#Formula1 @Rolex Magyar Nagydij 2019 Preview – #F1 #HungarianGP

After Max Verstappen won a wet and wild German Grand Prix at Hockenheim, round 12 of the 2019 FIA Formula One World Championship returns to the Hungaroring in Mogyoród, Hungary for the Formula 1 Rolex Magyar Nagydij 2019. This will be the 34^th edition of the Hungarian Grand Prix as part of the world championship.

 

 

A look at the Hungaroring

 

 

The Hungaroring is a permanent racing circuit in Mogyoród, Hungary where the Hungarian Grand Prix has been held since 1986. In 1986, it became the first Formula 1 Grand Prix held behind the Iron Curtain. Bernie Ecclestone wanted a race in the USSR (now held in Sochi), but a Hungarian friend recommended Budapest. They wanted a street circuit similar to the Circuit de Monaco to be built in Nepliget, Budapest’s largest park but the government decided to build a new circuit outside the city near the major highway.

 

Construction works started on October 1, 1985. It was built in eight months, less time than any other Formula One circuit. The first race was held on March 24, 1986, in memory of Janos Drapal, the first Hungarian who won motorcycle Grand Prix races. According to a survey put together by the national tourism office of Hungary, Mogyoród ranks third among Hungarian destinations visited by tourists, behind the Danube Bend area and Lake Balaton, but ahead of Budapest.

 

The Grand Prix is held in the middle of summer, which is usually very hot and dry in this region. It’s very first wet Grand Prix race was in 2006. The circuit is normally dusty due to underuse throughout the rest of the year and its sandy soil. As the circuit is in a valley about 80 percent of it can be seen from any point.

 

Normally, an underused circuit becomes faster over the weekend as the track surface gathers more rubber; however, with the Hungaroring this generally does not happen, because the track can get dusty so quickly. The track becomes faster during a qualifying session, which leads competitors to try for their best lap as late as possible. Described as “Monaco without walls” by Ricciardo, the Hungaroring is also a circuit less reliant on engine power meaning the field could be closely bunched than in recent races. Teams run their maximum downforce packages in Hungary to cope with the many slow corners. The issue that will occupy the minds of engineers during the practice sessions is the need to maximise traction to get the best return from the many low-gear acceleration points.

 

The twisty and bumpy nature of the circuit makes overtaking very difficult in dry conditions. Nonetheless, the Hungaroring has been the scene of some several memorable races such as the duels of Nelson Piquet and Ayrton Senna, Nigel Mansell’s lost wheel in 1987, Mansell’s win from 12th on the grid after a dramatic overtake on Ayrton Senna in 1989, Damon Hill’s almost victory with Arrows in 1997,  Michael Schumacher’s change in strategy to beat the McLarens of Mika Häkkinen and David Coulthard in 1998 and maiden victories for Hill in 1993, Fernando Alonso in 2003, Jenson Button in 2006 in the track’s first wet Grand Prix, Heikki Kovalainen in 2008, and the second win for Daniel Ricciardo in 2014, overtaking the Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton and Alonso’s Ferrari using very degraded soft tyres in the penultimate lap, grabbing an incredible victory.

 

The current Grand Prix circuit layout is 4.381km (2.722mi) in length and runs in a clockwise direction with 16 corners.

 

Race distance is 306.663km (190.560mi) with 70 laps in total.

 

Michael Schumacher holds the fastest lap record set at the Hungaroring in 2004 with a 1:19.071 in his Ferrari F2004.

 

Lewis Hamilton holds the record for most wins at the Hungarian Grand Prix with six victories.

 

McLaren are the most successful constructor at the Hungarian Grand Prix with 11 victories.

 

Onboard lap of the Hungaroring

 

 

Here is the onboard pole position lap of the Hungaroring from last year’s event, set by Lewis Hamilton in his Mercedes AMG Petronas Motorsport F1 W10 EQ Power+. The Briton posted the benchmark 1:35.658 in wet conditions. You can watch the footage right here at the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uE7CNFsgtNM

 

The Last Five Winners

 

 

2018: Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes AMG F1. 2017: Sebastian Vettel, Scuderia Ferrari. 2016: Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes AMG Petronas F1. 2015: Sebastian Vettel, Scuderia Ferrari. 2014: Daniel Ricciardo, Red Bull Racing.

 

Tyres

 

 

Pirelli will be bringing with them to Hungary, the white-side walled (Hard) tyres, the yellow-branded C3 (Mediums) and red-marked C4 (Soft) rubber alongside the green-marked (Intermediates) and blue-branded (Full Wets) in case of rain.

 

Championship leaders Mercedes have gone with a more conservative approach than its rivals for the Hungarian Grand Prix weekend.

 

Valtteri Bottas and Lewis Hamilton will both have eight sets of the C4 red-branded soft rubber, with the former taking on four sets of the C3 mediums.

 

No other team on the grid have selected less than nine sets of softs for either of its respective drivers.

