to be able to get on the podium but the first few laps cost a bit too much time. Ultimately we could run at the pace of the leaders, but we were just too far back to make the top three today. It's a familiar story we know all too well ; we have to qualify better to get stronger results. The wet weather of Saturday really hurt us in qualifying here, so hopefully we can bounce back in Budapest and do a good job."

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Webber mystified by lack of pace

Mark Webber was at a loss to explain why he was so far off the pace at the German Grand Prix after finishing eighth at Hockenheim on Sunday.

Webber, who won the previous race in Britain, qualified third at Hockenheim but started eighth due to a gearbox-change penalty. He gained a place at the start but couldn't match the pace of the front runners and eventually dropped back to eighth after his final pit stop.

"I had no pace today and wasn't quick," he said. "I couldn't stay with people that I normally can, so we'll look into it and come back in Budapest. I'm disappointed, as I expected to get more out of today's race. Normally Sundays have been okay for me, but not today. After the first lap it wasn't too bad, I got Lewis, but after that I was just hanging on. This is a completely different track [to Silverstone], but we have to be quick in all conditions and today we weren't for whatever reason."

Red Bull team principal Christian Horner said Red Bull pitted Webber a little earlier in the hope of getting him further up the field, but admitted it might not have paid off.

"Mark's afternoon was always compromised by the gearbox penalty he had yesterday. We were aggressive at the first stop; it didn't work out as we hoped and he seemed to struggle a bit with the long run pace on the harder tyre today with Mark. I think that possibly the lack of running on Friday and key set-up time cost us there."

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