Hungary was a significant race in that it saw better form for Ferrari and McLaren and the first win for a KERS car, but it was totally overshadowed by events, starting with Felipe Massa being injured by a spring which fell off Ruben's Barrichello's car in Q2, and those which followed as a consequence.

The first we knew of Massa's accident was the awful sight of the F60 buried in the tyre wall up to the cockpit, evidently having gone straight in and him very still in the cockpit. Massa was extracted from the car, his condition stabilised and then flown to hospital, where he was treated for concussion and operated on for a fractured skull. As time went on the news got better. A CT scan was positive, he held conversations in three languages and his left eye opened and he could see through it. Nine days after the accident, he was released from hospital to return home, where his recovery continues well. The latest news is that he hopes to return to the cockpit in Brazil. We send him our very best wishes.

The first thing older fans would have noticed about the accident was there was no fire, not even a flicker. In-car footage soon revealed what had happened with the spring bouncing along the road before hitting him. In the weeks following the race, some amazing facts about the accident have emerged. The impact with the tyre wall had not added to his injuries, another testament to the strength and safety of current F1 cars. Mark Hughes' column in Autosport reveals that when the spring struck him Felipe was rendered unconscious immediately, but had both feet resting on the pedals. The residual braking, plus engine braking and the software working out something was wrong and closing the throttle, reduced the car's speed before impact by 100mph. There was also the huge importance of FIA mandated improvements to crash helmets following Ayrton Senna's tragic accident in 1994.

As is the nature of F1 speculation soon ran rife as to who would replace Felipe in the F60. This would be temporary of course, Ferrari vowing to keep the seat open for him. Test drivers Luca Badoer and Marc Gené where the likely candidates but on 28th July came the news that Michael Schumacher might consider the job. This was immediately ruled out by his manager Willi Weber, who told The Daily Mail: "Whoever sits in the car at the next race in Valencia, it will not be Michael Schumacher. I am not 100 per cent sure; I am 200 per cent sure."

The very next day Schuey announced that he would give it a go. We Tifosi rejoiced, and one of the reasons became clear with the news that Michael had got round the F1 testing ban by running a Corse Clienti F2007 round Mugello on GP2 slicks! No wonder we love him! Bet Red Bull wish they'd thought of that. Hairline fractures to his neck incurred whilst motorbike racing injuries have denied us Schuey's return, so it turned out that Webber was eventually right, but who's to say for the future?

Kimi said he wasn't bothered who drove the second car, before going off to make his WRC rally debut in Finland, where he crashed out. Ferrari has now announced that Luca Badoer will drive in Valencia, but given what else is going on one wonders what might happen later. Surely Ferrari letting Raikkonen go play rallying must indicate that his Ferrari career is drawing to its close? Strong rumours persist that Alonso is signed up for sometime in the future, rumours which are strengthened by others that Spanish banking group Santander will be sponsoring Ferrari from next season.

The Sun recently reported that Ferrari are said to be trying to buy Raikkonen out of his contract next year. If he does continue to the end of 2010, it has even been suggested that Massa might be placed elsewhere for a year to make room for Alonso, though this seems unlikely. Yet another element in all this came last week when Luca di Montezemolo said Ferrari and others were pressing to run three cars next year and he would like to make one available for Michael Schumacher!

Ironically, on track in Hungary, Raikkonen had his, and Ferrari's best race of the year, coming home second. He ran third for the middle part of the race and passed Webber for second as part of the second pit-stop. For once, he actually looked to be trying hard. Rightly or wrongly it generally looks like he doesn't bother if the car's off the pace. This may be correct and sensible but it's not what we Tifosi want and why, unlike Schuey, he has failed to win our hearts and why he must go. It's called La Passione.

In contrast, Alonso has plenty of it, getting pole in Hungary. Yes, this was maybe a "PR" pole, he stopped seven laps short of the others, but Alonso always engenders a sense of excitement and there might have been a safety car period he could have taken advantage of. When he re-joined, his pit crew failed to secure a front wheel properly and it fell off. Undoubtedly influenced by Massa's accident and Henry Surtees' tragic accident the week before when he was killed by an errant wheel, the Stewards suspended the Renault team from the European GP, basically for releasing a car they knew to be unsafe. This meant Alonso wouldn't race in the European GP, which is in Valencia, which is in Spain. This was a dull race last year, so you can imagine the effect of all this on ticket sales. This week the FIA rescinded the ban after an appeal by Renault, imposing a $50,000 fine instead. Unusually, good sense prevailed.

