Flavio Briatore, two names: Nigel Stepney and Mike Coughlan. What do you think about them?
"Disgraceful. A shameful behavior. They should be kicked out of Formula 1".
So much for the defence of civil rights.
"Engineers in our world earn huge sums of money, millions of euros. They have had a lot of luck to be in the right place at the right time. There can be no room for the corrupt".
Another word: McLaren. And what do you think about it?
"That when you read the spy story report, the evidence that emerged, there were certain advantages. They have to be punished".
So, the second round in Paris is well welcomed.
"It is only right. In F1, we need certain rules to prevent further cases of espionage. And you have to be careful about setting dangerous precedents".
The FIA acknowledged the exchange of information between the two technicians, but failed to demonstrate an advantage on the part of the English team.
"I'm not a judge, but it seems puzzling to me. If McLaren knew how to spread the weight on the car, to better manage the new Bridgestone tyres, that is a huge benefit. If it is proven, more than an acquittal, they deserve to be excluded from the World Championship. I didn't get this help, nor did Honda. We also switched from Michelin to Bridgestone, look how far back we are in the standings".
However, last year they forced you to remove the mass damper.
"It was precisely McLaren who talked about transparency. IIf last season I was in danger of losing the World Championship, I also have them to thank. McLaren hasn't been transparent? They need to be punished".
Dennis calls himself immaculate.
"Nice definition, that doesn't sound good to me. In F1, a team manager has a duty to know what is happening inside the team. It would not have been possible for us to receive confidential information without the technicians informing the managers. Why do we believe in fairy tales?".
Ron Dennis also argues that spying should be encouraged.
"Are we kidding? What should we do, dress up as vigilantes and pay people on a team to tell you what's illegal? The FIA is our guarantor. It has to enforce the rules. And they have to be clear".
In short, McLaren needs a punishment.
"An exemplary punishment. So that a mechanic, before he passes any classified information, will think about it twenty-seven times. And a team will think through before they use it".
Next year, there will be a standard Electronic Control Unit. And McLaren will be the team to manufacture it.
"Meanwhile, it doesn't work, the throttle stays open, the cars on the grid don't start, it costs an arm and a leg. And then to optimise it, I would have to give McLaren information about my car. Dennis is a liar. I don't trust him".
In this climate of tension and accusations, the first day of free practice for the Hungarian Grand Prix takes place on Friday, 3 August 2007, on the Hungaroring circuit. And someone feels like saying:
"Finally on track".
Hoping that the roar of engines will erase the aftermath of the spy story between McLaren and Ferrari. It will not be like that. Fernando Alonso sets the best time and leaves everyone behind. The two sessions saw Fernando Alonso's McLaren-Mercedes leading the timesheet at the end of the day. In the morning, the best driver had been Robert Kubica with his BMW, ahead of both Ferraris of Felipe Massa and Kimi Raïkkönen, and Fernando Alonso himself. In the afternoon session, the Spanish driver was the only one to go under the 1'21"0 limit, setting a time of 1'20"919. Behind him the Renault of Heikki Kovalainen in constant progress. It went badly for Fernando Alonso's teammate, Lewis Hamilton. The leader of the World Championship finished the afternoon practice with the car in the middle of the gravel after a spin. He will, however, remain in third position. Both Ferraris are far off. Kimi Raïkkönen and Felipe Massa, in fact, only set the sixth and seventh best time. The Williams-Toyota of Nico Rosberg and the BMW Sauber of Nick Heidfeld are also ahead of them. Balancing problems perhaps for the two F2007s, which with a much longer wheelbase than the McLarens are unable to unload all the power well, also having problems with the tyres, especially the Supersoft tyres. Kimi Raïkkönen explains:
"Despite that, today is only Friday and there is no need to dramatise ahead of qualifying and the race".
Also because, as Felipe Massa affirms:
"We're definitely competitive".
On Saturday, August 4, 2007, in the first qualifying session, Lewis Hamilton set the fastest time with 1’19”570, which was the quickest time recorded in the weekend so far, being the only lap under 1’20”0. Hamilton and the rest of the front-runners led the way and, as the session ended, Jenson Button, the 2006 winner, had put his Honda teammate Rubens Barrichello into the relegation zone. However, Button was soon beaten by Liuzzi. Joining the two Hondas were Takuma Satō, Sebastian Vettel, Adrian Sutil and Sakon Yamamoto. In the second session, Jarno Trulli of Toyota led the pace early, but Hamilton and his teammate Alonso set the best times. Massa and Kubica struggled in 11th and 12th place, but Kubica's team put on new tyres and reached the top 10. Massa had worse luck; the Ferrari team were not prepared for him to need a second run in Q2, and he was released into the pit-lane without being refuelled. His pit crew had to run down the pit-lane and pull him back to his pit to be refuelled, by which time his tyres had lost temperature so when he finally made it out, the lack of grip meant he was unable to improve his time. Joining Massa among the eliminated drivers were David Coulthard in 11th, Heikki Kovalainen in 12th, Alexander Wurz of Williams-Toyota in 13th, 15th was Anthony Davidson, and 16th was Vitantonio Liuzzi.
