Jordan's Track Talk

Tag: Hungary

  • RW 13 – Hungary

    Oscar Piastri has taken his debut Grand Prix victory in Hungary after team drama played out, with Norris belatedly responding to an order to hand back the lead to the Australian…

    After the duo went three wide with Red Bull’s Max Verstappen off the line, it was Piastri who emerged as the leader into Turn 1 and from there led much of the Grand Prix.
    However, when Norris was pitted first during the second round of stops – seemingly to cover off Hamilton – the Brit was the one to emerge ahead.

    This then prompted the team to make several calls to Norris to give the position back but it took until lap 68 of 70 for Norris to comply.

    The full top 10 are- P1: Piastri, P2: Norris, P3: Hamilton, P4: Leclerc, P5: Verstappen, P6: Sainz, P7: Perez, P8: Russell, P9: Tsunoda and P10: Stroll.

    Obviously a great result for Piastri, his first win in F1! And it was well deserved in my opinion, and a good result for Norris too, with a 1-2 finish which obviously helps with the constructors. But I do think Piastri’s win has been downplayed a little just because of the situation on the radio with Norris and not wanting to let his teammate pass etc.
    As everyone knows if it was roles reversed Piastri would do it for Norris, so I have no doubt it will be an awkward debrief for the team.

    A very good result for Hamilton, another podium which makes it 200 career podiums for the seven time world champion. He had a bit of drama with Verstappen in the closing stages of the race where they collided and the Dutchman went up in the air and leaving the track which then dropped him down to fifth.
    Hamilton will be looking towards the next race now, seeing what they can improve on in qualifying to get closer to the McLaren’s and Verstappen and then the race too.

    Charles Leclerc had a good race, finished in P4, a step in the right direction for the team, hopefully they will get back on the podium some time soon… His teammate Carlos Sainz finished 6th which isn’t too bad but from starting P4 he would’ve preferred to finish higher but sometimes it doesn’t always go your way.

    Obviously we have spoke about Verstappen, but I want to touch on him a little bit more. He was having a good race, not the best but he was struggling a little before the collision with Hamilton, he couldn’t quite catch up to the McLaren’s, so those upgrades Red Bull brought so far aren’t working… And the radio fights with his team, they were quite shocking and he just didn’t want to drop it.
    Whilst we are talking about Red Bull, Sergio Perez, obviously started 16th but he finished 7th which is a decent recovery drive from him, but the Mexican still has a lot of work to do if he wants to keep his seat for the remainder of this season and next…

    Things keep going from bad to worse for Alpine, Pierre Gasly retired after suffering a hydraulic leak, his 2nd retirement in two races and Ocon finished P18…

    Not long to wait until the next race as we head to Spa-Francorchamps this weekend!

  • F3 – RND 8 Day 2 & 3

    Day 2-

    Pole sitter Beganovic covered off Bedrin on the run to Turn 1 but the AIX driver was undeterred and rounded the Swede at Turn 2 to take the lead away.
    Inthraphuvasak followed in third position ahead of Callum Voisin and Christian Mansell.

    The ART Grand Prix driver was under attack though on lap 2 from Tim Tramnitz and his MP Motorsport rival repeated the move of Bedrin into Turn 3 to take P5 from the Australian.

    The Virtual Safety Car was then deployed to neutralise the race in order to recover Matias Zagazeta’s car after contact on the opening lap left him on the sidelines.

    Back to racing conditions and the top four were covered by less than a second in the lead battle. As the quartet fought, Tramnitz and Mansell joined the train after the opening exchanges, getting to within DRS range by Lap 6.

    Onto lap 10 and Beganovic made a late move on Bedrin into Turn 2 but caught the grass on the inside of the corner in the process. It sent his PREMA car sideways and while he was able to catch the slide, it dropped him down to third.

    Into the Turn 6 and 7 chicane, Tramnitz squeezed his way alongside Voisin, who skipped across the chicane to keep hold of fourth.
    The Rodin Motorsport driver was told to concede the place to Tramnitz, seeing off any potential review. One lap later, and Mansell was through on the Brit at Turn 1 for fifth.

    Out in front though, Bedrin was in full control after resisting the pressure of Beganovic and crossed the line to earn his first FIA F3 victory, leading home an AIX Racing 1-2 ahead of Inthraphuvasak, a result that means all teams have now stood on the podium in 2024.

    The full top 10 are- P1: Bedrin, P2: Inthraphuvasak, P3: Beganovic, P4: Tramnitz, P5: Mansell, P6: Voisin, P7: Fornaroli, P8: Browning, P9: Van Hoepen and P10: Meguetounif.

    Day 3-

    Van Hoepen got wheelspin in the second phase of the start and had to defend hard from his teammate Tsolov off the line.
    The Dutch driver ran deep at Turn 1, allowing the Bulgarian through along with VAR’s Noel Leon.

    With DRS enabled, Van Hoepen began to close in on Tsolov and was within half a second on lap 3, while Leon dropped to beyond a second back from the ART duo.

    Christian Mansell moved his ART up to fifth with a late dive to the inside of Santiago Ramos at Turn 1 on lap 4.

    As the opening laps ticked by, Van Hoepen radioed into his team to relay his tyres were beginning to overheat in the wake of teammate Tsolov.

    By the midway point of the race, the top six were covered by four seconds with Santiago Ramos some 9.6s clear of Rodin Motorsport’s Callum Voisin who was running in P7.

    In the fight for the final points places, Oliver Goethe pulled off a late dive to pass Dino Beganovic and secure himself ninth position, while behind Gabriele Mini cleared Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak to move up into 11th.

    Into the final three laps and after a phase of tyre management, van Hoepen began to apply the pressure on Tsolov once again in the lead fight.

