Hungarian Grand Prix 2007 Awards
Hamilton wins, McLaren in turmoil and Honda keep on struggling
Every race has its highlights. Some drivers shine while others confound us with what they try to achieve. Here are some of the winners and losers of the 2007 Hungarian GP
Driver of the day
After the qualifying ruckus from McLaren and the ensuing 5-grid penalty imposed on Fernando Alonso, it seemed set that Alonso would have to fight hard to improve on his lot. He slipped back at the beginning of the race but steadily improved during the race and the pit stops to finally finish in 4th spot and minimize the damage done to his championship hopes by the winner Lewis Hamilton.
Team of the day
Even though they only finished in 6th and 10th position, Toyota showed a much better performance than they did at the British GP for example. Three points is not much, but at least it’s a little something in the bag and moves them closer to Red Bull-Renault.
Racer of the day
Alonso is also the racer of the day, he slipped back at the start, moved back up, kept his cool and thought of the bigger picture, getting points and minimizing the damage to keep him in the hunt for his 3rd Championship title. “The fight for the championship is still open and I will try my best to close the gap.” Alonso said.
Charger of the day
On a track like Hungary there is usually not a lot of charging done. Three drivers made up four positions each: Takuma Sato, Sebastian Vettel and Adrian Sutil. They however did not really “charge” thru the field.
Honorable mention
Heikki Kovalainen qualified in 11th position, drove a solid race getting not only the 8th fastest lap of the race a full 0.760sec faster than team mate Giancarlo Fisichella but also moving up 3 places and finishing in 8th and scoring 1 point for his team. “It was a difficult race today starting from eleventh place on the grid. But I never gave up and I pushed as hard as I could and succeeded in finishing in the points.” he said.
Disappointment of the day
Honda qualified in 17th and 18th positions. Rubens Barrichello finished in 18th, 2 laps down behind the Spyker of Adrian Sutil, and Jenson Button retired with a throttle problem in 21st. It’s hard to imagine that this team scored 86 points last year and with no testing between now and the Turkish Grand Prix in 3 weeks time, Honda will have to work hard in house to improve their situation.
Doofus of the day
Sakon Yamamoto started in 21st position raced all of 4 laps and duly spun off the track. His seven previous outings with Super Aguri were just as successful. Yamamoto is out of his environment in F1 and should just retire to the lower formulas. He does not belong in F1. End of story.
