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By Emanuele Venturoli| Posted July 24, 2015 | In Formula1, MotoGP, Sport News, Sport Sponsorship, Sports Marketing
Lewis Hamilton has taken pole position for the 2015 Hungarian Grand Prix after a scintillating lap that gave him a half a second advantage over team-mate and 2nd placed qualifier Nico Rosberg. Lewis is seeking his fifth win in Hungary and has dominated the event so far by topping every practice and qualifying session.
Q1:
Lewis Hamilton continued his rule over the top spot in Hungarian Grand Prix practice on Saturday morning by taking the fastest time in final practice. His lead over his rivals had diminished overnight however, with Nico Rosberg getting to within a tenth of Hamilton’s 1’22.997. Nico did end the session on a low however, with his Mercedes stalling at the end of the pit-lane prior to a practice start.
Thankfully, Nico’s car was in perfect working order for the start of the first qualifying session, with the #6 Mercedes one of the first cars out on track. His first lap was a 1’25’262, but his team-mate Hamilton was much faster with a 1’24.293; a second quicker than Rosberg who had locked up and run wide on a few occasions. Hamilton was instantaneously faster than the predicted Q1 cut-off time of a 1’24.9.
Sebastian Vettel and Ferrari hadn’t shown as good a pace as they have during the season so far in practice, but they seemed to be a bit quicker in the early stages of qualifying, with Vettel going 2nd despite an improvement by Nico Rosberg to a 1’24.8; who was now reporting that something was wrong with the balance of his car.
Red Bull had shown pace in practice and they looked to still be quite quick at the Hungaroring. Ricciardo put his Red Bull into 2nd, just 4 tenths down on Hamilton, with Kvyat placing his car in 6th. McLaren, another team who have struggled so far this year, were also looking to get into Q3 for the first time this year, with Button and Alonso going 3rd and 6th as the first runners on the soft compound tyre.
5 minutes remained in the session, with two Lotuses, Manors and Sergio Perez in the drop-zone as the clock ticked away. The entire field elected to make a second run on the faster tyre thanks to the sheer pace advantage that the faster rubber would give. This was proven by the fact that Grosjean and Hulkenberg briefly jumped to 2nd and 3rd on the time-sheets having just been in elimination. Nico Rosberg put himself on top soon after with a 1’22.9, with Hamilton soon coming through to retake P1 by 8 hundredths of a second.
McLaren were still fighting to make it out of Q1, with Fernando Alonso just pushing his team-mate out with 2 seconds to go. Jenson Button was on another lap, but it wasn’t enough to advance after his car failed to deploy it’s ERS energy boost. He would join the Sauber pair of Marcus Ericsson and Felipe Nasr and the Manor duo of Roberto Merhi and Will Stevens.
Out in Q1:
POS |
Driver |
Team |
Time |
16 |
Jenson Button |
McLaren |
1’24.739 |
17 |
Marcus Ericsson |
Sauber |
1’24.843 |
18 |
Felipe Nasr |
Sauber |
1’24.997 |
19 |
Roberto Merhi |
Manor |
1’27.416 |
20 |
Will Stevens |
Manor |
1’27.949 |
Q2:
A lull in track action took place at the start of the second session, with no cars turning wheels until the 12 minute to go mark. Sebastian Vettel, Valtteri Bottas and Kimi Raikkonen, three drivers within a chance of racing with Ferrari next year, were the first to take to the track. Of the trio, it was Vettel who was be the fastest on their first laps ahead of Raikkonen and Bottas. They were soon joined by Massa who moved to third in the second Williams.
You would’ve expected that the two Mercedes drivers would soon move themselves to the top. Rosberg came through to go 3rd fastest, with Hamilton on a lap behind him. Lewis wouldn’t be able to complete the lap however, as the session was red flagged due to Fernando Alonso’s McLaren coming to a halt at pit-entry. Alonso had been fight int to try and get through to Q3. Such was his determination, he led a train of marshals to push the McLaren back into the pits so that the team could try and get the car back out in time to set a lap.
The #14 McLaren was returned to the garage just as the session restarted with 6 minutes remaining. Lewis Hamilton managed to get a lap on the board that was good enough to get him back into P1; a position that he would remain in for the rest of the session.
Sadly for Fernando Alonso, the team were not able to get his car back on track, so he would be eliminated in 15th place. He would be joined by the two Force India’s, who had two troubled practice sessions yesterday, along with Carlos Sainz and Pastor Maldonado.
