Review of the 2016 Hungarian Grand Prix

Hamilton a poor pacemaker, Red Bull and Ferrari battle it out. Welcome to Hungaroring.

For 30 years straight Hungary has held a Grand Prix. 2015 brought us a race of sheer chaos where I spent most of the time trying to work out what an earth was going on. This race brought victory to Vettel. Unfortunately this was the first race since Bianchi’s death, dedications were written on drivers helmets along with a minutes silence, a sight we pray will never be witnessed again in motorsport.

Hungary 2016 started with the 1 point difference between Hamilton and Rosberg, a very tight championship whereby the leader can change at any race.

Qualifying was a sheer wash out with downpour of rain which caused huge delays. Teams and drivers had to tactically time when to take flying laps due to the uncertainty of the weather. We saw a few spins from the likes of Massa where the water logged track caused some awkward pre race surprises.

Unfortunately qualifying didn’t provide us with any interesting positions at the front of the grid the usual Pole Rosberg, P2 Hamilton, P3 Ricciardo and P4 Verstappen. The only unusual site was to see both Mclarens in the top ten Alonso in P7 with Button closely behind him in P8 (have they finally sorted out those Honda Engines)?

The first lap brought us the invasion of the Red Bulls on the first corner any Mercedes fan would have been holding their breath. Hamilton manages to jump in the lead even though the Red Bulls were literally by his side. Rosberg manages to get to P2.

The grid for the first couple of laps consisted of P1 Hamilton, P2 Rosberg, P3 Ricciardo, P4 Verstappen, P5, Vettel, P6 Alonso. Definitely six men you would not want behind you in a race.

Just when you thought things were going so well by Lap 5 Button has a problem. Over the radio he mentions his pedal is going through the floor. His team mate Alonso still sticking with it in P6 Button sadly starts to drop places but is told by his team to stay out.

A different story for Raikkonen who is fighting the field stuck in P11 due to bad planning during qualifying he is attacking hard to work his way through that grid. Bear in mind Hungary is a challenging circuit to overtake.

Button pits on Lap 8 by Lap 9 his radio communication by the team informing him to stay out is under investigation. Rules were implemented were drivers must race alone and unaided. By Lap 10 we see a drive through pit lane penalty for Button he is not a happy chap and what deemed a potentially positive race for him has now been ruined.

Lap 15 brings a pit stop for Vettel who comes out in front of Raikkonen who is getting through the grid in P9

Hamilton in P1 pits on Lap 17 followed by Rosberg P2 on Lap 18 both do not lose position. At the same time Verstappen pits returning to the track in P6 now taking on Raikkonen in P5. We see a battle of the young vs old. Although it will be tough for anybody to fight a young testosterone filled 18 year old boy, can the vintage Raikkonen keep up? By Lap 18 it proves he can and we see a fight between both drivers.

Lap 20 and Hamilton is struggling with the pace, Rosberg is catching him. Ricciardo in P3 by Lap 22 is a second quicker than both Mercedes boys. By Lap 23 the Ferrari’s are catching up too. Mercedes confirm there is nothing wrong with their cars, why did they loose pace?

Hamilton by Lap 25 is told over the team radio to pick up the pace, he is obviously trying but it isn’t fast enough! Rosberg and Ricciardo closing down on the leader is Hamilton started to hold the grid up?

Kvyat on Lap 27 is investigated for speeding in the pit lane. A rookie mistake made by somebody whose misfortunes seem to be spiralling this year. A lap later he is handed a five second time penalty.

Finally! Lap 28 Hamilton has picked it up and the lead starts to extend.

The ongoing fight between Raikkonen and Verstappen continues until Raikkonen pits on Lap 30 re-joining just behind Alonso who is in P6. A tough day for Raikkonen who if not fighting the young Verstappen who will not let anybody past to then have to fight fellow world champion Alonso who may not have the best car, he is still deemed one of the best drivers.

It happens again on Lap 33 Hamilton’s team radio telling him he must get faster (a vision of Jeff Goldblum appears in my mind from Jurassic Park “must go faster, must go faster” or that T-Rex of Rosberg is going to eat him)!

Ricciardo pits on Lap 34 joining the race back in P5 and the gap has finally opened between Hamilton and Rosberg.