    Boya’s battle with Mini resumed and the Spaniard found a gap at Turn 2 to take 11th position.
    Contact between Arvid Lindblad and Matias Zagazeta resulted in a late-race Safety Car on Lap 21, with the PREMA driver stopped at Turn 4.

    With little time to clear both cars, it was not possible to resumed racing in time for a final lap shootout. Tsolov took his third race win of 2024 and his first F3 Feature Race victory.

    The full top 10 are- P1: Tsolov, P2: Van Hoepen, P3: Leon, P4: Fornaroli, P5: Mansell, P6: Ramos, P7: Voisin, P8: Bedrin, P9: Goethe and P10: Beganovic.

  • RW 13 – Tyre Selection

    It’s one last push before Formula 1’s summer break, with a double-header on two tracks that could not be more different from one another, the Hungaroring and Spa-Francorchamps.

    Cars must run with a high level of aerodynamic downforce this weekend, which is almost on par with Monaco.
    The Hungaroring is very twisty with only one real straight that includes the start-finish line. It provides the most likely if not the only overtaking opportunity.

    There are 14 corners, six to the left and eight to the right, some of them being 180 degree turns. The track climbs and drops its 4.381 kilometres make it one of the shortest on the calendar.

    In terms of the forces exerted on the tyres, the Hungaroring is not particularly severe. Pirelli has chosen the same three softest compounds as last year, with them picking the C3 (Hard), C4 (Medium), C5 (Soft).

    Traction is one of the most important factors, especially across the rear axle. Degradation can be high, especially when it is very hot and the forecast for this weekend is definitely not favourable in this regard.

    The Hungaroring is a permanent race track, but it does not get that much use, which is why grip levels increase significantly the more it gets rubbered-in. That will be even more likely this year as there was no track activity for a longer time than usual while the facility was modernised.

    Max Verstappen won here last year at the end of the race when the entire field opted for a two-stop strategy.
    Medium and Hard were the most popular choices for the start, although four drivers opted for the soft, intending to make use of the extra grip off the line.

  • F1 to race in Hungary till 2032

    Formula 1 announced that the Hungarian Grand Prix will remain on the calendar for an additional five years until 2032, extending the existing deal that run until 2027.

    The new agreement follows an announcement that the Hungaroring will undergo significant development and refurbishment in the coming years including a new pit building and a main grandstand.

    Located just 20km outside the historic city of Budapest, the iconic 4.38km Hungaroring has been part of the F1 calendar since 1986 with many legends of the sport claiming victory at the circuit.

    Five of the 2023 grid have been victorious at the Hungarian Grand Prix, with Lewis Hamilton holding a record eight wins, Fernando Alonso. Daniel Ricciardo won back in 2014, while Esteban Ocon claimed his maiden victory in 2021, and Max Verstappen made it back to back wins.

    The Hungarian Grand Prix took place last weekend, with 300,000 fans in attendance, an increase from 290,000 in 2022. The Grand Prix this year also marked a special moment for the country with it being 20 years since Zsolt Baumgartner, the only Hungarian to compete in the sport, made his F1 debut.

    It is great news to announce the extension of the Hungarian Grand Prix for an additional five years as we return for another action-packed weekend at the Hungaroring. It is a very special circuit next to the incredible city of Budapest and one all of the drivers and our fans look forward to on the calendar. To see the commitment from the promoter in Hungary to develop the facilities and further enhance the experience for fans is another important step and something we want to see all our events doing in order to continue to improve and make our races even better.

    Formula 1 President and CEO Stefano Domenicali.

  • F2 – RND 10 – Day 2 & 3

    Day 2-

    Hauger gained the run he needed on the way to Turn 1 to take the inside line and lead away from Kush Maini. Iwasa surged around the outside of the Campos driver at Turn 2 to take second from fifth on the grid, while Bearman was looming large in Maini’s mirrors for third.

    Victor Martins also got in on the action, moving up to seventh from P9 on the grid, rounding Isack Hadjar at Turn 12 to end a busy opening lap.

    Frederik Vesti tried to pass Hadjar at Turn 1 on lap 2 but was forced to take to the runoff. It allowed Jack Doohan enough momentum to go around the outside of the Championship leader and take ninth from the Dane at Turn 2.

    A DRS train formed in the first 10 laps which started from second down to 21st as drivers looked to save tyre life for later in the race.

    The formation running ended on lap 12 after a lock up by Clement Novalak into Turn 1 put the Trident driver on a collision course with Ralph Boschung. It left both drivers out of the running and brought out a brief VSC.

    With 11 laps to go, Iwasa was given the all clear from the team to push, and the action ramped up once again as everyone upped the pace. The DAMS driver closed up to Hauger by eight tenths of a second on the following lap, with the gap at 1.9s entering the final 10 laps.

    With five laps left, Pourchaire made the dive at Turn 1 on Maini having been stuck to the rear wing of the Campos. Bearman was next on the attack, taking fourth position from the Indian driver at the next corner, going all the way around the outside.

    Down to three laps remaining and this time Bearman was the one making the late dive to the inside at Turn 1, forcing his way through on Pourchaire to take P3 from the french driver.

    The full top 10 are- P1: Hauger, P2: Iwasa, P3: Bearman, P4: Pourchaire, P5: Daruvala, P6: Maini, P7: Martins, P8: Hadjar, P9: Vesti and P10: Doohan.

    Day 3-

    Doohan got a great launch from pole to lead into Turn 1 while third placed Vesti went wheel to wheel with Martins into the first corner. On the run to Turn 2, the PREMA Racing driver got the move done to seal second position.

    Oliver Bearman started on mediums from seventh, but the Briton fell back to ninth on the opening lap, passed by Dennis Hauger and Enzo Fittipaldi who were both on the softs. Juan Manuel Correa made an electric start to move up five places to P10.

