Hungarian GP Paddock Notebook - Sunday - MotorSportsTalk

In a season that has been dominated by one team, we have enjoyed a surprising number of breakout drives from those not behind the wheel of a Mercedes. The likes of Valtteri Bottas and Jules Bianchi have been impressive, but perhaps no-one has out-performed more than Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo.

The amiable Australian claimed his second win of the season today in sensational fashion, out-thinking and quite simply out-racing Mercedes to beat the Silver Arrows in the dry and bust the myth that doing so was impossible.

Once again, Formula 1 produced a thriller right when we needed it. Here’s the final round-up from the paddock at the Hungaroring.

RACE REPORT

A bit of rain, two safety car periods and some awesome racing – today’s race had it all. However, Dan was the man who took to the top step of the podium following a supreme display.

NEWS FROM THE PADDOCK

Ferrari team principal Marco Mattiacci is not bothered by Niki Lauda’s profane comments, saying that he has since apologized.
Lewis Hamilton started today’s race from the pit lane.
In GP2, American driver Conor Daly enjoyed his best weekend of the season so far.
Here was the starting grid for the race in Hungary.
Flavio Briatore has been tasked with ‘improving the show’ in F1.
Daniel Ricciardo was elated to claim win number two of the season today.
Hamilton was hungry to charge from the pit lane to P3 in a great display.
Nico Rosberg wasn’t so happy though, finishing fourth.
Fernando Alonso has called second place “a nice surprise”.
Sergio Perez and Marcus Ericsson were both fortunate to walk away from some big crashes.
Hamilton doesn’t know why Mercedes asked him to let Rosberg through during the race.
Sebastian Vettel had a horrible race, finishing P7 on track.

THOUGHTS FROM THE TRACK

It’s quite ironic that one day after we find out Flavio Briatore has been tasked with ‘improving the show’ in Formula 1, we get treated to one of the most exciting races of the year.

The same thing happened in Bahrain. Luca di Montezemolo rocked up, moaned about “taxi cab racing”, then made a swift departure when the taxis put on a show under the lights.

So once again, we must ask just what needs fixing in Formula 1? Isn’t it acceptable that sometimes races just aren’t that great? In soccer, you get the occasional 0-0 draw; in football, there are boring games; in tennis, you get a straights set victory. Sport isn’t always going to blow fans away, but when it does – case in point, today – it is phenomenal.

Firstly, many congratulations to Daniel Ricciardo for a superb victory. Red Bull beat Mercedes in the dry thanks to some supreme driving, a bit of luck and some panic for the Silver Arrows. The strategies that Hamilton and Rosberg used were questionable, as was the call for Lewis to let Nico past. Both drove well, but frankly the team should have done better. This is the first time in 2014 that a Mercedes car has finished a race and not been on the podium.

Not only did Ricciardo put a spanner in the Mercedes works, but Fernando Alonso produced another monumental drive for Ferrari. One comment on Twitter said that he could probably drive a washing machine to the podium, and it’s true. He made his soft tires last far, far longer than they had any right to. Had Dan not found another gear, it might have been a first win for Ferrari since Spain 2013. Ultimately, second place is still a superb result, and importantly, it takes the team back above Williams in the constructors’ championship.

As incredible as Hamilton’s drive was, he wasn’t the only one to fight through the field. Kimi Raikkonen started down in 16th and came home sixth for Ferrari, his best result of the year so far. It may not be too groundbreaking, but it is progress nevertheless.

Elsewhere, Sebastian Vettel had a very quiet race. Following the first safety car period, he didn’t appear much in the race save for his spin that he somehow kept out of the wall. His expectations of fighting with Williams were true, although I doubt he thought it would be for positions out of the top five. Felipe Massa came home in fifth for the British team with Valtteri Bottas in eighth.

What a way to sign off for the summer break. Formula 1 now gets a chance to breathe and take a few weeks back before starting the final stint. From Spa, we have eight races in fourteen weeks, then that’s it – 2015 will be upon us before you know it.

Follow @LukeSmithF1

Media and fan attention focused on a controversial run-in between Haiden Deegan and his Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing teammate Jordon Smith during Round 10 of the Monster Energy Supercross race at Detroit, after which the 250 East points’ Hunter Lawrence defends the young rider in the postrace news conference.

Deegan took the early lead in Heat 1 of the round, but the mood swiftly changed when he became embroiled in a spirited battle with teammate Smith.

On Lap 3, Smith caught Deegan with a fast pass through the whoops. Smith briefly held the lead heading into a bowl turn but Deegan had the inside line and threw a block pass. In the next few turns, the action heated up until Smith eventually ran into the back of Deegan’s Yamaha and crashed.

One of the highlights of the battle seemed to include a moment when Deegan waited on Smith in order to throw a second block pass, adding fuel to the controversy.

After his initial crash, Smith fell to seventh on the next lap. He would crash twice more during the event, ultimately finishing four laps off the pace in 20th.

The topic was inevitably part of the postrace news conference.

“It was good racing; it was fun,” Deegan said at about the 27-minute mark in the video above. “I just had some fun doing it.”

Smith had more trouble in the Last Chance Qualifier. He stalled his bike in heavy traffic, worked his way into a battle for fourth with the checkers in sight, but crashed a few yards shy of the finish line and was credited with seventh. Smith earned zero points and fell to sixth in the standings.

Lawrence defends Deegan — *Jordon Smith failed to make the Detroit Supercross Main and fell to sixth in the points. – Feld Motor Sports*

“I think he’s like fifth in points,” Deegan said. “He’s a little out of it. Beside that it was good, I don’t know. I wasn’t really paying attention.”

Deegan jokingly deflected an earlier question with the response that he wasn’t paying attention during the incident.

“He’s my teammate, but he’s a veteran, he’s been in this sport for a while,” Deegan said. “I was up there just battling. I want to win as much as everybody else. It doesn’t matter if it’s a heat race or a main; I just want to win. I was just trying to push that.”

As Deegan and Smith battled, Jeremy Martin took the lead. Deegan finished second in the heat and backed up his performance with a solid third-place showing in the main, which was his second podium finish in a short six-race career. Deegan’s first podium was earned at Daytona, just two rounds ago.

But as Deegan struggled to find something meaningful to say, unsurprisingly for a 17-year-old rider who was not scheduled to run the full 250 schedule this year, it was the championship leader Lawrence who came to his defense.

“I just want to point something out, which kind of amazes me,” Lawrence said during the conference. “So many of the people on social media, where everyone puts their expertise in, are saying the racing back in the ’80s, the early 90s, when me were men. They’re always talking about how gnarly it was and then anytime a block pass or something happens now, everyone cries about it.

“That’s just a little bit interesting. Pick one. You want the gnarly block passes from 10 years ago and then you get it, everyone makes a big song and dance about it.”

Pressed further, Lawrence defended not only the pass but the decision-making process that gets employed lap after lap in a Supercross race.

“It’s easy to point the finger,” Lawrence said. “We’re out there making decisions in a split millisecond. People have all month to pay their phone bill and they still can’t do that on time.

“We’re making decisions at such a fast reaction [time with] adrenaline. … I’m not just saying it for me or Haiden. I speak for all the guys. No one is perfect and we’re under a microscope out there. The media is really quick to point a finger when someone makes a mistake.”

The media is required to hold athletes accountable for their actions. They are also required to tell the complete story.

Hungarian GP Paddock Notebook – Sunday

Hunter Lawrence defends Haiden Deegan after controversial block pass at Detroit

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