Round 10 - Hungarian Grand Prix:
Heroes of the HungaroringMurray Walker wrote:If a man gets up with the wrong foot, you call it a weird day. If twenty-four men does that, you call it the Hungarian Grand Prix.
The speculations about next year’s driver lineup continued in Hungary. Canadian CART champion, Jacques Villeneuve, appeared on the Williams candidate list, alongside Jean Alesi. The Frenchman was said to be close to an agreement with Renault, and if Schumacher would move to Ferrari, he would replace him at Benetton. If the German stays, Jean would join Williams, partnering a hopefully new star, which could be either Coulthard, Villeneuve or Frentzen.
Larrousse accumulated a huge debt, and to avoid liquidation, good old Gerard had to sell the team to Jean-Paul Driot, who was trying to establish cooperation between his DAMS and Larrousse’s team. Larrousse turned down his offer in December, but now he was forced to cooperate. But all was not well as the team had no more engines to race with. Bernie Ecclestone however, gave them the same allowance to miss one GP that he had given to Simtek in Canada, and Driot wasn’t wasting the time. He quickly finalized a two years supply deal for Ford ED engines, and also confirmed Erik Comas to replace Eric Bernard in Belgium.
Ford had more announcements on the weekend. They announced the arrival of a brand new V10 engine to replace the Zetec-R, and they had extended their deal with Sauber. On the driver front, it was unclear whether Sauber could keep either Frentzen or Boullion. Frentzen was rumored to be on the shopping list of several top teams, and Boullion was likely to be placed elsewhere by Elf. It was likely, therefore, that Sauber would be looking for at least one new driver; and Briton Johnny Herbert was one name being mentioned.
Speaking of drivers, Jordan was happy to welcome back Rubens Barrichello, who recovered from his spinal injury he suffered in Brazil. Pedro Diniz, the cause of his injury also returned to Forti. The Italian team bought Montermini’s services of the rest of the season from Pacific, which meant an early retirement for Roberto Moreno. The Brazilian driver debuted on the 1982 Dutch GP , but he failed to qualify. He participated on altogether 68 GPs qualified on 42 occasions. His best result was his second place behind his Benetton team-mate Nelson Piquet on the 1990 Japanese GP.
There were two more changes on the grid. Brundle sat back into the #25 Ligier, and Minardi has dropped its longtime stalwart driver Pierluigi Martini and replaced him with Portuguese pay-driver Pedro Lamy. The runner-up to Olivier Panis in the 1993 European F3000 Championship, has taken part in eight GPs for Lotus in the past, and was believed to be bringing a sizable amount of sponsorship with him.
It was not the first time that Martini has been dropped by Minardi - the team with which he started his F1 career in 1985 and for which he has driven 102 GPs. When the team needed money in 1993, Martini stood down to let Fabrizio Barbazza and Jean-Marc Gounon drive, but he was back in action the following year. Pierluigi has been responsible for all the high points in Minardi history: he scored the team's first World Championship point at Detroit in 1988; he led the Portuguese GP in 1989 for one lap; qualified second to Gerhard Berger's McLaren at Phoenix in 1990; and his two fourth place at San Marino and Estoril in 1991 and at San Marino again in 1994 remain the team's best finishes.
Merse Kovacshazi arrived home in a very bad mood. Apart from Imola he failed to finish any race, his reputation was tarnished by his continuous retirements and incidents, and recently even his team mate got the best of him, and Hungarian trash media welcomed him with a smear campaign, claiming that he is wasting money while the country suffers under the economic crisis and the government's never ending austerity measures. His mood it only became worse on Friday. During the practice sessions he was totally lost, struggling with the car all weekend and being horribly off the pace.
“I don’t know what to say” he commented “It all feels wrong. The car is sluggish at the entries and unstable on the exits, sometimes it changes between oversteer and understeer in the middle of the corner. It’s a nightmare.”