    Zane Maloney was the first of those on soft tyres to make a mandatory stop on Lap 8. The Rodin Carlin driver rejoined in 21st but his stopped dragged a few more in on the following lap.

    Isack Hadjar was the first of the top five to stop on Lap 13 from fifth and Theo Pourchaire responded one lap later, both swapping to the mediums. The ART Grand Prix driver rejoined in 14th to remain ahead of his compatriot, but both were caught up behind Amaury Cordeel on old medium tyres.

    Vesti made the swap to mediums lap 23, rejoining in fourth position just 1.4s ahead of title rival Pourchaire.
    Martins pitted on the following lap and filtered out on cold tyres ahead of Vesti. The Mercedes junior breezed back through to take the place on the run to Turn 2.

    While his rivals scrapped on track, Doohan made his stop on Lap 25, rejoining with the lead of the race and 8.7s ahead of closest challenger Vesti in second.
    Iwasa was onto the back of Pourchaire quickly with his soft tyres fired up. The Japanese driver got the switchback out of Turn 1 to take fifth position on Lap 26.

    The full top 10 are- P1: Doohan, P2: Vesti, P3: Martins, P4: Iwasa, P5: Hadjar, P6: Pourchaire, P7: Hauger, P8: Fittipaldi, P9: Correa and P10: Verschoor.

  • F3 – RND 8 – Day 2 & 3

    Day 2-

    In his first front row start of Formula 3, Nikita Bedrin didn’t let inexperience fail him, as he nailed his getaway and gave him the run he need to swoop around the outside and take the lead out of Turn 1.

    Bortoleto tried to execute the same move on Mansell for third, but the Trident driver couldn’t keep it within the white lines, going across the run-off.

    Further back on the grid, Tommy Smith and Sebastian Montoya made contact on the opening lap, with Van Amersfoort Racing driver pitched into the air and across the gravel.

    Having been waiting for a time to make the right move, Bortoleto pounced for third on lap 7. Utilising the DRS, the Trident driver sailed from a long way back down the inside of the Campos at Turn 1.
    Aron tried to do the same two laps later, with a great run out of the final corner but couldn’t make the late move stick and ended up running wide.

    Attempting to find his way through on Tsolov, O’Sullivan tried moves left, right and centre as the Bulgarian driver got his elbows out to defend eighth. Looking up at the apex, the PREMA car tagged the rear of the ART forcing O’Sullivan to box.

    Montoya came to a halt between Turns 12 and 13, which triggered a Virtual Safety Car which was quickly converted into a full Safety Car.

    Once racing resumed on lap 17 the field faced a three-lap sprint to the line. Aron instantly forced Mansell onto the defensive for fourth position, having been unable to get past at Turn 1, the Estonian got the job done around the outside of Turn 3.

    The full top 10 are- P1: Mini, P2: Bortoleto, P3: Bedrin, P4: Aron, P5: Goethe, P6: Mansell, P7: Colapinto, P8: Edgar, P9: Saucy and P10: Beganovic.

    Day 3-

    O’Sullivan wasted no time breaking clear out front, as he bolted off the line to cover off his teammate Beganovic on the run down into Turn 1.

    Oliver Goethe tried to swoop around the outside of Colapinto, but the MP Motorsport driver fought back to cling on to fourth. Having lost P6 off the line, Paul Aron muscled his way past Jonny Edgar through Turn 3.

    After a disappointing Qualifying, Josep Maria Marti was on a redemption charge from 13th on the grid. The Spanish driver moved up into the points, where he quickly dispatched his teammate Mansell along with Edgar on Lap 8 to move into 8th position.

    Championship rivals Bortoleto and Marti squared off against each other for seventh. The Campos car tried to pass the Brazilian at Turn 1, but a huge lock-up sent him sailing wide across the run-off area.

    Edgar began hounding Mansell at the tail end of the points. Mansell suffered a lock up into Turn 1 on Lap 18, allowing the Briton to breeze through, with his MP teammate Mari Boya taking advantage to demote him out of the top 10.

    The full top 10 are- P1: O’Sullvian, P2: Beagnovic, P3: Colapinto, P4: Goethe, P5: Aron, P6: Marti, P7: Bortoleto, P8: Edgar, P9: Fornaroli and P10: Boya.

    Not long to wait until round 9 as it’s this week! We only have two rounds remaining of the Formula 3 2023 Championship, who will be our new champion?…

  • RND 12 – Hungarian Grand Prix

    Round 12 is now complete, we had a dominant display from one driver in particular, and a bit of drama on the opening lap, let’s take a look at how it went…

    Max Verstappen claimed his seventh win in a row! Which now saw Red Bull break records with 12 consecutive wins in a row – which was held by McLaren. Talking of McLaren… Lando Norris brings home a second consecutive podium, with Sergio Perez returning to the podium in third.

    The full top 10 are- P1: Verstappen, P2: Norris, P3: Perez, P4: Hamilton, P5: Piastri, P6: Russell, P7: Leclerc, P8: Sainz, P9: Alonso and P10: Stroll.

    Lovely work from both Bulls in today’s race, Max taking the lead into turn 1 on lap 1 and Sergio Perez making his way through the field and back onto the podium! Hopefully this gives him the momentum next week aswell!

    Obviously another good result for McLaren, are they officially back now??!!! Two podiums on a trot for Lando and two good point finishes for Oscar, who will be hoping to get his first podium in F1 soon!

    Now Mercedes, obviously great pace in Quali for Lewis, but not the best of days today, finishing 4th is still good but I think the team was expecting a podium at least… But George worked his way through the field and managed to get up into 6th after starting 18th.