Hamilton led out of the pit-lane at the beginning of Q3, followed by teammate Alonso. Hamilton set the quickest lap time the first time around, but was soon beaten by Nick Heidfeld. Around the 9-minute mark, Trulli was the first into the pits to change tyres. Alonso was next into the pits; at the time, he was ninth. All the others followed suit, and meaningful times were soon put in. Hamilton again impressed the crowd with another time below 1’20”0. Alonso and Kimi Räikkönen, the only remaining Ferrari driver, Nick Heidfeld, Kubica, and Trulli filed in behind. With around 2:30 remaining, Alonso again pitted for fresh tyres, along with almost every other driver. The McLaren crew held Alonso for around 20 seconds after the tyres were fitted, in a stated attempt to give him a clear track (however, this reasoning was later rejected by the stewards as most other cars on the track had also pitted). At the time, Hamilton was stacked up behind, waiting for Alonso to leave. But when Alonso was released, he remained stationary for a further 10 seconds, even though the pit crew were gesturing for him to leave. Hamilton then pulled in for his final set of tyres, but the delay meant there was insufficient time for him to get back to the start-finish line before the chequered flag and the end of qualifying. Alonso started his flying lap with less than 2 seconds of the session remaining while Hamilton missed out by around 5 seconds. Alonso's final lap was good enough to claim pole and push Hamilton down to second. TV pictures showed Ron Dennis angrily throwing his headphones down as Alonso pulled out of the pits; and after the session was over, he was seen having a serious conversation with Alonso's trainer. He refused to comment on the pit-lane delay, although he later explained that Hamilton had ignored team orders to let Alonso past at the beginning of the fuel burn phase, which had put the cars out of sequence for their stops. Behind the McLarens of Alonso and Hamilton, the third place went to Heidfeld, which surprised many Ferrari and BMW fans. Räikkönen was in fourth, Rosberg fifth. Sixth place was taken by Ralf Schumacher from Germany, seventh was the second BMW Sauber of Robert Kubica. Giancarlo Fisichella set the eighth fastest time, with Trulli and Webber rounding out the top ten. Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton share the front row, but it is the Spaniard who has the upper hand.
The World Champion’s pole position, however, is stained by a maneuver, at the limits of misconduct, into the pits: a move, two minutes from the end of the window, that blocks the teammate, effectively preventing him from completing his last attempt. An episode examined by the FIA stewards, who summoned Ron Dennis, McLaren’s team principal. In the end, after four hours of meeting, they decide not to proceed: nothing irregular. The Spaniard remains in pole position. At least for the moment, the spy story is of secondary importance. The Ferrari drivers are struggling: Kimi Raïkkönen is fourth at more than 0.7 seconds, behind the surprising Nick Heidfeld, while Felipe Massa, also because of a misunderstanding with the pits, does not even make it to the final phase of qualifying, and will start from the seventh row. Thus, qualifying especially lives off the episode which takes place in the McLaren-Mercedes pits, in Q3. Fernando Alonso, stopped in the pit lane to change the tyres for the last attempt, hesitates for a few seconds on whether or not to mount the Soft compound tyres: the mechanics raise the green light sign but he does not leave and takes his time. His teammate is queued up, waiting to execute the same maneuver and holds provisional pole position. At that moment, there are around two minutes left before the end of the session and both drivers have to complete a lap from a standing start before they can make their last attempt: the possibility to do that last, decisive and storming lap is played on a tightrope of tenths of a second, since one minute and twenty seconds are needed to do a flying lap and both McLarens have to first do another lap starting from the pits. Fernando Alonso's wait lasts for some twenty seconds, then the Spaniard takes off, just in time to complete the in-lap without taking the chequered flag. An operation that is not a success for Lewis Hamilton and so the Englishman cannot counter Fernando Alonso's final lap, which proves to be a winner. Nervousness breaks out in the McLaren pits, a member of Lewis Hamilton's team almost rips the cap off the head of Ron Dennis, who in turn is not very happy. During the press conference, after a handshake that was not particularly reassuring, only half-sentences were expressed by the two parties concerned. Fernando Alonso says:
"Hold back Hamilton? Only strategy. I waited to get the OK to leave. Yes, the pit stop took longer, but it happens. The exit sequence is decided according to traffic and I was already late after the first pit stop because of a tyre blanket that got stuck in the bodywork. But there is nothing strange: some pit stops last 10 seconds, others 20, others 45 seconds. The technicians decide when we have to go again".
But someone pointed out to Alonso the behaviour of Fabrizio Borra as he stood on the pit wall and made hand signals. But Fabrizio Borra says in turn, somewhat embarrassed when asked about the matter and Ron Dennis' abrupt ways towards him:
"If someone understands anything about F1 they know it's impossible for a physical therapist to talk to a driver on the radio. Dennis just wanted me to help him calm down Fernando, who was probably a little tense, while he would worry about calming Hamilton down".
But if McLaren's team principal was clearly upset even keeping Lewis Hamilton calm, it must have been tough given what happened behind closed doors in the Stewards' Office. In front of the media, Lewis made sure not to reveal himself too much, trying more than anything else not to fuel the controversy:
"There's not a lot to say, everyone saw what happened. Frankly, I don't understand why I was held back. But I'll definitely ask for explanations".