On a happier note, after the German GP at Hockenheim, Michael Schumacher married his girlfriend Corinna Betsch in a quick civil ceremony in Mannheim, not far from the circuit.
Maybe this gave him the extra strength to be the fastest on Saturday ahead of Hill, Coulthard, Alesi, Berger, Herbert Hakkinen and Irvine. Barrichello qualified in a decent 10th position, Gounon was 12th, while Kovacshazi finished as low as 16th, one second off the pace of Gounon.
Hungarian Grand Prix – Starting grid1. Schumacher - Benetton
2. Hill - Williams
3. Coulthard - Williams
4. Alesi - Ferrari
5. Berger - Ferrari
6. Herbert - Benetton
7. Hakkinen - McLaren
8. Irvine - Jordan
9. Blundell - McLaren
10. Barrichello - Jordan
11. Panis - Ligier
12. Gounon - Pacific
13. Frentzen - Sauber
14. Brundle - Ligier
15. Boullion - Sauber
16. Kovacshazi - Pacific17. Salo - Tyrrell
18. Papis - Footwork
19. Lamy - Minard
20. Katayama - Tyrell
21. Badoer - Minardi
22. Montermini - Forti
23. Inoue - Footwork
24. Diniz – Forti
The Sunday warm-up session brought a surprise result as Kovacshazi finished 5th, being more than a second faster, than he was during the qualifying! “We were so lost with the setups on Friday on Saturday we sat down with the mechanics and decided to try something radically different.” he explained. “We weren't there on the qualifying, we made a lot of extrapolation, and we spent the warmup to try out the changes we made, but finally it seems to be working! I finally feel in control.”
The Hungaroring was always famous about boring starts, and this race wasn’t an exception. Hill challenged Schumacher, but the German kept his position. Berger took 4th from Alesi, while Kovacshazi performed one of the greatest starts of the year, jumping to 10th. Granted, he needed that Frentzen almost stalled his car that held Boullion and Brundle up, but he passed Gounon and Panis in the second corner from the outside, and then Barrichello in the inside in the last corner.
By the end of lap 3 Schumacher extended his lead to 2.5 seconds ahead of the Williams duo, as the pack started to pull apart down to Blundell who held up Kovacshazi, Barrichello, Panis and Gounon.
The race was quiet until lap 9, when events started to stir up. First Herbert collided with Alesi which ended with two broken front wings, then Berger blew the Ferrari engine, and finally Kovacshazi had run wide in turn 4 and dropped back behind Barrichello and Panis.
Schumacher was leading the race in lap 11, but Hill came back to only 1.5 seconds behind him. Coulthard, Hakkinen, Irvine, Blundell, Barrichello, Panis, Kovacshazi, Gounon and Brundle followed. Alesi had dropped back to 15th, Herbert to 17th.
By the time the first pit-stops started Kovacshazi was back in 7th with two spectacular overtaking maneuvers. His knowledge of the track started to pay off. Coulthard opened the planned stops in lap 16, then came Schumacher and Hill, leaving Mika Hakkinen in the lead. Coulthard returned jut behind Kovacshazi but before the Hungarian would have got a chance to show what he can do against a Williams, the Scotsman’s gearbox fell apart. He got Herbert instead, who was on his gearbox after the Pacific made its first stop.
In lap 22 McLaren’s promising race reached an abrupt end. Hakkinen still in the lead, under pressure from Schumacher, tried to lap Papis, who didn’t pay attention. There was contact, Papis flew into the Armco, Hakkinen spun, Schumacher could just avoid the accident, but Hill behind him couldn’t, and knocked off his front wing on the McLaren’s front right suspension. Blundell, who was 4th and about 4 seconds behind Hill somehow avoided the Williams but he couldn’t see his team-mate. In only a matter of seconds the two McLarens were out of the race. It barely got any attention that Katayama retired with brake problems and the Ligier crew spent half a minute before they managed to attach the fuel pump to Brundle’s car on the very same lap.