    Now onto the first lap drama… Both Alpine’s with a double DNF for the second week in a row. However this wasn’t their fault… Guanyu Zhou went into the back of Daniel Ricciardo who then went into Gasly and Gasly into Ocon… So they were kind of sitting ducks in that collision and was just really unlucky.

    Now onto Ricciardo, first race weekend back, obviously unlucky with the incident on lap 1 but he managed to fight his way back through the pack and finish 13th, two places ahead of his teammate Tsunoda in 15th…

    Now looking towards Round 13, we don’t have to wait too long as the next race weekend is only next week in Belgium the last race weekend before the summer break!

    Will 13 be unlucky for Max, and we have a different driver win? Or will it be the Bulls going for a 13th consecutive win in a row?! Find out next week!

  • F2 – RND 10 – Day 1

    Free Practice-

    Ayumu Iwasa was quickly up and running around the Hungaroring, ending the first session of the weekend fastest of all for DAMS.
    The Japanese driver traded the top spot with Championship leader, Frederik Vesti throughout Practice. He ended up top of the timesheet with a 1:28.882, 0.149s quicker than the Dane. Martins rounded out the top three.

    The ART Grand Prix driver set the initial pace with a 1:30.839 to lead the way from Roman Stanek and Jack Doohan in the opening 10 minutes.

    Iwasa bettered the Frenchman’s effort before Vesti took the top spot, setting a 1:29.360 after losing a previous attempt for exceeding track limits.
    Martins immediately moved back to P2, 0.060s down on the best time from the PREMA Racing driver.

    Doohan was looking set to challenge the top three, setting a purple middle sector but his efforts were soon undone with a lock-up and wide moment at Turn 12.

    Qualifying-

    Jack Doohan claimed his first FIA Formula 2 pole position of the year with a last-gasp effort in a closely fought session. The Invicta Virtuosi Racing driver’s 1:27.676 prevented a third consecutive pole position for Victor Martins with the ART Grand Prix driver second in the end.
    Frederik Vesti, held provisional pole for much of the session, but couldn’t find a late improvement, settling for third.

    After the early warm up laps, Vesti set the benchmark to beat on a 1:28.334 to lead the way. Doohan popped his car into second early on, 0.2s back from the Dane with Martins third.

    Improvements by Enzo Fittipaldi, Ayumu Iwasa and Dennis Hauger put them fourth, fifth and sixth respectively, bumping Doohan down to P7 before a red flag appears.

    Trident’s Roman Stanek caused the stoppage after spinning into the barriers at Turn 11, with just under 20 minutes of Qualifying left.

    With 12 minutes to go, the drivers switched to new soft tyres. With Pourchaire next to go top by just 0.001s ahead of his title rival until Vesti retook P1.
    Teammate, Oliver Bearman cracked the top five on his next lap to go fourth fastest ahead of Jehan Daruvala, who leapt up to fifth for MP Motorsport.

    Martins had made an error on an earlier effort but with a purple middle sector, took provisional pole by 0.039s but this time Vesti couldn’t respond.

    The full top 10 are- P1: Doohan, P2: Martins, P3: Vesti, P4: Pourchaire, P5: Hadjar, P6: Iwasa, P7: Bearman, P8: Daruvala, P9: Hauger and P10: Maini.

  • RND 12 – Hungary Qualifying

    Qualifying this time was a bit different than normal, with Pirelli’s new ‘Alternative Tyre Allocation’ making its debut. Where Q1 drivers use hard tyre, Q2 the medium and Q3 soft.

    And this time, it was Max Verstappen or Red Bull taking pole position… It was in fact the Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton who stormed to pole 104. Max was close behind in 2nd and Lando Norris rounded out the top three.

    The full top 10 are- P1: Hamilton, P2: Verstappen, P3: Norris, P4: Piastri, P5: Zhou, P6: Leclerc, P7: Bottas, P8: Alonso, P9: Perez and P10: Hulkenberg.

    A great result for Lewis managing to get pole, the only other team apart from Red Bull and Mercedes to get pole this season is Ferrari, so it’s good to see that teams are closing in on the Bulls.

    Obviously another great result for McLaren, starting P3 and P4, they’ll be looking at scoring big points this weekend and looking at the podium aswell.

    The star of qualifying, Zhou Guanyu and the whole Alfa Romeo team really as Zhou took 5th and Bottas 7th, they’ve had a rough season so far but they will be looking to optimise on others downfall tomorrow so they can score good points.

    An okay result for Perez, but he still isn’t where his meant to be, but at least he got into the top 10 this time. He has a bit of work to do during the race, and he will be hoping to stay out of trouble aswell.

    Now looking outside the top 10, Daniel Ricciardo on his return managed 13th for AlphaTauri, and outperformed his teammate Tsunoda in 17th.

    Predictions-

    My top five for the race are- P1: Hamilton, P2: Verstappen, P3: Piastri, P4: Alonso and P5: Perez.

    I feel like we might have a few surprises along the way in tomorrow’s race, maybe a strategy which hasn’t gone right or a bad pitstop or a badly timed safety car? Who knows what will happen, but one thing is for sure… Hamilton and Verstappen front row? Drama!!

  • F3 – RND 8 – Day 1

    Free Practice-

    Zak O’Sullivan was the driver to beat in the opening Free Practice session in Budapest. The PREMA Racing driver clocked in a 1:32.701 to take the top spot during the first half of the session.

    Mari Boya started MP Motorsport weekend strong in second, three-tenths off the #3 car and Paul Aron secured third moments before the session ended early due to a red flag.

    On his debut at the Hungaroring, Max Esterson took advantage of every opportunity to learn the track. Setting the initial time to beat with a 1:35.804s.