Out in Q2:
POS |
Driver |
Team |
Time |
11 |
Nico Hulkenberg |
Force India |
1’23.826 |
12 |
Carlos Sainz |
Toro Rosso |
1’23.869 |
13 |
Sergio Perez |
Force India |
1’24.461 |
14 |
Pastor Maldonado |
Lotus |
1’24.609 |
15 |
Fernando Alonso |
McLaren |
No time |
Q3:
Lewis Hamilton’s hopes of getting a record 5th win in the Hungarian Grand Prix had gotten off to the best of starts, with the British driver finishing fastest in all the practice sessions and the first two sessions of qualifying. Would he be able to continue his dominance by getting pole position? Or would Nico Rosberg find a way to steal pole position from him in the final session?
Mercedes, Ferrari, Williams, Red Bull, Romain Grosjean and Max Verstappen would take part in the final 12 minutes of qualifying to decide pole position. Like in Q2, a brief period took place with no driver on track, but then all the drivers except for Max Verstappen coming out for their first of two runs.
Lewis Hamilton led the way after the first laps, with both him and his team-mate taking to the track on used tyres. Sebastian Vettel led the way in the battle for best of the rest, but he did state that he had messed up his lap a little through being ‘too greedy’. Daniel Ricciardo showed Red Bull’s pace by getting within a tenth of Vettel and would be battling with his former team-mate for supremacy on the 2nd row of the grid in the final runs.
All the drivers were on their final laps as the checkered flag came out. Rosberg matched Hamilton’s previous time in sector one, but both of them were on new tyres so Hamilton improved also. He lost a bit of time in the second sector and he then couldn’t get the time back in the final sector. This meant that he would improve, but he was not fast enough to take pole position away from his team-mate. The time was needed however, as Sebastian Vettel came through with a time that would’ve have beaten Rosberg’s previous time.
Lewis Hamilton didn’t need his final lap, but nevertheless he completed the lap which took him up to a 1’22.020. This would be pole position for the Hungarian Grand Prix. Nico Rosberg lines up alongside him in the sister Silver Arrow, with Sebastian Vettel and Daniel Ricciardo represented by just 2 hundredths of a second on the second row of the grid; Ricciardo qualifying exactly where he won from a year ago.
Finnish drivers Kimi Raikkonen and Valtteri Bottas will line up 5th and 6th on the 3rd row of the grid, with Daniil Kvyat, Felipe Massa, Max Verstappen and Romain Grosjean completing the top 10 on the grid for tomorrow’s Grand Prix.
2015 Hungarian Grand Prix grid:
POS |
Driver |
Team |
Time |
Session |
1 |
Lewis Hamilton |
Mercedes |
1’22.020 |
Q3 |
2 |
Nico Rosberg |
Mercedes |
1’22.595 |
Q3 |
3 |
Sebastian Vettel |
Ferrari |
1’22.739 |
Q3 |
4 |
Daniel Ricciardo |
Red Bull |
1’22.774 |
Q3 |
5 |
Kimi Raikkonen |
Ferrari |
1’23.020 |
Q3 |
6 |
Valtteri Bottas |
Williams |
1’23.222 |
Q3 |
7 |
Daniil Kvyat |
Red Bull |
1’23.332 |
Q3 |
8 |
Felipe Massa |
Williams |
1’23.537 |
Q3 |
9 |
Max Verstappen |
Toro Rosso |
1’23.679 |
Q3 |
10 |
Romain Grosjean |
Lotus |
1’24.181 |
Q3 |
11 |
Nico Hulkenberg |
Force India |
1’23.826 |
Q2 |
12 |
Carlos Sainz |
Toro Rosso |
1’23.869 |
Q2 |
13 |
Sergio Perez |
Force India |
1’24.461 |
Q2 |
14 |
Pastor Maldonado |
Lotus |
1’24.609 |
Q2 |
15 |
Fernando Alonso |
McLaren |
No time |
Q2 |
16 |
Jenson Button |
McLaren |
1’24.739 |
Q1 |
17 |
Marcus Ericsson |
Sauber |
1’24.843 |
Q1 |
18 |
Felipe Nasr |
Sauber |
1’24.997 |
Q1 |
19 |
Roberto Merhi |
Manor |
1’27.416 |
Q1 |
20 |
Will Stevens |
Manor |
1’27.949 |
Q1 |
Are you ready to explore the transformative power of athlete sponsorship for your brand? Click here to learn more about how sponsorship can help brands grow and thrive in the exciting world of motorsports.
A graduate in Public, Social and Political Communication from the University of Bologna, he has always been passionate about marketing, design and sport.
The online platform where you can discover the latest trends, strategies and insights from the exciting world of sports marketing.
