Button to do McLaren demo run in Budapest on Tuesday

F1 Fanatic round-up

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In the round-up: Jenson Button to do a demo run for McLaren in Hungary next week.

F1 Fanatic Live

Join us later today for live comments during the fourth round of the IndyCar season from Sao Paulo. Coverage in the UK starts at 4:30pm on Sky Sports F1.

Links

Top F1 links from the past 24 hours:

Jenson Button and Vodafone bring Formula 1 to the streets of Budapest (McLaren)

“Throughout the weekend, the Vodafone McLaren Mercedes Fanzone will offer visitors a unique insight into the life of a Grand Prix team; they can try their luck at changing a wheel in a pit stop challenge, compete with their friends in a race simulator, and even try on a real Vodafone McLaren Mercedes racing helmet.”

F1 flotation boosted by 4.4bn ‘guarantee’ (The Telegraph)

“It will value the F1 Group at around $10bn and up to 30% of it will be listed, with CVC remaining the majority owner.”

The Inside Line – on McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton (F1)

“Q: If you could give your younger self some advice what would it be?
LH: That it is slippery on the pit-lane entry in China!”

F1 test driver Susie Wolff: It’s incredibly physical driving at 280 kph (CNN)

“Many girls who are really interested in motorsport watch Formula One and see no females there, so maybe they don’t understand what they could do. I appreciate that I can have a positive influence in some kind of way. But I feel I still have a lot more to achieve before I can turn around and say I did something special, as a female in a man’s world.”

F1 Classic Video: The Scarab F1, 1962 (Formula One Update)

A brief look at one of F1’s less successful entrants.

America’s most influential athlete (MotorSport)

“For the second year in a row five-time NASCAR champion Jimmie Johnson has been ranked by Forbes magazine as America’s most influential athlete.”

Comment of the day

Thanks to everyone who entered yesterday’s Caption Competition. Among my favourites were those from Runforitscooby, Marcus Aurelius, Philonso, F1George and Prisoner Monkeys.

However I picked this one from Alexf1man as the best:

You see Felipe, I am not only faster than you but I also have more followers!

From the forum

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

The Zolder circuit in Belgium held its final Grand Prix today in 1984.

Michele Alboreto set the first pole position of his career and drove to victory for Ferrari, with Derek Warwick second for Renault.

Rene Arnoux took third in the other Ferrari.

Keke Rosberg rose through the field from 20th at the start to run third, only to slip to fourth when he ran out of fuel on the penultimate lap.

Here’s edited footage from the race showing Rosberg’s progress:

Image © McLaren/Hoch Zwei

Author information

Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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46 comments on “Button to do McLaren demo run in Budapest on Tuesday”

  1. IndyCar at Sao Paulo? …come on Rubens!

  2. Everyone in that Scarab video looks very stern and determined! (For all the good it ended up doing them…)

  3. re: button in budapest
    is that a last-gasp effort to save the hungarian gp?

    great story on the scarab!

    1. is that a last-gasp effort to save the hungarian gp?

      I haven’t heard anything to suggest that the Hungarian Grand Prix is in danger of being dropped …

      1. The Hungaroring has a contract until 2016, after that I dont think there will be Hungarian GP.

        1. Based on what, exactly? 2017 is still five years away. Five years ago, would you have been willing to say that, by 2013, there would be two races in America and that neither would take palce at Indianapolis? Five years ago, would you have been willing to say that the championship would be expanded to include races in Abu Dhabi, South Korea and India by 2012?

          I didn’t think so. It’s impossible to tell what Bernie or the organisers of the Hungarian Grand Prix will do between now and 2017.

          1. @prisoner-monkeys
            Gyulay Zsolt, CEO of the Hungaroring Sport Zrt. said, the ring could not hold F1 races without governmental aid. So he strated negotiating with the Minister of National Development, Fellegi Tamás. The same incompetent guy, who is in charge negotiating with the IMF. I really cant see the ring getting more money from the government, and their new projects wont be enough to pay off Bernie.
            In 2008 they renewed the contract, with the condition, that the payment will raise 10% a year. In 2008 that was 18.200.000 dollar, so in 2017 they would have to pay about 43.000.000 bucks.

          2. That’s still not proof of anything that will happen five years from now.

          3. I really cant see the ring getting more money

            Im not a fortune-teller, this is just my opinion, and I dont need proof to have an opinion ;)

  4. “try their luck at changing a wheel in a pit stop”…interesting choice of words! McLaren pitstops do seem to involve some luck at the moment.

    1. i think they’re trying to hiring new tyre changers.

    2. LOL! That’s a good one. ;-)

    3. the Vodafone McLaren Mercedes Fanzone will offer visitors a unique insight into the life of a Grand Prix team; they can try their luck at changing a wheel in a pit stop challenge

      I reckon its an unorthodox method of recruitment

      1. You all beat me too it….. just like the other teams beat Mclaren to it. ;-)

  5. Why did the Belgian Grand Prix go back to Zolder? I thought it returned to Spa in 1983, and then every year from 1985. Was that an alternating deal that didn’t last long?