    Williams Academy junior, Luke Browning took the lead with a 1:33.726 putting the Hitech Pulse Eight car 0.792s clear of Nikola Tsolov.
    Jenzer Motorsport’s Nikita Bedrin joined Browning inside the 1:33s as the remained of the field slowly peeled out of the pits.

    PREMA Racing assumed the top of the timing sheets. Dino Beganovic went fastest with a 1:33.186 which was immediately beaten by O’Sullivan’s 1:32.702 and Aron joined his teammates inside the top three.

    Rafael Villagomez brought out the Red Flag with six minutes remaining, the Van Amersfoort driver spun and crashed into the barriers at Turns 11 and 12.

    Qualifying-

    PREMA Racing’s Zak O’Sullivan stormed his way to his second FIA Formula 3 pole position and secured his and the Italian squad’s first pole position of the 2023 season.

    Dino Beganovic couldn’t quite get close enough to his teammate’s 1:31.091 and had to settle for second, 0.403s off the Briton’s pace. Leonardo Fornaroli led Trident’s charge as he secured third.

    After a dry and humid free practice, conditions changed for Qualifying and the field faced a slippery albeit drying Hungaroring. With drivers getting in banker laps early, with Fornaroli setting the early pace.

    The red flag brought the session to a pause with 22 minutes on the clock. Oliver Gray got caught out around the slippery track, hitting the barriers out of Turn 3 but managed to crawl his way back to the pitlane.

    As the clocked ticked down, so did the lap times. Hugh Barter went quickest momentarily with a 1:33.784, before Boya, Mini and Mansell all found even more margin out front.

    O’Sullivan responded, going fastest in all three sectors to lay down a 1:31.091 with four minutes to go. As the medium tyres faded away, few could improve and the Williams junior’s time remained untouchable.

    The full top 10 are- P1: O’Sullivan, P2: Beganovic, P3: Fornaroli, P4: Colapinto, P5: Goethe, P6: Aron, P7: Tsolov, P8: Edgar, P9: Bortoleto and P10: Mansell.

  • Hungarian Grand Prix

    We are back! That’s right we have a double header coming up just before the summer break and we’ve had a little bit of a shake around…

    Danny Ricc is back!! All eyes on him this weekend, to see how he gets on in the AlphaTauri car and his first race weekend since last season.

    Will ANYONE stop Max? Or is he simply unstoppable at the moment? The last couple of races at Hungary have been entertaining, George’s pole last year and then Esteban Ocon winning in 2021, could we get some more drama this year?

    Who needs to shine?

    I think the most obvious one is Daniel, if he performs in the car and beats Tsunoda this weekend then I think his going to be a candidate for that Red Bull seat. But with so many people watching him will he be able to keep the pressure down?

    The Ferrari’s, they had a bit of a rough run last time out in Silverstone, with Leclerc 9th and Sainz 10th. If they want to be in the fight for the Constructors then they need to pull there finger out, Aston Martin are ahead of them by just 24 points!

    Alpine also need a good weekend, last time out aswell neither driver finished the race so no points scored, and then Gasly only managed just to get a point in Austria. With McLaren getting there best result of the season last time out, with a podium and P4 the British team has now pulled a gap to the French team.

    Times for the weekend-

    Friday 21st July-

    • Free Practice F3- 08:55am – 09:40am (BST)
    • Free Practice F2- 10:05am – 10:50am
    • Free Practice 1 F1- 12:30pm – 13:30pm
    • Qualifying F3- 14:05pm – 14:35pm
    • Qualifying F2- 15:00pm – 15:30pm
    • Free Practice 2 F1- 16:00pm – 17:00pm

    Saturday 22nd-

    • Sprint Race F3- 08:50am – 09:35am
    • Free Practice 3 F1- 11:30am – 12:30pm
    • Sprint Race F2- 13:15pm – 14:00pm
    • Qualifying F1- 15:00pm – 16:00pm

    Sunday 23rd-

    • Feature Race F3- 07:25am
    • Feature Race F2- 09:05am
    • F1 Race- 14:00pm

    Predictions for Qualifying-

    My top five are- Pole: Verstappen, P2: Leclerc, P3: Hamilton, P4: Alonso and P5: Russell.

    I think, we might have a few shock surprises in Qualifying, with a few getting knocked out in Q1. There isn’t going to be any rain at the point of writing this, but Hungary is unpredictable…

  • F3 Budapest- Day 2 & 3

    Day 2-

    Caio Collet, brought home his first win in Formula 3 in an impressive fassion mastering the wet to drying conditions in a race of attrition that caught several of the title contenders out.

    Starting fourth, the MP Motorsport driver made his presence known, slicing his way through the field and up into the lead before driving off into the distance to finish 8.7s clear of second place Franco Colapinto.

    The celebrations continued for MP, as Kush Maini made it at a double podium for the Dutch team having carved his way up from P7 to P3 at the chequered flag.

    As the spray faded and the tyres waned, the race turn into survival of the fittest as the field attempted to conserve their wet Pirelli compounds to the chequered flag with five laps remaining. Nobody seemed to be immune – Leclerc’s moment of oversteer saw him take a hefty whack over the red and white kerbs at Turn 4.

    The full top 10 are- P1: Collet, P2: Colapinto, P3: Maini, P4: Hadjar, P5: Bearman, P6: Martins, P7: Saucy, P8: Goethe, P9: Stanek and P10: Maloney.

    Day 3-

    Maloney got a great launch but was immediately covered off by pole sitter. The Trident driver tried a move around the outside at Turn 1 but was unsuccessful. It allowed Bearman to get a great driver on the corner exit to make it three-wide into Turn 2.