What exactly happened? Well, Fernando Alonso noticed that the mechanics had prepared the softs for Lewis, that is, the same compound that was intended for him. For this reason, the Spanish driver, despite Ron Dennis shouting the green light on the radio, continued asking his engineer why they fitted him with the harder tyres.
On Ferrari's side, however, people think about an afternoon that is anything but exciting. Kimi Räikkönen says:
"The car performed well in the final lap but it was simply not fast enough. I think that it will be hard to beat both McLarens tomorrow. Perhaps we've driven with more fuel than the others, but it seems that both McLarens are really strong on this circuit. However, I'm not worried about BMW because I think that we'll be faster in the race. Because of past experience, I know that McLaren has always performed well in Monaco and in Budapest and I knew that it would be difficult to beat them. But, during the race, we'll have to be stronger compared to qualifying, so let's wait and see what will happen tomorrow, even if I don't think there will be huge surprises".
Raïkkönen, on the other hand, states he is confident of being able to overtake the BMW of Nick Heidfeld. Felipe Massa, however, explains that there has been a misunderstanding which caused his forced return into the pits, which forced him to be deprived of a final attempt in the second round of qualifying.
"There was a communication problem via radio. They turned on the car but I had no fuel, so I had to go back and turn the car off. At that point, the tyres were cold and I couldn’t put in a good lap to get back in the top ten. It will be difficult to start from the back on this track which is one of the most difficult ones, but we have to get our heads up and improve to bring the car into the points".
After all, at the pits of the Maranello team they saw it all at the end of the second qualifying round. Anything and everything. Tyres knocked over in the agitation, someone restarting the Brazilian's car but forgetting to put petrol in, panic in the pit lane, car stuck in the pit lane, engine switched off, mechanics racing to push it back, off again but with the tyres now cold. Result: qualifying for Felipe Massa ended there and he will start the race from P14. A black Saturday for Ferrari, in the wrong place and especially at the wrong time. It has always been known that the Hungarian Grand Prix is decided by pole position. But there is more. With that uproar which unleashed between the two most important teams, with the war shaking all over Bernie Ecclestone's glittering empire, this was an opportunity to be seen to be strong and good on the track, and to back up with facts the words of the adversaries who always remind us that the Mercedes-powered cars run fast and do not stop.
"Problems of communication between the driver and his team".
That is the official explanation of the Ferrari control room, after a handful of seconds, and all we need is to look at the faces to realise that the tension is a thousandfold. When it is over, Jean Todt slips with the look of a sphinx and passes from the pits to the motorhome without blinking. He says nothing about what happened with the car of Felipe Massa, what counts is above all the fourth place of the Finnish driver, who finished 0.763 seconds behind Fernando Alonso, overtaken also by Nick Heidfeld and therefore forced to start from the less comfortable side. At a later time, Jean Todt explains:
"Kimi could have aspired to third place, he narrowly missed the goal. During the race, everything can happen, but we have to be realistic and say that we've got an uphill race ahead, especially with Felipe".
Wounded and with a great desire for revenge. A rage that has grown in recent weeks taking a toll on the nervous balances of the entire team. Felipe Massa adds:
"An unfortunate situation, I did a mistake at the last corner in the second half. I came back into the pits, I had the hard tyres on, they changed them and then they gave me the green light. But they hadn't loaded the fuel in. I had to turn off the engine and they pushed me back. I could have still made it up but I went again with the tyres that were now cold. I start far away from Alonso, now it's important to study the right strategy to try to climb up and get points".
Beyond the internal problems, McLaren-Mercedes appeared significantly superior to the competition. As was the case in Monte-Carlo, and as Kimi Raïkkönen's statements make clear, Maranello's cars suffer on the circuits with many tight corners, probably because of the long wheelbase: the Ferrari is the car with the greatest distance between the axle of the front and rear wheels, McLaren is the opposite, and the short wheelbase gives agility and drivability on the tight corners. The most optimistic, however, had blamed that shortcoming on a delay in the development of the car, compared to their English rivals, a deficit that was then closed in the following weeks. Now the problem seems to resurface, Now the problem seems to be resurfacing, although the Ferrari box stresses that all is not lost and appeals to the possible, different amount of fuel, and the usual better performance of the Maranello cars on the race pace, compared to the single lap. Mario Almondo, the Technical Director, says:
"We don't know which strategy our rivals will use. We'll see what happens tomorrow, the race is another story".
Fernando Alonso’s fiery day ends at 8:45 p.m.. The Spaniard leaves the paddock smiling. But, the case on what happened in qualifying only gets sorted out at 11:00 p.m.. The stewards did not like his endless stop at the pits before the last attempt, those 45 seconds spent changing the tyres, but above all swearing with the mechanics and engineers, that lost time that betrayed his teammate, Lewis Hamilton, forced to wait in the queue, while the stopwatch ran mercilessly. The stewards did not like Fernando Alonso's behaviour, they thought it was cunning, the good and cynical driver who calculates everything, achieves the feat with the Hard tyres and prevents his colleague with the Softs from returning the slap, and they grilled him for two hours, showing him the videos, listening to the radio communications with the box, trying to understand if there is any malice in that attitude. Alonso is not alone, Dennis, the team principal of McLaren, increasingly concerned about the war between his two drivers, is also with him and there is Hamilton, who from the beginning appeared furious, to the point that uncontrolled rumours indicate him as the instigator of the inquiry. In the end, it all comes to nothing. Alonso will start ahead of everyone.