After the dust settled and everybody made their first pit-stops Schumacher was leading with more than 30 seconds ahead of Hill. Kovacshazi found himself in 3rd, only a few seconds behind Hill, and about 4 seconds ahead of Irvine. Panis and Alesi, who somehow got a huge hole on the Ferrari's left sidepod, fought for 5th place. Barrichello, Frentzen, Gounon, Boullion, Herbert was the following order. Hill’s car suffered some substantial damage in the collision because first Kovacshazi, then Irvine passed him, and Alesi was closing up on him as well.
For a while the Kovacshazi-Irvine-Hill-Alesi quartet provided the only entertainment on the track. The group was broken up by Irvine who stopped for refueling in lap 34 and come back right between Frentzen an Gounon, writing himself out of the fight for second place. Kovacshazi was under a lot of pressure from Hill, then from Alesi, but managed to hold his position which paid out when he came back from his pit-stop 5 seconds ahead of Irvine.
Schumacher was still leading in lap 40 by a lot. Hill was second but he might or might not have to stop once more. Barrichello was temporarily third, Kovacshazi, and Alesi were 4th and 5th after their pit-stops, fighting with each other, until the Ferrari driver had to make an extra stop due an electrical problem. Frentzen temporarily occupied 6th position and was followed by Irvine, Panis, Herbert and Gounon in a tight order.
The race settled down until lap 47 when havoc broke out again. First Salo retired with a spectacular spin in Turn 4. Then Inoue’s car caught fire and he got so terrified that he stopped on the worst possible place: half occupying the racing line in the inside of Turn 11. As he jumped out of his car running away from the spreading flames he didn’t spotted the arriving firefighter car that overrun him. He rolled on the bonnet of the car and fell right on the racing line!
Hill arrived there first at top speed, the tragedy seemed inevitable. But Damon with lightning reflexes changed his course and hit the brakes. He miraculously avoided Taki, but he couldn’t stop before he hit the tire barrier. Inoue jumped up the next second and rushed off the track, but by then Hill was out of the race.
“I wasn’t thinking." Hill explained later. "Somehow I realized that there was a body on the road and ‘Oh my God, I’m gonna run him over.' I don’t remember exactly what I did but I know I avoided the body but I couldn’t stop the car and I was out. In a hindsight it was worth it but Inoue should be locked into a box during racedys!”
Meanwhile Panis spun retired with a brake failure, and lost valuable points for Ligier. Barrichello and Gounon tangled one lap later, and both had to go to the pits, Rubens with a puncture, Jean-Marc with a broken front wing.
When the chaos settled once again, Schumacher was still in the lead. Kovacshazi was second, but Herbert, capitalizing from the misfortune of others was closing up on him very fast. Irvine was fourth, Frentzen fifth and Alesi sixth. Barrichello, Gounon and Brundle were seventh, eighth and ninth. In lap 61 Kovacshazi’s brakes blocked and he knocked off his front wing on the Armco in Turn 2. He soldiered on, and after an extra pit-stop he dropped back to 6th position. And the two Benettons found themselves in 1-2!
Kovacshazi charged, being the fastest on the track in the next few laps, but he couldn’t catch up with Alesi and Frentzen in time. But this time Alesi helped him with an overly optimistic maneuver in turn 1. The Ferrari and the Sauber spun, but both Kovacshazi and Barrichello passed them.
And so, on a race when everybody had frightening adventures Schumacher, the only man who was avoided by any incident, won the with almost 50 seconds race ahead of his team-mate. Eddie Irvine snatched a lucky third. Kovacshazi finished fourth and he couldn’t decide if he should be sad or happy about it. Alesi passed Barrichello in lap 76 of 77 for fifth.
This victory meant that with only seven races left Schumacher was 38 points ahead of his closest rival Alesi, and Benetton had more than twice as many points as Ferrari. But the Hungarian fans were more interested in Kovacshazi, who finished in an excellent 4th place and was clearly the man of the race!
