Hungaroring, 13th August
The weeks before the Hungarian GP were depressing for Ricardo, Villeneuve blaiming him for the Hockenheim crash and Craig Pollock unsuccessfully trying to replace him with McLaren test driver Olivier Panis.
Just as in Monaco the BAR cars were struggling for grip on the tight, twisty Hungaroring.
"It has not been a very productive day. In terms of set-up, the car just wasn't as consistent on new and old tyres as it should have been, with the result that we had to make bigger changes than normal to balance the chassis. We are also lacking overall grip. It's not clear which tyre compound will be the better option here and we didn't get a chance to do a direct comparison today."
Friday combined practice:
21st, 1:22.169, 28 laps
During second day practice the team was still struggling. As qualifying started Ricardo was among the first out making a 1:21.023 putting him temporarily in 3rd position. He bettered it halfway through the session to 1:20.272 but then failed to improve further ending up 19th.
"We made some big changes before qualifying and that made the car much more stable over the bumps. We were able to find nearly a second between the morning and the afternoon sessions and I think that if we had made those changes earlier in the day, we could have made up even more time. We just need more down force all around the circuit."
Saturday practice:
19th, 1:20.515, 31 laps
Qualifying:
18th, 1:20.272, 12 laps
When the lights changed Ricardo got a better start than his teammate and he went up side by side as they came out from turn one and firmly passed in the next corner. That obviously made Villeneuve to totally lose his head and he repassed on the outside at full speed in the sector between turn 5 and the chicane. There was never any chance to stop in time and Villeneuve crashed straight into de la Rosa, the front wing of the BAR flying high in the air. Ricardo finished the first lap in 16th place and then settled down in the usual boring Hungaroring procession. He gained a position as the fuel line broke on Alesi's Prost-Peugeot on lap 9 and another when Fisichella (Benetton) pitted on lap 15. But Ricardo was struggling throughout the race with the handling and had to see himself lapped by the leaders on lap 24. On lap 28 Ricardo made his first pit stop and the mechanics tried to make adjustments to the carwithout success. Falling to 16th Ricardo had to see his teammate pass on lap 34, Villeneuve, with a different setup,almost keeping the pace of the leaders. Still in 16th position Ricardo made his second stop at lap 53, the team changing tyre pressures without Ricardo losing any position. Ricardo struggled on to finish 14th, two positions behind his teammate.
"We tried to change the down force levels in the race in order to improve the car's handling, but it just got worse instead. In the first stint, I had understeer under power, then in the second stint, there was oversteer on the entry to corners. Finally, we made a change to the tyre pressures, but the oversteer was still there and the steering became very heavy. After that, there was just no way to fight any more."
Warmup:
16th, 1:21.714, 14 laps
Race:
14th, -2 laps
FL: 1:22.633 on lap 30 (+2.605, 16th) - Two pit stops (lap 28: 28.8, lap 53: 27.8)
Winner: Mika Häkkinen (McLaren-Mercedes)