At this point the top three consist of a struggling pacemaker Hamilton in P1, Rosberg P2 and Vettel in P3.

Hamilton pits on Lap 42, followed by Rosberg a lap later both keep their grid positions.

An error made at the same time by Force India who were clearly not ready for Perez in P14 to pit, a lot of time lost there. He states his dissatisfaction over the radio why weren’t they ready for him?

By Lap 45 the track positions stand at P1 Hamilton, P2 Rosberg, P3 Ricciardo, P4 Raikkonen, P5 Vettel, P6 Verstappen. Raikkonen the only driver to have pitted once while the others have completed their second pit stop.

We see a spin from Palmer who was in P10 about to gain a point, he sadly drops down to P13.

Raikkonen takes his second pit stop on Lap 51 returns back into P6.

Gutierrez a constant back runner is blue flagged on Lap 52 he clearly holds Hamilton up who provides him with “the bird”. Gutierrez’s poor move taken under investigation leading to a five second penalty and definitely taken off Hamilton’s Christmas card list.

Both Ferrari’s and Red Bull’s are attacking each other, again Raikkonen P6 is trying to get past young Verstappen who has clearly defending aggressively. No surprise when on Lap 57 there is contact Raikkonen hits the back of Verstappen’s car luckily with limited damage and they still battle on.

A sad day for Button today after everything has gone wrong for him he retires his car with an oil leak.

It’s still full throttle for Raikkonen and Verstappen, Raikkonen just can’t get past. A last major attempt on Lap 68 for the Finn but with no joy.

Vettel in the closing stages of the race is catching Ricciardo in P3. The Ferrari’s and Red Bulls looked well matched.

By the last lap we still see the constant fight between Raikkonen P6 and Verstappen P5, along with Vettel in P4 and Ricciardo in P3. Both Mercedes fully out of any wheel to wheel action.

Hamilton takes his 5th win at the Hungarian Grand Prix smashing Schumacher’s record of 4 wins.

Race results are Hamilton P1, Rosberg P2, Ricciardo P3, Vettel P4, Verstappen P5 followed very closely by Raikkonen in P6. And an amazing result for Mclaren Alonso brings the car home in P7. Hamilton now leads the championship by 6 points.

Hungary brought us some amazing fights and showed that the Ferrari’s and Red Bull’s are getting faster. As the season goes on will they improve even more giving the Mercedes a run for their money?

We must highlight the amazing drive from Verstappen who defended his position throughout the whole race and the sheer determination from Raikkonen who just doesn’t give up.

Claire’s Rating Roundup

Claire’s Driver of the day

Raikkonen who started in P11 and fought his way to finish P6 with the constant battle with Verstappen. Don’t forget Hungary is a difficult circuit to overtake on.

Claire’s unlucky driver of the day

Button need I say no more, Alonso did well if it wasn’t for issues with his car I am confident Button would have finished in the top 10.

Claire’s worst driver of the day

Gutierrez needs to review his flags, if you are being lapped get out of the way!!!

Next race Germany the home of Vettel and Rosberg, will they be delivering a dream finish for their home race? Will Hamilton work on his pace? Or will Gutierrez just hold everybody up as he plods along?

Get your Bratwursts ready!

Runescape – 120 Slayer Tips

Some advice going for 120 slayer:

Auras

Dark Magic: Best aura you can get, use it on the highest xp tasks like Airuts of difficult ones like Rune Dragons where that 15% dps will make the difference between life and death.
Mahjarrat: Would be worse than Dark Magic but better than berserk auras due to longer duration/less damage taken I think. However, I don’t have VIP so not sure.
Berserker auras (10% dps, ruins your defence): These are a great dps boost (especially the first 6 minutes where it will stack with ovl if ovl aready on when you use aura, raising stats to 127) but you can also get destroyed so I tend to avoid them on anything which hits hard (airuts/edimmus/rune dragons/shapeshifters etc). On weak monsters, especially the fast tasks, these are fantastic:
Chaos Giants
Automatons
Ganodermic Beasts
Celestials (doesnt last full task)
Abyssal Demons
Dark Beasts etc

Accuracy Auras: WHile in pvm these are the best dps if you don’t have 100% accuracy, they’re not great for slayer as long as you have t90. If you have t80 use them at Airuts/Kal’gerions and other high defence stuff.
Penance/Vamp: Not particularly useful but might as well use them if dps auras are on cooldown as it makes a task cheaper. Penance is great for aviansies tasks.

