It is not the most popular of Grand Prix circuits. It is tight and twisty, staggeringly difficult to overtake on, and not especially scenic. Its nicknames hardly inspire confidence - "Monaco without the walls", "the Dustbowl", "Hungaboring". They're also not especially fair.
This is the circuit of the first Grand Prix of the Eastern Bloc, still the only one in that huge area of land between the Berlin Wall and the Black Sea. It is a circuit where the dominant team often fails to dominate: not the only circuit where Red Bull and Mercedes shared the wins between 2013 and 2014, but the only one where they won in the wrong order!
It has been the scene of some drama in the last 10 years as well! 2006 saw Alonso and Schumacher gain separate and equal time penalties before qualifying, and both fail to finish as Button took his inaugural spoils in the rain. 2007 saw the spark which lead to the McLaren implosion. 2008 saw Massa recover his form from a tough summer, but his engine to fail allowing in Kovalainen. 2009 saw the slowest circuit in the world see KERS big break through for Hamilton's McLaren. 2010 was the year of Vettel and 10 car lengths, handing Webber an underserved win. McLaren had a wet battle royale in 2011, when Button made the right calls to take the honours. 2012 saw Grosjean piling on the pressure on Hamilton for half the race, before losing out to both the Englishman and Raikkonen. 2013 was Hamilton's first win for Mercedes. 2014 saw Ricciardo and Alonso hold off the Mercedes.
Hamilton, of course, could well count this his best circuit. He's had 4 victories - each time with Raikkonen second. Vettel has never won here - there's been no German win since 2004. Raikkonen has had to wait since 2005. McLaren have secured a lot of the victories in the last 10 years, but they're obviously going to need divine intervention here. Both of their drivers won their only victory before their respective title years here.
I doubt there'll be too much overtaking, but it often delivers intrigue and interest. Budapest is now a circuit with true history in F1. Will it be a Mercedes win? Well, it doesn't always follow...
This is the circuit of the first Grand Prix of the Eastern Bloc, still the only one in that huge area of land between the Berlin Wall and the Black Sea. It is a circuit where the dominant team often fails to dominate: not the only circuit where Red Bull and Mercedes shared the wins between 2013 and 2014, but the only one where they won in the wrong order!
It has been the scene of some drama in the last 10 years as well! 2006 saw Alonso and Schumacher gain separate and equal time penalties before qualifying, and both fail to finish as Button took his inaugural spoils in the rain. 2007 saw the spark which lead to the McLaren implosion. 2008 saw Massa recover his form from a tough summer, but his engine to fail allowing in Kovalainen. 2009 saw the slowest circuit in the world see KERS big break through for Hamilton's McLaren. 2010 was the year of Vettel and 10 car lengths, handing Webber an underserved win. McLaren had a wet battle royale in 2011, when Button made the right calls to take the honours. 2012 saw Grosjean piling on the pressure on Hamilton for half the race, before losing out to both the Englishman and Raikkonen. 2013 was Hamilton's first win for Mercedes. 2014 saw Ricciardo and Alonso hold off the Mercedes.
Hamilton, of course, could well count this his best circuit. He's had 4 victories - each time with Raikkonen second. Vettel has never won here - there's been no German win since 2004. Raikkonen has had to wait since 2005. McLaren have secured a lot of the victories in the last 10 years, but they're obviously going to need divine intervention here. Both of their drivers won their only victory before their respective title years here.
I doubt there'll be too much overtaking, but it often delivers intrigue and interest. Budapest is now a circuit with true history in F1. Will it be a Mercedes win? Well, it doesn't always follow...
