Grand Prix 2010 Hungarian Grand Prix Practice, Qualifying & Race Discussion

Perhaps fortunately for F1 in the wake of the German GP, instead of the controversy rumbling on, thoughts can now turn to this weekends Hungarian GP. A traditionally slow track with extremely difficult overtaking opportunities it's fair to say that straight line speed won't be top of the requirements list this weekend. F-ducts are not likely to be of much use and neither will flexible wings so it's a chance for some of the teams, Renault and Mercedes for example to claw back some of the difference.

Having now seen Ferrari back among the RBRs and McLaren's, will they be able to carry that forward into this race? If their car works here then they are certainly going to be force to be reckoned with for the remainder of the season. McLaren still need plenty of running time to sort their blown diffuser so a trouble free Friday could give them the time they need. There will have been a lot of head scratching going on at Woking and the need to get the car sorted is becoming more urgent now that there are three teams in the hunt again.

As I said at the top, Mercedes and Renault will be looking to have a good weekend here because the differences in straight line speed won't be so obvious. The Renaults ran especially well at Monaco and all though Kubica is on record in an interview with Autosport saying that he doesn't expect a repeat however they can't be ruled out.

Williams had a disappointing Hockenheim after showing real progress at the previous two races and will be looking to keep the pressure on here. Along with Force India and Sauber, they should be fighting for points the whole weekend. Kobyashi is now consistently showing the speed that made him such a hot prospect last year while his team mate has yet to score. Force India have fallen away after a promising start to the season and for them Hockenheim was a comedy of errors so they need a good result here.

STR continue to show inconsistent levels of performance with a car that does have some speed in the race however in qualifying they are getting closer and closer to being the first established team to be out qualified by one of the new boys.

Finally, the new three could and should be a lot closer to the established teams here. They will be running a lot of wing however, because there isn't the requirement for maximum straight line speed the gaps of 3 or 4 seconds seen at the last couple of high speed circuits should be back to a more reasonable 1 or 2 seconds. Virgin seem to have finally got their car sorted and Glock had a really strong showing in Germany so I expect Virgin and Lotus to be fighting it out among themselves. Yamamoto is once again subbing for Chandhok in the HRT and you can only see both of the grey cars bringing up the rear.

Qualification is all important at Hungary so McLaren really need to turn around their recent poor run. A good Saturday is vital for a good Sunday at Hungary so don't expect to much movement on race day.
 
Re: 2010 Hungarian GP Practice, Qualifying & Race Discussion

Nice one cat, as usual :)

The weather forecast doesn't look good for McLaren as they need to be able to do some decent dry running with their new EBD.


Mind you, unless they can get a bendy wing sorted and quick, I expect they'll never catch Red Bull and now Ferrari in the performance stakes.
 
Re: 2010 Hungarian GP Practice, Qualifying & Race Discussion

Although there are not the large amount of straights that one would typically associate with the type of track suitable for the f-dcut, it is a least a high downforce configuration circuit. You would think that possibly with the best f-duct system, that McLaren would be able to run that little bit more wing than the rest of the other teams. The f-duct seems to be less useful on low downforce tracks, even they do have correspondingly long straights. I agree about the flexi wing situation for them though.

McLaren simply won't have it ready for this week, unless there have been some major smoke and mirrors going on with MW and Paddy. Although I do think that it is strange that two members of the factory have come out and said that they don't understand how they are getting it to work. You would imagine that this would be something that they don't won't to admit, rather than coming out in the press with it, twice no least. Anyway, I guess we will see.

Bad situation for the Maccas if indeed it does rain again.

Cheers for the thread CaT, excellent as always :D
 
Re: 2010 Hungarian GP Practice, Qualifying & Race Discussion

Thanks c_a_t.

Since Hockenheim was revised, there has been a reasonably good correlation between the fastest cars there being the fastest cars in Hungary. On that basis, and on the basis of what we know about the cars, I expect another Ferrari-Red Bull battle, with Ferrari again having a slight edge on overall pace. Bridgestone's tyre selections (medium/super-soft) should suit the red team, and Massa in particular.

McLaren's f-duct is theoretically making the most difference when the car is running maximum wing angle, but I don't think the straights are long enough for that to counterbalance the car's evident deficit in total downforce, or the disadvantage of its long wheelbase.

I don't expect Mercedes to be particularly strong, their car has gone better where there are long, fast corners, but there is a lot of slow stuff in Budapest and that they have found difficult. Renault conversely could aim for Kubica in the top 5?

I'll be interested to see how the new teams do. Is their biggest problem a lack of total downforce, or just inefficiency (i.e. carrying a lot of drag in order to get decent downforce?). Inefficiency isn't such a problem at this track.
 
Re: 2010 Hungarian GP Practice, Qualifying & Race Discussion

Thanks G.