    Behind that trio, Maini climbed up to fourth but was closely watched by Crawford after the pair had cleared Gregoire Saucy off the line. The red and white PREMA claimed P4 on the run to Turn 4 whilst Reece Ushijima was on the move too, rising up to ninth after Lap 1 from P19 on the grid.

    Championship leader heading into the Feature Race, Isack Hadjar meanwhile was going backwards. He dropped down to 18th after being forced to take avoiding action at Turn 2 on the outside of the corner.

    Towards the end of the race, Correa was flying on his slick tyres and lapping seconds quicker than the race leaders. Edgar displayed just how much quicker the dry tyres were by unlapping himself from Maloney, Bearman and Crawford as they fought for second.

    O’Sullivan was another to have swapped the wets for dry tyres down in 17th and was 10 seconds quicker than race leader Smolyar on Lap 22. He passed the ART Grand Prix car of Correa to be the highest placed driver on the slick tyres.

    The full top 10 are- P1: Smolyar, P2: Maloney, P3: Bearman, P4: O’Sullivan, P5: Crawford, P6: Correa, P7: Maini, P8: Leclerc, P9: Collet and P10: Martins.

    Now we have the summer break, but when we are back we have a triple header, which means the Formula 3 2022 season is coming to an end!

  • Round 13- Hungarian GP

    The final race of the first half of the season has came to an end, and it was definitely an interesting one, a certain team getting their strategy very wrong and a spin half way through from the leader…

    But through all of that Max Verstappen took the win after starting in P10, (who said you can’t overtake at the Hungaroring!) Lewis Hamilton finished second that makes it his 5th podium in a row and George Russell rounds out the podium, a second double podium in a row for the Silver Arrows.

    The full top 10 are- P1: Verstappen, P2: Hamilton, P3: Russell, P4: Sainz, P5: Perez, P6: Leclerc, P7: Norris, P8: Alonso, P9: Ocon and P10: Vettel.

    Not the way today was meant to go for Ferrari, another what was meant to be an ‘easy’ race for the Italian team didn’t turn out that way… they used the wrong strategy and put them on hards, which everyone (teams) knew that the window to get the hard tyres up to temperature was just not there…

    Another good weekend for Alpine, double points finish once again, if they carry on like this McLaren might be in a bit of trouble…

    Talking about McLaren, a good race for Lando Norris finish P7 a good amount of points for the Brit. But for Daniel a different story, finishing P15, not what the team expected and the collision with Stroll more than didn’t help the Aussie.

    Aston Martin finishing in the points a second weekend in a row, but this time its Sebastian Vettel in 10th, rather than last weekend it being his teammate.

    The Championship-

    Max extends his lead to now 80 points between him and Charles, Perez has closed down the gap a little bit more to the Ferrari driver. George Russell has taken P4 of Carlos Sainz but only two points separate the two. Hamilton is joining in on the fight for P4 now, as his only 10 points away from Carlos.

    Looking at the constructors, Red Bull almost have a 100 point gap to Ferrari but they have got bigger fish to fry as Mercedes are only 30 points away and if they carry on with their double podium finishes it wont take them long. Alpine are still in 4th but they haven’t pulled away from McLaren as expected, just four points seperate the two.

    Now as were at the summer break our next race isn’t until the 26th to 28th August and for the Belgian Grand Prix! But that doesn’t mean I’ll stop posting so sign up for notifications when I do!

  • F2 Budapest- Day 1 & 2

    F2 Budapest- Day 1 & 2

    Day 1-

    Jack Doohan ended Free Practice fastest of all ahead of Qualifying but there was almost nothing splitting him from Ayumu Iwasa, only 0.001s was the gap from the Virtuosi driver and the DAMS in P2. David Beckmann popped up into P3 for Van Amersfoort Racing, with the German driver being the only one to improve in the final 10 minutes.

    Track temperatures were quickly rising as cars took to the track. A brief yellow flag was shown for a hare dashing across the circuit on the main straight but things remained as normal with 38 minutes left.

    Birthday boy, Marcus Armstrong was the first to set a representative time to go fastest early on. That lasted until Theo Pourchaire and Frederik Vesti made it an ART Grand Prix 1-2.

    Ayumu Iwasa left the rest of the Formula 2 in the dust as he stormed his way to his first pole position in the Championship. A blistering quick 1:27.930 set in the final few minutes of qualifying allowed him to better his nearest rival HiTech Grand Prix’s Marcus Armstrong, by an astonishing 0.381s, while Felipe Drugovich narrowly pipped Theo Pourchaire.

    Few drivers improved on their second runs, as Logan Sargeant opted to peel into off into the pits rather than set a second time. Olli Caldwell was the sole driver to run in the gap. This seemed to be a smart strategy for the Campos driver who leapt up from P16 to P1.

    However, it was Iwasa’s final run on his second set of softs that proved to be the making of his weekend. Whilst Armstrong failed to improve, the Japanese rookie turned the timing screens purple.

    The full top 10 are- P1: Iwasa, P2: Armstrong, P3: Drugovich, P4: Pourchaire, P5: Sargeant, P6: Vips, P7: Vesti, P8: Hauger, P9: Fittipaldi and P10: Doohan.

    Day 2-

    Fittipaldi aced his launch from second to take the lead in the opening metres from Doohan. A huge lock up at Turn 2 though undid his hard work and allowed the Virtusoi Racing driver to snatch the lead back.

    Meanwhile, Dennis Hauger endured a poor getaway and went three wide with Drugovich and Sargeant. Contact between the MP Motorsport and Carlin pair nudged the American into Hauger on the outside, tipping the Norwegian around and out of the race at Turn 1. Sargeant was also out of the race as a result of the contact, retiring from the pits.

