The Hungaroring circuit is 19 km from the centre of Budapest, alongside the M3 motorway at the border of the village, Mogyoród. The track is in a natural valley, surrounded by 50 hectares of rolling hillside. With this exceptional natural advantage, almost 80 percent of the racetrack is visible from any point. This is the reason why it is called "The Shallow Plate", it is because the spectators are watching races sitting by the side of an imaginary plate.Hungary is a much maligned circuit, due to its tight low speed nature and the difficulty of overtaking, but it has produced a surprising number of exciting races.
The Hungaroring circuit is rarely used and so the track is usually dirty at the start of the F1 race weekend and the grip improves as the weekend goes on. This means that it’s very easy to be misled by the tyre performance on Friday and the only really meaningful work that can be done on car set up and planning race strategy is often the one hour session on Saturday morning.
Track Characteristics
Track length : 4.381km kilometres.
Race distance : 70 laps (306.630 kilometres).
Corners : 14 corners in total. Average speed of 190 km/h is the lowest of any permanent track on F1 calendar.
Aerodynamic setup : High downforce.
Top speed : 305 km/h (with Drag Reduction System active on rear wing) – 295km/h without.
Full throttle : 55% of the lap (low).
Time spent braking : 14% of lap.
Number of brake zones : 11.
Brake wear : High.
Total time needed for pit stop : 16 seconds.
Fuel effect (cost in lap time per 10kg of fuel carried) : 0.35 seconds (high).
Lap Record : 1:19.071 - M Schumacher (2004)
Weather Forecast
The forecast is for temperatures around 30 degrees on Friday and Saturday, but there are thunderstorms forecast for Sunday, which could bring rain, as we had here in 2011.
Once again the strongest chance of rain is on race day. It arrived on Sunday in Hockenheim but too early to affect the grand prix – although it did help produce a cracking GP2 race.
For Friday at least the conditions should be warm and sunny though not quite as hot as in Germany, around the high 20C mark.
Temperatures will rise slightly on Saturday but with cloud cover also increasing the possibility of thunderstorms is introduced. Sunday is most at-risk again, but the unpredictable nature of the storms makes it hard to say at this stage whether the race will be affected.
Tyres
Pirelli tyre choice for Budapest: Soft (yellow markings) and Medium (white markings). This is the same as the last two years. This combination of tyres was used in Australia, Bahrain and China. There was around 0.6s performance difference between them in Bahrain.
The Hungaroring circuit is rarely used and so the track is usually dirty at the start of the F1 race weekend and the grip improves as the weekend goes on. This means that it’s very easy to be misled by the tyre performance on Friday and the only really meaningful work that can be done on car set up and planning race strategy is often the one hour session on Saturday morning.
DRS
There will be two DRS zones sharing a detection point 5m before Turn 14. The activation points are 130m after the apex of Turn 14 and 6m after the apex of Turn 1.
The guardrail to the left of the run-off area at Turn 3 has been re-aligned to better protect the recovery vehicle and to allow space for a car that has been recovered. Also, speed bumps 50mm high have been installed two metres from the track edge in the run-off area at Turns 6/7, while new debris fencing has been installed close to the guardrail on the left between Turns 11 and 12 and around the outside of Turn 14.
Safety Car
Safety cars are surprisingly rare at the Hungaroring. One possible explanation is that there are few gravel traps for cars to get stranded in, with tarmac preferred through most corners. The chances of a safety car are only 10% and there have been only two in the last seven years.
Conclusion
A Hamilton victory could go a long way towards the 2008 world champion overhauling a points deficit to his rival for the second time this season, while another win for Rosberg could restore his points lead to the heights he enjoyed pre-Silverstone – and deliver a crucial psychological blow to his team mate.
Despite losing ten points to Rosberg last weekend, Hamilton will likely take heart from the fact that this weekend’s race takes place at a circuit where he has so often dominated – having taken four victories here in his career, including the last two Hungarian races.
Lewis Hamilton can become the first driver to win three successive Hungarian Grands Prix if he wins again at the Hungaroring on Sunday, which would make him become the first man to win three on the trot in Hungary, while it would also make him the most successful driver at the Hungaroring, with the British competitor locked on four wins alongside F1 icon Michael Schumacher. Hamilton has won back-to-back races in Budapest - a feat shared with past champions such as Nelson Piquet (1986-87), Ayrton Senna (1991-92), Jacques Villeneuve (1996-97) and Mika Hakkinen (1999-00).
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