F1 Hungary – Preview of the Grand Prix at Hungaroring: The eleventh round of the Formula 1 season will take place this weekend at the Hungaroring, home of the Hungarian Grand Prix. The 29th edition of this Grand Prix will take place at the seldom-used twisting and dusty circuit outside the town of Mogyorod, near Budapest. The Hungarian Grand Prix (‘Magyar Nagydíj’ in the local dialect) joined the F1 calendar in 1986 as the first race to be held behind the then Iron Curtain in Eastern Europe. Nelson Piquet won the inaugural race. This is the track closest to Finland – a country with considerable motorsport traditions but no Grand Prix. As a result the Hungaroring attracts a sizable Finnish crowd every year. The two Finnish drivers on the grid, Kimi Raikkonen and Valtteri Bottas will receive very vocal support from their countrymen, making it almost like a home race for them. The central story of the 2014 season has been the battle for the drives’ title between Mercedes teammates, Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton. Hamilton has been outqualified by Rosberg in the last five races through a mixture of Hamiltons own errors and reliability issues (brake failure in Germany). The Briton has excelled in this area all through his career. At Hungaroring where overtaking is difficult, Hamilton cannot afford any more errors. Williams has shown a surge in form since the Austrian GP, but they will be challenged at this circuit in the hot conditions and by the slow and twisty corners. Red Bull and Ferrari have been doing battle behind them. The slow corners and lack of high speed straights should suit Red Bull Racing’s RB10, with its superior aerodynamic package. Mercedes (366 points) is leading the constructors’ title race with nine wins in ten races. Red Bull Racing (188 points) is a clear second. Williams (121 points) has overtaken Ferrari (116 points) into second spot. Force India (98 points) and McLaren (96 points) complete the top 6. Nico Rosberg (190 points) leads the drivers’ title race and he has extended his lead over teammate Lewis Hamilton (176 points) to 14 points. Daniel Ricciardo (106 points), Fernando Alonso (97 points), and Valtteri Bottas (91 points) complete the top 5. The first few races at the Hungaroring saw many gripping battles between the likes of Ayrton Senna, Nigel Mansell and Nelson Piquet. Mansell’s win in 1989 from 12th on the grid (on a circuit that offers few overtaking opportunities) ranks among the more dramatic races there. The circuit has witnessed the maiden Grand Prix wins of the future world champions’ Damon Hill (1993), Fernando Alonso (2003) and Jenson Button (2006). We could potentially see another first time winner in Valtteri Bottas this weekend. Nelson Piquet won the first two races of the Hungarian GP for Williams. The first decade of this Grand Prix was dominated by this team, as Williams won seven of the first twelve races. Since then the pendulum has swung towards McLaren, with the British team emerging winners a record 11 times and in four of the last six races. Ferrari with five wins is the third most successful constructor. Michael Schumacher has won this race four times – once with Benetton and thrice with Ferrari. Lewis Hamilton (2007, 2009, 2012, 2013) with four wins equalled Schumacher’s winning tally last year. The other former winners are Button (2006 and 2011), Alonso (2003) and Raikkonen (2005). Missing from this list is the current world champion Sebastian Vettel, who will want to add a maiden win at this circuit to his formidable F1 record. The 4.381 km Hungaroring circuit with 14 corners (slow and medium-speed corners) and one long straight is one of the slowest tracks on the F1 calendar, with an average speed of only 190 km/h. The twisting, bumpy and narrow circuit is front-limited with the predominantly long and slow speed corners demanding a high downforce setup. The laps are done at full throttle 56% of the time and the fuel consumption is high. The slow nature of the corners in the extremely high heat and dry conditions leads to high brake-wear. As the track is rarely used, it offers very low grip during the practice sessions and the track conditions evolve and change significantly by race day. Sector 1 from Turn 1 to Turn 3 has one of the longest runs to Turn 1 at 610 meters, followed by a tight hairpin and the downhill run to Turn 2. The best overtaking spot on the track is after Turn 1. The sharp left-hander at Turn 2 is followed by a kink leading to Turn 3, which is followed by a short straight. Sector 2 from Turn 4 to Turn 11 starts with an uphill climb to Turn 4, followed by a sharp right-hand corner at Turn 5. This leads into the bumpiest part of the circuit with a lot of twisty corners and chicanes from Turn 6 to Turn 10. The last corner at Turn 11 is a fairly fast right-hander leading to a short straight. Sector 3 from Turn 12 to Turn 14 starts with the short straight leading to a sharp right-hander at Turn 12 followed by a hairpin at Turn 13. The final corner at Turn 14 is a fast right-hander leading into the start-finish straight. There are two DRS zones this year with a single detection point. The DRS detection point will be 5m before Turn 14. The first DRS activation point will be 130m after Turn 14, before the start/finish line. The second DRS activation point will be 6m after Turn 1. This track was known for its rare overtaking opportunities in the early years and the track layout was changed in 2003 to improve this. The pole sitter has won only two out of the last five races, but all too frequently the circuit has produced processional races. The Pirelli tyre allocation is the medium-compound primes and soft-compound options. The absence of the FRIC system on the cars will be felt at this track, more than at Hockenheim in the previous race. This could affect tyre degradation and along with the high track temperatures predicted, tyre strategy could be crucial. The weather forecast for this weekend is for hot conditions between 28 to 30 degrees centigrade, with possible storms on Saturday and Sunday. This is the last race before the summer break. Both Rosberg and Hamilton will aim to go into the summer break leading the title race. For the other teams, ending the first half of the 2014 season on a positive note will be high on their agenda. Formula One: Formula OneNews & Reports Categories: Formula 1F1hungary
Posted on: Fri, 25 Jul 2014 05:01:15 +0000
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