Hungary GP 2008: Track Guide, History, and Predictions

Track Guide and History

The Hungarian GP is the 11th round of the 2008 Formula 1 world championship. The first race in Hungary was actually in 1936, which was on a track laid out in a park in Budapest. After this, factors such as politics and the war meant that the GP could not return to Hungary until 1986.

There has been a Hungarian GP every season since then and it is very safe on the F1 calendar. Apparently the road leading up to the circuit is called Bernie Avenue so you can tell from that fact that the race will be around for a very long time to come.

The racetrack itself is very narrow and twisty, therefore overtaking is extremely difficult and we often get very processional races as a result. Rain in 2006, however, made the race very exciting. But normally the race takes place in baking hot conditions as it always takes place in August.

For these reasons this race isn’t one which most F1 fans look forward to as much as others in the calendar. But despite the lack of thrilling races at this venue, the attendance is always extremely high.

For Finnish fans this is the closest they get to a home GP, so they come in the thousands. They passionately supported Mika Hakkinen when he battled for the championship, and now they have a Finn to support in each of the current top teams, with Kimi Raikkonen at Ferrari and Heikki Kovalainen in McLaren.

A lot of drivers refer to the circuit as a giant go-karting track due to its twisty nature. A lot of fans also refer to it as Monaco without the walls and buildings.

Overtaking here is definitely just as difficult as in Monaco. The only real overtaking spot on the circuit is at turn one. The pit straight is fairly long and if you can stick close enough to the car in front coming out of the last bend there is a chance of out-breaking your opponent into the slow 93km/h hairpin.

The best bend on the circuit is probably turn four. After a long second corner, you take the third corner, a simple right hand kink, flatout before approaching a blind apexed corner in fifth gear. The drivers take it at 209 km/h.

For the drivers this is probably the most fun and challenging corner. The majority of the other corners are either second or third gear bends. Turns 10 and 11 are the only other really fast sections of track—a sweeping left followed by a quick sweeping right taken in fifth and sixth gears respectively.

To win in Hungary pole position is very important, but qualifying can be difficult as with the narrow twisty track blocking can be an issue, just like in Monte-Carlo. If you have a tough qualifying session you could end up having a miserable Sunday afternoon.

Pole position isn’t absolutely essential though, as Raikkonen showed in 2005 when he won from fourth on the grid and Mansell from 12th in 1989. If you are brave and have a good strategy it is possible to win from further back, but it is very hard.

Setup wise you need a car that has very good levels of downforce to cope with the twisty track and also with the fact that the track is often lacking grip since apart from F1 the circuit is hardly used throughout the year. Off line the track is particularly dusty. Your car also needs to have good traction and exit speeds out of the slow corners.

Hungary GP Stats

Circuit length: 4.381 km

Lap record: 1:19.071—Michael Schumacher (2004)

Drivers wins: Michael Schumacher 4, Ayrton Senna 3

Pole positions: Michael Schumacher 7, Ayrton Senna 3

Most laps led: Michael Schumacher 296 laps, Damon Hill 233 laps, Aryton Senna 229 laps

Constructor wins: Williams and McLaren 7

Milestones

First wins: Damon Hill (1993), Fernando Alonso (2003), and Jenson Button (2006)

First pole position: Thierry Boutsen (1990)

First fastest lap: Bertrand Gachot, and Jordan (1991)

125 fastest laps: Williams (2003)

25 podiums: Michael Schumacher (1994), Kimi Raikkonen, and Ralf Schumacher (2005)

10 podiums: Lewis Hamilton (2007)

Last 10 Hungary Race Winners

2007—Lewis Hamilton

2006—Jenson Button

2005—Kimi Raikkonen

2004—Michael Schumacher

2003—Fernando Alonso

2002—Rubens Barrichello

2001—Michael Schumacher

2000—Mika Hakkinen

1999—Mika Hakkinen

1998—Michael Schumacher

Highlights from the Hungarian GP

Hungary hasn’t been great for wheel-to-wheel racing in the past, but there have still been a number of interesting races at the Hungaroring

In 1989 Nigel Mansell proved that overtaking isn’t impossible if you really try hard. He qualified in a low 12th position but pulled off a series of brave moves. When he got to Ayrton Senna he made a very opportunistic move when a backmarker impeded Senna, and Mansell found a way through and won the race. This probably goes down as one of the best if not the best driver performance in Hungary.

1990 was a very different story. It was won by Belgian Thierry Boutsen for Williams. Although he was not one of the very best F1 drivers in history, he used the track’s characteristics to his advantage. He took pole position and had Senna in close company for the entire race. Senna tried as hard as he could but there just wasn’t a way past.

In 1992 Mansell won the championship in Hungary. It was the 11th round and no championship had ever been decided this early. (Schumacher broke that record in the 2002 in the ninth round.)