Items

Scythe > Lance > Drygores = Attuned Crystal Hally.
Drygores can be good for automatons for safety. Danklight/OH Drygore for Ripper Demons.
Nox Bow > Ascensions as Dazing Shot > Needle Strike, plus greater max range.
Supreme Overloads (1% accuracy/2% dmg over normal Overloads) plus they’re cheaper per dose. Use them everywhere, the more dps you do = faster kills = pays for higher cost/h
Adrenaline Potions (1-3 per task). Most useful as melee but pretty good on all styles.
Ring of Vigor to save 10 adrenaline after ultimate. Can squeeze in 2 wild magics during sunshine with it + adren pot.
Elite Enhanced Excalibur. 40% of lp every 5 minutes, doesn’t waste adrenaline like butterflies/rejuv etc.
Boots/Gloves = Barrows Gloves + Silverhawk boots are the best cheap power armour you’ll find, plus hybrid so can use all tasks.
Bandos/Arma/Subj boots+gloves if you have a bit more gp, still no repair cost but more dmg than the hybrid ones. T80/t90 is a waste of money for 2*0.087% dps, both upkeep and higher cost at death. Likewise, deathtouched brace isnt worth the cost.
Blood necklaces (Brawler/Farsigh/Arcane Stream) have the second best dmg in the game on non reflect-immune monsters, above Ammy of Souls. Use them all the time (Dragon Rider is better than non-blood arcane stream though) unless you actually need the tank benefits of Souls.
In no way is the Demon Horn necklace worth it. Prayer potions with t95 prayer + soulsplit = 40-50k/h cost, and much greater dmg boost. Stock up on tons of prayer potions.Just as a disclaimer, if you don’t care that’s fine. Hava asked me for some advice as he’s going for 120 slayer but as he had to go before I could tell everyone I thought it’d be easier to write everything down here.
Gem Bag + toolbelted Herbicide/Charming Imp/Bonecrusher (I crush everything except Rune/Addy Dragon bones)/[Seedicide(all but yew+/papaya+)
Spring Cleaner’s great, no looting + it profits. Alch Runes for the rest. Notepaper is for Muspahs as can’t alch, and the odd valuable drops which you don’t want to alch and have more than one of/rune drag bones etc.
Dom Tower gloves have uses, but aren’t essential. I use them at K’ril, Kree, Kal’gerions and Rune Dragons.
Steel Titan everywhere, with Steel of Legends Scrolls.
Exceptions are Ice Nihil (smoke is cheaper, slightly worse version) for maging Kal’gerions.

Tasks

This is what I’ve found works best. I generally come out even/small point profit with the 10/50/100 bonus points increasing my total, which I use to buy additional reapers. I went down the list of tasks assigned by Morvran from highest to lowest threshold and blocked all of the ones I skip every time. There’s other tasks I skip also, but the blocked tasks are the most common ones.
All of my preferred tasks are at least 250k/h Slayer experience, and are ones I enjoy too. There’s a handful of tasks that could be preferred which are better but I don’t like killing them.
Automatons – Scythe > Range for xp/h. Dw drygores is almost as fast but 99x safer.
Kal’gerions – I like magic best, but can melee em too. Nihil + t90 is 100% accuracy. Demon Slayer gloves/boots (can be dropped by them) gives a xp/dmg boost.
Abyssal Demons – Magic > Scythe (demon slayer gloves/boosts again)
Aviansies – Magic > Range for Kree, but difference is marginal (Dom Tower Gloves/Nips/Glacor Cave boost etc make a diff), Penance for 0 sups
Crystal Shapeshifters – Melee > Magic. Barge + Surge between enemies. Attuned Crystal gloves + boots (750 crystals each) on shapeshifters adds 10% dmg, sending them to 290k/h xp plus 680k combat xp.

