After the week's break, F1 returns to racing. You fly in Hungary, in Budapest, to compete in thehungaroring.
A short story, but important for the country
The Hungaroring is a permanent circuit built in Budapest, precisely in the town of Hazelnut (25 km from the capital). Long 4381 meters is composed by 14 curves, Presents two DRS zones, one on the main straight and the other on the straight leading from turn 1 to turn 2. The track, built in 1986, was a real revenge for the country after the dark years of Soviet domination. Furthermore, it was an important outlet for F1 itself, as it was able to have dialogues with a world that seemed totally detached from the European and American ones. Built on very dusty terrain, it is used almost nothing except for the Grand Prix, which has always taken place in July. The weather, therefore, is always a lot torrid, except for editions 2006, 2011, 2014, 2020 e 2021, Where the rain was the protagonist. The overall track record and race record both belong to Lewis Hamilton. They were achieved in the edition 2020. First in qualifying, stopping the clock at 1'13 "447. The second on Sunday, when time stopped 1'16 "627.
Lots of downforce: here you don't need too much top speed
The shape of the track is very good dusty pilots tend to have only one good line on the track. If you step out of that line, you risk lose a lot of grip going like this to missing the optimal braking point. This is what happened to Valtteri Bottas in the race of 2021. In that case, too the adverse weather played its part. Therefore, the presence of a lot of dirt on the track leads to a increased tire wear. Also for this reason, the aerodynamic configurations to be used will be ad high load. What's more, the circuit itself he is not famous for his overtaking. The only real place to try to pass the car in front is the main straight, but otherwise it is a route made up of laps where needed so busy. This is why teams choose to sacrifice top speed to be more efficient in the remaining 90% of the track.
There is only one favorite, it's up to the others to try to move him
Talk about favorites after a particular driver scores 6 wins in a row seems useless. In fact, as has been the case since the beginning of the season, the ones to focus on are the two Red Bull drivers. Though Perez is being destroyed by Max Verstappen, still drives there RB19. Obviously the qualities of SuperMax are not discussed, but this could be the race of revenge for Checo. The other teams will probably be in one fight among themselves, with Mercedes which of all people seemed to be the fittest. A lot is also expected from the team's drivers Ferrari after the anonymous performance at Silverstone.
Article by Francesco Orlando