 

Ferrari and Red Bull have opted for nine sets of the soft compounds for their drivers. Although Red Bull have given the same identical selection of tyres for Max Verstappen and Pierre Gasly, Ferrari have handed an additional set of C2 hards to Sebastian Vettel at the expense of a set of mediums.

 

Three outfits – Alfa Romeo Racing, Renault and Toro Rosso have all gone with 10 sets of the softer rubber. Their respective choices mean that Daniel Ricciardo, Kimi Raikkonen and Alexander Albon will head to the Hungaroring with just one set of the C3 medium compounds.

 

DRS Zones

There will be two DRS zones sharing a detection point 5 metres before turn 14. Activation points are 130 metres after the apex of turn 14 and 6 metres after the apex of turn one.

 

Pitlane Speed Limits

Pitlane speeds will be 80km/h during practice, qualifying and the race.

 

ICYMI: German GP rewind – Verstappen wins wet and wild race

 

 

Max Verstappen won a spectacular German Grand Prix for Red Bull ahead of Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel and Toro Rosso’s Daniil Kvyat at a changeable weathered Hockenheim.

 

Rain before the start and during the proceedings brought a drama-filled event in which pole-sitter Lewis Hamilton spun twice with the Briton eventually coming home 11^th and Mercedes team-mate Valtteri Bottas crashed out in a race to forget for the Silver Arrows.

 

Ferrari’s Vettel charged from the rear of the grid to come home an impressive second, but it was a mixed result for the Scuderia as Charles Leclerc whacked the barriers and retired.

 

Toro Rosso’s Kvyat completed the podium with clever tactical choices by the Faenza-based outfit. A torrential downpour during the morning ensured that this would be F1’s initial test of using it’s new starting procedures as the safety car lead the field for several laps to clear a bit of standing water.

 

As expected, some drivers began to push for the safety car to come in immediately for the race to begin, and it eventually hit pit-lane for a standing start.

 

Hamilton got off to a great start as Verstappen was left ruing his runoff the line after suffering too much wheelspin, dropping two places as both Bottas and Alfa Romeo Racing’s Kimi Raikkonen went passed.

 

He nearly lost a position to a quick-starting Haas VF-19 of Romain Grosjean, too, but the Dutchman persevered into the first corner and snatched back third place from Raikkonen.

 

Spray and unpredictable grip levels brought chaos in it’s wake as McLaren’s Carlos Sainz ran wide at the second corner and Renault’s Nico Hulkenberg and Ferrari’s Leclerc took advantage of the Spaniard, as the midfield runners touched and tangled their way through the opening stages.

 

At the end of lap two, Racing Point’s Sergio Perez lost the rear of his RP19 and slammed into the barrier at the turn eleven exit, deploying the safety car.

 

Vettel – who started at the rear after encountering a turbo failure issue in qualifying – and Toro Rosso’s Alexander Albon went straight into the pits for intermediate compounds while Hamilton and the frontrunners remained out on another lap before coming in.

 

A few teams took a gamble, leaving their respective drivers out on full wets but that soon proved to be a wrong choice as a dry line began forming.

 

Haas F1 Team’s Kevin Magnussen was one of the drivers and although the Dane was running second behind Hamilton in the safety car train, he was quickly disposed of by Bottas and Verstappen when the race continued on lap four.

 

Pitting a lap earlier promoted Vettel to 12^th and charged through the midfield to reach seventh.

 

But the German was still over 30 seconds behind Hamilton, who remained comfortable in the fast-changing conditions at that stage and increasing his lead to team-mate Bottas well over five seconds.

 

Leclerc and Hulkenberg pitted early for fresh intermediates during a short virtual safety car period and timed it to perfection on lap 15 after the other Renault of Daniel Ricciardo became the second casualty of the race as his engine sent out a huge ploom of smoke and Leclerc shot clear.

 

By the 22^nd lap, Leclerc had closed within four seconds of Verstappen, leaving Hulkenberg 20 seconds down the road, though the threat to him from Raikkonen and Vettel was vanished by their worn intermediate rubber.

 

On the 23^rd lap, Vettel came in for a fresh set of softs and Red Bull brought Verstappen in a lap later from third place, switching the inters to medium tyres.

 

Mercedes also went with mediums when it pitted Bottas on lap 26, while Ferrari chucked on a set of softs for Leclerc on the next lap.

 

Hamilton then pitted for mediums but his arrival in pits was met with another downpour.

 

Leclerc slid off at the penultimate corner after suffering a small error and hit the barriers at slow speed, with the young Monegasque driver stuck in the gravel and deployed the safety car.

 

But then Hamilton went off-track at the same spot on the following lap as the Briton managed to gather his W10 EQ Power+ racer into line and touched the barrier, breaking his front wing in the process, but was able to dive straight into the pits.

