It would be hard to imagine any F1 fan not being captivated with envy witnessing Lewis Hamilton's attack on Sebastian Vettel in the opening stages of the Hungarian Grand Prix. Sliding all over the slick, greasy asphalt, Hamilton provided a display of wheel to wheel combat as it has always been idealized in F1.
Unfortunately for Lewis, his efforts were ultimately derailed by a combination of poor tire strategy and impatience. The Hungaroring is an exceptionally tight circuit. With the race in his pocket, Hamilton spun the car around. The time and place of his mistake and "uh oh" recovery maneuver brought another dance with the FIA stewards and thus a costly drive through.
The truth is that the drive through did not cost him the race, the tire strategy did. However, the aggressive manner in which Hamilton dumped the clutch to spin his McLaren around 180 degrees did not aid that cause nearly as much as one deep breath might have allowing oncoming traffic to pass.
Once again, we've another contrasting example of Hamilton's skill and bravado losing out to patience, maturity, and race craft.
Given the manner in which Lewis opened the proceedings, it is easy to understand why so many F1 fans love him. To his credit, he handled this disappointing result with a braver face than we've seen lately. Hopefully this is a sign that he is in fact growing.
Speaking of race craft, Jenson Button, as he has done so often of late, bided his time. He chose his tires carefully, and then took care of them to maximize the investment. I believe there is an expression that suggests when one is truly good at something, they refine it down to nothing. Is it unfair to suggest that Jenson has done just that? Maybe.
Button did in fact have a couple of spirited dices with his teammate. It would be inaccurate to simplify his tactics as passively waiting for the folly of those ahead. Jenson may not provide the same show as Hamilton, but there is no debating his results. I don't know that he's the most underrated driver on the grid, but he is surely the most underrated world champion in recent memory.
On the other hand, Fernando Alonso wound up with a very important podium finish because of his tenacity. Perhaps Ferrari will one day build a single seater that does not drive like it is on ice, but Alonso continues to overcome a twitchy, errant race car with old fashioned work ethic.
Although the F150th Italia did eventually manage to get away from him, he had set a quick enough pace to cushion the fall and rejoin the race in calm, controlled fashion.
Another great race . . .
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