Preview: ‘Hungaroring ideal circuit for Lecerc to take revenge’ | NOW

Charles Leclerc will undoubtedly want to take revenge for his crash on Paul Ricard. Is the Hungaroring suitable for that in advance?

“Yes, absolutely. If you had to name a circuit in advance where Ferrari is strong on paper, it is the Hungaroring. The circuit has a lot of slow corners and medium-speed corners, where traction is also important. We have seen that Ferrari on these kinds of tracks is the strongest.”

“At the same time, it is necessary for Ferrari to score here, as there will soon be races in which Red Bull will have the upper hand again, look at Spa and Monza. Although I think Ferrari will also be strong at Zandvoort.”

What is it like to drive over the Hungaroring as a driver?

“If we compare this circuit with Paul Ricard, the Hungaroring is physically a lot harder to drive on. You keep turning constantly and you get little time to rest. That makes it very tough. Paul Ricard does have a number of straights on which you can you can catch your breath, you don’t have it here.”

“In terms of layout, it’s short and relatively slow, but that’s partly why it’s not an easy circuit. You have a lot of long twisting turns where you can’t see the exit when you turn in. The roll phase is relatively long and you have to driver have patience and don’t step on the gas too early, because that often creates understeer followed by oversteer when exiting the corner.”

“There is also a lot of height difference, something that is not always clearly visible on TV. What is also interesting about the Hungaroring is that as a driver you use a lot of kerbstones. In fact, you have to use them completely everywhere at the exit of the corners to get fast. “We’ve seen drivers lose control in the past. We’ve also seen earlier this year that with the stiffness of the current cars it has become more difficult to drive over the curbs, so that may also be a problem. “

It promises to be a changeable weekend in Budapest. It will be warm on Friday, it will rain on Saturday and it will be a lot cooler on Sunday. To what extent will the teams suffer from this?

“The expectation is that we will see large temperature differences during the weekend. It is the art for the teams to respond to this, because a choice has to be made about the set-up for the race before qualifying. training is indeed very hot and we see a much lower temperature in the race – as is now predicted – the teams have to anticipate that and they will go into the race with quite a few question marks about tire behavior and wear.”

“It looks like rain will also play a role, especially on Saturday. Although the Hungaroring is less bumpy these days than it used to be, when it rains you still have a lot of water in different places on the track, which until a short while of aquaplaning.”

“We have seen this season that Red Bull can cope well with such an unpredictable weekend. I don’t think Ferrari and Leclerc will be very happy about this. In varying circumstances you are also vulnerable to driver errors.”

Overtaking is traditionally difficult on the Hungaroring. Will that be different with the new generation of cars?

“The Hungaroring is really an old-school track – tight and narrow, where overtaking is very difficult unless there is a big difference in tire wear and grip, or someone makes a mistake. This year’s cars certainly seem to follow each other better and it could well be that this will also lead to more overtaking actions here than in previous years, not only because you can follow better, but also because you can simply put more pressure and force someone to make a mistake. This also helps, because then you are less likely to suffer from overheating of tires, as we saw on Paul Ricard, for example.”

Many drivers long for the summer break because of the overcrowded calendar. More races will be added next year and the calendar will only get fuller. How do you view that development?

“Of course that differs per driver and also depends on the home situation. Max Verstappen said in an interview that he is not necessarily longing for a holiday, but the video in which Sebastian Vettel announced his retirement from Formula 1 on Friday was telling.”

“In addition to the races, you also have simulator work and other obligations. So you are literally traveling for more than half the year. Away from home, from family and friends. That makes it mentally tough. Especially for the mechanics, all the traveling is physical very heavy. Most drivers all fly luxury, but that is not the case for the mechanics. It is also not for nothing that the FIA ​​announced earlier this week that the curfew with mandatory rest periods will be adjusted. That is definitely related to this and seems a necessary development.”