Vettel and Raikkonen set to stay at Ferrari

Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen will head off to enjoy Formula 1’s European summer break knowing their Ferrari futures have been virtually rubber-stamped following their Hungarian Grand Prix one-two.

Championship leader Vettel, already a four-time world titlist, increased his advantage over three-time champion Lewis Hamilton to 14 points, partly courtesy of the Briton’s decision to hand a podium finish to his Mercedes teammate Valtteri Bottas in Hungary.

The Ferrari duo’s easy relationship and shared sense of pragmatism has made them a good fit for the improved Italian outfit this year –- a quality not missed at the weekend by Ferrari president Sergio Marchionne.

Answering questions from reporters Marchionne hinted that both were likely to stay, with an announcement expected at the Italian Grand Prix at Monza in early September.

“I think I have been public on the Sebastian issue, if he wants to stay he is more than welcome to stay,” said Marchionne.

“And in the case of Kimi, we are pretty well sure… we know he wants to stay. Hopefully, we will bring them on soon.”

Asked about a likely statement at the team’s home GP, he added: “That’s what I’ve heard –- I heard Maurizio (Arrivabene, team boss) was going to do that.”

The Ferrari president was more coy answering questions about hiring Hamilton in future, though.

“It would be a privilege if he ended his career at Ferrari.

“But for now, we have not gone far with Lewis… I will not talk about the future. We have two great drivers now and we don’t want to talk about alternatives.”

The revived Vettel has won four races this year, including Sunday’s victory in his 50th outing with the team, and with his championship lead can afford to relax during the August break.

“It’s a dream,” said Vettel after Sunday’s win.

“I want to win, It’s where you want to be. Our mission is to get back to the top and, obviously, we have had a great year and we have a great car.”

The German’s victory was his first in five outings since the Monaco Grand Prix where, on a similarly slow, twisting and demanding circuit, power was less effective than at such tracks as Silverstone or the upcoming venues in Belgium and Italy.

Hamilton, even in a Mercedes team where the drivers have equal status, will be favoured to shine at both of those and close the gap in the championship before the end of the ‘European’ season.

“This break has come at a good time for all of us,” he said. “Everyone needs to re-charge and come back fresh and I truly believe we can win this championship, but it’s going to need 100 percent effort.”

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Williams crew set the best pitstop time in Hungary

Williams once again put on a display of perfect teamwork in the Hungarian Grand Prix.

The British team executed the DHL Fastest Pit Stop for the seventh time in the eleventh race of the 2017 campaign. Paul di Resta, who stepped in for the indisposed Felipe Massa shortly before qualifying, was given a new set of tires on Lap 34 in just 2.29 seconds.

“It was obviously a very exciting day, but it was a very difficult day as well,” said di Resta. “Jumping straight in the car with no experience of the different tire compounds or running on high fuel, I wasn’t sure what to expect, so I went in with an open mind.”

However, the Scot failed to make it to the checkered flag, as an oil leak forced him to retire a few laps before the end of the race.

The second-quickest pit stop was also performed by the perfectly choreographed Williams crew. Lance Stroll’s tire change took 2.33 seconds – only slightly longer than that of his team-mate.

One Stop in Budapest

Despite the high surface temperatures of more than 50°C, the Budapest crowd saw a one-stop race. The decisive factor in this was the safety car deployment immediately after the start, which considerably reduced tire wear.

Of the 21 pit stops in the Hungarian Grand Prix, seven were completed in under three seconds. Race winner Sebastian Vettel took 3.01 seconds for his change of wheels, while his Ferrari team-mate Kimi Räikkönen was dispatched more promptly in a time of 2.65 seconds.

The double victory in Budapest has enabled Williams to further extend their lead in the DHL Fastest Pit Stop Award, and they now go into the summer break with a comfortable cushion. The Grove-based outfit are on 287 points while their closest pursuers, Mercedes, are some way back on 230. In third and fourth respectively are Red Bull (178) and Ferrari (119).

