31.07.11

Stuart Codling's column

Jenson Button played the changing conditions in Hungary perfectly to win a thrilling grand prix. Making his 200th Formula 1 start, he channeled his experience effectively while his Vodafone McLaren Mercedes team-mate Lewis Hamilton made a critical error and lost a commanding lead.

Button qualified third and held on to that position over the perilous opening laps in wet conditions. At the front, Hamilton harassed polesitter Sebastian Vettel into a mistake on the third lap and moved into the lead.

As usual the Ferraris took longer to get heat into their tyres and this compromised their race. Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa fell behind the Mercedes of Michael Schumacher and Nico Rosberg on the opening lap when they could not summon enough traction to accelerate out of the tight first corner.

Alonso knew he had to pass them quickly to be in with a chance of winning, but in doing so he went off the circuit twice and had to do it all over again. Massa also went off, damaging his rear wing. By the time Alonso had cleared both Mercedes for good, on lap nine, he was already 10 seconds behind Hamilton.

When the rain stopped, the track surface dried quickly. Button was one of the first to pit for dry-weather tyres. Vettel stopped a lap later, by which time Button had got his tyres up to racing temperature and had gathered vital intelligence about where to find the best grip. He quickly passed the world champion to take second place. Massa also stopped early but one of his rear tyres was slow to release, costing him track position.

Alonso made his third pitstop early, on lap 37, and he took on another set of the super-soft tyres, which would give him extra performance but would have to be changed by the end of the race. This tactical move forced both Red Bull and Vodafone McLaren Mercedes to respond when they saw Alonso outpacing their drivers by 2.5s a lap: Red Bull put both its drivers on the medium tyre, which would be durable enough to last until the end, while McLaren hedged its bets by putting Hamilton on super-softs and Button on mediums. Alonso and Hamilton would therefore have to push to the maximum to make enough time for an extra stop.

Just as Hamilton’s super-soft tyres were wearing out, it started to rain again. He spun at the chicane and came to rest facing the wrong way. In executing a spin turn to get going again, he forced Paul Di Resta to go off the track. The marshals took a poor view of this and duly handed him a drive-through penalty.

With his lead gone, Hamilton found himself battling wheel-to-wheel with his team-mate in the rain. He pitted for wet-weather tyres, but Button and Vettel stayed out. Alonso chose this moment to pit for another set of slick tyres. Almost immediately the rain stopped, forcing Hamilton to return to the pits twice – once for slick tyres, and again to serve his drive-through penalty. That left him sixth, behind Mark Webber and Massa

Button mastered the slippery conditions to run out the victor ahead of Vettel and Alonso, while Hamilton fought back in the closing laps to pass Webber and Massa to claim fourth.