    The action resumed heading onto Lap 4, and Doohan bolted early to leave the rest behind. Theo Pourchaire had dropped down to 16th on the opening lap after having to avoid action from the Turn 1 melee around the outside of the corner.

    Jehan Daruvala reported that his front tyres were already gone by lap 11, and the pressure from Marcus Armstrong behind was proof of that. The Hitech Grand Prix dirver shaped for a move into Turn 1, but the PREMA driver slammed the door shut to hold sixth for the time being.

    The full top 10 are- P1: Doohan, P2: Vips, P3: Fittipaldi, P4: Drugovich, P5: Vesti, P6: Lawson, P7: Armstrong, P8: Iwasa, P9: Pourchaire and P10: Caldwell.

  • Round 13- Hungary Qualifying

    Round 13- Hungary Qualifying

    I think most of us expected a wet qualifying, and we didn’t have one but we definitely had a few shock surprises! A drivers first pole position, a Red Bull out in Q2 and much more…

    It was George Russell who took pole position, his first in Formula 1 and the first for Mercedes this season! His followed closely by Carlos Sainz in 2nd and Charles Leclerc in 3rd!

    The full top 10 are- P1: Russell, P2: Sainz, P3: Leclerc, P4: Norris, P5: Ocon, P6: Alonso, P7: Hamilton, P8: Bottas, P9: Ricciardo and P10: Verstappen.

    What a day for Mr Saturday!! I think the Hungaroring may be one of Russell’s favourite tracks! Scored his first points here as a Williams driver last year and now his on pole position for Mercedes a year later!

    A bad day for RB, Perez starts P11, he had a few lap times deleted and then he got knocked out of Q2. Now onto Max… he set a decent time in Q3 but when he went out for last few laps he was complaining of no power and wasn’t able to improve on his lap time which saw him be pushed down to 10th.

    A good day for McLaren both cars in the top 10 and Lando having qualified P4! Infront of the two Alpine’s which is where the fight will be for the British driver. Ricciardo will be hoping to move up a few positions or count on others misfortune, but he has two Bull’s behind him…

    This is what Ferrari needed! Both drivers basically starting next to each other, it gives the Italian team a big chance of points tomorrow, especially with the Bull’s a lot further down and its a track where overtaking isn’t the easiest.

    Alfa Romeo seemed to have a good day, Bottas back in the top 10 and Zhou Guanyu starting P12, a chance of scoring points tomorrow for both drivers!

    Predictions-

    My top five predictions are- P1: Russell, P2: Leclerc, P3: Hamilton, P4: Sainz and P5: Alonso.

    As I said above, it’s a hard track to overtake on, and there is meant to be some rain before the race starts and we all saw how last year went… Or we could get a ‘normal’ race but whats the fun in that!

    Times for the weekend-

    Feature Race F3- 09:05am (BST)
    Feature Race F2- 10:35am
    F1 Race- 14:00pm

  • F3 Budapest- Day 1

    Free Practice-

    F3 action resumed bright and early this morning, and it was Jak Crawford who hit the ground running almost immediately. Entering the weekend off the back of his first victory in the Championship last time out in Spielberg, the PREMA Racing driver left it to the last second to knock Zane Maloney off the top spot by a tenth of a second.

    Ideal conditions greeted the field of 30 at the Hungaroring. The session got underway with the field bolting on their sets of red-walled soft tyres, that they carried over form the previous round, and off the bat Josep Maria Marti got up to speed, laying down a 1:36.144.

    Times continued to tumble as David Vidales, Juan Manuel Correa, Gregoire Saucy and Zak O’Sullivan all took turns at the top of the order before Alexander Smolyar followed by Kush Maini put MP Motorsport up into P1.

    The full top 10 are- P1: Crawford, P2: Maloney, P3: Leclerc, P4: Hadjar, P5: Collet, P6: Smolyar, P7: Edgar, P8: Maini, P9: Stanek and P10: Villagomez.

    Qualifying-

    Alexander Smolyar secured pole position around the Hungaroring, avoiding a hectic conclusion to the session following a late red flag stoppage. Though time remained on the clock following a restart with three minutes to go, Zane Maloney was the closest anyone got to the MP Motorsport driver, ending the session second fastest 0.126s down.

    The track fell quiet with 10 minutes gone, Collet leading from Isack Hadjar and Victor Martins. Debutant, Oliver Goethe climbed up to P6 on his second flying lap for Campos Racing but lost his time for exceeding track limits at Turn 4 dropping him down to P10.

    None of the PREMA drivers had recorded a lap time in the opening half of the session due to deletions because of track limits violations. Purple sectors across the board from Arthur Leclerc which put him in P1 with a 1:32.912, whilst teammate Jak Crawford couldn’t quite match. Bearman meanwhile managed to go better than both to secure a PREMA 1-2-3.

    The full top 10 are- P1: Smolyar, P2: Maloney, P3: Bearman, P4: Leclerc, P5: Saucy, P6: Maini, P7: Crawford, P8: Martins, P9: Collet and P10: Hadjar.

  • Vettel retiring end of season

    The day has arrived, and what a sad day it is! Four time world champion, Sebastian Vettel will retire from Formula 1 at the end of the 2022 season.

    The German driver, who made his debut with BMW Sauber in the 2007 United States Grand Prix, revealed the news via his newly created Instagram account.

    Vettel won all four of his championships with Red Bull between 2010 and 2013 and is third on the all-time list of Grand Prix winners with 53 victories. A six-year stint with Ferrari failed to yield a much-coveted fifth title. He has also scored one podium during one and a half years with Aston Martin where his contract expires at the end of 2022.

    Formula 1 teams, and drivers as well as drivers from Formula E took to social media to wish the World Champ well in his retirement, and having enjoyed racing him in past 15 years.