Shortly after the Hungarian GP, BMW announced that they are to withdraw from Formula 1 at the end of the season; their advance on the Championship had ground to a halt with their going from a championship contender, albeit an outsider, to an also-ran in a season. Peter Sauber tried to do a deal to save his old team but this could not be agreed with BMW in time for the team to sign the new Concorde agreement with all the others on 31st July. This would have guaranteed the team a share of the sport's revenues over the next three years. The FIA could not resist a bit of "I told you so" over the cost-cutting measures FOTA fought so hard against and has announced that the selection procedure has been re-opened to find a replacement for BMW-Sauber. Speaking of the new teams selection process, you may remember that there had been some controversy with the FIA insisting on new entrants using Cosworth engines; well, would-be Serbian GP team Stefan GP (?) has officially complained to the EC on the basis of anti-competition.

So, what else happened in Hungary? Piquet got fired and released a vitriolic press release naming Flavio Briatore as his "executioner". This is all the more surprising as was also his manager and his team manager - how do they get away with that? Brawn were off the pace again, the car being unable to make its tyres work despite it being warm and the track twisty. Button could only manage seventh and Barrichello 13th. The team now believe that something untoward may have happened to the car during one of the upgrades. Red Bull were the favourites and qualified second (Vettel) and third (Webber). With Alonso's "PR pole", they should have been set fair for the race, but it didn't happen like this.

McLaren's return to form started in Germany and continued in Hungary and Hamilton had qualified fourth. His KERS proved invaluable, gaining him a place at the start and squirting him past Webber at the start of lap 5. Raikkonen qualified seventh and his KERS got him up to fourth on lap 1 after a brush with Vettel on the way.

Hamilton took the lead on lap 12 when Alonso pitted and we were treated to the sight of his Pussycat Doll girlfriend Nicole Scherzinger doing a new dance routine for the TV - jumping up and down in excitement. She was wearing a strapless dress and various social networking sites showed that this created more excitement and speculation amongst fans than the race! That no pit-lane accident ensued, I am advised, was probably due to a special kind of tape and not tank. However one wonders whether Ms Scherzinger's frock influenced Red Bull in their releasing Webber into the path of Raikkonen for which they were reprimanded by the Stewards.

Hamilton had an untroubled race to the flag to take his first win as Champion. All credit is due to the McLaren team as, in many years of watching F1, I don't think I have ever seen anyone turn round such a bad car though I suppose Renault came close last year.

Webber was third for Red Bull and is now second in the championship. Further evidence that his luck has changed was that he was re-signed by Red Bull for next year the week before it was known that Kubica would be available! Rosberg was fourth again for Williams, with Kovalainen also finishing in the points for McLaren in fifth. Glock and Trulli salvaged four points with sixth and eighth for Toyota, who seem to have slipped back to their usual mediocrity and, as previously mentioned, Button was seventh for Brawn, whose key players will doubtless have been thinking deep thoughts whilst paddling on their holidays.

Finally, an analysis of fastest race laps by team in Hungary gives an idea of their relative pace:

1. Red Bull 01:21.931
2. Ferrari 01:22.434
3. Williams 01:22.468
4. McLaren 01:22.479
5. Toyota 01:22.506
6. Brawn 01:22.706
7. Toro Rosso 01:22.955
8. Force India 01:23.174
9. BMW 01:23.224
10. Renault 01:23.418

Click here for FIA lap chart.

Stefano Domenicali:

“We dedicate this result to Felipe: at this time, all our thoughts are with him and his family and I think this sentiment also applies to those who are close to him and to fans all over the world. Kimi drove a great race and the team worked in impeccable fashion, concentrating on the job despite what happened yesterday. We got the best result we were capable of. Please allow me on behalf of everyone at Ferrari to send our best wishes to Felipe. We love you and we are all thinking of you.”

Kimi Raikkonen:

“Today’s result is very important for the team in such a difficult weekend because of what happened to Felipe yesterday. I am pleased with second place, even if it is not completely satisfying as I always race to win. I got a good start, ending up fourth after the first few corners. We knew it would be crucial to make up places at the start to be in with a chance of fighting for the podium. After the first pit stop we began to have problems with the right hand exhaust and so, at the second stop, the team asked to leave using a different procedure to usual. It lost me a bit of time but I still had a reasonable advantage over Webber so I could manage the situation. Today, the car wasn’t bad, but it was not quick enough to go for the win.”