2015 Hungarian Grand Prix, Budapest: Preview and Weekend Times

Opening hours

Friday July 24

Free Practice 1: 10pm-00pm (Sky Sport F11 HD – RaiSport 30)

Free Practice 2: 14pm-00pm (Sky Sport F15 HD – RaiSport 30)

Saturday July 25

Free Practice 3: 11pm-00pm (Sky Sport F12 HD – RaiSport 00)

Qualifying: 14pm (Sky Sport F00 HD – Rai 1)

Sunday July 26

Race: 14pm ̶ 00 laps ̶ 70km (Sky Sport F306,630 HD – Rai 1)

Direct:  SKY Sport F1 HD and RAI 1 (for more information we will publish the flash preview with updated times on Thursday evening)

Previous race

“We arrive in Hungary after a good two-week break, in which the teams have had the opportunity to recover, fix their ideas on what to do and what not to do to develop the car in the second part of the season. In England there was once again a success for Mercedes with a splendid double, which was anything but a given. In fact, the Williams seem to have gained a lot of competitiveness, especially over Ferrari, and now they seem to be the only ones capable of countering the excessive power of Mercedes.

In any case, today we want to spend a few lines on poor Jules Bianchi, who left us after months and months of struggle. These are sad days for Formula 1, days that we hope to never experience again. As safe as this category may be, there is never a limit to safety. Unfortunately, a cheerful boy, always smiling, available at every opportunity to take a photo with the fans, has left us. Jules, we will miss you." [MB]

Prediction

“The two Mercedes will fight for the victory with the sound of pit stops given the difficulty of overtaking in Hungary, behind it will be a good Ferrari – Williams challenge since the English manufacturer has recovered in a big way after the demonstration at Silverstone. We don't know yet whether the weather will have an impact like last year, but it certainly wouldn't hurt given the drowsiness that the circuit usually creates." [AV]

Circuit

Name: Hungaroring.

Location: Mogyoród, Hungary.

Construction: In the annals, the first car race in Hungary dates back to the 30s, however after the Second World War, with the extension of the Iron Curtain, the idea of ​​a grand prix in the territories of the Soviet Union was abandoned. Only later in the 80s did Formula 1 try to organize an event in Moscow, but after long negotiations the choice fell on Hungary, in particular Budapest. The idea of ​​a city layout within the city was first considered, but subsequently it was decided to build a complex about 19km away from the city centre. The first GP held on this track dates back to 1986, and very few changes have been made to the track since then until today. Worth mentioning are the changes to Turn 3, Turn 11 and the lengthening of the main straight. All these measures have been taken with the aim of increasing the spectacularity of the race, which usually turns out to be one of the most boring of the season. However, there have recently been numerous spectacular editions, especially if the weather conditions suddenly change. The possibility of showers due to summer storms usually always provides a pleasant jolt to the race.

Distance per lap: 4,381km

Number of curves: 14, 8 on the right, 6 on the left

Direction of travel: hours

3 Best Parts: Turn 1: modified over the years, it is perhaps the only point on the track where overtaking can be done in a civilized manner. In fact, it is located at the end of the DRS activation zone, and must be tackled at just under 100km/h in second gear after breaking away from around 300km/h. Turns 6 and 7: this is a narrow chicane about halfway through the lap. A right-left in which any possibility of overtaking without contact or cutting a curve is impossible. It is tackled in second gear at just over 100km/h, after a downshift from fifth gear. It is also a very difficult point as many times the driver can have difficulty exiting and end up spinning especially if the tires are heavily worn, a condition that is not difficult to achieve on this track. Turns 10 and 11: one bend to the left and one to the right respectively, both to be tackled at high speed, in fifth and sixth gear at around 250km/h completely supported. Here the trajectory is essential to obtain the best speed and not to go wide at the exit of the last corner.

