Hungarian Grand Prix 2016: Preview and Weekend Times

Opening hours

Friday July 22

Free Practice 1: 10:00-11:30 (Sky Sport F1 HD – RaiSport)

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

Saturday July 23

Free Practice 3: 11:00-12:00 (Sky Sport F1 HD – RaiSport)

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

Sunday July 24

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

Previous race

The race two weeks ago at Silverstone could only see the home idol, Lewis Hamilton, triumph for the fourth time on his home track. Second consecutive second place for Max Verstappen, who rose to second place after the award ceremony on the podium, when the stewards decided to punish Mercedes and Rosberg for an illicit radio team, but fundamental to saving the German's race. German in fact, who is now still first in the drivers' championship, but never so hounded by his teammate, who is only one length behind him. Very badly, however, the two Ferraris, which seem to have lost ground to Mercedes in terms of performance, and which instead seem to have been reached and perhaps surpassed by the two Redbulls, which for some grand prix now are constantly fighting for the podium with the two redheads. The two Force Indias are also in great shape, as they are really at ease on fast tracks, while, strangely, the Williams were missing here at Silverstone, on a circuit where they had always done quite well in previous years.

Predictions from F1GrandPrix.it

Mercedes' obvious superiority was seen at Silverstone and on a track like this, where overtaking is always very difficult, it will be a fight between Hamilton and Rosberg on strategies, rather than head-to-head in the race. Behind us are the Red Bulls, who continue their period of great form especially with Verstappen. Ferrari unknown: the real potential of the car cannot be explained and it seems that not even Maranello have understood it. Maybe these two weeks will have helped him solve some little problems, but the challenge at the moment is with the Red Bulls.

Circuit

Name: Hungaroring.

Place: 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: xnumxkm.

Number of curves: 14, eight on the right, six on the left.

Direction of travel: hours.

Technical data:

Aerodynamic Load:	Low	Medium	High
Throttle opening: 50%
Fuel Consumption per Lap: 1,43 kg/rev
Full speed: 320 km/h
Safety Car possibilities: 15%
Travel time in the pit lane with stop: 22 seconds.
Overtaking possibilities:	Easy-to-use	Medium	Difficult
Winners from Pole Position: 13 out of 30 editions on this track.
Worst Starting Position for a Winner: twelfth (Mansell 1989)

Characteristics of the Track: in this circuit the gearbox is definitely stressed, where 78 gear changes per lap are necessary and approximately 3.710 to complete the race. The most stressed gears are the fourth and sixth, while the eighth is used only to save fuel. This track is very demanding for the drivers, due to the high temperatures that are usually recorded, and also due to the numerous sudden accelerations to be faced throughout the lap. The hourly average is around 187 km/h.

Brakes:

Circuit Category:	Light	Medium	Hard
Number of Brakes: 11
Time Spent Braking: 18%
Energy Dissipated in Braking During the GP: 159 kWh
Total Load on the Brake Pedal during the GP: 83.300 kg
More challenging braking: the first braking at turn one.

Rubber:

Tires 2015:	ultrasoft	supersoft	Soft Drinks	Medium	Hard
Tire Stress	1	2	3	4	5
Lateral stresses	1	2	3	4	5
Abrasiveness Asphalt	1	2	3	4	5
Grip Asphalt	1	2	3	4	5
Total number of Pits 2015: 54
Winning Strategy 2015: Soft -> Pit Lap 21 Soft -> Pit Lap 43 Medium
Longest Stints 2015: Soft 26 Laps (Stevens) – Medium 25 Laps (Maldonado)

DRS zone: 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:

2013 edition: in the two Friday sessions Sebastian Vettel (RBR – Renault) was the fastest, beating his teammate on both occasions Mark Webber. On Saturday morning Romain Grosjean (Lotus – Renault) set the best time in front Fernando Alonso and Sergio Pérez (McLaren – Mercedes). Qualifying: Mercedes immediately stands out by positioning the two drivers, Lewis Hamilton e Nico Rosberg, in the first two places in Q1. At the end of Q3 the Englishman confirmed himself as the fastest by conquering the second consecutive pole at Hockenheim, behind him the Red Bull by Sebastian Vettel and the Lotus  by Grosjean, fourth Nico Rosberg, 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 pass to remove the Force India by Sergio Pérez, 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 carry them until the end of the race, only managing 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.

2015 edition: on the morning of July 18th, the death of pilot Jules Bianchi, who had been in a coma for 9 months after the Suzuka accident, was announced. The riders will gather around his helmet before the start on Sunday. Friday: the two Mercedes immediately on top of their game, with Lewis Hamilton ahead of Nico Rosberg, third Kimi Räikkönen with Ferrari. In FP2 Hamilton is still in command but behind are the two Red Bulls of Kvyat and Ricciardo. Saturday: in the third free practice of the morning the Englishman still leads ahead of Rosberg and Sebastian Vettel. Qualifying: as imaginable, Lewis Hamilton dominates Q1, Q2 and Q3 and grabs the 47th pole position of his career ahead of Nico Rosberg and Sebastian Vettel. Ricciardo, Räikkönen, Bottas, Kvyat, Verstappen and Grosjean complete the Top 10. Race: At the start the two Ferraris got away quickly, so much so that Vettel took the lead, ahead of Rosberg and Räikkönen who, in turn, overtook Hamilton; already at the third corner the Ferrari Finn also passes Rosberg. Shortly afterwards Hamilton, in an attempt to pass Rosberg, also went off the track and dropped to tenth place. Between the 20th and 23rd laps the two Ferraris go to change tires, followed by the Mercedes. The situation always sees Vettel ahead of Kimi, then Rosberg, Ricciardo and Hamilton, who engages in a fierce duel with the Australian, overtaking him. On lap 40 there were problems for Räikkönen's car, which lost power and had to give in to Nico Rosberg after the safety car came in to remove Hülkenberg's Force India. In the final laps, everything happens: the Ferrari Finn is forced to retire, Ricciardo comes back from behind and engages in battle with Rosberg, the two touch and are forced to the garage, with the German getting the worst of it (at the exit he is only 7 °). After 69 laps Sebastian Vettel wins with Ferrari, it is his 41st time, behind him Kvyat and Ricciardo complete the podium.

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) for overtaking. 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:

1998 edition: on the difficult Hungarian track where qualifying is (almost) everything, it's two o'clock McLaren – Mercedes occupying the front row, with Mika Hӓkkinen on pole and David Coulthard second; behind them Michael Schumacher with Ferrari 4 tenths behind and Damon Hill's Jordan – Honda. 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 he retires Jarno Trulli (Prost – Peugeot) 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, L Hamilton
Team victories: 11 – McLaren
Driver pole: 7 – M Schumacher
Pole team: 8 – McLaren
Best driver laps: 4 – M Schumacher
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
31. 2015 S Vettel – Ferrari

 

Andrea Villa, Matteo Bramati.

Sources: Brembo, Pirelli.