PF1’s Hungarian GP Guide
For all you need to know about the big news, the track, the tyres, the stats and standings ahead of the Hungarian GP…
The Rivalry Heats Up
The only thing more exciting than two feuding team-mates is two feuding team-mates separated by one point in the Drivers’ Championship.
That is what Formula 1 has in Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton after the latter won the British GP while Rosberg was demoted to third when he was penalised for receiving radio messages from Mercedes about how to deal with a gearbox problem.
Whether you agree with the penalty or not, agree with the radio regulations or not, it has added some spice to this year’s championship.
With the team-mates so close in the title race, Formula 1 could have its first change at the top of the leaderboard after the chequered flag falls in Sunday’s 70-lap grand prix.
But will it have its first Mercedes win at the Hungaroring since 2013.
Last season Sebastian Vettel made the most of a sluggish start for Mercedes to race to the win, only his second with Ferrari.
The year before, it was Daniel Ricciardo who claimed the win for Red Bull Racing as he raced from fourth on the grid to first at the chequered flag.
A Lap Of The Hungaroring With Romain Grosjean
“Straight line to start before big braking into the first hairpin. Turn Two is a very tricky corner – a long left-hand side corner going downhill.
“ It’s important to stay on the left from the exit for the throttle application to Turn Three. You want to be flat, and then high-speed Turn Four.
“Turn Five is very bumpy – a long right-hand side corner, then you get to the chicane. After that there are some flowing corners which are really cool.
“Then you get to the last three corners. You need to brake big into the 90-degree, right-hand side turn, then the last two turns are the key.
“You finish with a long left corner, and then a very long right turn, where you really want to get going to get the lap done.”
The Important Times
The formation lap for the 70-lap Hungarian Grand Prix will take place at 2pm local time on Sunday, 24 July.
Saying No To The Mediums
Many of the Formula 1 teams have taken just the obligatory one set of medium tyres for the Hungarian Grand Prix.
Pirelli have put the mediums, softs and supersofts on the table for the Hungaroring race and it is the latter that has been embraced.
Ferrari’s drivers have both opted for nine sets of the softest tyre on offer, leaving them with just three softs while Mercedes have gone with eight supersoft sets and four softs.
As for Red Bull, the team that has risen to the challenge in recent grands prix, Daniel Ricciardo and Max Verstappen have seven supersofts, five softs and the one medium.
The full list…
Facts & Figures
The twisty Hungaroring in Mogyoród near Budapest hosted its first official round of the F1 World Championship in 1986, a race won by Nelson Piquet in the Williams, and has been on the calendar ever since with Sebastian Vettel winning the most recent edition for Ferrari.
The German’s victory was Ferrari’s sixth at the track with Nigel Mansell taking the chequered flag in 1989, one of only three wins he achieved while racing for Ferrari, and Michael Schumacher claiming the other four victories.
The F1 legend is tied with Lewis Hamilton as the successful driver at the Hungarian GP, although the latter could of course claim the record for himself this Sunday.
Hamilton won his first Hungarian GP in 2007 by a mere 0.715s ahead of Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen. That, though, is not the record for the smallest winning. That belongs to Thierry Boutsen who beat Ayrton Senna by 0.288s in 1990.
The biggest winning margin goes to Damon Hill, who crossed the line 71.915s ahead of Riccardo Patrese at the 1993 race.
The Numbers That Matter
Lewis Hamilton’s fourth race of this season, and his fourth at the Silverstone circuit, has boosted the Brit right onto Nico Rosberg’s rear wing in the hunt for the World title.
That team-mates, in the wake of Rosberg’s British GP penalty, are separated by just one World Championship point.
Kimi Raikkonen is up to third on 106, ahead of Daniel Ricciardo and Sebastian Vettel.
Max Verstappen is chasing down those three after his P2 last time out added 18 points to his tally. He is up 90.
