The 2017 Hungarian Grand Prix is officially in the books and Ferrari got a 1-2 finish [a la Mercedes in 2016] with Sebastian Vettel winning – but not without some drama – followed by his teammate, Kimi Raikkonen and the third and final place on the podium being occupied by Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas after he was gifted the position by his teammate, Lewis Hamilton.
After setting the fastest lap ever at the track, Vettel held the pole position and all signs pointed to an easy win by Vettel. it looked exactly that way after the first 10 laps but then fate intervened and Vettel’s steering wheel began experiencing issues compromising his ability to adequately steer the race car at top speed. This allowed Raikkonen, Bottas and Hamilton to close the gap by the last laps of the race. Vettel, however, was able to hold off all three to claim the win and the ASN top points. ASN awards second place and third place points to Fernando Alonso and Stoffel Vandoorne of McLaren-Honda who not only got their cars to the end of the race but both finished in the top 10 for the first time this year.
The Pastor Maldonado Driving School Award was a no-brainer as Red Bull’s Max Verstappen got his first point of the year by taking out his teammate, Daniel Ricciardo – in very Maldonado-esque fashion – on the second corner of the first lap.
The Kimi Raikkonen “Leave Me Alone! I Know What I’m Doing!” Award was also a no-brainer, going to Ricciardo for his response to being clobbered by his teenage teammate – “Was that who I think it was?” he asked his pit. When they replied that it, indeed, was his teammate – “F-king sore loser.”
The Bernie Ecclestone Doofus Moment Award goes to Williams for deciding that, when their top driver, Felipe Massa, was not well enough to drive, replacing him with a race driver-turned-commentator [Paul di Resta] instead of anyone out of their driving academy or even Jenson Button.
2017 ASN Formula One Driver Rankings [after Hungarian Grand Prix]
1] Sebastian Vettel – 23 points
2] Valtteri Bottas – 12
3] Lewis Hamilton – 10
4] Daniel Ricciardo – five
5] Esteban Ocon – four
6] Fernando Alonso/Kimi Raikkonen – three
8] Sergio Perez/Stoffel Vandoorne – two
10] Romain Grosjean/Lance Stroll/Max Verstappen – one
2017 Pastor Maldonado Driving School Award [after Hungarian Grand Prix]
1] Daniil Kvyat/Perez/Carlos Sainz, Jr. – two
4] Grosjean/Kevin Magnussen/Jolyon Palmer/Vandoorne/Verstappen/Vettel – one
2017 Kimi Raikkonen “Leave Me Alone! I Know What I’m Doing!” Award [after Hungarian Grand Prix]
1] Alonso/Vettel – two
3] Bottas/Jenson Button/Grosjean/Hamilton/Mercedes [Bottas pit]/Red Bull [Verstappen pit]/Ricciardo/Vettel – one
2017 Bernie Ecclestone Doofus Moment Award [after Hungarian Grand Prix]
1] Bernie Ecclestone – three
2] Australian GP officials/Bottas/British GP officials/Canadian GP officials/Goodwood/Mercedes marketing/Stroll/Williams – one