It has been a day of nerves and emotions, and I have to say that even I was reduced to tears of joy as Jenson Button took his maiden grand prix victory in a rain interrupted race in Hungary. Even sweeter is that he started the race in 14th position after an engine change penalty from practice, that shows what an amazing drive it was from Jenson. A lot of credit has to go to the Honda team as well for making the right decisions, especially the choice to stick with the same intermediate tyres for his third stint before changing to slick (grooved) tyres for the final stint. Jenson was helped by some big names falling by the wayside along the way, namely pole sitter Raikkonen, Schumacher and Alonso, although I believe that Button had the measure of Schumacher and Alonso as the race progressed. So a big ‘HELL YEAH’ to Jenson Button, and the Honda team bringing Formula One back home the Britain, its been almost three years since a Brit last won a race, and after 113 starts, nine 3rd place and four 2nd place finishes, Jenson has put an end to the F1 victory drought for British drivers. And what a place to do it, Damon Hill took his first grand prix victory in Hungary 13 years ago, and the Hungaroring circuit has been happy hunting grounds for British drivers down the years! I am finding it hard to find words to describe my feelings about this victory, I have followed Jenson’s career since he joined Formula One with Williams in 2000, and followed the agony and extasy of his career particularly since joining BAR/Honda in 2003, reigniting the British F1 flame! We mustn’t forget that there were other people in this race as well, and the sole remaining McLaren of Pedro De La Rosa took second and Nick Heidfeld gave a maiden podium finish for new boys’ and former Williams engine supplier BMW! And to top Honda’s weekend off, Rubens Barrichello just missed out on a podium finish and brought his car home in 4th position and the second of the Brits, David Coulthard followed Barrichello’s Honda home to finish in 5th position, so a good weekend for the Brits! Ralf Schumacher, F1 rookie Robert Kubica and Felipe Massa rounded out the top 8 in 6th, 7th, and 8th respectively, so a good day for BMW Sauber, but an amazing day for Honda, the only thing that could have topped it would be if Honda managed a 1 – 2 finish in Hungary, but I feel that will come after Jenson’s first Formula One victory!
Edit [6/8/06 – 20:38]: That jammy German Michael Schumacher has managed to grab a point from the race despite not actually finishing the race, retiring three laps from the end. Schumacher was promoted from his finish position of 9th to 8th when BMW’s Robert Kubica was disqualified for an underweight car after post race scrutineering. Now here’s an interesting poser for you; because Schumacher didn’t finish the race and drove straight into the Ferrari garage, is the Ferrari of Schumacher subject to the same scrutineering as Kubica’s car was? Because the Ferrari was looking very light on tread when it pulled into the Ferrari garage, and was the car still subject to Parc Ferme conditions while in the garage as it retired before the conclusion of the race… anyway I shall leave you to decide!
