The last race before F1's barely-earned summer break sees the teams travel to Hungary for 70 tedious laps of the Hungaroring circuit. Which team will grab a last chance for glory before attention turns to suntans and sangria?
Talking Points
- Team Order
Despite the calm and measured way that Red Bull have eased to victory in the last pair of races, one issue stands on the horizon, threatening to block out the glorious warmth of their current time in the sun. How, when and for whom should the team choose to instigate a spot of team orders? Well, certainly not any time soon, their pair of drivers are currently separated by a cigarette paper-thin margin of 1.5 points, with the ever-so-slight advantage being with Sebastian Vettel over Mark Webber. But with both remaining evenly matched and either looking quick enough to go on a run of wins that will eviscerate Jenson Button's carefully accumulated championship lead, to choose to favour one rather than the other at this point would be to designate the basket before you've even taken delivery of the eggs.
What the spectre of team priorities does mean though, is that both Vettel and Webber are racing not only against Button, but against each other. Despite the PR-friendly happy smiles the team has been keen to maintain during their recent post-race celebrations, both drivers will know that time is running out for them to assert themselves as the team leader. Currently, it is impossible to choose. Though Webber has been far more consistent than the error-prone Vettel, the German has taken more pole positions and more wins than the Aussie. Should the RB5 cars maintain their recent performance gap over the rest of the field at the Hungaroring and waltz off into the distance, the order with which they do it may well be the most important thing about this weekend. As a further point, over the last four races, Webber is the top points scorer out of the whole field.
- Brawn Slippy
The fact that the Red Bull cars can now dominate races to a ludicrous extent shouldn't really be an issue for Jenson Button in the drivers standings, but the Brawn's performance level has slipped alarmingly backwards. Not only have Red Bull clearly overtaken them, but Button has finished behind the leading Ferrari and Williams car at the last two Grands Prix since he took the chequered flag in Istanbul to extend a 32 point lead over Vettel. He wasn't quite mathematically at the stage where he could finish third behind ten straight Red Bull 1-2s and still clinch the title, but add in the inevitable dodgy result for Vettel or Webber and the pair of them taking wins off each other, and he was effectively there.
But instead of following the RBR 1-2s home, he has finished 6th and 5th in the last two races. His lead has dwindled to a still-imposing but far less impressive 21 points, and if the trend continues, he will have lost the lead of the championship by the time we leave the European leg of the F1 season in four races time. So while it isn't yet essential for Button to return to winning ways in Hungary, a podium finish is very much the order of the day if he wants to stem the risk of him completing the most English of sporting chokes. The team has been quick to blame the colder temperatures in Britain and Germany as the reason for their sudden dip, and expect better things from the warmer surroundings of Hungary in the summertime, and whether or not that excuse goes on to explain away the last two results could well decide just how close a championship fight we end up having.
- McLaren's return
With Brawn contending with Ferrari and Williams in their efforts to keep their title chase on track, the last thing they need is the resurgence of another fallen hero. But the pace from Lewis Hamilton's heavily-modified McLaren car in Germany will be enough to spook them something rotten. And while just Hamilton had the super MP4-24 GTi in Germany, Heikki Kovalainen should be allowed to upgrade his own car in time for the Hungarian weekend.
The big plus point for Brawn might be that the McLaren team, KERS-shod and getting back towards the pace, will be looking to mix it up the front within the next few races, so while they may take points off Brawn here, they might be taking points off Red Bull as well before too long.
- Racing for seats
Plenty of drivers will start to think of more reasons to turn it on come grand prix Sundays than simply to bump their name up the results list. Some are looking for better drives, some are looking to hang on to their drives, and some (mentioning no names, Nelson) looking to remind the A1GP teams that they might be available come October. With a month off after this weekend and no testing to do in these days of cost-cutting and laziness, this will perhaps be the last chance to impress before teams start to make their mind up over the summer, with Campos already set to announce their drivers at the next grand prix in Valencia. So prepare for Kazuki Nakajima and Heikki Kovalainen to overdrive and crash, Nelson Piquet Jr to spin on lap two and be handed his P45 at the side of the racetrack, and Kimi Raikkonen to stand around looking bored.