Mechanical Stress: The Hungaroring is considered by tire suppliers to be like a street circuit, due to its tortuosity and medium-low speed. The lack of straights apart from the starting one contributes significantly to increasing the temperature of the tyres, which are stressed to the extreme by the narrow curves of the track. The high temperatures at the end of July will not help drivers save their tyres. The Hungaroring track is considered hard from a brake point of view. The drivers use the brake pedal for 15% of the lap at eleven different points. The braking of the first corner is the most violent of the lap: 122 meters of braking and 121kg applied by the driver to the brake pedal develop a longitudinal deceleration of 5,31 g. Turn 2 and Turn 4 also have very demanding braking. The average deceleration per lap is 3.75 g and throughout the entire race a single car develops a braking power of 161kWh.

Tire choice: PZERO YELLOW SOFT and PZERO WHITE MEDIUM.

DRS area: on the main straight between Turn 14 and Turn 1 and between Turn 1 and Turn 2, both with detection points before Turn 14.

Previous Editions

Last 3 Editions:

2012 edition: like the previous year, Lewis Hamilton on a Mercedes-powered McLaren is the fastest in both Free Practice 1 and Free Practice 2, while in the third session on Saturday morning Mark Webber (RBR – Renault) manages to beat the Englishman's time. Qualifying: an amazing Hamilton dominates in Q1, Q2 and finally in Q3, taking pole position ahead of Romain Grosjean (Lotus – Renault) and Sebastian Vettel (RBR – Renault); It's the 150^a pole for the Woking team. Race: the restart procedure must be repeated as Schumacher's Mercedes (17th on the grid) does not start during the reconnaissance lap. At the second start the cars started regularly with Hamilton leading the group while behind Button overtook Vettel for third place and Alonso overcame Rӓikkӧnen for fifth. Vettel and Grosjean manage to maintain a higher pace than their pursuers, gaining a few seconds; on the 16th pass Button is the first of the tops to refuel, followed by the others. Alonso loses time behind Pérez who hasn't changed yet and Rӓikkӧnen takes advantage of this as he regains fifth position. On lap 34 Button returns again and opts for tyres soft, In the meantime, the Flying Finn is in the lead and, having been called back to the pits for the usual pit stop, puts on hard compound tires and manages to keep his teammate behind him with a great manoeuvre. Kimi tries to catch up with the race leader, arriving within a second of him but Hamilton manages to prevail and win over the two Lotus drivers. Behind the three come Vettel, Alonso, Button, Bruno Senna, Webber, Massa and Rosberg. Alonso maintains the championship lead with 40 points ahead of Webber and 42 over Vettel.

2013 edition: in the two sessions on Friday Sebastian Vettel (RBR – Renault) was the fastest, beating teammate Mark Webber on both occasions. On Saturday morning Romain Grosjean (Lotus – Renault) set the best time ahead of Fernando Alonso and Sergio Pérez (McLaren – Mercedes). Qualifying: Mercedes immediately made itself noticed by placing the two drivers, Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg, in the first two places in Q1. At the end of Q3 the Englishman confirmed himself as the fastest by winning the second consecutive pole at Hockenheim, behind him the Red Bull of Sebastian Vettel and the Lotus of Grosjean, Nico Rosberg fourth, third row for Alonso and Rӓikkӧnen. Race: at the start Hamilton maintains the lead ahead of Vettel and Grosjean while Alonso with an excellent start manages to get close to the three, behind Rosberg he has contact with Massa and finds himself in twelfth position after an off-piste. Between the tenth and fourteenth laps the leading group makes their respective pit stops and Webber finds himself in the lead, followed by Hamilton, Button, Vettel, Grosjean Alonso and Pérez. On lap 24 the Australian goes to the pits and so Hamilton has a clear path while Vettel manages after many attempts to overtake Button, who due to his tire crisis will have to give up a further two positions. On lap 32 Hamilton returns to the pits to change sets of tires and will retake the lead 3 laps later. drive through for Grosjean following a contact with Button, the Frenchman has to say goodbye to the top 3 definitively. Between lap 48 and 51 Alonso and Hamilton come in for the third tire change, the Spaniard returns to fifth position while the Englishman is second, but after Vettel also needs a new set he can easily regain first place and thus go on to win in front of a silent yet concrete Kimi Rӓikkӧnen and Sebastian Vettel.