These are the other tasks I do:
Elves – incredible xp/h, but the task only lasts 10 minutes with Scythe
Dark Beasts – I hate these so cancel them 90% of the time, but they’re technically a great task.
Edimmu – boring, but ~200k/h and very profitable. Melee > Magic, magic is far far safer
Shadow Creatures – Scythe > Magic
Muspah – Ancients
Ripper Demons – DW melee is best here, and they average 4-600k/h slayer exp, but they’re dangerous as hell so I don’t bother.
Rune Dragons
Camel Warriors/Acheron Mammoth – Again, I don’t kill them but mean to start as they’re amazing xp if you don’t suck.
Adamant Dragons
Glacors
Chaos Giants – Scythe
Ganodermic Beasts

Bars

1 = Dw, 4 = 2H, 2 = Range (Needle Strike/Dazing Shot can switch), 5 = Magic (if dual-wield Conc. Blast replaces Sonic Wave).
Tuska’s wraths hould replace Sacrifice/Smash for 2h, but I don’t have it.
Dw setup is slightly wrong, should be same as the 2h ones except for thresholds/ability 1.
For melee, Fury and for dw magic, Concentrated Blast have to be clipped or they’re useless and should be removed. After you hit once with them you use the next ability instead of letting them compete cast.
Snipe should either queue an ability so it activates instantly (cancelling cast time, doesn’t always work if you lag) or by using a new ability before cast finishes (will still hit). Again, if you’re lazy and just revoing everything get rid of snipe.

Perks

Weapons: Precise 5 (5x Armadyl – if dual-wield put it on off-hand) + Aftershock 3 (5x Illujankan – from Zaros stuff)
Armour: Genocidal+Crackling2 (2 undead/3 explosive, like 20% chance).
Biting2 (5x Subtle)

For my remaining two perk slots I use pvm ones as I prefer to just use my t80 nex gear everywhere.
Absorbative2/Venomblood (1 healthy,1 evasive, 3 fungal comps – cool for Rax/Greg, but otherwise a filler perk)
Impatient3/Devoted2 (3 Zammy/2 Zaros – from nex gear. The devoted part isn’t great for Slayer but is amazing in pvm if you can get it, impatient is still a decent dps boost for slayer).

Additionally I have two gizmos with Undead/Demon Slayer (1 undead comp/1 ancient component – can get the demon slayer part with dextrous too but rarer instead of 100%) and Scavenging2/Looting (5 Precious) which can be cool for K’ril and Edimmus etc but requires an armour switch.

If you got this far, thanks for reading. 🙂 It’s quite likely that I’ve forgotten/overlooked some things, and I also got carried away a bit but hopefully this helps.

A Review of the 2016 British Grand Prix

Hamilton Flies in front of his home crowd, Rosberg and Verstappen battle it out and the Ferrari’s struggle.

After an exciting qualifying session we started the race with Hamilton P1, Rosberg P2. Verstappen P3. 5 minutes before the end of qualifying Hamilton’s pole lap was cancelled as he drove wide on a forbidden corner! With the minutes counting down he still managed to pull it out the bag. The crowds at Silverstone went mad with excitement and relief!

Vettel faced a grid penalty and started in P11, Button has never had a good result at his home GP started in P17. After a bad crash during practice Ericsson started his race in the pit lane.

Unfortunately shortly before the race the heavens opened over Silverstone, the race was starting in the wet. Even more unfortunate due to the wetness of the track the race started under the safety car for the first five laps. For the fans at Silverstone this was more like an F1 fashion show but did give fans a good opportunity to get some good photos.

Finally the safety car is in, we see the race begin. Quite dramatically nearly half the grid all pit including Vettel. Neither the Red Bulls or Mercedes pit.

By Lap 6 we see Verstappen on Rosbergs tail, hounding him down like a Lion hunting his prey. Ricciardo in P4 Pits.

We see the lead building by Lap 7 with Hamilton already 3.7secs in front of Rosberg who has the constant pressure of Verstappen. Its busy again in the pit lane the track is drying out intermediates are the best choice. Wehrlein is out the young driver aquaplaned straight into the gravel which causes a virtual safety car this is a good opportunity for the Mercedes to pit. First in Hamilton closely (very closely) followed by Rosberg then Verstappen. Hamilton still in P1 returning to the track.

Lap 11 and we see Verstappen with the fastest lap, we see an unusual error for Bottas who skids off track to make it calmly back on to track in P13.

You can still see there are areas of the track that are still wet although on Lap 15 Vettel pits for Slicks! Poor Rosberg is getting a mental pounding from Verstappen who will not stop attacking, finally we see an epic overtake by Verstappen on Becketts.

