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.
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.
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