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Vettel: It’s what I dream about to be honest

Sebastian Vettel will enjoy Formula 1’s August break as championship leader but he knows the job is only half done and it will not get any easier in the months ahead, however the German is adamant that he can win the title this year.

Vettel, a four-time F1 world champion with Red Bull, is unlikely to spend the vacation fretting about his future, however.

Out of contract at the end of the season, Vettel’s comments after winning in Hungary on Sunday did not sound like those of a man expecting anything other than a continued spell at Maranello.

Reports in Italy have already suggested that Ferrari, the sport’s most successful team, will confirm both Vettel and Finnish teammate Kimi Raikkonen at their home Italian Grand Prix in September.

Vettel has now won four of 11 races this season, making 2017 his best season with Ferrari, and has led the championship from day one in Australia.

He is 14 points clear of Lewis Hamilton, who shared the lead with him briefly after China in April but gifted Vettel three extra points on Sunday by handing back third place to his Mercedes teammate Valtteri Bottas.

Vettel does not have to worry about such displays of sportsmanship, the 30-year-old a clear No 1 at Ferrari, and can be single-minded about the remaining nine rounds.

“It’s what I dream about to be honest. I want to win so that’s where you want to be,” he told reporters on after the race in Hungary when asked whether the season so far had been more than he could have dreamed of after a barren 2016.

“The mission has been to get back to the top so obviously we had a great year, I’m only two and a half years in with the team,” he added.

“Over the winter I think we were the team that made the least noise… I was very happy that we just worked, we just kept to ourselves and did the job. We have a great car.”

Hungary, a slow circuit like Monaco where Ferrari also excelled, is very different from the next two high-speed races – Spa in Belgium and the flat out blast of Italy’s venerable Monza circuit.

Mercedes dominated in similar circumstances at Silverstone, where Hamilton savoured a home win, and the Briton can hope to level the points tally by the end of the first week of September.

He too will go away to recharge his batteries for the battle ahead, ready to deny Vettel a fifth title and secure his own fourth, “I definitely think it’s come at a good time. It’s definitely been a difficult season up to now.”

“This break I think will be really good for everyone to spend some time with family, recharge and come back fresh. I truly believe we have the capability of winning this championship. But it’s going to take absolutely 100 percent of everyone’s effort to pull it off,” added Vettel.

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McLaren set engine deadline amid Renault speculation

McLaren say the next five weeks will be the key to deciding which engine they will use next season, with speculation mounting that the former world champions could ditch Honda and switch to Renault.

Chief operating officer Jonathan Neale told Reuters at the Hungarian Grand Prix that “everybody is talking to everybody”, but time was running out.

“We’ve got to land those decisions in the next four or five weeks,” he said, speaking from a design perspective and because drivers like McLaren’s Fernando Alonso were waiting to see what engines teams had before committing to new deals.

“I think there is a solution out there for everybody and I hope it’s one that will be able to retain Fernando in this team.”

McLaren scored their first double-points finish of the season in Budapest on Sunday with double world champion Alonso finishing sixth, a day after his 36th birthday, and Belgian Stoffel Vandoorne 10th.

The nine points lifted McLaren off the bottom of the standings just before the August break and factory shutdown, a result that Neale compared to scoring a goal before halftime.

Alonso’s future is a key concern, with the Spaniard out of contract and saying McLaren need to provide a competitive car to keep him.

Honda’s power unit has been beset with problems since the partnership started in 2015, the engine neither reliable nor competitive.

Hungary, the slowest permanent circuit on the calendar, reduced those shortcomings, but the next two races in Belgium and Italy are two of the fastest, where engine horsepower is of critical importance.

McLaren are Honda’s sole team in Formula One. A proposed partnership with Sauber terminated last week with the Swiss team choosing to stay with Ferrari.

A split from McLaren could force the Japanese manufacturer out of the sport, but Neale hinted at an alternative.

“You’ll have seen the media speculation that there’s discussions with Toro Rosso,” he said.

Toro Rosso use Renault engines, but a switch to Honda – which could bring welcome funding to a team whose Red Bull parent has considered a sale in the past – would free the French units for McLaren.

