Red Bull displayed both sides Sunday. Sebastian Vettel's mistake seemed to exemplify Red Bull's entire season, but Mark Webber's incredible drive on soft tires illustrated the RB6's sheer speed.

In parts of May and June, McLaren appeared untouchable. Hamilton had won in Canada after starting from pole, with Jenson Button checking in second and clear of the field by a good seven seconds. This was fresh off a 1-2 finish in Turkey after Red Bull's disastrous effort. But Hungary was a cruel twist: Hamilton retired with gearbox issues, and Button fell to 15th early after failing to reach the third qualifying session on Saturday.

Ferrari has been up and down all season. The 1-2 finish in Bahrain to start the year wasn't exactly a prelude for the season. Felipe Massa finished outside the points in three straight events in June and July, and Alonso failed to reach the podium in five of the six events after Bahrain.

F1 this season has been a story of checks and balances. When one team seems at its hottest, another emerges to quell the fire. And when another appears down and out, a strong performance puts it right back in the picture. The flaws of Red Bull, McLaren and Ferrari make the title fight that much more interesting, and Abu Dhabi likely will see several drivers in the championship hunt.

It was Vettel's race to lose in Hungary, but, like so many times this season, a costly mistake -- this time behind the safety car -- cost him a victory. He still finished on the podium, his sixth such result this year.

Teammate Webber's daring drive and sound strategy put him back in the lead in the driver standings, four points clear of Hamilton. There's still quite a ways to go, but if Webber were to win his first F1 title, he would be just the fifth driver since 1985 to earn a world title having entered that championship season with two or fewer career wins in Formula One. Two of those drivers, Button and Alonso, have done it in the past five years.

Further back in the field, Michael Schumacher's move that nearly caused Rubens Barrichello to hit the pit wall was as clear a representation of desperation as you'll find. Clinging to the final points position, Schumacher was trying to avoid his fifth finish outside of the points this season, already just two shy of matching his most finishes out of the points in a single year of his career. Schumacher must put together a strong showing at Spa, the track where he made his F1 debut and earned his first career win. He certainly will have enough time to think it over, as Formula One has begun its summer recess and won't return until late August.

An additional notable occurrence at Hungary was more wheel issues on pit lane. Nico Rosberg's day ended abruptly when his right rear wheel flew off in pit road after it wasn't properly attached by his Mercedes pit crew. It's the third notable tire gaffe in the past two race weekends, as Force India had a mix-up in Germany in which the wrong tires were given to its drivers. Both Adrian Sutil and Vitantonio Liuzzi had to come back in as a result. Then, in Hungary, the team was fined for using an incorrect set of tires in the first practice.

Meanwhile, Spa should provide a fantastic race in several weeks. Last year, it hosted a thrilling battle between Ferrari driver Raikkonen and Giancarlo Fisichella after the Force India driver claimed a shocking pole position. It was also the stage of one of the greatest overtakes in history, when Mika Hakkinen overtook Schumacher on the straight leading up to Les Combes in 2000, putting Ricardo Zonta in the middle of it all.

At 7 kilometers (4.35 miles), it's the longest track on the schedule -- and one of the most dangerous. Speed is everything here, and we're fortunate to see the circuit still on the calendar after numerous noise complaints from nearby residents last year threatened to close the track for an unknown period of time. Losing one of the classic venues in motorsports would have been almost unimaginable.