06.08.2007

LABOUR RELATIONS

The Hungarian Grand Prix proved a fraught weekend for Panasonic Toyota Racing PR representative Peter Innes, who attends selected races and tests for the team. Peter was on duty for the team in Budapest and was looking ahead to the impending birth of his second child during the summer break. It seemed as if the timing had been good until Peter received the news that wife Liz had gone into labour on Saturday morning. With his home in Cambridge, England, Peter made a frantic dash for Budapest airport. Despite his best efforts Peter was a few hours too late to witness the arrival of son Callum!

NEWS FROM OUR RIVALS

The ups and downs of the championship-leading McLaren Mercedes team dominated the events of the Hungarian GP weekend. Fernando Alonso took pole position on Saturday afternoon, narrowly beating team mate Lewis Hamilton. Just before his final flying lap, however, Alonso remained stationary in the pitlane with Hamilton queued behind him, with the result that Lewis did not manage to complete his final qualifying run. Race stewards investigated the incident and late on Saturday night gave a five place starting grid penalty to Alonso. McLaren was also penalised any constructors championship points that they scored in the Grand Prix, which amounted to 15. That leaves McLaren with 138 points in the constructors championship and Ferrari on 119 with six races to go.

Scuderia Toro Rosso replaced American Scott Speed with BMW Sauber third driver Sebastian Vettel for the remainder of the 2007 season and 2008. The team was impressed with a mistake-free weekend from the young German, who finished the race in 16th place.

RACE REPORT

Ralf Schumacher scored a fine sixth place, his best result of the season, for Panasonic Toyota Racing in the Hungarian Grand Prix, round 11 of the FIA Formula 1 World Championship. Team mate Jarno Trulli finished the race in 10th place.

Ralf qualified sixth on the grid as well, but started fifth when pole position man Fernando Alonso was penalised five grid positions.

“It was a good situation,” Schumacher said, “we were competitive over one lap and we also had good pace over the long runs and seemed to be able to manage the tyres well.”

The race proved Ralf’s confidence when he made a strong start and kept double world champion Alonso behind him for two-thirds of the race, Alonso only passing the TF107 when he ran two laps further to his second pit stop.

“That was a really strong race,” Ralf added. "The car felt a little bit nervous in the first stint but we made some front wing adjustments at the first stop and things improved after that. Some teams elected to run three stop races to minimise the time spent on the option tyre but we made just the two stops, the tyres performed well and the three points is good for the team.” Jarno, meanwhile, was disappointed with the outcome.

“I didn’t get a good start and lost positions. That was a shame because Budapest, after Monte Carlo, is probably the most difficult track on the calendar at which to overtake. My lap times improved whenever I found myself in clear air but that didn't happen often enough and I think I achieved everything that was possible in the circumstances.”

The race was won by championship leader Lewis Hamilton for McLaren Mercedes, ahead of Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen. Nick Heidfeld finished third for BMW Sauber, getting to the flag just ahead of the charging Alonso, who now trails his team mate by seven points in the world championship. Polish driver Robert Kubica finished just three seconds clear of Ralf with the second BMW. The final points were claimed by Nico Rosberg's Williams and the Renault of Heikki Kovalainen.

Team principal Tadashi Yamashina summarised: “We were flexible on strategy between two stops and three but the indications from the first part of the race were that two would be better. Ralf almost got ahead of the BMWs using that approach, but he lost a bit of time behind Nick Heidfeld.”

Formula 1 now enters its summer break, with some of the hard-working race team personnel looking forward to some time with their families between now and the Turkish Grand Prix in Istanbul on August 26.