Hungarian Grand Prix – Final Results1. Michael Schumacher 1:44:59.098
2. Johnny Herbert +0:47.375
3. Eddie Irvine +1 lap
4. Merse Kovacshazi +1 lap5. Jean Alesi +1 lap
6. Rubens Barrichello +1 lap
7. Jean-Marc Gounon +1 lap
8. Martin Brundle +2 laps
DNF: Frentzen (L67), Diniz (L61), Hill (52), Panis (L52), Montermini (L49), Inoue (L48), Salo (L47), Boullion (L35), Hakkinen (L22), Blundell (L22), Papis (L21), Katayama (L21), Coulthard (L19), Badoer (L16), Berger (L9), Lamy (L6)
Drivers Championship – after Round 101. Schumacher 70 (-)
2. Herbert 45 (-)
3. Alesi 32 (-)
4. Hill 27 (-)
5. Berger 20 (-)
6. Coulthard 13 (-)
7. Gachot 12 (-)
8. Hakkinen 10 (-)
9. Kovacshazi 7 (+1)10. Irvine 7 (+2)
11. Frentzen 5 (-2)
12. Suzuki 3 (-1)
13. Blundell 3 (-)
14. Salo 2 (-)
15. Gounon 2 (-)
16. Wendlinger 1 (-)
17. Barrichello 1
Constructors Championship – after Round 101. Benetton 115 (-)
2. Ferrari 52 (-)
3. Williams 40 (-)
4. Jordan 22 (-)
5. McLaren 13 (-)
6. Pacific 9 (-)7. Sauber 6 (-)
8. Ligier 3 (-)
9. Tyrrell 2 (-)
[quote=Race commentaries:]
Michael Schumacher (1st):
“Well, I have not much to say about this race. To be honest, it was pretty uneventful for me. I was lapping in my own pace, Damon was close behind me for a while but then he had some problem, then Hakkinen spun ahead of me, that was pretty close, but otherwise, it was a smooth ride home.”Johnny Herbert (2nd): “What a race! When I lost my front wing I thought this race was over, but then my pace was great and everyone around me had problems, so I found myself in second place. I’m very happy with this result, it was the best I could hope for on this race.”Eddie Irvine (3rd): “I had my fair share of luck on this race to be honest. I had no major problems, although I got stuck behind some cars after my second pitstop and I lost some time, but then the others dropped out ahead of me… I can’t say how happy I am! This is my first podium and I hope it will be followed by many more.”Merse Kovacshazi (4th): “I can’t say how angry I am! I was second and I lost it because my brakes blocked at Turn 2. Then again, it is a good thing to be angry about a fourth place. Sunday afternoon we were totally lost with the setups, then today we found the perfect balance. We had some luck with that, but the car worked perfectly on the race. I had some exciting moments and great battles, and overall I think this is a result we should build upon.Damon Hill (DNF): “That guy [Inoue] is just not belongs to Formula One! He is always in the way, he is horribly slow and somehow he is always involved in some incident. After the race he came to me and thanked me for not running him over. If he stays away from me that will be enough.”Mika Hakkinen: (DNF): “I am very sad about what happened today. I had the winning strategy, I was keeping Michael behind me, and I think I had to stop one time less than he did, so we may have lost a victory here, but definitely a podium finish. But Max didn’t leave enough room for me in that corner and we contacted, and I couldn’t stop the car.”[/quote]
Note: The years 1994-95 were the age of "capitalist depression" of Hungary. By 1994 the people had to face that many comfortable things they got used to during the communism (like 100% employment, organized holidays, state-controlled prices etc.) doesn't get granted in a Western democracy. People were so depressed that on the 1994 election they voted the successor of the Hungarian communist party an absolute majority in the parliament. Then this very party in march 1995 announced the harshest, most brutal austerity measures the country had ever seen (pension reduced by 50%, no state support for families whatsoever, these kind of things...). In this era anyone who was showing off how much money he had was a subject of envy, despise and hatred.