 

Then there was chaos in the pits as the Silver Arrows crew scrambled for a new set of intermediates and a replacement front wing, and to add more punishment to the championship leader, he was hit with a five-second time penalty for driving on the wrong side of the pit-entry bollard.

 

The rest of the field then came in for intermediates as the slick were no longer suitable, leaving Verstappen in first place and in-front of Bottas, Hulkenberg, Albon, Hamilton, Sainz, Raikkonen and Vettel.

 

Hamilton flew by Albon with ease as the race resumed with Hulkenberg pressurising Bottas, giving Verstappen the chance to break 10 seconds clear.

 

This gave the Dutchman a free pit-stop for fresh inters when the safety car was deployed again on the 40^th lap, when Hulkenberg went off at the final corner in a similar way to Leclerc shortly after being overtaken by Hamilton for third.

 

The circuit began to rapidly dry again as the pack continued to circle behind the safety car for four more laps, prompting Racing Point to take a gamble with Lance Stroll for slicks a lap before going green, and Kvyat also followed suit.

 

This relegated them to the rear of the field, but after a flurry of drivers also dived for the pits as the race was live, the pairing benefitted massively to be running in second and third respectively behind Verstappen.

 

Kvyat used DRS assistance to pass Stroll on the rundown to the hairpin on lap 50, while Mercedes’ day went to more shambles when Hamilton spun down to 15^th place in a high-speed moment at the first corner and then Bottas almost had a similar moment a few laps later, but the Finn hit the barriers hard at turn one, bringing out the safety car.

 

With five laps remaining, the race resumed once more with Verstappen in-front of Kvyat and Stroll, while Vettel made short work of Sainz for fourth immediately at the restart.

 

A couple of laps later, Vettel breezed by Stroll on the blast down to the hairpin for third, then the German did the same to Kvyat a lap later to take second at his home Grand Prix and finished 7.333 seconds behind the triumphant Verstappen.

 

Stroll withstood late pressure from Sainz en route to a high fourth, while Albon came sixth and in-front of Alfa Romeo Racing pairing Raikkonen and Antonio Giovinazzi, despite being clipped by Red Bull’s Pierre Gasly that sent the other RB15 into retirement late on.

 

Both Raikkonen and Giovinazzi were penalised after a post-race investigation for clutch infringements at the start of the Grand Prix due to breaching article 27.1 relating to clutch torque applications.

 

As a result, both drivers were hit with a 10 second stop-and-go time penalty, which equated to 30 seconds added to each of their race times.

 

Haas F1 Team’s Grosjean and Magnussen were promoted to seventh and eighth respectively following the Alfa Romeo Racing driver penalties, though both Haas drivers brought more drama as they collided once again in the closing stages, though this time did not eliminate each other.

 

The aforementioned Hamilton moved up to ninth and extends his points lead to 41 over team-mate Bottas and ahead of the ROKiT Williams Racing’s Robert Kubica who takes his first point for the Grove squad.

 

The other Williams of George Russell also got promoted to 11th with the two penalised Alfa Romeo drivers at the rear.

 

The Situation

 

 

Lewis Hamilton returns to the Hungaroring sitting on top of the Driver’s Championship with 225 points and a 41-point advantage over team-mate Valtteri Bottas who is second on 184 points while Max Verstappen is a further 63 behind the Briton in third on 162 points.

 

Mercedes AMG Petronas Motorsport heads to Hungary on top of the Constructors Championship with 407 points and a 146-point advantage over nearest rivals Ferrari who are second on 261 points while Red Bull Racing are a further 190 behind the Silver Arrows in third on 217 points.

 

Formula 1 2019 World Driver’s Championship Standings – Top 10

1. Lewis Hamilton – 225 Points.
2. Valtteri Bottas – 184 Points.
3. Max Verstappen – 162 Points.
4. Sebastian Vettel – 141 Points.
5. Charles Leclerc – 120 Points.
6. Pierre Gasly – 55 Points.
7. Carlos Sainz – 48 Points.
8. Daniil Kvyat – 27 Points.
9. Kimi Raikkonen – 25 Points.
10. Lando Norris – 22 Points.

 

Formula 1 2019 World Constructors Championship Standings

1. Mercedes AMG Petronas Motorsport – 407 Points.
2. Scuderia Ferrari – 261 Points.
3. Aston Martin Red Bull Racing-Honda – 217 Points.
4. McLaren-Renault F1 Team – 70 Points.
5. Scuderia Toro Rosso-Honda – 42 Points.
6. Renault F1 Team – 39 Points.
7. SportPesa Racing Point F1 Team – 31 Points.
8. Rich Energy Haas F1 Team – 26 Points.
9. Alfa Romeo Racing – 26 Points.
10. ROKiT Williams Racing – 1 Point.

 

The Formula 1 Rolex Magyar Nagydij 2019 weekend begins Friday August 2 with Free Practice 1 and 2, followed by Free Practice 3 and Qualifying Saturday August 3 and the 70 lap Race Sunday August 4.