2014 edition: both in free practice on Friday and in Saturday morning Lewis Hamilton on Mercedes immediately made it clear that he would be the man to beat, setting the best times in all three sessions, while teammate Nico Rosberg is immediately behind him. Qualifying, however, had only just begun for the Englishman who returned after one lap due to a fire on his W05, which forced him to intentionally start from the pit lane on Sunday. Pole position was won by Rosberg in a light rain ahead of his compatriot Sebastian Vettel (RBR – Renault), second row for Valtteri Bottas (Williams – Mercedes) and Daniel Ricciardo (RBR – Renault). Race: At the start Rosberg maintains first position followed by Bottas, Alonso and Vettel, at the rear Ericsson in the Caterham loses control of the car crashing violently into the barriers: safety car and gaps cancelled. Pit stop waltz to fit soft tires but after a few laps there is still a safety car due to Romain Grosjean's accident (Lotus – Renault), Ricciardo leads the race ahead of Button and Massa. A third safety takes over on the 23rd lap to remove Sergio Pérez's Force India, after which it is a solo of comebacks and stops that decide this crazy Grand Prix. In fact, Alonso, Vergne and Hamilton are the ones who have moved up the rankings the most and could compete for podium positions, but Rosberg and Ricciardo don't seem to give up in front. On lap 38 Alonso is the first of the group to change tyres, he will wear them until the end of the race and only manages to let Ricciardo pass him, winner thanks to an excellent strategy with pit stops on lap 55^a returned, and keeping behind the two Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton - who came third - and Nico Rosberg, the real loser of the day who saw his margin over Hamilton reduced to 11 points.

Best Edition For Authors:

1989 edition: for the first time the pole position was won not by a driver from the Woking team (which had achieved 16 consecutive poles), but by Riccardo Patrese (Williams Renault) ahead of the world champion Ayrton Senna (McLaren – Honda), in the second row a surprising Alex Caffi on Dallara – Cosworth and Thierry Boutsen, Patrese's teammate; fifth is Alain Prost flanked by the first Ferrari of Gerhard Berger, while the other Ferrari driver Nigel Mansell is only twelfth. However, in the warm-up on Sunday morning the English Lion said he was confident about the match and with his usual composure replied that he was aiming for victory, surprising the journalists, who were incredulous at those words. Race: Patrese gets off to a good start and is followed by Senna, while Caffi immediately gives in to Berger and Prost, with the Frenchman shortly after overtaking the Austrian and trying to catch up with the first two. Behind, however, Mansell makes an astonishing comeback: with a spot-on start he immediately overtakes two cars and continues his climb undaunted, although the leaders already seem far away. On lap 22 he catches Caffi and passes him, after the first tire change he is ahead of his teammate Berger (who will have to retire due to gearbox problems), Prost can only assist as he doesn't even try to block the advance of the English Lion. Now Patrese and Senna appear in front, fighting since the first lap, but the Italian on lap 53 has to slow down due to radiator problems, which shortly thereafter causes him to retire: only Senna ahead of Mansell. Even “Magic” had to give in to the Ferrari driven by an unstoppable Mansell on the 58th lap of the race, after the Englishman took advantage of the traffic created by the lapping of Stefan Johansson (Onyx – Cosworth) to overtake. On lap 77 Nigel Mansell crossed the finish line with over twenty-five seconds ahead of Senna, sending the crowd into raptures, Boutsen third, then Prost, Cheever, Piquet and Caffi, seventh and out of the points but first of those not lapped that day by the winner .

Best Edition For Readers:

With 39% of the preferences, here is the edition of your choice.

