It’s race day at the Hungaroring. Remember to join us for the live blog during the race. Here’s today’s round-up:
Links
Teams seek front wing clarification (Autosport)
Ross Brawn: “I think probably what we are asking is, before we all go off and have a massive development programme, is Charlie [Whiting] going to change the rules before we get there? When it is demonstrated to you, you look at all the ways that you can achieve it and I think for the latter part of this year, and next year, we will all be doing the same. We just want to make sure that Charlie is comfortable with it and is not going to change the rules when we get there, because it will be an awful waste of effort.”
Comment of the day
Lots of thoughts on the race ahead in the pre-race analysis. Despite Red Bull’s massive performance advantage in qualifying DaveW is optimistic we may still see a good race:
Who thinks that Domenicali, Alonso, and Massa are going to have a talk tonight about turn 1, and making sure Alonso is not impeded if he gets a good run on the Red Bulls?
Anyway, even with the massive raw speed edge I don’t see Red Bull running away at the lights on heavy fuel. Also, traffic will play a big role and with five to eight seconds on the backmarkers, we could see them caught by lap ten to twelve. This track is very narrow and twisty and a back marker could cost you seconds. And with the hard tyres able to run very long, Red Bull could be in danger of getting leapfrogged if their pursuers are able to pit at the moment where Red Bull hit traffic.
If Red Bull pit early they risk getting stuck behind a Sauber or whatever running 1 more seconds per lap off the lead pace. It will be very dicey to time the pit stops tomorrow. Thus I think we may well see a real race here tomorrow.
DaveW
Happy birthday!
No F1 Fanatic birthdays today. If you want a birthday shout-out tell us when yours is by emailling me, using Twitter or adding to the list here.
On this day in F1
It’s 30 years to the day since French F1 star Patrick Depailler was killed in a testing accident at the Hockenheimring.
Cari has written a retrospective on Depailler and it will be up on the site shortly.
wasiF1 (@wasif1)
1st August 2010, 2:32
Nicely written by DaveW, it will be a great race today dispite the fact that RBR are 1.2 second ahead of their rivals.
f1yankee
1st August 2010, 4:30
if they get away 1-2, how long before the red bulls no longer appear on the screen with the 3rd car? i’m setting the over/under at 2.5
dsob
1st August 2010, 5:25
Based on previous performance averages, I’ll be looking for Vettel to be running 4th or 5th going into lap2. He always(almost) overcooks his starts and wastes pole.
Don’t think we’ve heard the last from Macca or the red cars, so not betting the farm on RBR for top step.
xxxracer
1st August 2010, 6:48
How come no one talks about the dirty side of the grid anymore? What has changed? Is it because being second to vettel is still an advantage even in the dirt? Poor boy must be going over the start procedure countlessly in his mind, probly increasing his chances of messing it up again. Could be Alonso and Hamilton who come out of turn one looking rather handy
W154
1st August 2010, 8:13
DaveW, after 12 laps Red Bull will be 20 seconds ahead of the rest. They can do a lot more than 10-12 laps on soft tyres / full tanks and still maintain a race winning lead. Lapping cars later in the race won’t be a problem- Alonso, Hamilton etc will see the yellow noses in rear view mirrors and blue flags/lights and let the freight train right on through !!!
Dave Blanc
1st August 2010, 9:53
Let’s hope Vettel get’s another of his famously appalling starts. I don’t think i can bear that finger-pointing thing he does at the end of a race when he wins again….
Patrickl
1st August 2010, 9:58
Why would the Red Bulls try to pit early?
That would only make sense if they need to try to jump someone in the pit stops. That would only be an issue if they mess up their start.
Dave Blanc
1st August 2010, 9:59
Weather update: The skies are completely clear with little to no cloud, something that is expected to continue for the rest of the day. Temperatures will rise to 31°C during the afternoon which will be the hottest of the weekend. With constant sunshine, the track temperature could rise above 40°C for the first time this weekend.
Ads21 (@ads21)
1st August 2010, 10:23
yup weather.com says theres now a 0% chance of rain this afternoon
Palle
1st August 2010, 11:08
I’m really impressed with RBR and Ferraris development pace of late. Strange to see McLarens developments being less succesfull than usual. Renault and Williams has also had a much much higher development pace and successful developments than usual, whereas Mercedes and Force India is disappointing.
Even if the RBR’s get a well deserved 1-2 (it will be if they get it), the race start will be very exiting and the fights further down the grid will be very interesting, maybee throughout the race.
And to get Ferrari in front of McLaren is some of the best thing that could happen to RBR for the season as a whole.
And very interesting to follow the outcome of the Flexiwing case and the Ferrari blatant use of Team Orders.
SoLiDG (@solidg)
1st August 2010, 11:57
I doubt anyone will get near redbull, their high fuel times were very very fast aswell.. unless they ran a bit less than others. But I doubt that.
Rain is the only factor wich could help.. But Vettel and Webber can handle that pretty good too.
US_Peter
1st August 2010, 20:45
I guess DaveW was wrong. Vettel pulled out about a second a lap there at the start, and Webber did the same when he had to. Clearly a circuit that the Bulls loved.
Calum
1st August 2010, 21:37
Watching topgear, Ferrari F458 has a Flexi Wing at the front :P