Lap 17 Palmer retires, in the pits he attempts to drive away without a tyre which is investigated, Palmer receives a 10 second penalty. Was this a pit crew error or was Palmer too eager to drive off? Not a good ending to your first home GP.

Both Mercedes pit on Lap 18, along with Ricciardo and Perez who sneaked up to P4. Verstappen leads for a short moment, we see a spin from Vettel who is back in P12 but manages to control the car and stay on track.

Lap 19 its Hamilton in P1, Verstappen in P2. Sainz looses the back of his car manages to keep it on track unfortunately Kvyat doesn’t and ends up in the gravel. The track is still clearly quite wet even though it hasn’t rained now for a while.

We see some amazing action from Alonso in P10 trying everything to pass Bottas in P9. Alonso is so determined he tries to overtake on the grass!

Lap 26 Haryanto in the Manor is out of the race.

Its still quite wet out there and on Lap 28 even Hamilton spins off on turn 1 skilfully manages to get back on track like many others. Turn 1 is a tricky one where a lot of drivers have spun. Verstappen follows Hamilton and makes the same turn 1 error!

Rosberg is catching up with Verstappen, it has been a constant battle between these two all day. Rosberg at Lap 35 complains over team radio that Verstappen is blocking him to overtake it’s a close call as Rosberg nearly takes Verstappen.

There is a 6 second lead for Hamilton by Lap 36 he is flying, Rosberg tries to take Verstappen again by Lap 38 Rosberg has finally got past! While this is happening Vettel in P9 and Massa in P10 are having an epic battle, Vettel even complaining that Massa is trying to take him off the track.

The drama then begins, gearbox problem for Rosberg on Lap 47 and he is losing time with all that constant pushing to overtake it is now possible Verstappen will overtake him again! With only a 1.6sec gap the Mercedes team clearly tell Rosberg to leave 7th gear alone an obvious rule break http://www.fia.com/regulation/category/110. This will be investigated after the race, potential bad news for Rosberg.

Lap 52 and we have hit the final lap clearly Hamilton has this in the bag with now a 10sec lead – Easy! Silverstone erupts this is what the fans came to see!

We see a frosty atmosphere between Rosberg and Hamilton prior to them receiving their trophies on the podium. A great post podium interview by Mark Webber who tries his best to shake off the unfair boo’s Rosberg receives.

Approximately 4 hours after the race it is decided that Rosberg will receive a 10 second penalty for the advice the Mercedes team gave him during the race shifting the race results P1 Hamilton, P2 Verstappen and P3 Rosberg. This now leaves Rosberg with a 1 point lead in the championship after such a great start to the year is this slipping through his fingers? With 11 races left anything could happen!

Next stop Hungary!

Review of the Austrian Grand Prix – Where the hills are alive with the sound of V6 engines, a frustrated German and Boo’s for the English.

Austria, the Spielberg ring with beautiful mountainous and wooded surroundings. Last year this track brought victory to Rosberg who was behind Hamilton in the Championship. This year it’s the complete opposite!

Qualifying brought us a strange grid, Rosberg P6 and Vettel P9 with grid place penalties our top 3 consisted of Lewis in pole, Hulkenburg P2 and Button P3. Prior to the race Button showed his sheer delight with the P3 start but didn’t hold back in the fact they wouldn’t finish the race there. We also had Massa and Kvyat starting in the pits, Kvyat who had an awful crash in qualifying while Massa had an issue with his wing.

Warm up lap commences and all drivers take their starting place unless you are Wehrlein in the Manor who accidentally takes the wrong box. A bit of a panic among spectators as he reverses back to his place literally seconds before the race starts!

Race is on! Hamilton gets away quickly while Hulkenburg has a slow start leaving Button to take P2 and Raikkonen in P3. It already clear the Mclaren of Button is holding up the pace for the cars behind allowing Hamilton to gain time on his lead.

Lap 3 Poor Kvyat retires in the pits. Bad weekend for the Russian.

Lap 6 Hulkenburg is under attack by Verstappen and Rosberg who both overtake him with ease. Rosberg now P4 and Verstappen P5.

Finally on Lap 7 Raikkonen in P3 takes over Button now its time for the Ferrari of Raikkonen to hunt down Lewis.