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Read MoreIn an era where it is possible to get anywhere with a click, there is a strong temptation to approach teams and properties directly for sponsorship projects.
By doing so, we are convinced that we are shortening the value chain, saving time and money. However, these DYI methods are anything but risk-free and what initially appears to be a competitive advantage soon turns into a problem that is difficult to resolve. That’s why there are agencies. And this is why you should rely on us for your sponsorships.
When first approaching a sponsorship or sports marketing project, it is difficult to know immediately which stakeholders are correct, what the decision flow is, and what the right timelines are for each process. Sports is a very specialized field of action, and fitting effectively into its paths can take a lot of time and therefore money. We, on the other hand, know referents and spheres of action and know who to talk to, when and how. So you are also more effective.
Sports is an immense passion, and for our heart colors we would be willing to do anything. But business is a different business, and it is important to make the best possible strategic decisions based on independent research, statistics and reliable data. A sports marketing and sports sponsorship agency like RTR has an objective, 360-degree picture of the scenario and can tell you what is really best for you: which sport, which athlete, which team. This is because we possess a great deal of data and information on ratings, segmentation and attitudes. Because the numbers don’t lie. Never.
Activations are the real heart of sports sponsorship. Without them, there remains only a blank sticker on a motorcycle, car or uniform and no contact with the public, no emotional connection, no impact on the bottom line. Then how do you do it? It certainly won’t be the teams or the athletes who will help you leverage sponsorship and enjoy the many marketing rights you have paid for. To bring out the best in a sports marketing project you need an agency that knows how to use sponsorship to engage the fanbase on the Web, to reach out to Shopping Centers, to organize hospitality, to develop B2B and B2C opportunities, and to get “your” athletes in front of millions of potential consumers.
Would you ever go to the dealer who sold you the car and ask if the competitor’s car is better? No, of course. So, how do you expect to get firm measurements of the effectiveness of your sponsorship if you do not rely on someone super partes? At RTR, we have always worked with independent third-party agencies that allow us to know the return on any exposure of your brand on TV and in the media. In addition, we believe in calculating ROI as the ultimate measure of your success-so we can tell you for every penny you spend how much you are making.
We have been involved in sports sponsorship and sports marketing for more than 15 years. We are consultants in the sense that our goal is to maximize your investment, but we are also an agency that manages the project from start to finish. We have been doing this since 1995 with passion and professionalism, following three principles that have become cornerstones of our business: independence, verticality and transparency.
I would like to highlight the fact that one of the qualities of RTR is its great ability to approach the sponsorship scenario strategically, together with its passionate attitude, its amazing enthusiasm for solving problems, and its high level of professionalism.
Gianluca Degliesposti
Executive Director Server&Storage EMEA
Eurosport is truly delighted with its business relationship with Riccardo Tafà, who has become extremely popular, thanks to his detailed knowledge of the sports marketing sector and his highly diligent attitude to work.
Francois Ribeiro
Commercial Director
Passion and Expertise are the features that I have found in RTR since the very beginning. Serious and reliable professionals but also very helpful, nice and open-mind people, willing to listen and compare different ideas. All the values in which RTR believes make this agency a partner, not just a supplier, a partner with whom we have had the opportunity to achieve significant commercial results in term of success and image.
Luca Pacitto
Head of Communication
We have been working with RTR Sports Marketing for over 10 years. The objectives and the programmes of collaboration continue to be renewed and to grow with mutual satisfaction. I believe RTR is a team of great professionals led by Riccardo Tafà, who I consider a manager of exceptional skills and with a great passion for his work.
Lucio Cecchinello
Team Principal
I have known and worked with Riccardo Tafà since 1995 when we collaborated for the first time on a project for the Williams Formula 1 team. Several clients followed. After leaving Williams to work for Gerhard Berger then owner of the Toro Rosso F1 Team, I turned again to Riccardo to seek his help in finding a tool supplier for the team and Riccardo duly obliged with an introduction to USAG, a partnership with Toro Rosso which endured for five years. I recently started a new role as Group Commercial Director for the renowned Andretti Autosport organisation and I find myself working with Riccardo once again on a number of interesting projects. Why has this relationship with Riccardo endured ? He’s smart, knows the commercial side of sport inside out and back to front and he’s honest and trustworthy. Riccardo Tafà is a “doer” not a “talker”: in over 20 years I have never had a dispute either with him or with a company that he has introduced and each partnership introduced by Riccardo has delivered quantifiable ROI to rights holder and sponsor alike. I can think of no better testimonial of Riccardo’s diligence, knowledge, contact base and hard work than that.
Jim Wright
Group Commercial Director
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