Formula One: Race pace encouragement brightens BAR Honda's Hungarian Grand Prix
13 August 2000
Jacques Villeneuve's exceptional race pace in this afternoon's Hungarian Grand Prix provided some encouragement for Lucky Strike Reynard BAR Honda after a difficult weekend. Villeneuve recovered from a first lap incident that left him in last place - nearly one lap down - to charge through the field to finish 12th, while team mate Ricardo Zonta had a steady race, taking the flag in 14th position. The Hungaroring was always likely to be one of the circuits least suited to the characteristics of the BAR Honda 002, but the team's cause was not helped by Villeneuve's coming together with the Arrows of Pedro De La Rosa at the third corner. Both cars pitted and after fitting a new nose cone, Villeneuve found himself relegated to the back of the field. Thereafter, however, the Canadian proceeded to lap at a pace comparable with the leading contenders. The team had found a set-up better suited to the circuit than that employed in qualifying and Jacques was able to make up around three seconds a lap over his rivals, quickly recovering the earlier lost ground. He set about demonstrating that overtaking is possible around this tight circuit and but for the additional enforced pit stop could have featured as a force in the race itself. Lending further credibility to his impressive performance, Villeneuve was the fastest of all the drivers through the official speed trap. He was also among the quickest in terms of straight-line speed all around the circuit, despite running with maximum downforce settings to maximise the car's grip. By contrast, Ricardo Zonta spent the race battling with the handling of his car. The Brazilian took advantage of Villeneuve's misfortune to move up on the first lap and had climbed to 14th by lap 17, but was never happy with the chassis balance. Adjustments made during both pit stops made some difference, but Ricardo could only concentrate on bringing the car home safely at the end of the race. Jacques Villeneuve Position: 12th "For once, I did not get a good start and found myself on the outside of De La Rosa at the chicane; we both braked very late, but I hit the back of his car. After the first pit stop, the car was really quick and I was able to get into a good rhythm with a clear track ahead of me. I got past a number of cars on the track, but you cannot make up for losing all that time at the start of the race. It's a shame, because the car was very good in race trim." Ricardo Zonta Position: 14th "I was battling with the car all day. In the first stint I had understeer when I was on the power, then after I pitted there was oversteer on entry to the corners. Finally we tried a change to the tyre pressures but it made little difference. The steering became heavy and I could not fight anymore." Takefumi Hosaka - Managing Director, Honda R&D "Jacques was quick today and his lap times were close to those of the top teams. It would have been nice to have found that speed one day earlier and that is an area in which we have to find some improvement. As I have said all weekend, the car is not as strong at circuits like this. We need to study the data from here and Monaco to address the issue, so that the results on these tracks are not wasted." Craig Pollock - Managing Director, British American Racing "This was a hugely disappointing result for the team, but at the same time there was considerable relief that the set-up on Jacques' car was able to get the maximum out of the chassis. We hope that this will give us the direction to have a good set-up for this type of circuit in the future. Jacques' settings were different from those of Ricardo today and this was reflected in the differences in performance during the race." Jordan Mugen Honda enjoyed a productive race. Heinz-Harald Frentzen held on to his sixth place starting position throughout the duration of the race, picking up a valuable world championship point to bring him level with his team mate Jarno Trulli. Trulli was the only driver to complete the race on a one-stop strategy, but despite making up five positions during the 77 laps, the Italian ultimately missed out on an other points finish, ending the race in seventh position. The Formula One teams head to the Spa Francorchamps circuit for the Belgian Grand Prix in a fortnight, Sunday 27 August. Championship Standings after 12 of 17 rounds DRIVERS 1 Hakkinen McLaren 64 2 M Schumacher Ferrari 62 3 Coulthard McLaren 58 4 Barrichello Ferrari 49 5 Fisichella Benetton 18 6 R Schumacher Williams 16 7 Villeneuve BAR Honda 11 9 Trulli Jordan-Mugen Honda 6 = Frentzen Jordan-Mugen Honda 6 CONSTRUCTORS 1 McLaren-Mercedes 112 2 Ferrari 111 3 Williams-BMW 24 4 Benetton-Playlife 18 5 BAR Honda 12 = Jordan Mugen-Honda 12 7 Sauber 6 8 Arrows 4 9 Jaguar 3