Adam Cooper F1

Red Bull boss Christian Horner was in bullish mood after the Hungarian GP, despite neither RB8 making it to the podium.

Sebastian Vettel had to settle for fourth, while Mark Webber slipped back to eighth after running three stops. But despite the disappointment Horner was happy to see the team bag some points after a difficult afternoon.

“We go into the summer break 53 points in the lead in the constructors’ championship, and our drivers are second and third in the drivers’ championship,” said Horner.

“There are 225 [driver] points still available, nine races to go. It’s going to be full on. Definitely we’ll use this week before the shutdown to good effect, and then it’s a good opportunity for everybody within the company to recharge their batteries before a manic last three months.”

Horner defended the team’s reliability record after a differential problem compromised Mark Webber’s race in Hungary.

“We’ve had the odd issue here and there, all teams have them up and down the pit lane. They tend to balance themselves out and this championship will come down to the fourth places, the eighth places – on the days that you can’t win, the points that you collect. Today was a tough race for us, but hopefully we’ve got some good races coming up for us.”

He also hit back against recurring suggestions that Red Bull has been bending the rules after a series of recent controversies, none of which has led to any penalty.

“The bottom line is the result sheet comes out at the end of qualifying or the end of the race and the car complies with the regs. All the rest is all bullshit. At the end of the day it’s all down to the FIA and the stewards to decide whether the car is legal or not. Every single time our car has been questioned by other teams, it’s always been found to comply with the rules.

“Of course the nature of F1 is that it’s competitive, but the regulations are written in such a way that they are open to interpretation, and from HRT to Red Bull every single team interprets those rules, otherwise you’d have all the cars looking the same. Part of our strength is our ingenuity, and I don’t think we should be criticised for being creative.”

Fernando Alonso was in upbeat mood after finishing fifth in Hungary, and he made it clear that he was delighted to have scored a good helping of points on a track which did not suit Ferrari.

Although he lost ground to some of his rivals he finished three spots ahead of Mark Webber, and he thus actually extended his advantage over the man in second place.

“I finished ahead of Button and ahead of Webber,” said Alonso. “So in the end we did something better than the others in terms of the strategy, in terms of consistency. We managed to lose one position with Vettel, to win some positions with Webber, and increase the lead in the championship. So, a very nice Sunday.”

Alonso nearly got ahead of Vettel at the start, and thereafter had a busy afternoon.

“We were quite close, but it was not possible, not enough. We needed to start on the clean side, maybe the opportunity was better. Overall the race was not easy, we were not quick, we were defending first with Webber, then with Kimi, then with Button.

“So a defending race, but I think in terms of points, a good amount of points again in a difficult weekend, because we were not quick on Friday, not quick in qualifying, not quick on Sunday, and even with that we scored a lot of points today.”

Alonso says that Ferrari has some catching up to do and suggested that Ferrari has some useful updates in the pipeline.

“We need to work. I think we saw today in dry conditions there are three teams in front of us, Lotus, McLaren, Red Bull, it has been like this all season more or less. So we need to close this gap. I think we have some nice ideas to develop in this coming weeks, and hopefully in Spa and Monza we can introduce them.”

Meanwhile he’s looking forward to the summer break: “I’m happy to relax a little bit, I think we arrive quite tired at the end of July, we had three races in four weeks, a lot of work in the factory, a lot of aeroplanes, hotels, I think we need to have two or three weeks off to relax and come back in September with the batteries full.”

A win for Lewis Hamilton in Hungary has put the McLaren driver back in the World Championship hunt ahead of the August summer break, after a run of three races that produced just four points.

Hamilton now lies fourth on 117 points, and is only seven behind second placed Mark Webber, but still a significant 47 off Fernando Alonso,

“This weekend shows that it’s all to play for still,” said Hamilton. “Not enough points taken from Fernando as he still got ten points, but bit by bit, if we can continue with this kind of performance, then we can slowly catch him. We know we need consistency and we need to improve the car still in many areas, and that, I’m sure, we will do. The team is doing a fantastic job.