But what cannot be erased is the chronicle of a Saturday with open nerves, low blows, where the poison, perhaps subtle, but also evident, at least for a day managed to overshadow the other story, the spy story of Stepney and Coughlan, the furious battle between McLaren and Ferrari. Everything happens in the last round, the third one, the one that matters, that determines the pole position. Had Lewis Hamilton been smart a few minutes earlier, staying on track for an extra lap and taking away from his car 2 kilos and 100 grams of fuel? So Fernando Alonso returned the favour in the last pit stop. The quarrel is animated by the most disparate rumours. Alonso's rudeness was endorsed by Dennis. Why? The boss had reprimanded Hamilton:
"You shouldn’t have stayed on track for an extra lap, this way Fernando loses out".
And the young Lewis, in return, had replied:
"Go to hell".
No, it was Alonso's physiotherapist, Fabrizio Borra, who spelt out the time to the Spaniard.
"Now you can go, Hamilton is screwed".
Borra replied saying that they are all mad:
"Alonso can't even see me from the car".
There, Fernando Alonso did it all. He saw the used Hard tyres for him, the new Soft for Lewis Hamilton and yelled at the engineers:
"What are you up to?".
Clever. The sign is already raised, there is the green light, he lost five more seconds. Then, he crossed the finish line before the chequered flag. Lewis Hamilton did not. He swore.
"Nonsense, ask the team why I didn't do my last attempt".
The stewards took care of that. Keeping the grid as it is nevertheless. And, like that, we are back to speaking about the spy story.
"Ferrari has the right to exercise their rights".
Sergio Marchionne, the CEO of Fiat, left Turin to make it known that, in the war with McLaren, Ferrari does not go alone but with the full support of the board of directors of the group to which it belongs. The first manager of Fiat is not a frequent visitor to the F1 circuits.
"I'm only a fan".
His appearance at the Ferrari pits has a clear political value, as is the fact that he spoke his words a stone's throw from Ron Dennis' headquarters.
"If the behaviours that Ferrari has found are true, these are unacceptable behaviours, they are very unpleasant things that must never happen and if they do happen, they must be punished. The system has to work, there are rules and they need to be respected. At Ferrari, they did what they had to, they insisted on their rights".
Mister Dennis, everyone is after McLaren. You are the manager of the team, how do you feel?
"Firstly, I would like to express a wish: I would like to make peace with Ferrari. Enough with the lawyers, let's sit around a table and call it a day".
First, you write out heavy letters of accusation and then you invite them to shake hands?
"The letters were due to many inaccurate reports that I had read in the newspapers. I did not like the press campaign from Italy, I called it mystifying because I do not believe that McLaren's image deserves to be damaged this much. We are innocent, until July 3, 2007, we knew nothing about the exchange of information between Stepney and Coughlan. It is not fair that due to two employees, the relationship between the two teams should suffer".
But you never fired Coughlan.
"I suspended him, I couldn't do more. He has presented me with a medical certificate, which prevents me from starting the dismissal procedure. As soon as I can, I'll do so".
In the meantime, he renewed his contract until 2009.
"Let us be clear: he had a contract from 2002 until 2007, at the beginning of 2006 we extended it until 2009. Surely not now".
You attack the press and Ferrari. But, Flavio Briatore also made specific accusations against you.
"He says that I had advantages on the tyres, that thanks to the Ferrari information we knew how to distribute the weight on the car. It's false. Those Bridgestone tyres are completely new compared to last year. They gave us data, we put it in the computer. We were quick to understand, the best ones. Is it our fault?".
Many Italians are shocked by one of your statements: Stepney's whistle blowing about the illegality of Ferrari is healthy, certain spies should be encouraged, keeping the whistleblowers anonymous. You were misunderstood, were you noy?
"No. That email on their floor helped us, it reported an irregularity. I'm sorry if anyone disagrees, but that’s the way I feel".
Above all, there is one thing that has angered Ferrari and Todt. You signed a mutual trust agreement in June and said nothing about Stepney's relationship with Coughlan.
"That understanding arose after Australia, and it precisely stemmed from the floor affair. I knew about Stepney's email, but I didn't think it was appropriate to tell him; I preferred not to have any further tensions. The agreement was intended to leave the past in the past. And to start from scratch".
However, Ferrari cannot wait to face you in court in Paris.
"We'll appeal, even if I think it's absurd, and you'll see that the FIA will agree with us again. It's true that Stepney was sending information to Coughlan, but we haven't benefited at all".
But when you told Coughlan to ask Stepney to stop, was a phone call not enough? Why did you allow him to meet the Ferrari man in Barcelona?
"He was the one who said that he had to tell him in person. Do you want to know the truth? He and Stepney wanted to go to Honda. And I know they also offered themselves to two other teams. It's a bad story, an explanation is needed. If only Todt did not always refuse to meet me".
