F1...

The Hungarian GP yesterday was definitely one of the most exciting races i've seen in quite a while...

button getting his first ever GP win in 113 races, button ending a losing streak for british drivers, both renaults failing to finish for the first time in over 20 races - alonso actually retiring due to some mechanical problem, schumacher getting involved in some very close battles with some of the drivers and eventually retiring with 3 laps to go, raikonnen involved in a spectacular crash, a sauber DQ'ed resulting in schumacher getting a point, heavy rain before the race forcing a change in strategy for all the teams and much more....

the action started long before the race started....heavy rains forced teams to look at a different tyre strategy with some starting on full wets while others started on intermediates....it continued right from the second the five red lights when off....massa made a poor start dropping a few places while schumacher made up seven places - from 11th to 5th - by the first corner with alonso and button also making up quite alot of places by the first corner....for schumacher, he continued his fast start by making his way up to 3rd by the end of the 2nd lap but quickly fell down the order as the bridgestone tyres were having trouble adapting to the conditions....teammate massa was also facing similiar problems as he too continued to fall down the order from his starting position of 2nd....

on the 20th lap, schumacher was forced to pit earlier then he would have wanted to when his front right wing broke, forcing him into the pits for a nose change....then in the 26th lap, alonso's chances of winning got a boost when raikonnen ran into the back of luizzi taking out both drivers and nearly taking out teammate de la rosa....the incident brought out the safety car which saw alonso's lead over button cut...as the circuit began to dry and schumacher's tyres began to wear out, he beagan to set fastest laps and closing his gap to alonso.....

then, on lap 51, alonso came in for what seemed to be a routine stop, changing from intermediate to dry tyres despite the track not being entirely dry....but as he came out of the pits, he seemed to lose control of his car slightly - seemingly due to his dry tyres not being up to it's operating temperature and hitting the wet part of the track....and a couple of corners later, after what looked like a wheel nut came flying off, he spun off into the gravel trap, which he later said was something broken in the rear...all this while, schumacher continued his charge knowing that with alonso's retirement, he had the chance to really close the gap at the top....

but as the race wore on, so did the tyres of schumacher's intermediate tyres - to the point that his tyres looked like slicks....with 4 laps to go, pedro de la rosa - standing in for juan pablo montoya - exposed the worn out intemediate's of schumacher by overtaking him after hounding him for just over a lap.....as heidfeld tried to take advantage of schumacher's tyres on the next lap, schumacher's car finally gave up as the car had to limp back to the pits to retire....

alonso, raikonnen and schumacher were not the only big names to retire....fisichella made it a day renault will want to forget as he to crashed out while mark webber and nico rosberg both made it a season williams will want to forget quickly as both cars had DNF recorded next to their name once again this season - their fourth double retirement of the season and second in a row...at least one of the williams have failed to finish in 10 of the 13 races so far, with webber failing to finish his fourth race in a row and his 9th DNF of the season.....

p/s: david, although it was a win for honda, their car does have the colour red.... :-)