“We’ve now got the quickest pit stops or usually the quickest pit stops. Today I got the best start I’ve had all year, I was really surprised by it. This is a really good stepping stone for us, especially after the difficult races we’ve had over the last three tough races, it’s great to come and end the summer on this high.”

In the end Hamilton did two stops, although at one point the team came close to switching him to three, as it did with Jenson Button.

“The plan was to do a two-stop but, you know, I had my target laps and the team weren’t confident that I was going to make it to those laps, but I knew I would.

“In my second stint I could have gone longer but they wanted to cover the guys behind which was probably the right thing to do. So, as we did that, then it was just trying to make those tyres last a long time while keeping Kimi behind. So, if we were on another track where overtaking was much easier I think perhaps the result would have been different.”

However, Hamilton said Raikkonen was never a real threat.

“He was never really close enough. I purposely allowed him to close up in certain corners, so that he may have problems with his tyres eventually – but it didn’t look like it was going to happen. But I had to make sure I saved my speed for the last sector and made sure I drew a big enough gap in the last three corners and I did that every lap.

“I could see it was very difficult for them to follow, particularly through those areas, so it was important to make sure you maximise, especially with the DRS.”

Sebastian Vettel has kept his championship challenge firmly on track with a solid fourth place in Hungary, but the German felt he had the speed to do a lot better.

After starting third Vettel was passed by Jenson Button at the first corner, and having lost time behind the McLaren he was also jumped at the second pit stops by Kimi Raikkonen.

Later he made an extra pit stop to finish the race on fresh tyres, having got far enough ahead of Fernando Alonso to ensure that he would hold onto fourth even with a stop.

“I think it was probably not the result we could have had today,” said Vettel. “Our speed was a little bit better than that. Jenson was quite slow, and we lost quite a lot. But obviously you can’t just pit and come out in clean air, there’s traffic. Other people weren’t that much slower either.

“We thought that we’d try something. Obviously it could have been the case that their tyres fall ‘off the cliff’, which wasn’t the case. So we’ll try next time.

“I think a two-stop would not have change anything, so it was just following Romain around. Trying to something different was I think the right thing. It was marginal coming out ahead of Fernando, but it was good. It could have been a different story, their tyres could have fallen off.

“It didn’t happen this time. We did everything we could from a strategy point of view, which lost a little bit too much in the first corner and particularly to Jenson, who was very slow, and we lots too much time to the guys ahead.”

Vettel insisted that he wasn’t too disappointed.

“I’m not frustrated, it was not a boring afternoon for me. I was fighting as much as I could, I was pushing hard. That’s what I’m here for. We finished fourth, we didn’t win. If I win then I’m happy. If you’re fourth – today I have to accept it, but you’re not as happy as if you win.

“I finished ahead of Fernando, but not a lot. Race pace was quite good so it’s up to us to have better starts in the future. And probably one or two better steps in qualifying, and then it’s a different race.”

Lewis Hamilton has always felt at home in Hungary, and will again be in the thick of the action on Sunday after dominating qualifying.

Hamilton did two laps that would have been good enough for pole, and is now hoping to recover from a run of races that has seen him earn just four points in the last three starts.

“I’m really happy with the work the guys have done,” said Hamilton. “Obviously Jenson showed the pace of the car in the last race, but to be able to put that to work through qualifying feels fantastic. This is a good boost to the team. Still we have a very long race tomorrow. Lots can happen and we just need to keep our cool.

“It’s the same as everyone when they win races. You just have to keep your head cool and look after your tyres. Tyre strategy will be important tomorrow. Degradation will be interesting. I just hope for once we have a good start – that’s what I hope for the beginning.”

Hamilton, who did his long run testing on Friday, is confident that the car will have good race pace.

“The track was a little bit greener yesterday, so it’s difficult to compare it to today, but for us it was not such a problem. I think we know the Lotus is very, very strong on long runs and so is the Red Bull, so we just need to focus on us and really hope we can improve this weekend with those upgrade. Jenson showed in the last race that it is an improvement so hopefully I can show the same thing tomorrow.”