Coup de theatre. The umpteenth. Giancarlo Fisichella, just like Fernando Alonso, is relegated on the starting grid. The Italian driver is penalised with the loss of five grid positions, and drops from the eighth place he gained in qualifying, to thirteenth. Giancarlo Fisichella has been punished for having impeded the Spyker driver, Sakon Yamamoto, in qualifying. The decision of penalising Fisichella is announced on Sunday morning by the FIA. During the night, however, the same sanction is imposed on the World Champion, Fernando Alonso, who is relegated from the pole to the sixth position for having impeded his teammate Lewis Hamilton at the end of qualifying with an extended stop at the pits. In the opinion of the Federation, Alonso's behaviour prevented the British driver from making the final lap that could have allowed him to improve his time. Alonso will thus be starting from the sixth position on the grid while Hamilton will be in pole position at the start of the Formula 1 Hungarian Grand Prix. On Sunday, August 5, 2007, at the start of the Hungarian Grand Prix Lewis Hamilton holds the first position, followed by Kimi Räikkönen, then Nick Heidfeld and Nico Rosberg. Fernando Alonso is seventh but he makes a mistake by finishing wide in the last corner of the first lap and is overtaken by Mark Webber. The Spaniard then overtakes the Australian at the first corner on lap three, and Robert Kubica a lap later at the same point, moving up to sixth place, but his comeback stops when he arrives behind Ralf Schumacher. In the meantime, Felipe Massa loses a couple of positions over the course of the first lap and his race is totally compromised. During the first few laps, Lewis Hamilton manages to go quicker than his rivals. But later, Kimi Raïkkönen manages to equal his times with a brighter Ferrari than what the practice had shown. Nick Heidfeld, Nico Rosberg and Fernando Alonso stop at the pits on lap 17 to do their first refueling, later followed by Kimi Raïkkönen, who loads in less fuel than Lewis Hamilton. Taking advantage of the lightness of his car, the Finn gets closer to the McLaren of Lewis Hamilton, but the configuration of the cars and of the track makes overtakes nearly impossible. Positions are thus determined by the strategies. After stopping, Robert Kubica moves up to fifth place. But, like Nick Heidfeld and Nico Rosberg, the Polish driver aims for a three-stop strategy. Kimi Raïkkönen makes his second stop on lap 46, four laps ahead of Lewis Hamilton, who keeps the lead.
Fernando Alonso, who dropped to seventh place after his first refueling, loads in a lot of fuel and can finally overtake Ralf Schumacher before moving up to fourth after the third stop by Robert Kubica and Nico Rosberg. The final part of the race is animated by the close battles between Lewis Hamilton and Kimi Räikkönen and between Nick Heidfeld and Fernando Alonso, but the positions do not change. Lewis Hamilton wins the Hungarian Grand Prix, followed by Kimi Räikkönen and Nick Heidfeld. Fernando Alonso is fourth, followed by Robert Kubica, Ralf Schumacher, Nico Rosberg and Heikki Kovalainen. Boredom after the storm. The race is monotonous. It is known in Budapest that whoever starts first wins the race. Lewis Hamilton leads in the first corner and crosses the finish line first, after an easy race, in which he has always managed, despite some problems with the steering, to mortify the overtaking ambitions of Kimi Räikkönen, able to pass Nick Heidfeld, but then forced to race in second position until the end. This is the Hungarian Grand Prix, with its tortuous track, there is little to do, not a single overtake in the whole race, apart from a few sparks in the first lap. Right, but why does Hamilton start first? The night owls will not have missed it. Those who stay up late on a Saturday night will know very well that at midnight, after an endless trial by the race stewards and an even longer period to issue the sentence and put it in writing, Fernando Alonso was punished, relegated from pole position to sixth, found guilty of having disproportionately extended his pit stop, a move that prevented Hamilton from taking his last shot in qualifying, while the Spaniard unleashed and in extremis took the best time from him. It had happened in the early afternoon, but the FIA is never in a hurry when it comes to judging. Alonso had left the circuit just before 9:00 p.m. convinced of having half a victory in his pocket, he woke up with the nightmare of an impossible comeback. With strategy and a perfect race conduct, the Spaniard managed to limit the damage, finishing fourth, overtaking Nico Rosberg and Ralf Schumacher who had started in front of him, keeping behind Robert Kubica, at one point very threatening with his BMW and fifth at the finish line, the Renault of Heikki Kovalainen and the Red Bull Racing of Mark Webber, but not even talking about passing Nick Heidfeld, who ended up on the lowest step of the podium. Fernando Alonso was on his back all the time, put pressure on him,ended up 1.5 seconds behind the German, tried to induce him to make a mistake, but in the end, beating his fists on the steering wheel, he had to settle. He dreamed of a different race, the five points softening his anger a little, while over there Lewis Hamilton's shadow, perhaps mistakenly, begins to think he has got his hands on the World Championship. And Ferrari? Kimi Räikkönen did his part. Felipe Massa did not. The qualifying of the Finn had been difficult, the race was brighter, so much so that he set the fastest lap of the race. On another track he might even have mocked Hamilton. For Massa, on the other hand, the best definition is N/A. Grotesque Saturday, horrible Sunday. Fourteenth at the start, thirteenth at the finish line. The Super Aguri of Takuma Satō kept him behind for half of the race. His World Championship (he swears) is not over. But it takes more.
