Australian Mark Webber won the Hungarian Grand Prix to reclaim the Formula One world championship lead.
Hamilton fails to score for just second time this season
Australian Mark Webber won the Hungarian Grand Prix to reclaim the Formula One world championship lead from Britain's Lewis Hamilton.
Webber's Red Bull teammate Sebastian Vettel had been hot favourite to win in Budapest after qualifying in pole for the seventh time in 12 races, but the German again failed to convert the advantage, falling foul of the safety car rules and finishing third behind Ferrari's Fernando Alonso.
Hamilton retired with a suspected gearbox failure on his McLaren, only his second failure to score this season, and dropped to second place in the overall standings, four points behind the new leader.
A safety car deployed to clear debris on the Hungaroring after 14 laps caused mayhem, from which Webber ultimately emerged to win his fourth race of the season.
With just a fifth of the 70-lap race gone it appeared as if we were in for a processional run to the finish as the field seemed set at that stage on a circuit where overtaking is virtually impossible.
But thanks to nothing more than a piece of debris on the track from Vitantonio Liuzzi's Force India, there were remarkable scenes, penalties and retirements.
It brought the safety car into play, with Vettel just receiving the call in time to pit as he cut across the kerb running alongside the entry to the pit lane.
With the exception of Webber, running third at the time, the bulk of the field went in to change their tyres.
Mercedes' Nico Rosberg was primarily the instigator of the mayhem - or at least part of his pit crew were as they failed to correctly fit his right rear tyre.
As the German pulled out onto the pit lane the tyre worked loose, initially rolling and then bouncing its way through the other pit crews, with one Sauber mechanic just avoiding being hit.
Whether it was a distraction to Renault's pit team is unclear, but Robert Kubica was released too early.
Within an instant he had run into the side of Adrian Sutil just as he was about to pull his Force India car into his pit entry box.
Damage
The damage was too great for Sutil to continue, and although Kubica was soon sent on his way again he unsurprisingly received a 10-second stop-go penalty for an unsafe release from the pits.
As for Rosberg, he trundled down to the end of the pit lane on three wheels, and with his crew unable to retrieve him, he retired.
The stewards are to further investigate both incidents after the race, with the likelihood the teams will receive penalties given the danger that had been created.
The safety car initially seemed to serve McLaren well as Hamilton jumped Felipe Massa in the pit stops and Ferrari were forced to back their drivers up.
That allowed Hamilton to move up to fourth, whilst Jenson Button, who had made his stop just before the safety car was deployed, had moved up to 10th from 14th following a woeful start.
The drama, though, did not end there because just as the safety car was poised to return after two laps on track, Vettel allowed Webber to open up a considerable margin.
The tactics were clear, with Webber needing to stop, the team were looking for him to get a flyer in the hope he could then eke out a lead, take on tyres and so secure a one-two, likely behind Vettel.
Vettel, though, allowed the gap to Webber to exceed 10 car lengths, which is against the regulations, resulting in him being handed a drive-through penalty.
Emotions
When he served his punishment at the end of lap 31, he allowed his emotions to get the better of him as he clenched his fists in anger, seemingly towards the stewards, as he drove through the pit lane.
In filing in between the two Ferraris, and despite staring at the back of Alonso's exhaust for around the final 30 laps, the 23-year-old never once found an opportunity to pass.
Out in front Webber, who it initially appeared had made a mistake in not making his stop when the safety car appeared, stayed out on the super-soft tyres for 43 laps.
By that time he had built up a 23-second cushion to Alonso, enough to allow him to take on fresh rubber, retain his lead and stroll to victory.
At the end the margin was 17.8secs, with Alonso holding off Vettel for second, followed by Massa in fourth and Renault's Vitaly Petrov enjoying his best result for the team with fifth.
That was also the case for Williams' Nico Hulkenberg who was sixth, whilst Pedro De La Rosa ended his points drought for Sauber with seventh.
Behind Button in eighth was the second Sauber of Kamui Kobayashi, whilst Williams' Rubens Barrichello claimed the final point.
