Finally!!! Reason to smile for Lewis

Nicole Scherzinger was in tears, and they were tears of joy, as Lewis Hamilton punched the air on crossing the finishing line. After a disappointing season, the defending World Champion finally grabbed a win to bring some joy to the McLaren Mercedes camp at the Hungaroring today. >

It was a relatively uneventful day for Lewis although the same couldn’t be said for pole position starter Fernando Alonso. Coming in for his first pit stop at lap 16, Alonso ran into tyre trouble after miscommunication amongst the pit crew let Alonso leave the pits before his front right tyre was in place properly.

First the aerodynamic wheel covers went, and then the tyre. Soon the two-time champion was driving on three wheels as he hobbled his way back to the pits to get a change of tyres again. But things didn’t work out for the Spaniard as he hobbled back to the garage and retired after just 17 laps. Tyres haven’t been the best mates for drivers this weekend as a freak loose tyre cause the death of a GP2 driver at Brands Hatch as well.

Red Bull were the next to face an issue as Sebastian Vettel was also forced to retire although Mark Webber would go on to get third place. Vettel was forced out with mechanical issues but teammate Webber was drawn into a long battle with Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen.>

Raikkonen had some reason to cheer as well as he finished almost 12 seconds behind Hamilton to give Ferrari’s sole car in the race, a good result. With Massa stable and out of any serious danger, the sun was shining on the Ferrari paddock as well.

Nico Rosberg came in at fourth with a relatively sober race. Rosberg maintained his pace throughout the race and completes a solid race to continue his climb up the drivers’ standings. Rosberg has steadily improved his performances over the last few races although he has yet to set foot on the podium.

The second McLaren of Heikki Kovalainen came in at fifth followed by Timo Glock’s Toyota, championship leader Jenson Button and Jarno Trulli in the second Toyota.>

At the end of an eventful weekend, there is finally some reason for people in the McLaren and Ferrari camp to smile as the points tally still has Jenson Button on top although teammate Mark Webber has cut his lead to 19.5 points.