"It was not a great weekend, but we did our race and the drivers have both raced very well. I'm happy with the result".
Perfect synthesis in a few words, in perfect Ron Dennis style: the team principal of McLaren-Mercedes comments on the Hungarian Grand Prix dominated by Lewis Hamilton. Fernando Alonso echoes him:
"Fourth place was the best we could do today. I was hoping for the podium and we came close. Finishing third or fourth place makes little difference to the points in the standings, so risking it for one extra point was not worth it, so it's OK".
A kind of contagious resignation because that is more or less what Kimi Räikkönen also thinks:
"I couldn't do anything other than hoping for Hamilton to make a mistake. He did not make any and we finished just like we started".
Kimi had to settle for second place in the Hungarian Grand Prix.
"At the start, I overtook Heidfeld and started to tail Hamilton. On this track, however, there are no overtaking opportunities. A mistake by Lewis would have come in handy but it didn't come".
The statements of the dominant Lewis Hamilton are of a completely different tone:
"It was a weekend full of emotions for the whole team but we managed to take a great step forward in the standings. We came to Budapest with a great package and we managed to stay ahead of Ferrari who had a great pace. In the second stint, I had a steering problem but I don't know what it was. I was able to manage the situation with Kimi who was behind me for a long time. I had a great race and it's good to be on the top step of the podium".
However, the steering problem did not affect the Brit’s race:
"I don't know what happened to the steering. We'll have to study the matter, however the tyres were good, although after the first pit stop I had some problems at first, then you put the traffic on top of that and Kimi got closer. I had to manage the situation and keep the distance, with the soft tyres he was faster than me but I managed to push to the maximum and keep him behind. With all that has happened over the weekend, it would have been easy to lose our focus but we took all the positive energy and we managed to do our work well. Great car but complex race".
Race to forget instead for Massa:
"It was horrible. I had a bad start from the beginning, the first braking went quite well but then, I immediately lost ground and couldn’t improve anymore. The car was very heavy, it was impossible to overtake, I tried to get closer but then I was losing grip".
However, Felipe is convinced that all is not lost.
"I still believe in the world championship and it will be like that until the end. This weekend is one to forget, but let's see what will happen. I have to keep my head high and try to get to Turkey to win. I know that I have a great car and I have what it takes to do it. I'll try".
Lewis Hamilton rejoices and apologises. He clenches his fists on the podium, but then rests them on his temples, in an attempt not to let dangerous words escape when answering questions. Lewis Hamilton's Sunday is a strange one. The Sunday of the triumph, the third of his career, of the breakaway in the World Championship, seven more points than Fernando Alonso, 20 more than Kimi Räikkönen, 21 more than Felipe Massa, but also the Sunday of the definitive break with his teammate, that Fernando Alonso who no longer speaks to him, and of the first serious disagreement with Ron Dennis, the man to whom he had asked, when he was a kid, to one day be able to arrive in Formula 1, the manager to whom he had given body and soul. Perhaps Lewis Hamilton, the first rookie who risks winning the World Championship title straight away, never a word out of place, never a backstory to be ashamed of, has messed it up this time. All right, he won, taking full advantage of the pole position he had gained with his testimony before the stewards. But imagine the astonishment of Ron Dennis (let's not talk about Fernando Alonso's), when the stewards asked him his version of what had happened in that pit and he told an opposite truth to that provided by his boss, his teammate and the engineer in charge of Fernando Alonso's car.
Well done, Lewis, that is the way it is done, wrote the British press. But Dennis does not see it like that. Not only because in that way McLaren lost 15 points in the World Constructors' Championship standings (Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso's positions in Hungary will not be counted, the British team has announced an appeal against the decision, but has not yet filed it and may drop it), but because certain situations should be resolved privately. Ron Dennis affirms:
"We are in favour of free racing. I've built a team on the philosophy of parity between drivers. Unlike other teams, which perhaps don't like this way of thinking, don't have two drivers at the same level and two fast cars, I believe in these things. I know that it is difficult to manage a situation of this kind but we've always managed to do so. This weekend, Hamilton made a mistake, what we're going to do about him, we keep it to ourselves, but something will happen. Right now, we're too stressed out, this last month has been very hard, I want to calmly evaluate".
Yet Hamilton apologised to the team.
"I'm sorry but this is how sports works and I have to think about myself. This morning, however, I greeted everyone, made it up to them and all of them except one wished me luck".
The one is not difficult to guess, Fernando Alonso, at least for a while, will not speak to him. But begging for forgiveness is perhaps not enough, if the day before you told Ron Dennis to go to hell on the radio and if you have been asking for a raise for a few weeks now, because the 750.000 euro a year are no longer enough for you. Ron Dennis continues:
"We have a long contract with our drivers and we intend to respect it. I hope they feel the same way".
According to the British press, Lewis Hamilton would have received a huge offer (35.000.000 euro per season) from Ferrari. But Jean Todt says:
"It’s just silly speculation".