That was after a pass on Michael Schumacher in his Mercedes on lap 66 in which he was almost pushed into the wall along the pit straight, another incident the stewards are to investigate.
Results
Leading Final Positions (70 Laps): 1 Mark Webber (Aus) Red Bull 1hr 41mins 05.571secs, 2 Fernando Alonso (Spa) Ferrari 1:41:23.392, 3 Sebastian Vettel (Ger) Red Bull 1:41:24.823, 4 Felipe Massa (Bra) Ferrari 1:41:33.045, 5 Vitaly Petrov (Rus) Renault 1:42:18.763, 6 Nico Hulkenberg (Ger) Williams 1:42:22.294, 7 Pedro de la Rosa (Spa) BMW Sauber at 1 Lap, 8 Jenson Button (Gbr) McLaren at 1 Lap, 9 Kamui Kobayashi (Jpn) BMW Sauber at 1 Lap, 10 Rubens Barrichello (Bra) Williams at 1 Lap, 11 Michael Schumacher (Ger) Mercedes GP at 1 Lap, 12 Sebastien Buemi (Swi) Scuderia Toro Rosso at 1 Lap, 13 Vitantonio Liuzzi (Ita) Force India at 1 Lap, 14 Heikki Kovalainen (Fin) Lotus F1 at 3 Laps, 15 Jarno Trulli (Ita) Lotus F1 at 3 Laps, 16 Timo Glock (Ger) Virgin Racing at 3 Laps, 17 Bruno Senna (Bra) HRT-F1 at 3 Laps, 18 Lucas di Grassi (Bra) Virgin Racing at 4 Laps, 19 Sakon Yamamoto (Jpn) HRT-F1 at 4 Laps
Not Classified: 20 Lewis Hamilton (Gbr) McLaren 23 Laps completed, 21 Robert Kubica (Pol) Renault 23 Laps completed, 22 Nico Rosberg (Ger) Mercedes GP 15 Laps completed, 23 Adrian Sutil (Ger) Force India 15 Laps completed, 24 Jaime Alguersuari (Spa) Scuderia Toro Rosso 1 Lap completed
Leading World Championship Standings: 1 Mark Webber (Aus) Red Bull 161pts, 2 Lewis Hamilton (Gbr) McLaren 157, 3 Sebastian Vettel (Ger) Red Bull 151, 4 Jenson Button (Gbr) McLaren 147, 5 Fernando Alonso (Spa) Ferrari 141, 6 Felipe Massa (Bra) Ferrari 97, 7 Nico Rosberg (Ger) Mercedes GP 94, 8 Robert Kubica (Pol) Renault 89, 9 Michael Schumacher (Ger) Mercedes GP 38, 10 Adrian Sutil (Ger) Force India 35, 11 Rubens Barrichello (Bra) Williams 30, 12 Vitaly Petrov (Rus) Renault 17, 13 Kamui Kobayashi (Jpn) BMW Sauber 17, 14 Vitantonio Liuzzi (Ita) Force India 12, 15 Nico Hulkenberg (Ger) Williams 10, 16 Sebastien Buemi (Swi) Scuderia Toro Rosso 7, 17 Pedro de la Rosa (Spa) BMW Sauber 6, 18 Jaime Alguersuari (Spa) Scuderia Toro Rosso 3, 19 Heikki Kovalainen (Fin) Lotus F1 0, 20 Karun Chandhok (Ind) HRT-F1 0, 21 Lucas di Grassi (Bra) Virgin Racing 0, 22 Jarno Trulli (Ita) Lotus F1 0, 23 Bruno Senna (Bra) HRT-F1 0, 24 Sakon Yamamoto (Jpn) HRT-F1 0, 25 Timo Glock (Ger) Virgin Racing 0
Manufacturers: 1 Red Bull 312pts, 2 McLaren 304, 3 Ferrari 238, 4 Mercedes GP 132, 5 Renault 106, 6 Force (Ind) ia 47, 7 Williams 40, 8 BMW Sauber 23, 9 Scuderia Toro Rosso 10, 10 Lotus F1 0, 11 HRT-F1 0, 12 Virgin Racing 0