Mansell and Patrese battled in the first couple of corners after Patrese got the better start, but after turn two Mansell was through. The Williams' both went clear of Senna but Senna tried to be clever and not have to make a pit stop. This forced Mansell to overtake Senna and this provided a classic battle again between the pair.

Mansell had to skip the chicane in one of his failed attempts. He eventually got past and went through to win the race and claim the championship when Patrese crashed after a last gasp move on Senna failed.

1993 was another significant race at Hungary as Damon Hill, a man Britain would adore in the future, became the first second generation driver to win an F1 race.

In 1998 Schumacher changed his tactics in order to stay ahead of Coulthard rather than having to try to pass him on the track.

Ross Brawn switched him onto a three stopper. This meant Schumacher had to build a big enough gap in order to get back out ahead of Coulthard after he had made his stop. Schumacher pushed like crazy and did some amazing laps, which were great to watch.

He made an error at the last corner in one of his last laps, running wide and off the track. However, he had been around 1.5 seconds a lap faster than Coulthard on most laps in this section of the race, and he was able to re-join comfortably ahead of DC and won. It was one of the best wins of Schumacher’s career.

In 1999 and 2000 Mika Hakkinen delighted the Finnish sections of the crowd with two dominant victories.

However in 2001 and 2002 Ferrari dominated. In 2001 Schumacher led a Ferrari 1-2. This gave him his fourth world championship and he equalled Alain Prost’s number of career race victories (51).

In 2002 Ferrari were already world champions but this didn’t stop another dominant 1-2 with Rubens at the head of it.

2003 brought Fernando Alonso his first GP victory. He went fairly light and put his nippy Renault onto pole position. He got away well at the start and Mark Webber jumped into the second place. Webber’s Jaguar didn’t have the race pace so this allowed Alonso to gain a huge lead and win with ease.

2006, however, has to go down as the best ever Hungarian GP. It took place in very wet conditions.

Raikkonen was the leader for the first part of the race as Alonso and Schumacher battled through the field after 2.0 second penalties in qualifying left them in 15th and 11th places respectively. They then had a classic battle with each other as Alonso went around the outside of him in a grandstand maneuver.

Raikkonen later crashed out of the race after whamming into the back of Liuzzi while trying to lap him. Alonso became the leader of the race but was being chased down by Button before his final pit stop. He was in inspired form after starting back in 14th place due to an engine 10th place grid penalty. He originally qualified in fourth.

Alonso came into the pits but all was not well. He came out of the pits and soon slowed down. There was a problem with the wheelnut at his stop and he crashed out at turn two.

Button was now leading comfortably and Schumacher in second place had a golden opportunity in the championship with Alonso now out. He was struggling to decide whether or not to come in and change to the right tyres and drop to around fifth place, finally deciding to try to hang onto second place with his current tyres.

This ensured a great battle between him and De La Rosa. De La Rosa eventually took second place after Schumacher skipped the chicane a couple of times—rather rudely—to keep the position.

Next up to try and overtake Michael was Heidfeld. This ended in disaster for Michael as the pair touched and the track rod on Schumacher’s Ferrari broke. He was out of the race.

Jenson Button crossed the line to take a deserved maiden F1 victory, while Schumacher and Alonso both were left to think what might have been as the 10 points between them in the championship before the race remained.

Predictions for This Weekend's Event

Driver's Championship

Lewis Hamilton—58 points

Felipe Massa—54 points

Kimi Raikkonen—51 points

Robert Kubica—48 points

Nick Heidfeld—41 points

Heikki Kovalainen—28 points

Constructor's Championship

Ferrari—105 points

BMW Sauber—89 points

McLaren—86 points

Toyota—25 points

Red Bull—24 points

Renault—23 points

After the race at Hockenheim, the momentum is definitely with McLaren and Hamilton. Over the past few races McLaren have been adding a lot of improvements and upgrades to their car and they seem to be finding a breakthrough at the moment.

In the early part of the season the McLaren seemed to struggle with traction on the exit of corners. This problem seems to have been solved now and this has brought the team a good few 10ths. The car now also seems a lot kinder to its tyres than it was previously which is another key factor in their performance, although I still feel Ferrari are a bit better in this area.

Hamilton is now on a great run of form. His victories in Silverstone and Hockenheim were absolutely first class and he has got his confidence back, which he seemed to have lost.

Both Hamilton and McLaren need to keep their feet on the ground though and make the most of their momentum. If they get cocky Ferrari could gain control of the championship again.

Overall the McLaren should work really well here. McLaren’s recent form in Hungary has been very positive with two wins out of the past three races along with pole position in 2006 with a car that wasn’t very competitive. The car works very well in slow corners, and as mentioned McLaren have been improving even further on exiting slower corners.

However in Monaco Ferrari showed that they have improved on slower tracks, so nobody should presume that Hamilton will walk away with this race. It is likely to be very hot during the race and this makes life harder for the tyres.

The Ferrari looks after its tyres more efficiently than the McLaren does, and Ferrari can use this to their advantage. That’s why Raikkonen has been praying for hot weather recently.