Meanwhile, however, Lewis Hamilton shed some of his candour.
"One weekend, one small disagreement won’t be enough to ruin my friendship with Dennis".
And Fernando Alonso says:
"I really don't see why I should talk to Hamilton, in fact, if it were up to me we would never speak to each other again".
On the track where he discovered the drunkenness of the victory, back in 2003 in his first year with Briatore, Fernando Alonso comes to terms with the bitter reality of those who have to live under the same roof with their main rival. The inextricable break-up with Lewis Hamilton came on Saturday as the two McLaren drivers played out what was left of their unlikely cohabitation in the hunt for pole position. A violent rip that could have repercussions on the future of Fernando Alonso at McLaren.In what frame of mind did you race this Grand Prix?
"I came to terms with a very difficult situation. It was like playing a football match when they give a penalty against you for no reason. It's not the most pleasant thing. I brought home a fourth place which is not that bad for the way things had gone".
What was the situation at McLaren?
"A difficult, very difficult one. There's too much nervousness in the team".
You have three years on the contract, how is it going to go?
"I don't know, I really don't".
With Hamilton, the break is therefore clear.
"Until Saturday, there was mutual respect, from now on the respect is over".
Serious things have happened...
"Not only in one race, but in my life it had never happened to me to be damaged by a teammate. What Hamilton did, I had never seen it happen to me".
That is to say?
"He disobeyed Dennis, and he'll have to talk to him about that".
But how did things go in that last pit stop in qualifying?
"Lewis had to come in before me, so we would have gone for the last lap with the same fuel quantity and the same weight. Instead, he stayed out on track, so he came into the pits, where he had four new soft tyres prepared for him, much lighter than me. Lewis disobeyed".
And Fernando Alonso?
"I'm just trying to do my job and move on".
Then, the FIA inspectors investigated his behaviour.
"Four of us went there, me, Ron Dennis, my team engineer and Lewis. There were three equal versions and one completely different, about that pit stop: Hamilton's version. They took his for good".
Were you surprised?
"Strange things happened last year too, but in the end I think that the right person won. After all, in the end every man ends up in the place he deserves".
The problem is the outcome of this race, your pole canceled, that fourth place and the ten points collected by your teammate.
"It's not a pleasant situation. I was here to get to the podium, I came very close in the end. That fourth place is simply a lost opportunity. I was the fastest in qualifying, today the car was doing pretty good".
Does this race change the outlook for the World Championship?
"No. The World Championship is still in my hands, if I don't win, it means that I wasn't the best. But one thing is for sure. I'll give my best and I have a lot more experience this year than last year. Until the very last corner in Brazil anything can happen and I'll never back down".
Do you think that it is now a matter between you and Hamilton, do you think that Ferrari is out?
"No, they're still there, given how things change from one Grand Prix to another. Hamilton and Räikkönen broke down at the Nürburgring, here they both did well".
Ron Dennis continues:
"Their problem is that they're young, too exuberant, too instinctive. As well as, luckily for us, tremendously talented".
Fast, ambitious and successful. But with the Budapest weekend, the culmination of so many previous episodes, a point of no return has perhaps been reached. Enemies, Fernando Alonso against Lewis Hamilton, no longer just in a commercial, where Mercedes enhances their fighting spirit, at all levels, wherever, on the track, stopped into the pits, in the technical meetings, perhaps even in the hotel. The breaking point at McLaren has now been abundantly overcome. Ron Dennis, used to refereeing the rivalry between Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost, is sorry, but one of the two is one too many and at the end of the season he will have to leave, resulting in a snowball effect on the entire Formula 1 market. A possible departure of Lewis Hamilton is not to be underestimated, given that a possible future World Champion cannot afford to earn 750.000 euro net per season; the Brit demands millions of euros and is starting to receive very attractive offers. But it is more likely that Fernando Alonso will be the departing driver, assuming he manages to get out of the very rich three-year contract. The Spaniard is not one for too many words:
"It’s either Hamilton or me".
He said on Sunday morning, before taking his place on the third row, the uncomfortable position in which the stewards had relegated him.
"It’s either me or him".
He repeated after the race, spicing his ultimatum with venomous words for his teammate:
"Is he ready to apologise? It will be difficult for him as I won't ever speak to him again. Rather apologise to Dennis, since he disobeyed an order for the first time. That's his problem, anyway the World Championship goes to whoever deserves it , which is me. It's still in my hands, I will bring it home".
Threatening and bragging, not casual attitudes. Because while the message has to be peremptory, there is one essential condition, that of becoming World Champion, the only possible way out of the contract with Ron Dennis. Saying that he is uncomfortable is not enough. Fernando Alonso earns good money, 30.000.000 euro a year, but above all he has an army of sponsors, riches that McLaren does not want to give up. They would need something huge in return. Of course, the scenario could completely change if the Court of Appeal in Paris punished McLaren heavily, in which case Alonso could have the means for the termination. But in the meantime, the Spaniard can only hope for another team to buy him at a hefty price. It will not be Ferrari (at least until Jean Todt remains in Maranello) and, at least officially, the BMW is out as well. Toyota would have the money but not the car. All that remains is Renault, which recently drew up a 50.000.000 euro plan for Formula 1. But is Flavio Briatore, who met his manager in Budapest (the two, however, speak to each other in every circuit, their relations have remained excellent), willing to take him back for an insane amount of money? Ron Dennis, however, tries to hold on. In the meantime, Kimi Räikkönen's livid face on the podium is the picture of how Ferrari came home from Hungary. That second place behind Lewis Hamilton who did not make a single mistake does not console, on the contrary it only triggers bitterness and reflections marked by regret. Long is the list of missed opportunities, of what could have been done and instead had an unfortunate outcome. Jean Todt says:
"It's a meagre balance, ours. When you have won so much, it can happen".
