The combination of rain and driver penalties gave us a race to remember at the Hungaroring. Once again tires played a major part in the events on track, the Michelin wets and intermediates proving superior to Bridgestone’s, although the situation was reversed when the track dried out. Through all the chaos of spins, collisions and tire choices came Jenson Button, looking supremely in control in the Honda RA106, to take his first and thoroughly deserved win.

This was a victory that was going to happen, even if Alonso’s rear suspension had not forced an almost unheard of Renault retirement. Jenson was catching the race leader easily before Alonso came in for dry tires and thereafter the Honda was unassailable at the front.

The team can be proud of their performance on a day when they got everything right, Barrichello coming home in fourth to emphasize their effectiveness while others struggled in the changing conditions. Staying out of trouble was the order of the day and Honda demonstrated how it’s done.

Which cannot be said of Michael Schumacher; he looked so wild whenever anyone attempted to pass him that I feared for the safety of the other drivers. It was only justice that he should break a trackrod by running into the rear of Heidfeld’s BMW Sauber after the young German had already got by.

Michael had earlier risked disqualification by cutting the chicane to retain his place and was running on intermediate tires that were worn treadless and almost certainly illegal therefore. His retirement enabled him to avoid a storm of protest from other teams and also meant that he was classified ninth, later to become eighth when Robert Kubica’s Sauber BMW was excluded for running lighter than allowed. So, with typical Michael Schumacher luck, he picks up one point that should not have been allowed, in my humble opinion.

But Kubica was another story of the race, not only because he drove with such passion and verve, spinning out a couple of times but pressing on regardless and finishing in seventh position. On this showing it is understandable that BMW Sauber have decided to keep him in the race seat for the rest of the season, as announced after the race. It was a mutual decision between the team and Jacques Villeneuve, apparently, and means that yet another of F1′s most flamboyant characters is out of a drive.

But let nothing detract from Jenson’s excellent victory. The man has always had the talent; let us hope that this is but the first of many wins and that the Brits have a new hero to shout about.

In hot pursuit of my post, Webber Waits, comes the news that his services will not be required at Williams next year. The team have opted for a line up of Nico Rosberg and Alex Wurz, leaving Mark Webber out in the cold.

Mark is too good a driver to be ignored, however, and it seems he has a good chance to be with Renault, McLaren or Red Bull in 2007. Everything still depends upon where Kimi Raikkonen decides to go and now Michael Schumacher enters the equation too. Rumor suggests that Ross Brawn will be leaving Ferrari at the end of the year, either permanently or on sabbatical. And, if Ross is going, the chances of Michael retiring increase.

All of which leaves Mark Webber waiting to see what happens before deciding between whatever offers he has. Such is the competition for seats in F1 these days that it is possible he might be left with nothing. Perhaps that is the price for being forthright in your views on your team’s prospects.

Another who may be wondering about that today is Jacques Villeneuve. Following the news that he cannot drive in Hungary because he is not fully recovered from an injury sustained in the German race, comes a rumor that he will not be returning to the Sauber BMW team at all. Certainly, Robert Kubica will take his seat in the Hungarian race and, such is the enthusiasm for the Pole’s driving skills, this must hurt Jacques’ chances for next year.

Of course, this may well be groundless speculation emanating from the Polish press but it has to be admitted that the way Jacques withdrew was a little unusual. The team announced that he had advised them that he was not ready to race yet; this was the first indication we’d received that Jacques was injured at all.

Whatever the truth, it does look as though Villeneuve will not be in a Sauber BMW next year. It seems likely that America will gain another F1 refugee instead.

As usual, this time of year is filled with more rumors of driver changes than you can shake a stick at. Michael Schumacher seems fairly definite for Ferrari next year but the other two hot properties of the moment, Fernando Alonso and Kimi Raikkonen, are still suggested as wild cards. Renault is reported as trying everything to persuade Alonso from his McLaren contract for 2007 and Raikkonen could be with Ferrari or Renault or even stay with McLaren.

