By role
August 18 2004

Renault F1 driver Fernando Alonso finished on the podium once againat the Hungaroring. It was a lonely but competitive drive for the Spaniard that was sure to maintain the gap with Montoya though he was fully aware he could do little to challenge Rubens Barrichello for the second spot on the podium. Renault F1 has analised the data of Alonso's race on Sunday:

A closer look at the data from Sunday’s race shows Fernando full deserved his third place at the Hungaroring after a flawless drive.

After the race on Sunday, Fernando called his 70 lap charge to third place a ‘lonely’ drive – and indeed it was. Behind Ferrari, the Spaniard’s R24 was the class of the field, and Fernando was never threatened for third place. What stands out even more, though, is the Spaniard’s consistency: every one of his eighteen laps in his second stint, for example, fell within a window of half a second. It was an immaculate drive.

Around the Hungaroring, the R24 once again showed itself to be most at ease in the slower corners demanding good mechanical grip, good traction and also braking stability. Fernando set the third fastest times in both the first and third sectors of the lap (28.467s and 22.484s respectively), while in the second sector – which includes the series of quick corners through turns 8/9/10/11 – he could only manage sixth fastest (29.304s, some seven tenths off Michael Schumacher’s fastest time). Indeed, the R24 also proved competitive in a straightline, with Fernando setting the fourth best speed through the trap at the end of the main straight, clocking 311 kph (compared to Michael Schumacher’s best of 313.8 kph).

Overall, though, it was Fernando’s ability to lap consistently faster than Montoya’s fourth-placed Williams that allowed him to build the ten to fifteen second gap that he maintained to the chequered flag. In terms of pure speed, Fernando set a fastest lap half a second faster than the Colombian, and his ideal lap – the combination of the three fastest sectors set during the race – was also significantly quicker:

Driver

Best time

Ideal lap


MSC

1'19.071

1'18.773


BAR

1'19.213

1'19.031


ALO

1'20.275

1'20.255


BUT

1'20.425

1'20.298


PIZ

1'20.501

1'20.463


MOY

1'20.715

1'20.512


TRU

1'20.705

1'20.705




Indeed, looking at these figures would appear to suggest that Button in is BAR should feel disappointed with his fifth-place finish. However, the fastest and ideal lap indicators only give an idea of ultimate performance rather than actual speed. For this, the average lap speed over the driver’s longest run is more relevant, and this shows that Montoya drew his advantage over Button to the tune of a tenth of a second a lap. Furthermore, it reinforces the emerging picture of Fernando’s speed:

Driver

Laps

Average


MSC

20

1'20.821


BAR

20

1'20.861


ALO

22

1'21.408


MOY

22

1'21.668


BUT

20

1'21.732


PIZ

19

1'21.865


SAT

22

1'21.914


FIS

21

1'22.301


COU

21

1'22.323


TRU

20

1'22.438





What, though of Jarno? Looking at the numbers above, his performance initially seems to be a long way off Fernando’s, but the reality is somewhat different. During the first two stints, until approximately five laps before his second stop, Jarno tailed Button’s BAR with no difficulty at all: the fact that his fastest and ideal lap are identical indicates that he was being held up, rather than being able to push to the limit. However, before his second stop, his times began to tail off, and then during the third stint, his average lap time fell to 1:23.6, against 1:21.6 during the first stint of the race. The Italian reported a massive loss of front grip over the radio, although stressed that graining was not to blame; the team took the decision to pit early in order to resolve the problem, but on his out-lap, Jarno suffered the loss of oil pressure that forced him to retire. For the second race in a row, it was a frustrating end to a potentially very competitive drive.