Despite a rather processional start to the grand prix with Sebastian Vettel easily outpacing Fernando Alonso and Mark Webber, things got exciting when the Safety Car was brought out for debris on the track.This led to a mad dash into the pits with Webber not getting in in time. However, it did hand him the lead as all those behind him stopped.
And although it appeared as if this decision meant Webber was out of the running, the Aussie triumphed over the adversity, putting in fastest lap after fastest lap to build a suitable lead over those behind him. And his 23.7s lead meant he pitted from the P1 slot and emerged in the P1 slot.
Behind him the battle for second raged between Vettel and Alonso, who emerged from the pit stops second and third. However, a drive-through penalty for exceeding the 10-car length behind the Safety Car meant Vettel dropped down to third place.
And although he caught Alonso without really having to put much effort into it, he was not able to pass the Spaniard, sitting on his rear wing all the way through to the chequered flag.
Race Report: Sebastian Vettel finally made an ideal start to a grand prix as he kept to his word and stayed on a straight line for the beginning of the 70-lap race in Hungary.
In Germany last week the Red Bull racer, starting from his seventh pole of the season and fourth in a row, attempted to cut across the Ferrari of Fernando Alonso, only to slip to third by turn one.
On this occasion at the Hungaroring there were no mistakes as the 23-year-old German was clean away, but on the dirty side of the track team-mate Mark Webber gave up second spot to Alonso.
The McLaren duo of Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button struggled as the former lost fifth spot to Renault's Vitaly Petrov, only to swiftly regain that place early on lap two.
As for reigning champion Button, he endured a miserable getaway, dropping four places to 15th from 11th.
At the end of four laps Vettel had opened up a 3.9secs cushion to Alonso, who was being closely followed by Webber, Massa, Hamilton and Petrov, with Button having made up one place as he was 14th.
The Toro Rosso of Jaime Alguersuari was an early casualty with a blown engine.
Vettel then began pulling away at an astonishing rate of knots, taking 1.3secs out of Alonso on lap six to lead by 6.3secs.
Alonso's greater concern, however, was that Webber was right behind him, with second to fifth positions covered by just 3.6secs.
Given the nature of the 4.381km circuit, renowned for its tight, twisty nature, and with bright sunshine overhead, the prospects for overtaking were limited.
After a further six laps Vettel had hit double figures in terms of his advantage, opening up a 10.5secs lead over Alonso, who still had Webber within less than a second on his tail.
Massa was then two seconds behind, with Hamilton starting to lose touch as he had dropped to 2.7secs off the Brazilian, with Petrov five seconds adrift.
As for 14th-placed Button, the 30-year-old was lagging 40 seconds off the pace and struggling on the softer tyres.
It resulted in him becoming the first driver to stop to take on fresh rubber, following which chaos then ensued when the safety car was deployed as there was debris on the track.
Out in front Vettel only just received the call to pit when the safety car announcement was made, cutting across the kerb running alongside the entry to the pit lane.
The majority of the field, other than Webber, piled in behind to switch tyres.
Nico Rosberg, who had been running sixth in his Mercedes, was the instigator of the mayhem that followed in the pit lane - or at least part of his pit crew were as they failed to fit his right-rear tyre correctly.
As Rosberg pulled out onto the pit lane the tyre worked loose, initially rolling and then bouncing its way through the other pit crews.
Whether it was a distraction to Renault's pit team is unclear, but Robert Kubica was released too early by his lollipop man as he ran into the side of Force India's Adrian Sutil just as he was about to enter the pit entry box.
The damage was too great for Sutil to continue, although Renault were able to send Kubica on his way again, only for him to unsurprisingly receive 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, that is where he retired.
The safety car played into the hands of the McLarens as Hamilton leapfrogged Massa in all the mayhem whilst Button was elevated up to 10th.
But on lap 24 championship leader Hamilton suffered his second retirement of the year, pulling off track by turn three.
The stewards then announced an investigation into Vettel for exceeding 10 car lengths behind the safety car, for which he soon received a drive-through penalty.
Quite simply, with the safety car about to return, Vettel had allowed Webber ahead of him to get a run whilst he backed up the field behind.
After 27 laps Webber had built up a 6.8secs cushion over Vettel, with Alonso a further 5.6secs back, with the same distance to Massa.
At the end of lap 31 Vettel served his penalty, clearly expressing his frustration as he did so as he drove through the pit lane with his fists clenched.
From second, Vettel returned to the track in third behind Alonso and ahead of Massa.
The stewards then announced they would investigate the incident involving Kubica after the race, in addition to also looking at what unfolded with Rosberg.
At the head of the field Webber was opening up a considerable cushion, needing 20 seconds to make his pit stop for new tyres and stay out ahead of Alonso who was being reeled in by Vettel.
By the end of lap 38, after setting the fastest lap at that stage, Webber had stretched his lead to 20.6secs, and now it was just a question of when his team would call him in.
They eventually did after 43 laps when he had just over 23 seconds' advantage to Alonso, returning to the track with a comfortable cushion.
With 26 laps remaining Webber was 6.1secs clear of Alonso, who had Vettel all over his gearbox and looking for an opportunity to pass.
Vettel continued to push, but his frustrations kept getting the better of him and he was never able to get close enough to Alonso to make it count even when they were lapping the backmarkers.
Barrichello, meanwhile, finally pitted from P5 on lap 56 and he came out behind Michael Schumacher who was the last driver in the points. The Brazilian though made up five seconds and had a few goes at Schumi before finally making it stick on lap 67. The German though closed the door right at the last second and nearly put Barrichello in the wall. They didn't make contact and the Williams driver stayed in front to pick up the final point.
At the front Webber continued to ease away and eventually finished a massive 17 seconds ahead of Alonso while his team-mate Vettel was just on the Spaniard's tail.
Meanwhile, at the back of the grid all three rookie teams had both their cars crossing the finish line for the first time this season.
Results:
1. Webber Red Bull-Renault 1h41:05.571
2. Alonso Ferrari + 17.821
3. Vettel Red Bull-Renault + 19.252
4. Massa Ferrari + 27.474
5. Petrov Renault + 1:13.100
6. Hulkenberg Williams-Cosworth + 1:16.700
7. De la Rosa Sauber-Ferrari + 1 lap
8. Button McLaren-Mercedes + 1 lap
9. Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari + 1 lap
10. Barrichello Williams-Cosworth + 1 lap
11. Schumacher Mercedes + 1 lap
12. Buemi Toro Rosso-Ferrari + 1 lap
13. Liuzzi Force India-Mercedes + 1 lap
14. Kovalainen Lotus-Cosworth + 3 laps
15. Trulli Lotus-Cosworth + 3 laps
16. Glock Virgin-Cosworth + 3 laps
17. Senna HRT-Cosworth + 3 laps
18. Di Grassi Virgin-Cosworth + 4 laps
19. Yamamoto HRT-Cosworth + 4 laps
Did not finish
Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 25 lap
Kubica Renault 25
Rosberg Mercedes 17
Sutil Force India-Mercedes 17
Alguersuari Toro Rosso-Ferrari 2
Source: Planet-F1
