WITH Rod Kinsey away taking an ‘economic’ drive from Zimbabwe to Cape Town (watch the press for details on his record-breaking attempt), it fell to me to write Track Torque.
It would have been nice to go to Budapest and get a front row seat at the Hungaroring circuit.
But the Herald budget did not allow for it – and I probably wouldn’t have made it back in time to bath the children anyway – so I settled in on the couch.
And then had TO wrestle control of the remote away from the wife who wanted to watch Jurassic Park.
Grand Prix races on a lazy Sunday afternoon can bring on a snooze, but this was interesting and I knew Rod would want me to pay close attention.
The start is probably the most exciting part. I’m a Nico Rosberg fan so was happy he was on pole.
Unfortunately, he semi-botched the take-off, allowing both Lewis Hamilton (who has won this race four times already to Rosberg’s nil score in Hungary) and Daniel Ricciardo to sneak past him.
In fact, at one stage Ricciardo almost got past both Mercs but somehow Rosberg cleaned up his messy start with some unbelievably clean manoeuvring on the second corner to get back into second spot.
Unfortunately though (or fortunately for Lewis Hamilton fans) the Brit was gone, never to be threatened again.
So, although Rosberg lost the lead, he did well to regain second. It ended like that, with Mercedes taking yet another 1-2.
Hamilton was pleased with the win, although a little more muted in celebration than he had been at Silverstone.
“The fans and this city make this race spectacular,” he said afterwards.
The only hassle he had was navigating the ‘traffic’ as the leaders lapped the fish and chips at the back.
Rosberg was left to rue his early opportunity. “Ran out of space so had to bale a bit. And then there’s not much chance of overtaking on this track,” he said.
Ricciardo secured third, holding off Sebastian Vettel, while Max Verstappen took fifth, holding off Kimi Raikkonen, although there were some question marks about his tactics towards the end.
Commentator David Coulthard seemed to think Verstappen had moved on the braking line, denying Raikkonen a chance to shoot past.
Hamilton now has five wins this season and the world championship lead for the first time this year, although the lead is tiny.
With 10 races still to go, it’s basically a two-horse race between Hamilton and Rosberg.
But you get the feeling that now that Hamilton has caught his teammate, that he will power away and dominate like he has in the past two seasons.
It’s not as if Rosberg has been driving badly; Hamilton has just been sublime.
Rosberg, who has never won a world championship title, does need to produce a win soon, or as at Hungaroring, risk watching Hamilton grab the lead and disappear into the distance.
The German Grand Prix on July 31 is next. Hockenheim would be the perfect place for Rosberg to show he’s not out of the championship race just yet.
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