This weekend is the mid-way point in the Formula 1 season and sees the teams visit Hungary. With the tragic death of Jules Bianchi in the past week the event is bound to be tinged with sadness, a feeling that will be felt by the teams, drivers and fans. Once again my sympathy goes out to his family and friends, as with so many in the history of the sport he has left us before his time, which is truly tragic.
The race itself though is normally very interesting, it has been pretty good for British drivers in recent times, Jenson Button won his first Grand Prix here in 2006, driving a Honda strangely enough, and also won the 2011 race. Lewis Hamilton has won four times, a fifth would make him the most successful driver at the track, certainly in modern time. Damon Hill also had his first race victory in Hungary in 1993 and who can forget the time when he almost managed to win in the Arrows in 1997.
So, onto this weekend where with Mercedes current domination it seems that the main opinion is that Lewis Hamilton or Nico Rosberg should wrap up yet another win. Certainly on the face of it that seems a likely scenario, as while this is not a real power circuit the Mercedes car still has such good handling and drive that it will still hold an advantage. However there have been some surprises here in the past.
The question is then who will challenge Mercedes. Well the obvious candidate is Sebastian Vettel in the Ferrari, the circuit is often compared with Monaco where he finished second, albeit with a bit of help from a badly timed Mercedes pit stop. Also though the Ferrari seems to be closing in, although it is not there yet. Kimi Raikkonen has the same car, but does not seem to be able to get the same performance out of it so far this year.
Williams have been competitive, but unless something has radically changed the track is unlikely to suit their car, using the Monaco comparison again they finished 14th and 15th and never looked like they were on the pace all weekend. Obviously having written them of so easily they will probably prove me wrong, we shall see.
Most of the other teams would probably require Mercedes to have problems, or maybe some help from the weather. Nevertheless the new Force India car combined with Nico Hulkenberg current form could spring a few surprises. The Red Bull certainly has good aerodynamics and the lack of power from the Renault engine should be less of a problem here and Toro Rosso seem to have a genuinely good car, so who knows what the two rookie drivers can produce.
As for the rest, Lotus have had the odd decent race but don't seem to be threatening a big haul of points at the moment. Sauber started the season well, but seem to have tailed off a bit now, they do have a problem normally with keeping up on the development front, although Felipe Nasr has certainly impressed with his performances this year and the team announced today that both drivers were being retained for next year, which may give them a boost. Manor are still a long way behind, it would be lovely to see them have a good race this weekend though.
Which leaves McLaren. Now I have followed Formula 1 for longer than I care to remember and one thing that I have learnt is that Ron Dennis and Honda do not like losing. Have they turned the corner yet, probably not entirely, but qualifying might give us a clue as to whether the engine is producing more power, reliability will have to wait for the race. A solid qualifying session, through to the second part would be good to see, getting into final qualifying would indicate that great strides have finally been made. I do hope so because seeing Jenson Button and Fernando Alonso struggling around at the back will certainly not be doing Ron Dennis's sense of humour much good.
Anyway lets hope for a good race.
Andy
Williams have been competitive, but unless something has radically changed the track is unlikely to suit their car, using the Monaco comparison again they finished 14th and 15th and never looked like they were on the pace all weekend. Obviously having written them of so easily they will probably prove me wrong, we shall see.
Most of the other teams would probably require Mercedes to have problems, or maybe some help from the weather. Nevertheless the new Force India car combined with Nico Hulkenberg current form could spring a few surprises. The Red Bull certainly has good aerodynamics and the lack of power from the Renault engine should be less of a problem here and Toro Rosso seem to have a genuinely good car, so who knows what the two rookie drivers can produce.
As for the rest, Lotus have had the odd decent race but don't seem to be threatening a big haul of points at the moment. Sauber started the season well, but seem to have tailed off a bit now, they do have a problem normally with keeping up on the development front, although Felipe Nasr has certainly impressed with his performances this year and the team announced today that both drivers were being retained for next year, which may give them a boost. Manor are still a long way behind, it would be lovely to see them have a good race this weekend though.
Which leaves McLaren. Now I have followed Formula 1 for longer than I care to remember and one thing that I have learnt is that Ron Dennis and Honda do not like losing. Have they turned the corner yet, probably not entirely, but qualifying might give us a clue as to whether the engine is producing more power, reliability will have to wait for the race. A solid qualifying session, through to the second part would be good to see, getting into final qualifying would indicate that great strides have finally been made. I do hope so because seeing Jenson Button and Fernando Alonso struggling around at the back will certainly not be doing Ron Dennis's sense of humour much good.
Anyway lets hope for a good race.
Andy
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