Fernando Alonso says he’s relieved to have qualified as high as sixth in Hungary after worrying that he’d end up further down the order, given Ferrari’s struggle for pace this weekend.

Alonso starts immediately ahead of his team mate Felipe Massa.

“It was better than I expected to be honest,” said the Spaniard. “Because we were a little bit worried about the Q3 possibilities with the two Lotuses, two Red Bulls, two McLarens and Force India also looked quite quick. We made it into Q3 and then P6 is a reasonable position at the moment. Second in the championship is Webber, and he starts 11th, so hopefully we can keep him behind the whole race.”

Like other drivers, Alonso struggled to get the best out of the softer Pirelli tyre.

“It was very difficult, in qualifying for whatever reason the balance changed for everybody, and it was a little bit more tricky. We made some adjustments to the front wing and tyre pressures, and in the end in Q3 the car was quite well balanced.

“I think it will be an unpredictable race, as in this 2012 season has been all of them I think. Yesterday we had rain in FP2 so we don’t have much information about long runs, so tomorrow we need to keep updating strategy every lap, and we see what we do.”

However, he stressed that a race win was out of reach in normal conditions.

“We have to be honest, we are not in a position to be as quick as the leaders here, I think. We are nine-tenths off the pole position today, so the victory tomorrow at the moment I think is difficult for us. We need some strange race or wet conditions or something like that, which may happen. But at the moment we are happy with sixth.”

Meanwhile Alonso said he’d be happy to see Lotus take points off his main title rivals: “I hope so. They are quick, they have been quick all weekend, they did a very good qualifying, and normally on race pace they are very strong. Staring up at the front, if we cannot win for sure for us the best thing is if Lotus wins.

Lewis Hamilton bounced back from his disappointing race in Germany to top the times in both sessions in Hungary for McLaren.

The car has clearly been improved by the upgrades that were introduced in Hockenheim, although the bad weather there didn’t allow the drivers to take full advantage.

“It’s been a real positive day for me,” said Hamilton. “The guys did a fantastic job, we made some really good changes with the car to get it dialled in, we’re on the right path. We’ve still got work to do and we know the Red Bull looks very quick, so does the Lotus, and obviously Ferrari as well. We are by no means feeling comfortable, we’re going to keep pushing.

“I feel good in the car, but practice is completely different to qualifying. Tomorrow when we get into qualifying I have no doubts that Fernando will all of a sudden find half a second, I have no doubts that all of a sudden the Red Bulls will find a chunk of time. In practice you just focus on whatever fuel load you’re on and whatever programme you’re on. I think we’re not in a bad position. It’s been all positives today, we haven’t really had any problems, just making nice little tweaks to the car. But the car’s been feeling really good.”

Hamilton is adamant that he had to be at the sharp end in qualifying on Saturday.

“Overtaking here is very, very difficult, if not almost impossible. Positioning is very important. People will do longer runs, people will do three stops, some people will do two stops. Fernando when he starts at the front, it makes the race so much easier [for him], and that’s how it is when you start at the front. It will be great for our team if at least we can get in the first two rows, it would be a really good start for our weekend.”

Lewis also made it clear how much he likes the track, where he has been fast since his F1 rookie season in 2007.

“I love this track, it’s a great old circuit, real great character to it, lovely off-camber corners, ups and downs. Really, really great fun to drive, it’s so flowing. And tough on the tyres. Just because I love it doesn’t mean I’m going to do any better here, but you enjoy it a lot more than some others.”

Sebastian Vettel was only 15^th and eighth in the two sessions in Hungary today, and like many other drivers he didn’t to sample soft tyres because of the rain.

While the true picture isn’t clear Vettel did concede that the team still has some work to do to get the car to his liking.

“It’s difficult to judge as we didn’t get out on the soft tyres, so it’s difficult to compare our competitiveness,” said Vettel. “It was a normal Friday, and I think there’s still a lot of room for improvement for us, things that we need to do a little bit better for the rest of the weekend, and then we’ll see where we are. Unfortunately the weather caught us out like everyone in the end. We’ll see what we get tomorrow.