  6. As soon as I saw it was a Ferrari picture, I knew there’d be lots of “faster than you” jokes. I’m a bit disappointed that one of them won the competition though. It was funny for a while, but now it’s just old. Very old.

    Sorry to sound grumpy. It’s not like I came up with anything better. I just hope that when Massa leaves the team, the joke will go away.

    1. As soon as I saw it was a Ferrari picture, I knew there’d be lots of “faster than you” jokes.

      I think the best jokes are the ones that aren’t immediately obvious.

    2. I suppose they’ll probably be around forever, as will Vettel finger jokes and Räikkönen ice cream jokes. :-\

    3. yes it was a poor choice this time.

      1. No it wasn’t :-)

        1. Hey, lighten up guys! I laughed…

  7. The interview with hamilton is hilarious!! The guy is completely obsessed with sweets!!

    1. It’s definitely something I have in common with him, although my Haribo of choice are the peaches ;)

      But yeah, he seems very relaxed. I hope he can keep this mental state of mind for the rest of the season, even if things don’t go his way. It will help him immensely I think, because it will resolve some of the “blahblah always in a good car blahblah spoilt rotten” stories and change the general tone of reporting on him in a more positive way. Which then in turn won’t be a distraction to him any more, giving him more space to be positive etc. etc.

      I’m not a massive Hamilton fan, but having someone like him be a genuine contender, can only be a good thing for F1 :)

    2. @timi Yeah I thought that was a bit funny! And kudos on the self-deprecating reference to China ’07…

  8. “But I feel I still have a lot more to achieve before I can turn around and say I did something special, as a female in a man’s world.”

    When you’re over a second of Ekstrom’s time in an almost-identical car, you’re damn right in saying you’re got a lot more to achieve before you can say you did something special (beating Ralf Schumacher doesn’t count – I could probably do that).

    1. You’d be to busy complaining about the situation before you beat anyone…

      1. @funkF1 LOL if PM was an F1 driver he would spend more time “Debating” than racing, thats for sure!

        1. He’s got the necessary narcissism though

  9. Hope Hamilton doesn’t eat too much sweets or he will not be fit.

  10. Loved that Scarab clip, pity we won’t ever see any more billionaire playboy/sportsmen deciding to design and build a better F1 car.

  11. Zolder 84…First F1 race I ever watched :D

    Quality was so bad I couldnt tell who was who at first.

  12. I have been hearing that Hungary is a total mess now. Their political system has significantly deteriorated and they are moving away from democratic norms.

    I don’t suppose that effects F1, but it’s worrying that that can happen to a major European country.

    1. Democracy is very over-rated. The only people who benefit are the rich.

      I’m sure many people in places like Africa would prefer food over freedom and starvation. It is a pity that under developed and poor countries are forced (by the international community) to become democratic even if there are better suited systems out there. The only thing democracy has ever promoted in African countries is the plunder of their natural resources by western countries. Just look at South Africa… their gold mines are all owned by western companies and the country itself has to buy the gold back if it wants any of it.

      1. Pff, what a load of confused, misinformed claptrap – sorry, but no other way to put it. Wouldn’t even know where to start to put some of it straight. The ironic thing is that only people brought up in democracies can be so complacent about them.

      2. Democracy is then 51% of people get their way and 49% can go **** them self.

        Democracy, we care.

    2. It’s not that bad, I think there are crooked politician in every country, the problem is not that we have more of them, but they are “governing” :D We will see their results in 2 years after the election.

  13. Yes! My first Comment of the Day :-)

    1. Welcome to the club @alexf1man and a good one at that!

      1. Thanks @andrewtanner – it took a while but I didn’t give up! :-)

  14. Brilliant caption, although I do prefer the one about Angry Birds, I cannot remember who said it but I know it went like this.

    Alonso: Hey Felipe, check out my score on Angry Birds
    Massa: Nice score, but I think I could beat that
    (Massa’s phone rings)
    Domenicali on phone: Fernando is better than you..

  15. Hi!

    Just wanted to say thanks for the link to my story about the Scarab F1. Hope you all enjoyed it:)

    Appreciate your work, keep it up!

    Jakob Schmidt

  16. The noise that Scarab makes….probably wasn’t a terribly efficient engine (as most American engines are) but god what a good noise.

  17. Wahoo no Bahrain articles, objective… Move on, complete

  18. According to the EPG, IndyCar is on Sky Sports 2 at 5pm.

  19. Why F1 teams continue to overlook Peterborough for a demo run I don’t know, particularly Santander sponsored teams :P

  20. The demo should be good. I went to one in Manchester, the very one pictured and that was a good day, aside from the weather!

    There’s plenty to see and even if you can’t see the car, just watch the expressions of people who have never heard an F1 engine before in the flesh ;)

Comments are closed.