2008 Hungarian GP Predictions

1st August 2008, 7:00 by Keith Collantine 45 Comments »

Lewis Hamilton led all 70 laps in Hungary last year

Lewis Hamilton led all 70 laps in Hungary last year

It’s time to don your thinking hats and predict the top three for the Hungarian Grand Prix.

Read my prediction and pick the podium below.

McLaren are on a roll at the moment and are widely expected to lead the way at the Hungaroring.

But Ferrari have thrived in the hotter races this year and there’s a good chance we’ll see temperatures of more than 30C at the Hungaroring this weekend.

Bridgestone are bringing its two softest tyres to the Hungaroring, as were used at the similarly tight-and-twisty Monte-Carlo circuit. As the F2008 has often been kinder to its tyres than the MP4/23, I don’t think Ferrari are going to be as far off McLaren’s pace as some have predicted.

I’d definitely back Kimi Raikkonen to prise his way between the two McLarens. Felipe Massa, on the other hand, seems to have circuits where he does well and circuits where he does poorly, and he is yet to finish higher than seventh at the Hungaroring.

So I’m backing Lewis Hamilton to take a third consecutive win, but I think there’ll still be a performance gap between him and Heikki Kovalainen – and Raikkonen will squeeze in between them. That will, of course, give us the same top two as last year:

1. Lewis Hamilton
2. Kimi Raikkonen
3. Heikki Kovalainen

Last time I only managed to predict third place correctly (Massa). Although no-one got the top three right Warren, Diseased Rat, Bob, Sebastian, Derek, Salty, Sassan, Noel, Verasaki, Becken, James B, Donwatters, Dan Brunell, Loki, Jae and Gerry Carr all correctly picked Hamilton to win.

Dan Brunell, who made several different sets of predictions, picked Nelson Piquet Jnr to finish second “if hell freezes over…”

What are your predictions for the Hungarian Grand Prix podium?

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