Track Facts
Hungaroring Circuit, Budapest
Number of Laps: 70
Circuit Length: 4.381 km
Race Distance: 306.630 km
Lap Record: 1:19.071 (Michael Schumacher - 2004)
2008 pole: Lewis Hamilton (McLaren - Mercedes)
2008 winner: Heikki Kovalainen (McLaren - Mercedes)
Timetable
Friday 24th July
Free Practice 1 - 10:00 (Local Time) / 09.00 (BST)
Free Practice 2 - 14.00 (Local Time) / 13.00 (BST)
Saturday 25th July
Free Practice 3 - 11.00 (Local Time) / 10.00 (BST)
Qualifying - 14.00 (Local Time) / 13.00 (BST)
Sunday 26th July
Race - 14.00 (Local Time) / 13.00 (BST)
Race Revisited - 1990
When rosey tinters are in full-on rant mode about the lack of action and overtaking in modern F1 compared to "the good old days", an often-cited example of the ease with which yesterday's racers used to overtake one another is Nigel Mansell's dramatic drive from 12th to 1st in the 1989 race at the Hungaroring, including his dramatic pass to claim the lead from Ayrton Senna, which was only entirely thanks to Senna getting blocked by a backmarker.
What they are less inclined to mention, though, is that they year after, the race featured one of the closest F1 finishes thanks to Senna being unable to will his car past the slower Williams Renault of Thierry Boutsen. In what was to be his last ever race win, the unfashionable Belgian held off the charging Brazilian over the last few laps in a display of defensive driving every bit as good as the oft-drooled over Senna/Mansell tussle in Monaco 1992, or the Schumacher/Alonso back-to-back scraps at Imola in 2005 and 2006. If only Boutsen had a few more rabid fans, he might well get the recognition he deserves for the work he did in fending off the most gifted driver of his, and many other people's, generation.
There was, though, for the benefit of the rose-tinted brigade, plenty of passing behind, with Senna, Alessandro Nannini, Nigel Mansell and Gerhard Berger playing a bit of bumper cars to try and eliminate each other from the running.
To watch a sketchy review of the 1990 race, and listen to Boutsen burp his way through the press conference go here.
One Year Ago
Last year's Hungarian race was a tale of glory and tragedy for Felipe Massa. From the start of the race, he pulled off one of the moves of the season to take Lewis Hamilton around the outside into the first corner and the lead along with it. From then on he controlled the race, but the tragedy came a handful of laps from the end when his Ferrari engine let go on the start-finish straight, to kick off a flurry of late-season engine issues for Ferrari. With Lewis Hamilton having dropped back after a puncture that was probably nothing to do with him pushing his tyres too hard, Heikki Kovalainen inherited the lead to take his first (and so far only) grand prix win, from Timo Glock, who performed admirably in his Toyota to end the race in second.
Recall the "thrills" and "spills" of Hungary 2008 with Patty's race review here.
Best Race OddsSebastian Vettel - 2/1 (Bet365)
Jenson Button - 3/1 (Stan James)
Mark Webber - 9/2 (BlueSq)
Lewis Hamilton - 12/1 (William Hill)
Rubens Barrichello - 14/1 (Extrabet)
Patty's Tip - Aside from the tempting odds on the likes of Webber and Barrichello above (especially for a virtually-certain each-way bet), the best way forward in Hungary might well be looking at some of the other podium contenders. Assuming Brawn remain off the pace enough to struggle to make the champagne moment at the end of the race, an each way bet to finish in the top three on Felipe Massa (33/1), Heikki Kovalainen, who will have the modified McLaren that impressed in Hamilton's hands in Germany (50/1), or even Nico Rosberg (66/1) could well give you some good payback. Though don't take our word for it, we're knee-deep in debt and getting angry letters from our landlord after the bets we've tipped so far this year.
On Patronise
Now that work and laziness has taken over, Patty's standard service will continue at Hungary. That means that nobody will be here to talk about Friday's running, save for a couple of hastily-prepared reports, but Saturday's running and the race on Sunday will be covered for as long as our reporters are able to stave off the threat of falling asleep in front of the dullness. Reviews, Fifth Column and maybe a blog or two will follow in due course. As if you'd settle for anything less, or indeed hope for anything more.
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