Mark Webber has just won an extraordinary Hungarian Grand Prix, in doing so he has reclaimed the lead of the 2010 world drivers championship. It was a fortunate turn of events that, in the end, delivered Webber a comfortable win from Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso and his Red Bull Racing teammate Sebastian Vettel.
Vettel started the race on pole, with Webber in P2 and Alonso P3. The Ferrari man jumped Webber off the line and very nearly took the lead from Vettel into Turn 1. Vettel was able to fend off Alonso’s challenge and the notoriously difficult to pass Hungaroring looked like providing another boring procession.
However, on lap 15, before teams were planning to bring in their drivers for scheduled pit stops some debris from one of the Force India cars was positioned precariously in the middle of the track. The Safety Car was deployed and the entire field took advantage to make their compulsory tyre change; with the exception of Webber, Rubens Barichello (Williams) and Jarno Trulli (Virgin Racing). Chaos reigned in pit lane, too, with a crash between Robert Kubica (Renault) and Vintonio Liuzzi (Force India), a loose wheel from Nico Rosberg’s Mercedes bouncing down the lane among the teams and cars everywhere.