By Lap 9 Rosberg is now P3 as Button starts dropping back through the grid. The Mclaren just can’t take the pace.

Mclaren are the team to pit both drivers first, Mercedes pit Rosberg on Lap 11 leaving Hamilton out.

It seems by this point of the race the ultra soft tyres are not working well and are deteriorating fast. Although Hamilton is still keeping a four second lead on these tyres.

Lap 13 we see a tyre kiss of Perez and Sainz,sparks flying. Hamilton’s tyres are now starting to give up but he is still going for it.

Lap 20 Ferrari and Hamilton are yet to pit, can these tyres hold it a bit longer? Rosberg is making up for lost time on his new tyres watch out Ferrari he is coming to get you both!

Then finally Hamilton pits on Lap 20 and manages to get out back in just behind Rosberg now in P3, ready to attack the men in red.

Raikkonen then pits unfortunately coming back out stuck behind two Red Bulls in P6, this is going to be his biggest challenge of the afternoon.

Vettel now leads but he needs to pit, those tyres must be exhausted by now!

Lap 27 and bang goes Vettel’s rear tyre he is out of the race leaving debris all over the track, Safety car is out.

Lap 31 – LET’S RACE!

Grosjean and Hulkenburg receive a 5 second penalty for speeding in the pit lane.

A 5 Second penalty is handed to Magnusson for swerving to avoid being over taken.

At this point its P1 Rosberg, P2 Hamilton, P3 Verstappen.

By Lap 40 we still have a tight grid with small drops of rain. Nasr is yet to pit for the whole race, how is he doing this?

Rosberg loses a little time on turn 1 in Lap 44 giving Hamilton to advantage to catch up, Hamilton is then warned to leave the kerbs alone his suspension is critical!

Sad day for Hulkenburg who did so well in qualifying now has bad vibration and may need to stop he pits and takes his 5 second penalty at the same time on Lap 50. At this point Button is in P6!

This is where it went from a good race to a shocking race!

Lap 54 its Hammertime! Hamilton pits for the second time and manages to get back out in P3 missing the scrap between Raikkonen P5 and Riccardo P4.

Lap 55 and Rosberg pits and gets back out in front of Hamilton.

Raikkonen overtakes Ricciardo finally to get P4 Ricciardo constantly fighting for his place back.

Lap 60 the top three can all be seen close together, Rosberg P1, Verstappen P2, Hamilton P3. Verstappen can’t hold it much longer and on Lap 63 Hamilton takes him.

A few retirements take place, Massa on Lap 65 followed by Alonso and Hulkenburg on Lap 66 have these guys just given up?

3 laps to go and its Mercedes Vs Mercedes – who let this happen!!

LAST LAP! And Hamilton is ready to take Rosberg, Rosberg having none of it tries to block him unfortunately at the same time hitting Hamilton’s car. Hamilton dives off track but manages to get back on and holds it. Rosberg has wing damage it’s actually under his car now and drags his car to the finish in P4. At the same time Perez seems to lose his steering and collides into a barrier. A nasty move by Rosberg cost him points and the podium, Hamilton wins.

Click here for a video showing Rosberg’s mistake

Hamilton P1, Verstappen P2, Raikkonen P3.

There was a strange feeling as the race finished and the drivers parked up. It took a few retakes of the incident to see which Mercedes was to blame for this contact. The fans in Austria obviously haven’t seen the crash to analyse and boo Hamilton on the podium. Toto Wolff obviously furious over the incident calls it brainless as we could have easily seen a DNF for both Mercedes on the last lap.

We have seen this before its very much a Prost VS Senna moment.

Who seriously let this happen?! Keep Rosberg and Hamilton apart if it wasn’t for Vettel’s tyre he would have been sitting there in P2 breaking up this cat fight. Rosberg received a 10 second penalty which didn’t affect his P4 and 2 points on his driving licence; maybe he could take the speed awareness test instead?

Rosberg now only 11 points in front of Hamilton in the Championship. Both Ferraris of Raikkonen and Vettel on 96 points 46 points behind Hamilton.

Next race Silverstone, can Hamilton please his home crowd and take the Championship lead? Can Rosberg learn to play nicely and pipe it down? Only a 1 week gap this could get really interesting!!!!