<hurries off to check Fantasy League selections :D >
 
Re: 2010 Hungarian GP Practice, Qualifying & Race Discussion

Wednesday and Thursday pictures

cta1.jpg

The Mercedes motorhome gets built while Stefano Domenicali rolls into town..

karunandant.jpg

Karun Chandhok and Anthony Davidson.. "prepare" for their commentary of 5 live's coverage of practice.

cta2.jpg

Renault F1 workers start the shift to put things together for the weekend, and a Ferrari gets put back into it's toy box. Or is it being taken out?
 
Re: 2010 Hungarian GP Practice, Qualifying & Race Discussion

Great stuff Enja.

I find the behind the scenes goings on fascinating.

Especially the construction work that goes on for the weekend.
 
Re: 2010 Hungarian GP Practice, Qualifying & Race Discussion

Interesting stuff although i wouldn't be suprised if Williams put in some good results here either it's a track that seems to suit them quite well.

Just looking at engine use it appears that 3 races is the max teams will try and get of an engine however, HRT have bucked this trend by running the same engine in Senna's car prior to the German GP. Using 3 as a benchmark i would be expecting to see new unit's in the following car's (drivers)

Barichello
Petrov
Sutil
Luizzi
Buemi
Algesuari
Trulli
Kovalienen

Possibly Webber as well dependant on what the problems were with his in Germany.

There are a few that are already using their 6th engine which is going to make it extremely tight to finish using only the 8 quota bearing in mind we have a few racing coming up that are more power circuits. Each engine remaining will have to last 3 races or more if there's a failure.

Vettel
Massa
Alonso

Then there's poor De La Rosa who's on his 7th and i would say odds on to take a grid penalty at some point.
 
Re: 2010 Hungarian GP Practice, Qualifying & Race Discussion

Just saw this on a link from 606, but hey, its a funny picture.

Jens, this weekend, wearing the t-shirt gifted to him by Rubens :D
jensz.png


I wonder if Lewis and Mark have worn theirs in public yet?
 
Re: 2010 Hungarian GP Practice, Qualifying & Race Discussion

What does it say on the back?

"But I did beat Rubens" ? :D
 
Re: 2010 Hungarian GP Practice, Qualifying & Race Discussion

It's worth remembering that this is the race in which Felipe suffered that terrible accident last year.

I doubt it will affect his weekend but you never know as I'm sure he'll have a few flashbacks approaching the corner where it happened.
 
Re: 2010 Hungarian GP Practice, Qualifying & Race Discussion

Brogan said:
It's worth remembering that this is the race in which Felipe suffered that terrible accident last year.

I doubt it will affect his weekend but you never know as I'm sure he'll have a few flashbacks approaching the corner where it happened.

Apparently the tyre marks are still there on the run-off from last year. :unsure:

They could have, you know, at least cleaned it up a bit.

Thursday pictures

mercedessauber.jpg

Close up of the Mercedes and Sauber front wings..

paddockmclaren.jpg

A look at the Hungaroring paddock and a close up of the McLaren front wing. Will it bend? LOL
 
Re: 2010 Hungarian GP Practice, Qualifying & Race Discussion

Massa insists he is not running as a no.2 driver. See this BBC aricle >> click-oversy <<

"When I say I am a number two driver, I will not race any more... I can fight for the victory," he told reporters ahead of this weekend's Hungarian GP. "I work for the team and I'm very professional."
When asked to comment on the Germany race, he said:

"It's not right to go into last weekend, we spoke already a lot. So yes I will fight for the victory here whatever the conditions. I'm working for the team and we know how important that is."
So, that puts all the fixing controversy to bed then.... :whistle:
 
Re: 2010 Hungarian GP Practice, Qualifying & Race Discussion

I don't think this has been mentioned yet but Sakon Yamamoto is once again taking Karun Chandhok's seat.

At least we get to hear Chandhokipedia during practice :D
 
Re: 2010 Hungarian GP Practice, Qualifying & Race Discussion

It was mentioned in the Chandhok replaced for Hockenheim thread but so long as he's willing to pck up a mic i'm all for it :thumbsup:
 
Re: 2010 Hungarian GP Practice, Qualifying & Race Discussion

Ah yes, I even commented on it LOL

My memory's getting worse...
 
Re: 2010 Hungarian GP Practice, Qualifying & Race Discussion

For any new guys, drop in to Chat if you're around for any of the sessions.
 
Re: 2010 Hungarian GP Practice, Qualifying & Race Discussion

Thanks c_a_t.
Great preview.This is one of my favourite races.I like the technical challenges it provides in finding the right set up.
Added to the tracks marked changes in grip levels as the rubber goes down which here is probably greater than any other circuit.
I don't think that will be a major difference in the pecking order of the top teams.Any of them could prove to be the quickest.
The midfield battle will be where the action really is.Both Lotus and Virgin have made good progress and Kolles influence is beginning to show at HRT.
Looking forward to this one.If it does rain then we could see another odd grid order.
 
Re: 2010 Hungarian GP Practice, Qualifying & Race Discussion

More problems for McLaren or sandbagging?

Their car looked to be as bad as it was at Silverstone.

You have to start questioning their practice strategy, sitting out most of the session again.
 
Back
Top Bottom