The Renault engine has won a race this season with Red Bull and could satisfy Alonso, who won both his titles with the French manufacturer.

The other alternatives to Honda are Mercedes and Ferrari, but Neale recognised that putting a Ferrari engine in a McLaren, the Italian team’s historic arch-rivals, was highly unlikely.

“I’m hoping that by the time we get through September, we’ll be able to come out and say something more publicly,” said Neale.

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Massa withdraws from Budapest test

Felipe Massa has withdrawn from this week’s Budapest Formula One test after missing the Hungarian Grand Prix because he felt unwell.

His Williams team said on Monday that Canadian Lance Stroll would drive on Tuesday instead, with young Italian Luca Ghiotto making his Formula One test debut as previously scheduled on Wednesday.

Massa, who felt dizzy in practice last Friday and Saturday, was replaced at the weekend by the team’s experienced British reserve driver Paul di Resta.

The Brazilian is expected to return for the Belgian Grand Prix at the end of August, although there are no certainties.

“I think we’re optimistic. It would be really a great shame if he wasn’t ready for Spa,” team technical head Paddy Lowe said at the weekend. “That’s four weeks away so he ought to be in good shape by then.”

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Hungarian GP driver ratings

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'Lewis puts title on line'

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Morning After: Ferrari enter the summer break on a high

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Coming into Sunday, Ferrari’s mission was simple: extend Sebastian Vettel’s lead in the driver’s championship, and close the gap in the constructor’s – job done on both accounts.

Their first 1-2 in Hungary since 2004, it was somewhat fitting that the race played out in a Schumacher-esque fashion, with it ending how it started, Vettel’s lead protected by teammate Kimi Raikkonen throughout.

No, it won’t go down as one of the more entertaining races of the season, but perhaps we’ve been a bit spoiled by what the Hungaroring has offered in recent years, the lack of passing at the front more in line with what we should expect from the circuit, especially this year.

Whether it was Raikkonen on Vettel, Hamilton on Raikkonen or Verstappen on Bottas, they were always up against a lethal combination of high heat and turbulent air – a surefire way to stymie the racing.

That said, if there’s one major thing to take away from this race, it’s that the nature of the title fight remains essentially unchanged. Obviously, the 1-2 is going to provide a boost for Ferrari, but Mercedes can take solace in the pace Lewis Hamilton was able to extract on what was undoubtedly a favourable track for the Scuderia. By all means, Ferrari enter the summer break on a high, but they’ll do it looking over their shoulder…

Verstappen’s mistake proves costly for Ricciardo

Speaking to Dutch broadcaster Ziggo Sport a few days ago, Daniel Ricciardo admitted he considered Max Verstappen a “little brother”. If that’s the case, he might be delivering a bit of brotherly discipline after Sunday.

Sending Ricciardo out with an ill-timed lockup on their first run into turn 2, Verstappen was clearly not in his teammate’s good books. Known for his happy-go-lucky attitude, Ricciardo’s response afterwards was essentially his equivalent of a Seb Vettel rage-out, giving the Dutchman the finger as he left the track, and insinuating Verstappen was being a sore loser, having lost-out to his teammate.

For his part, Verstappen didn’t hesitate to apologise, but it remains very interesting how quickly things turned for Ricciardo. Some part of it has to be attributed to being in the ‘heat of the moment’, but they are widely regarded as having one of the best teammate relationships on the grid, yet Ricciardo went straight to assuming the worst of the teenager. Thankfully they’ve got three weeks to patch things over, but it does make you wonder how friendly they really are, and what happens if/when the championship stakes are heightened…

Quick Hits

• Fair play to Lewis Hamilton for giving his place back to Valtteri Bottas, he ran a legitimate risk with Max Verstappen so close behind
• Not a bad day for Fernando Alonso, all things considered – a fastest lap, and he brought the deckchair meme full-circle!
• Something tells me Kevin Magnussen won’t be getting an invite to Nico Hulkenberg’s birthday party…

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