“I don’t think it’s a big handicap, because some people did their runs, some people did not. On the other hand I think we got a decent run on the primes, two proper runs, which was important. I think we found a little bit there. All in all we still need to find another little bit for tomorrow.

“It looks to be quite tight, it’s a short lap, so I think it will be extremely tight in qualifying if it’s dry. In case of damp or wet, it’s difficult. Right now the conditions we had a very unlikely because it’s a bit of everything, so it was not so smart for us to go out.”

Inevitably much interest surrounds the FIA clampdown on RBR’s engine mapping, but Vettel continues to downplay it.

“A lot of talk, but if you would know what is going on in the background, you wouldn’t be too interested in the talking and the stuff that gets printed the last couple of days. Fortunately tomorrow there’s a new paper, and the day after tomorrow again, and especially on Monday. We focus on the race here, and then try to make some good news for Monday’s paper.

“Surely if we had the choice we would go back to what we had in Hockenheim, but it’s difficult for us as well to measure, like I said yesterday.”

Michael Schumacher crashed in a wet FP2 session for the second time in a row when he went off in Hungary this afternoon.

Schumacher slid straight on into the tyre wall after hitting standing water following a heavy shower mid way through the session.

“I just ran out of road, locked up and couldn’t stop the car anymore,” he said. “I don’t think it was aquaplaning. It was just one of these unusual things… A bit strange but nevertheless we have to put a cross on it and forget about it.”

Asked by this writer whether the track was unusually slippery, he said: “Honestly it’s not normal rain conditions, because it was just completely dry, suddenly some rain, so that was not the normal condition that you would have to face. So I’m not too worried about that.”

Schumacher has qualified third and fourth in the last two wet Q3 sessions, and conceded that wet conditions here could help him.

“I think the rain might be an opportunity as we have seen at Silverstone and Hockenheim, so let’s see what happens.”

As to whether he had learned much in the dry, he said: “A bit. Much, it’s a question mark. We’ll find out where we are against the others.”

Lewis Hamilton has no qualms about his controversial unlapping move on Sebastian Vettel in Germany – and says he would expect to be fired by his team if he didn’t always race as hard as he could.

Hamilton generated strong criticism from Vettel after getting between the German and Fernando Alonso at Hockenheim.

“People have had opinions on it,” he said when asked about the move by this writer. “But at the end of the day it doesn’t matter whether I’m first or last, I’m a racer. I race my heart out wherever I am, even if I know in the back of my mind that I can’t get any points, I’m still paid to push at all times. I would expect that if I was a team boss.

“I know my team expect that from me. You would have thought that people would expect that from Fernando, people would expect that from Sebastian, so that’s what I did. I felt quite relaxed after the race knowing that I did. If I’d given up and just pootled around, I would expect to be fired.”

Lewis insisted that he didn’t treat his move on Vettel with any more caution than if it had been a straight fight.

“It never came into my mind. It was racing, it was quite easy, tactical racing. You know that Sebastian is a smart driver, so it’s not like racing with some of the other guys, you know that he’s not going to do anything stupid. And I wasn’t planning to do anything stupid either.”

Hamilton also explained how he had talked to the team before he decided to take on Vettel.

“I did speak to the team before. I said, ‘What do you want me to do?’. I had Jenson several seconds behind me. He wasn’t in a position to overtake, but I wasn’t falling back, so the gap was staying the same, and I was quicker than the guys in front. ‘I said what do I do here? I don’t want to get in the way of Jenson.’

“They said you can either pull over and risk the chance of getting in the way of Jenson, or you can try to unlap yourself. And so I decided to unlap myself. I had plenty of pace, I had new tyres, so that’s what I did.”

Asked if was surprised that Alonso hadn’t then let him by, he added: “He doesn’t like to overtaken by me! I wouldn’t expect anything more or less from him.”