1998 edition: on the difficult Hungarian track where qualifying is (almost) everything, the two McLaren - Mercedes occupy the front row, with Mika Hӓkkinen on pole and David Coulthard second; behind them Michael Schumacher with the Ferrari 4 tenths behind and the Jordan – Honda of Damon Hill. Race: excellent start for the two McLarens with Schumacher who can't help but tag along, behind Irvine with the other Ferrari he manages to overtake Hill for fourth place, then Villeneuve, Frentzen, Wurz, Alesi. Surprisingly, the Northern Irishman's Ferrari laps the fastest, dragging the whole group with it, but on the 13th lap he has to say goodbye to his dreams of a comeback due to an electronic failure, the trio in front of him can thus increase their advantage over their pursuers who were driven right by Irvine. From lap 24 onwards the first series of refueling begins without anything changing in the leading positions, while behind Frentzen has problems with a wheel nut which forces his mechanics into a long intervention. On lap 28, Jarno Trulli (Prost – Peugeot) retired due to engine problems. Surprise move by Ferrari which changes strategy by having the German return to the pits for a pit stop during the 43^a round: he started again with little fuel and fresh tires, breaking partial records, overtaking Coulthard after he returned to the pits and setting out to "hunt" for Hӓkkinen. So it happens that on lap 46 Schumacher is leading the race and the Finn is forced to chase him, however the latter seems to have gearbox problems and noticeably loses ground, having to leave the track to Coulthard. Even with an extra stop, Schumacher managed to exit the pit lane first and thus take home his fifth race of the season ahead of Coulthard and Jacques Villeneuve (Williams), with Hӓkkinen only sixth due to gearbox problems. Thus the drivers' classification also reopens with Schumacher at 70 and 7 points behind the Finnish leader.

RECORD

Test lap: 1:19.146 – M Schumacher – Ferrari – 2004
Race lap: 1:19.071 – M Schumacher – Ferrari – 2004
Distance: 1h35:26.131 – M Schumacher – Ferrari – 2004
Driver victories: 4 – M Schumacher
Team victories: 11 – McLaren
Driver pole: 7 – M Schumacher
Pole team: 8 – McLaren
Best driver laps: 4 – M Schumacher, L Hamilton
Best team laps: 9 – Williams
Driver podiums: 7 – A Senna, M Schumacher
Team podiums: 22 – McLaren

Hall of Fame

1. 1936 T Nuvolari – Alfa Romeo
2. 1986 N Piquet – Williams Honda
3. 1987 N Piquet – Williams Honda
4. 1988 At Senna – McLaren Honda
5. 1989 N Mansell – Ferrari
6. 1990 T Boutsen – Williams Renault
7. 1991 At Senna – McLaren Honda
8. 1992 At Senna – McLaren Honda
9. 1993 D Hill – Williams Renault
10. 1994 M Schumacher – Benetton Ford
11. 1995 D Hill – Williams Renault
12. 1996 J Villeneuve – Williams Renault
13. 1997 J Villeneuve – Williams Renault
14. 1998 M Schumacher – Ferrari
15. 1999 M Hakkinen – McLaren Mercedes
16. 2000 M Hakkinen – McLaren Mercedes
17. 2001 M Schumacher – Ferrari
18. 2002 R Barrichello – Ferrari
19. 2003 F Alonso – Renault
20. 2004 M Schumacher – Ferrari
21. 2005 K Räikkönen – McLaren Mercedes
22. 2006 J Button – Honda
23. 2007 L Hamilton – McLaren Mercedes
24. 2008 H Kovalainen – McLaren Mercedes
25. 2009 L Hamilton – McLaren Mercedes
26. 2010 M Webber – Red Bull Renault
27. 2011 J Button – McLaren Mercedes
28. 2012 L Hamilton – McLaren Mercedes
29. 2013 L Hamilton – Mercedes
30. 2014 D Ricciardo – Red Bull Renault

Andrea Villa, Matteo Bramati.

Sources: Brembo, Pirelli.