Their main problem in Hockenheim was car setup along with poor performances from both drivers. During the Jerez test the drivers seemed happier with the car’s setup and thought the team had moved forward.

There is no reason why Ferrari can’t challenge for victory. If Hamilton wasn’t present in Hockenheim, Massa was comfortably quicker than Kovalainen so there wasn’t as much wrong with the Ferrari’s pace as it may have looked.

Ferrari will be very keen though to bounce back from two bad races so they are very much under pressure, their drivers in particular. Massa and Raikkonen know that any more bad races and the gap to Hamilton could start growing. With the number of races this season running out, that simply isn’t an option.
Massa and Raikkonen are running out of lives, so to speak. Fernando Alonso and Robert Kubica are also lurking in the background. I am sure they would both welcome a Ferrari race seat with open arms, so they are perhaps fighting for their futures, too.

Qualifying could very likely decide which way the pendulum swings at the front in this race. Whoever takes pole and gets down to turn one first has a very good chance of controlling the race unless something goes wrong.

On qualifying pace, Ferrari and McLaren are very evenly matched so it will be a very tight and exciting final part to qualifying, particularly with pole position being so valuable in Hungary.

Further back I think BMW Sauber are starting to fade. The gap between themselves and McLaren/Ferrari is starting to grow bigger. Other midfield teams are now gaining faster on them than they are on the front two.

Kubica is still in touch in the title race and BMW Sauber still second in the constructor’s, but BMW need a major upgrade to stay in this position.

The midfield battle is becoming increasingly intense with now only two points separating Toyota, Red Bull, and Renault. This weekend that area of the table is very likely to change again.

In Hockenheim it was very evident that Renault’s traction out of corners wasn’t brilliant and with a lot of slow corners in Hungary, Renault may not have the best of races here.

It will be a close battle between Red Bull and Toyota. Toyota have made some great progress recently and they have gone very well in Hungary in the last two or three seasons.

I predict Trulli to get another good grid slot and translate that to solid points to keep Toyota in the fourth spot in the championship.

F1 is so competitive at the moment that the whole grid is separated by just 2.0 seconds. In the past 2.0 seconds has covered just the top 10. Force India are set to be the last team to introduce the Seamless Shift Gearbox which is worth over 3/10ths of a second, so this is going to make the grid tighter still.

This may not be the most exciting track in the world, but for the outcome of the championship this is an extremely important race. I feel the championship is at a crossroads stage.

If Hamilton wins, then I think it will start to become his to lose. If the Ferrari drivers get on top, then its back to square one again and it all begins to tighten up in a three-way fight.

It really could go either way. The driver who wins this weekend will be the one who pushes closest to the limit in qualifying, or maybe the driver who attempts a big lunge at the end of the straight to get in front.

The tactical brains on the pit wall will also be busy. Hungary is the sort of place where an attempt at a bold strategy could pay off, such as Schumacher’s three stopping in 1998.

Overall we probably won’t see an overtaking fest but the intrigue and closeness of the battle between McLaren and Ferrari and the middle pack will make up for that. It’s very close to call at the moment, so I very much recommend this weekend’s Hungarian GP.

My Top Three Prediction

1. Hamilton
2. Raikkonen
3. Kovalainen

Hungary GP Quiz

If you are feeling a bit bored waiting in anticipation for the event this weekend then have a go at these quiz questions on the Hungarian GP.

If you want to see how you did, send me an e-mail to the address in my profile and I will send you the answers.

1. Where did Jenson Button start on the grid for his first ever F1 win in 2006?
 
2. How many times did Michael Schumacher win the Hungarian GP?
 
3. Williams and which other team have won in Hungary seven times?

4. In the 2003 race who won his first Grand Prix?
 
5. How many Hungarian GPs have been affected by rain?
 
6. How many grid spots was Fernando Alonso demoted in 2007 after originally taking pole position?
 
7. In 1990 who won and managed to keep Aryton Senna at bay for the entire race?
 
8. In 1993 Damon Hill won his first GP at Hungary. Where did he win his second GP?
 
9. How many times did Michael Schumacher pit in 1998 in order to beat the two McLarens to victory?
 
10. In what year did the first Hungarian GP (post-1950) take place?
 
11. How many races has Hamilton won since winning in Hungary last season?
 
12. In 2003 which team set their 125th fastest lap in Hungary?
 
13. In the 2007 Hungarian GP who started from the front row for the first time in his career?
 
14. In 1992 Nigel Mansell claimed the world title in Hungary for Williams. Who was his teammate that season?
 
15. Who holds the lap record in Hungary?
 
16. How many turns are there on the Hungary circuit?
 
17. How many pole positions did Michael Schumacher achieve in Hungary?
 
18. Michael Schumacher has led the most laps in Hungary. Who is in second place on the most laps led list?
 
19. In 2001 Michael Schumacher equaled the race win record of which former world champion?
 
20. Which major city is the Hungarian circuit near?