A somber weekend announces the return of F1’s big boys.

A somber weekend dominated by Massa’s accident announces the return of Mclaren and Ferrari at the Hungarian GP. Lewis Hamilton secured his first win of the season with an impressive performance ahead of Kimi”s Ferrari in second. Redbull continued their good form while Brawn are still struggling to rediscover their lost form. Does this mean that the big boys are now ready to play after a long hiatus?

Massa
Massa’s horrific accident during Saturday’s qualifying session dominated and cast a dark shadow over the weekend. With conflicting news coming out in the first few hours, finally great news of a successful surgery and doctors optimism eased tensions. Although he might miss the rest of the season, he is expected to make a full recovery which is the best news to come out of the entire race weekend.

The big boys
After what was slowly becoming Mclaren’s worst ever season, Lewis Hamilton announced his team’s return to form with a resounding win in Hungary. Using his KERS to perfection Lewis starting fourth, leapfrogged both Vettel and Webber before out breaking himself to let Webber through. After that he managed to overtake Webber and the rest was a demonstration of a Mclaren enjoying it’s return to form.

Kimi Raikonnen’s second place finish was not only his best result this season but his best performance in a while. Driving an improved Ferrari which didn’t have the same power as the Mclaren’s, Kimi managed to overhaul Mark Webber and even challenge Hamilton at one point. Despite being a step behind Mclaren this weekend, Kimi has shown that Ferrari has just about enough to consistently challenge for the podium.

Redbull and Brawn
Of the championship leaders, Redbull had a better weekend overall with Webber finishing on the podium in third. With almost zero fast corners, this wasn’t Redbull’s favorite track but Webber still managed to get a podium. Vettel had an incident with Raikkonen at the first corner which proved terminal and was forced to retire.

Brawn on the other hand had a bad weekend which ever way you look at it. Button their only points scorer could only manage a seventh place finish. On a circuit that’s supposed to be their bread and butter, Brawn’s weekend went wrong from the beginning with its worst qualifying session to date. While everyone around them has moved forward, Brawn seems to be moving backwards with their cars visibly uncompetitive.

Renault and the two Spaniads
Two time world champion Fernando Alonso who started from pole saw his race disappear after a botched pit stop. Pitting earlier than expected, Alonso was on course for at least a podium but a loosely secured front wheel disintegrated and then came off completely half way through his out lap.

This forced his early retirement and with young Hendry Surtees’ fatal accident a week ago fresh on steward’s mind, Renault have been banned from the European GP for releasing an unsafe car into the race track. Renault are appealing the decision but in light of recent safety concerns, I don’t see them on the grid come the European GP.

F1’s youngest ever driver Jaime Alguersuari had a fantastic start to his F1 career finishing a commendable 15th ahead of teammate Sebastain Buemi. After a few hiccups during Saturday’s qualifying, Alguersuari had a quiet but consistent race performing better than most expected.

After Brawn and then Redbull dominated the first half of the season, the big boys Mclaren and Ferrari have finally come alive. With Mclaren the livelier of the two and Ferrari likely to improve, Brawn and Redbull will find the going much tougher from now on.

FULL RESULTS OF THE 2009 HUNGARIAN GP
Pos No Driver Grid Pts
1 1 Lewis Hamilton 4 10
2 4 Kimi Räikkönen 7 8
3 14 Mark Webber 3 6
4 16 Nico Rosberg 5 5
5 2 Heikki Kovalainen 6 4
6 10 Timo Glock 13 3
7 22 Jenson Button 8 2
8 9 Jarno Trulli 11 1
9 17 Kazuki Nakajima 9
10 23 Rubens Barrichello 12
11 6 Nick Heidfeld 15
12 8 Nelsinho Piquet 14
13 5 Robert Kubica 18
14 21 Giancarlo Fisichella 16
15 11 Jaime Alguersuari 19
16 12 Sebastien Buemi 10
Ret 15 Sebastian Vettel 2
Ret 7 Fernando Alonso 1
Ret 20 Adrian Sutil 17