Budapest might be a beautiful city but Hungaroring is a boring track. It is tight and twisty and overtaking is nigh impossible. It is very much like Monaco but with out the glitz,glamor,girls and Yatchs.
All about tyres:
It is going to be a race of attrition and like all other races this season thus far, tyres will play an important role. Formula One tyres typically operate in a narrow band of temperatures. Any less heat in them and it will cause blisters and any more heat in them and it will cook them up.
The Brawns have taken a back seat in the last two races but they encountered lower than expected temperatures and had difficulty in bringing up their tyres to optimum temperature. Budapest is predicted to be hot, and it would be interesting to see if they bounce back. Meanwhile, Redbulls lead by Vettel (I am sure Webber is a one-race wonder), are playing hunters and they have nothing to lose and will be at their aggressive best.
Tactics:
1998 was the season that sealed Michael Schumacher's reputation as one of the all time great drivers. Going in to Hungary, he was 16 points behind Mika Hakkinen in an inferior Ferrari. The fact that he could keep the gap to 16 points up until that point was in itself a miracle.
Qualifying exposed the gap between McLaren and Ferrari as Schumacher could only manage third behing Hakkinen and Coulthard. What was more worrying was the fact that Hakkinen's pole position time was a second quicker.
The race started badly for Schumacher as McLaren did what any team that locks the front row does- as Hakkinen was pulling out a lead, Coulthard was acting as a buffer and controlling and slowing down Schumacher. More bad news came in the form of Eddie Irvine's, Schumacher's team mate,retirement due to gearbox failure on lap 13.
Half-way through the race, things were not looking up and Ferrari badly need a game-changer.It was on lap 44 that, Ross Brawn, the then Technical Director and pit stop guru of Ferrari (his is now the principal of Brawn GP), known for his quick thinking came up with a brilliant strategy that only a genius like Schumacher could implement. He called in Schumacher for a pit stop that created confusion in the McLaren camp. Was he having a problem on the car or was he going for an extra pit-stop?
Schumacher was short-fueled and sent out. Shortly after, Ross Brawn came on the radio and calmly told him that he was switched from the planned two-stopper to three-stopper and for it to work, he would have to build a gap of 25 seconds in next 19 laps. A lesser driver might have hollered back "are you f***ing insane" but Schumacher being Schumacher just said "OK".The next 19 laps were a demonstration of Schumacher's skills and precision. With a lighter car and clear air, he was sublime and reeled in fast lap after fast lap and each lap was like a qualifying lap and on the edge. McLaren could not believe what was happening and there was kerfuffle in their pits.
With in the next 25 minutes, Schumacher turned the race on it's head and came ahead of McLarens after his splash and dash final stop .From that point on, it was a simple matter of controlling the pace and crossing the finish line.
This was a race that threw the spot light on pit stop strategies in Formula One. However one should remember that strategizing is one thing but implementing is an entirely different thing. Ross Brawn and Michael Schumacher perfectly complemented each other in that respect and even though they could not win the championship that year or the next, they won 5 consecutive championships thereafter, making them the most successful Technical Director-Driver combination in Formula One history.
What's in a Steering Wheel?:
Forget the G-Forces, forget the braking distances, forget the set up skills required (wing, camber, gear ratios etc etc). It would be interesting to see how Jamie Alguersuari, the youngest driver to debut in Formula One deals with his steering wheel.
Formula One steering wheel is a an incredibly complex device. It is filled with numerous buttons, each one performing a specific task. There is a button to adjust fuel mixture, there is one to adjust the forward-to-rear brake bias, there is one to engage pit lane speed limiter, there is one to switch on the radio to communicate with the pits, so on and so forth.
He has never driven a Formula One car before and will have a very short learning curve. With a ban on in-season testing, he did not have an opportunity to come up to speed in the relaxed environs of a testing session.
Finally,
It would surprise me:
If Alonso is not driving a Ferrari next year
If Jean Todt does not become the president of FIA in October elections..
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