It has happened, therefore, and the scenario is quite disheartening because there have been frankly too many things that have not worked, and some of them beyond the predictable, in a team that had made, for example, the very high reliability of its strategies and the work of the pit crews a source of great prestige.
"We have all the elements, team, car, drivers, but we have not always been able to put them together in the best way. If you can’t, you don't win championships".
A clarification, that of Todt, which is the admission of the delicacy of the moment, and makes one think of a Ferrari that has lost something serious along the way, and now that it is to play the decisive cards, discovers or fears that it will not make it. Hence the dark moods, the dissatisfaction, starting with Kimi Räikkönen, not to mention Felipe Massa, who speaks of his afternoon with ruthless frankness:
"A horrible race".
Frustrating and ultimately decisive on the outcome of this Grand Prix was what happened on Saturday, when the Finn witnessed the gap in qualifying laps with his McLaren rivals.
"I should have gained points on the three direct competitors for the title today, I didn't manage it so I can't be happy. Here you can't overtake, if you start behind you can only hope that the drivers in front make a mistake. That didn't happen and so we finished just like we started: in fact, my race ended at the first corner".
If that is the spirit, it must not have been pleasant for the Finn to put in lap after lap without believing in a possible overtake.
"We had all the problems in qualifying. In reality, there was never a real chance to overtake Hamilton".
The impression is that there is a feeling in the red motorhome that this is not just a one-off. The Finn concludes:
"There are still six Grands Prix to go, we have a mountain of points up for grabs, the World Championship is still open, we can fight, starting with Istanbul, where the situation should surely be better".
And to Turkey of course looks Felipe Massa, who in Hungary, apart from Saturday's series of errors, was not helped by his chosen strategy:
"I was too heavy, with too much fuel, so my hopes of coming back stopped behind Wurz. I felt bad knowing that I had a car that could race with the leaders, get to the podium, and I couldn't manage to overtake him".
And one error after another. Tragic qualifying, but also unfortunate race choices. It is really sad to see Felipe Massa's car struggling in the back with the slowest cars, incapable of any reaction. Jean Todt claims:
"The bitterness comes from seeing how competitive Kimi's car was in the race, the proof that it is decisive to start at the front. Now, we have to try to always get our two drivers on the podium".
Ron Dennis made a move.
"Let's make peace".
Jean Todt, Ferrari’s team principal, does not even think about it. Proposal rejected. With disdain.
"I wish he'd done it four months ago, maybe telling me about Stepney and Coughlan, about their exchanges of information. We would have avoided a lot of damage to our image. Now, it's too easy. I don't even think about it".
Convenient, Jean Todt thinks: first he hides from us that there is a spy inside our team, uses his emails to appeal against us, accuses us of having won in Australia with an illegal car, sends us fiery letters (the letter is addressed to Judge Macaluso, but it is as if the recipient was Maranello) and then he invites us all to sit around a table, as if nothing had happened.
"Instead, we're going to Paris, to face the verdict of the International Court of Appeal. At the moment, there are stewards working on the case, it would seem inappropriate for me to comment on it. After all, we have already expressed our thoughts on the first verdict clearly, calling it shameful in an official note. There's no need to add more".
And yet, Ron Dennis insists. In Hungary, too, between episodes of his internal war, with two drivers who now hate each other, he once again invited Ferrari to calm down.
"I understand that you aggressively continue not to believe it, but that is the way it is, as I describe it, I am sure that the FIA Court of Appeal will agree with us. Ferrari would benefit from a clarification".
But Jean Todt, with the full support of Ferrari (Montezemolo was the first to say that this story did not end with the verdict in Paris) and the whole group (Marchionne, the CEO of Fiat, was in Budapest on Saturday), goes in his way. In Hungary, he used a metaphor referring to his old career as a co-driver in rallies to define the fall in image suffered by Ron Dennis during this period.
"I have desert experience. When you get lost, you always have to go back to where you lost your way. If you continue in the wrong direction, you never find yourself again".
As if to say that Dennis would have been better off taking a step back from the start. Now, it is difficult to hope to reset everything. Obviously, Flavio Briatore would want that.
"This weekend, all we talked about was this ugly story, the Budapest race went almost unnoticed".
Apart from the punishment suffered by Fernando Alonso and the fierce struggle with his teammate, Lewis Hamilton. But now the battle off the track is on. Ferrari demands justice, they no longer trust McLaren and Ron Dennis. The dream of gathering even more overwhelming evidence continues. Paris, in September, will tell whether it can be crowned.