Such is the fuss surrounding these three that it’s easy to forget that there are other good drivers available in F1. Jacques Villeneuve made a very good point when he spoke out against the present fashion for throwing new wonder boys into a top F1 seat without them serving an “apprenticeship” in a minor team first. Even the great Ayrton Senna did his time with Toleman.

It will be surprising if Renault and McLaren take the risk of putting Kovalainen and Lewis Hamilton into their second cars, in spite of all the rumors. Far more likely is that one of the smaller teams will take them on.

Which suddenly increases the stock of the older drivers. Jacques himself must be a good buy, considering his experience and continued motivation. And David Coulthard becomes the bargain of the year, being experienced, reliable and quick enough to win grand prix. Had Montoya continued, he too would be an excellent choice for any team.

There are other drivers too that are capable of doing a good job. Webber, Barrichello and Button still have tremendous potential if given a decent chance. And Scott Speed would be an obvious pick if you fancied a minor gamble that could pay off handsomely. He is showing good pace and has the added benefit of bringing American interest with him.

What we tend to forget very quickly is that a solid and honest second driver is always an asset to an F1 team. And it is not always a good idea to have two stars driving your cars; remember how Senna and Prost used to collide occasionally and steal points from each other. Second drivers care about the team, stars care only about winning.

So I don’t see a Schumacher/Raikkonen combination at Ferrari as the dream ticket. It would be interesting, of course, and settle a few arguments about who really is the best, but the team would suffer from the inevitable prima dona squabbles. Far better for the sport would be for the three hot shoes to be in separate teams.

I suspect that, when the dust of the silly season settles, there will be few new faces in F1 and even fewer surprises. Raikkonen will be at Renault, Alonso at McLaren and Schumacher at Ferrari as always. In the second seats will be reliable and proven drivers and any newcomers will be with Toro Rosso, Red Bull, MF1 and Super Aguri. Honda and BMW Sauber might experiment with one car but will keep a wise old head in the other.

It’s the way things usually pan out and it makes perfect sense to me.

With the two Ferraris taking the front row of the grid at Magny-Cours, it looks as though Bridgestone’s sudden leap in performance at Indy was not purely the result of Michelin’s going conservative for that race. The Toyotas’ fourth and sixth grid slots confirm this.

If Bridgestone really do have an edge now, Alonso will have to make sure that he finishes every race for the rest of the season. He did a good job today, hounding the Ferrari of Michael Schumacher and swapping places with it in his efforts to secure pole, but it wasn’t enough even to contain Felipé Massa. We should have a good race on Sunday.

The final qualifying session also vindicated the FIA’s decision to reduce the time allowed from 20 minutes to 15. From the moment Alonso shot ahead of Michael at the start, things remained hectic and exciting.

Away from the battle for pole, other interesting things were happening too. Pedro de la Rosa kept a cool head and qualified his McLaren eighth, only two slots behind his team leader, Raikkonen. And David Coulthard showed that there is life in the old soldiers yet, making it into the final ten in the Red Bull.

The big disappointment was the lack of performance from the BMW Saubers; after being fastest in the morning session, Villeneuve was out after Q1 and Heidfeld followed soon after. Jacques explained that they had gambled by using the soft tires and it hadn’t worked out – he and Heidfeld now face a long race from poor grid positions and on rapidly-degenerating tires.

Some are suggesting that the other cars will soon sprout vertical wings like the BMW’s but, on this showing, there isn’t much (if any) advantage to be gained from them. I suppose there may be some truth in the claim that they make the BMW a little more stable under braking – which says to me that BMW thought they had a problem in that area. Not everyone else does.

Finally, Scott Speed managed to haul the Toro Rosso into Q2, beating his highly-rated teammate, Vitantonio Liuzzi, in the process. Understandably however, that was as far as he could go and he ended up in 15th place on the grid.