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I suspect that most tifosi anticipated that the Hungarian GP would be a rather hot, dull race with no overtaking but we hoped, given Ferrari's resurgent form, that Schuey would stick it on pole and win from there. How wrong can you be? In the event it was a chaotic and exiting race, made so by the weather that was cold and wet and the fact that the best three drivers in F1 all made serious mistakes and were punished accordingly, leaving the perennially under-achieving Jenson Button to take his maiden win in his seventh season and 115th GP. I'm not now, nor ever have been, a Button fan but he did a great job, especially when you bear in mind he had a ten-place grid penalty for an engine change. Penalties were a key feature of the race. The normally super-cool Alonso lost it big time in Friday practice, "road raged" Red Bull's Friday driver Robert Doornbos, passed under a yellow flag and was given two one second qualifying penalties (to be served consecutively). We tifosi could not believe out luck. If Schuey won and Fred was stuck in the middle of the field, this could mean that the gap between them would be down to just one point! Our hopes were soon dashed when it was announced that Schuey had also been penalised by two seconds after passing cars under a red flag (caused by Button's Honda engine letting go), also in Friday practice! I think that the penalty was too severe as it was just a mistake and did not have the intent of Alonso's assault on Doorknobs. There was also the question of whether Alonso engineered the incident, by lifting off, backing up the car behind and thus forcing Schuey to pass both of them. But, I guess, given Schuey's history we cannot complain about a bit of apparent gamesmanship [Oh yes we can, that's completely different - Ed.]. The arguments have raged back and forth but, as the authorities have pointed out, a red flag means danger, slow down and be ready to stop and passing under one is totally unacceptable. Mind you, as the more cynical pointed out, Schuey's penalty certainly kept the championship interesting... Both Schuey and Alonso got through to the second stint of qualifying and ended up 11th and 15th on the grid respectively. Raikkonen was on pole with Massa second and Button in 14th, so it looked like we were heading for a nil-all draw in terms of the Championship - then it rained. We tifosi's hearts beat faster again. Schuey could do something in the wet and aren't Bridgestone's rain tyres always better than Michelin's? In the event MS first did what was expected, getting up to fourth at the end of the first lap, an achievement reminiscent of Senna's in the 1993 European GP. Mind you, Alonso did even better, rising from 15th to fifth and driving round the outside of Schuey for fourth on lap 4. It soon became clear that the Bridgestone intermediates were simply no match for the Michelins in the cold and wet. Alonso took the lead on lap 18 when early leader Raikkonen pitted, whereas Schuey ran fifth and had to stop for a new nose after clipping the back of Fisichella's Renault. Massa had dropped to seventh at the end of lap 1, went as low as 13th, but then it began to dry out. In this phase of the race Bridgestones were clearly the tyres to have.
Schuey got up to seventh and the gap to the leader was ever-diminishing,
helped by a safety car after Raikkonen crunched into the back of Liuzzi's
Toro Rosso. Leader Alonso pitted on lap 50 and as soon as he pulled
out you could see straight away that something was awry, a few corners
into the lap and a wheel nut spun away from the car and it wobbled into
retirement, giving Jenson Button a lead he was not to lose. We registered
this fact, but it was nothing to the joy in our hearts as Schuey battled
his way up to second. This would mean him getting eight points and Alonso
nil! Schuey finished ninth, with Massa eighth after a spin, but the pair were promoted a place apiece when GP debutant Robert Kubica's BMW-Sauber was disqualified for being 2kg underweight, the result of running on totally bald intermediate tyres. So ended a roller-coaster of a weekend for Ferrari and their fans.
The pressure clearly got to both the leading Championship contenders.
It was odd that whereas we normally expect Ferrari and Schuey to make
the best of such chaotic conditions, in this race, none of the calls
came off. It's clear with hindsight that they should have switched him
to dry tyres, that he should not have fought de la Rosa and Heidfeld.
But hindsight is 20/20 and what's one bad race in so many great ones?
Also, it could have been worse - Alonso might not have retired. Ferrari
have now closed to within seven points of Renault in the Constructors'
title chase. Let us hope that Schuey and Ferrari made their year's worth
of mistakes in this one race!
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