The 2011 F1 season had passed the halfway stage at race 11 out of 19 at Hungary. Sebastian Vettel, the reigning world champion was comfortably leading the drivers’ standings but Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton with recent race wins were still in the hunt. The renowned Hungaroring would push the drivers to their limits for 70 laps to crown a winner.
Qualifying
Qualifying saw Red Bull “golden boy” Sebastian Vettel take pole position. The fight to start first was between himself and McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton; and this was how it turned out, with Hamilton joining Vettel on the front row, followed by his teammate Jenson Button who would start from third place on the grid, alongside Felipe Massa. Fernando Alonso would start behind his teammate in fifth as Mark Webber and his Red Bull, who was much slower than Vettel qualified in sixth place. Seventh, eighth, ninth and tenth position belonged to Rosberg, Sutil, Schumacher and Perez.
Race
With “changeable and challenging conditions in store for the drivers”, described by Martin Brundle, the race was without a doubt, foreshadowing lots of entertainment. Good starts from Sebastian Vettel and Lewis Hamilton saw the pair keep their positions into the first corner. Alonso, Webber and Massa struggled at the start, losing places to the two Mercedes cars.
After doing a good job in keeping the McLaren behind him, Sebastian Vettel ran wide at Turn 3 on lap five, which allowed Hamilton to take the lead of the race. He quickly increased the gap to Vettel, and Jenson Button began to catch up to the Red Bull. Massa spun on lap eight, while Alonso had made his way back up to fourth place.
Webber was the first to pit onto slick tyres and soon after, Button did the same. Vettel and Alonso followed in Hamilton into the pits on lap 11, with Hamilton going onto a used set of tyres. Button and Webber had now gained places on Vettel and Alonso. The top 5 at this stage was: Ham, But, Vet, Web, Alo.
The race saw retirements from Trulli, Heidfield, Schumacher and Kovalainen and some showers shook things up again. Lewis Hamilton spun and earned a drive through penalty for forcing di Resta off the track. Hamilton boxed on lap 52 for intermediate tyres after being told it would rain more while Button was told to stay out. Hamilton had first choice for pit strategy because he had been leading before taking his drive through penalty. Two laps later, after deciding it was the wrong call, he pit again for dry tyres.
Button now led from Vettel and Alonso and Hamilton, who had been fighting for fourth place with Webber. Alonso was catching up to the Red Bull but a spin made sure he would stick with his third place. It meant Button would go on to win on his 200th race start, finishing ahead of Vettel and Alonso.
The top ten concluded as: Button, Vettel, Alonso, Hamilton, Webber, Massa, di Resta, Buemi, Rosberg, Alguersuari.
This result meant that Vettel would still hold a significant lead in the championship over his rivals.
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The Fastest Sector 