With the Hungarian Grand Prix coming up this weekend, there are a handful of teams that are really looking forward to the high-downforce Hungaroring track.
Remember who won last year’s Hungarian GP? Yeah, none other than Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo – clearly frustrated by his team’s lack of success this season.
To be fair, it’s not so much a Red Bull Racing issue, as it is a Renault power unit issue. Regardless, the team ran a very strong race in Monaco two months ago, a track that’s somewhat similar to the Hungaroring in terms of what you need to do to your car in order to squeeze out as much performance as you can.
If you’ve been paying close attention, you’ll notice that as bad as Red Bull have been, they’ve actually been improving from race to race, and judging from their recent pace, it’s conceivable to think they could edge out Williams (downforce issues) and perhaps even one of the Ferraris.
Speaking of Ferrari, they should be really strong in Hungary. Vettel has been consistent all year long, while Raikkonen has looked a lot better lately in terms of both pace as well as results. Will they be able to upset Mercedes for the second time this year?
Well, that’s the big question. On one hand, this is a huge opportunity for them to combat the Merc’s superior straight line speed. On the other hand, Mercedes have such a well balanced car, it feels unlikely that they’ll need to compromise too much this weekend.
Finally, we arrive at Force India, a team that’s looked every bit as fast if not faster than both Red Bull and Lotus around certain tracks this season. The Austrian GP serves as a perfect example, since both Nico Hulkenberg as well as Sergio Perez managed to bring home points, finishing P6 and P9 respectively – ahead of both Red Bulls.
Who’s going to win in Hungary? Unfortunately, it’s not a very hard question to answer. Mercedes are the favorites, but places 3 through 6 are completely up for grabs.