Never, they only started retiring them now that they are giving permanent numbers for drivers. The driver numbers are permanent and will be used throughout each driver’s career with the exception of the world champion, who will be given the option to use number one the following season.
This won't be for everyone but there's a BBC radio podcast here for the Hungarian GP preview. First half is a good tribute to Jules Bianchi. BBC Radio 5 live - Chequered Flag Formula 1, Hungarian GP Preview
I didn't see any of the practice today but apparently it was eventful. I understand Perez crashed and his car flipped. He's okay but Force India skipped FP2 while they tried to work out just what happened. Raikkonen lost most of his nose (the entire wing?) after driving over some curbing. No one seems to know why that happened. Ricciardo's engine blew up but it was near the end of FP2 (I think) so he didn't miss much. It was an old engine they decided to use up during practice so it won't cause penalty issues. In the end, the Red Bull pair split the Mercs on the time sheet at the end of FP2. And Alonso was 8th! Okay, so it's just Friday practice. Still interesting. FP2 top 10: Hamilton Kvyat Ricciardo Rosberg Raikkonen Sainz Vettel Alonso Bottas Massa
OMG...just watched the post-quali interview and had to go back and watch the facial expressions of the second place qualifier as the pole sitter was talking. No hiding his frustration!
That's what you get when you're content with 2nd. If he'd been trying for 1st then that probably wouldn't have happened.
An ok race for me. Not really as exciting as the one from Britain. I really like the tribute everyone carried for JB.
I remember reading something a month or so ago that said the Merc drivers were predicting some new excitement at race starts due to the mid-season banning of assistance from the pit wall. No more engineers checking telemetry during and after the formation lap and telling their drivers exactly how to set things up, which buttons to push, switches to flip, etc, to make their launches work. But that doesn't start until the next race in Belgium, 23 Aug. If you didn't know that you might think the new rules went into effect two races ago. After all, Merc have been jumped at the start now two races in a row. One race is an anomaly, two in a row...not so much. Esp. for a dominant team that's had no such trouble until now. No surprise, then, that Toto Wolff is a bit worried about how their race start will go at Spa. But this change should have a negative effect on everyone, not just Merc, unless their drivers are more reliant on that assistance than everyone else. I'm very curious to see how things go the second half of the season. Summer break now though so it will be a while before we find out.
I thoroughly enjoyed that race. McLaren finally performed pretty well, which bodes well for the rest of the season for them. The cracks are showing at Mercedes so it won't be a cake-walk. Ferrari is an actual contender (though still a bit of a long shot). Lots of nice action in that one. How many penalties did Maldanado rack up this time? :crazy:
Quite a few. Emanuele Pirro (the driver steward) was a busy guy in Budapest. I think I read Maldonado is half way to a race ban on penalty points.
The Germans (Mercedes) seem to have a hard time improvising. They are really good when things happen according to their plan but when it doesn't they don't respond very well.
Not to forget that if not for a flat tire Rosberg would have been on the podium at the least... Hamilton was the one who had a meltdown when things weren't going his way off the start and with all the mistakes he made, he still managed a respectable finish all things considered. MB is still the faster cars, but Ferrari does seem to be catching up a tic..