    Sebastian has used his platform in F1 to make a chnage, and in more recent years. Taking the knee with fellow drivers, raising awareness on the planet, and honestly just raising awareness in what’s going on in the world.

    Seb will be missed, his made a big impact in the past 15 years, and for me personally I’ve watched him since I was young, he was apart of my childhood. But seeing that his made this decision by himself and to do it for his family, no-one can put any negativity on that.

    I have had the privilege of working with many fantastic people in Formula 1 over the past 15 years – there are far too many to mention and thank. Over the past two years I have been an Aston Martin driver – and although our results have not been as good as we had hoped, it is very clear to me that everything is being put together that a team needs to race at the very highest level for years to come. I have really enjoyed working with such a great bunch of people. Everyone – Lawrence [Stroll], Lance [Stroll], Martin [Whitmarsh], Mike [Krack], the senior managers, the engineers, the mechanics and the rest of the team – is ambitious, capable, expert, committed and friendly, and I wish them all well. I hope that the work I did last year and am continuing to do this year will be helpful in the development of a team that will win in the future, and I will work as hard as I can between now and the end of the year with that goal in mind, giving as always my best in the last 10 races. The decision to retire has been a difficult one for me to take, and I have spent a lot of time thinking about it; at the end of the year I want to take some more time to reflect on what I will focus on next; it is very clear to me that, being a father, I want to spend more time with my family. But today is not about saying goodbye. Rather, it is about saying thank you – to everyone – not least to the fans, without whose passionate support Formula 1 could not exist.

    Sebastian Vettel on him leaving Formula 1.

    I want to thank Sebastian from the bottom of my heart for the great work that he has done for Aston Martin over the past year and a half. We made it clear to him that we wanted him to continue with us next year, but in the end he has done what he feels is right for himself and his family, and of course we respect that. He has driven some fantastic races for us, and, behind the scenes, his experience and expertise with our engineers have been extremely valuable. He is one of the all-time greats of Formula 1, and it has been a privilege to have been able to work with him. He will continue to race for us up to and including the 2022 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, which will be his 300th Grand Prix entry. We will give him a fabulous send-off.

    Lawrence Stroll on Vettel.

    Sebastian is a superb driver – fast, intelligent and strategic – and of course we are going to miss those qualities. However, we have all learned from him, and the knowledge that we have gained from working with him will continue to benefit our team long after his departure. Aston Martin is a great project, with unlimited potential, and the groundwork that Sebastian has done last year, and is still doing this year, is crucial. When we become fully competitive – and we will – one of the architects of that future success will be Sebastian, and we will always be grateful to him for that.

    Mike Krack, on Seb.

  • Hungarian Grand Prix

    Our last race week is here, and summer break is just round the corner… But we return to Hungary for Round 13, where last year we saw a crazy race with Esteban Ocon winning his first F1 race…

    Could we see another crazy race this year? A first time win for a driver… George Russell… Kevin Magnussen.. Or could it be Lewis’ first win of the season? We will have to wait and find out on Sunday…

    Who needs a good weekend?

    Charles Leclerc, he potentially threw away a win last weekend, and I think he knows that… If he really wants to be in this championship fight I think he needs to just get his head down for this weekends race and then have time off and get back to it straight away.

    The Haas team will be wanting a good weekend, no points finish last time out, after scoring in both Silverstone and Austria, but they will be oping to maximise this weekend, and maybe be there on others misfortune….

    Alpha Tauri will be wanting a good weekend, Tsunoda last time out DNF’ed, and Gasly finished 12th, the Frenchman hasn’t scored points since Azerbaijan and Tsunoda since Spain…

    Predictions for qualifying-

    My top five are- P1: Verstappen, P2: Leclerc, P3: Sainz, P4: Hamilton and P5: Perez. I’m hoping for a McLaren, both Alpines and maybe a Hass if not both, in the top 10!

    At the time of writing this, it looks like there might be rain for qualifying. I’m kind of hoping there will be, I want a crazy race on Sunday so a qualifying where a few people are out of position will definitely be interesting.

    Times for weekend-

    Friday 29th-

    • Free Practice F3- 08:30am – 9:15am (BST)
    • Free Practice F2- 09:40am – 10:25am
    • Free Practice 1 F1- 13:00pm – 14:00pm
    • Qualifying F3- 14:30pm – 15:00pm
    • Free Practice 2 F1- 16:00pm – 17:00pm
    • Qualifying F2- 17:30pm – 18:00pm

    Saturday 30th-

    • Sprint Race F3- 10:00am – 10:45am (BST)
    • Free Practice 3 F1- 12:00pm – 13:00pm
    • Qualifying F1- 15:00pm – 16:00pm
    • Sprint Race F2- 17:00pm – 17:45pm

    Sunday 31st-

    • Feature Race F3- 09:05am (BST)
    • Feature Race F2- 10:35am
    • F1 Race- 14:00pm

  • Mansell in for Charouz

    Christian Mansell is racing for Charouz Racing System this weekend in Budapest. The Czech team confirmed that Mansell would be competing in both Rounds 6 & 7 of the season in Budapest and Spa in place of Zdenek Chovanec in the #15 car.

    The 17 year old, has been racing in EuroFormula Open this year and is currently second in the Drivers’ standings. He has secured multiple wins and podium finishes already this season, including runner-up results at both Hungary and Spa.

    The Australian driver, who is racing under a British license said that he was looking forward to the challenge of jumping into a Formula 3 car and his hoping his experience would bode well around both upcoming circuits.

    I’m super excited to be joining FIA Formula 3 with Charouz Racing System. This is a fantastic opportunity for me to put myself against an incredibly talented grid of drivers and get my name out there racing on the Formula 1 weekends. It will be my first time in the car so there will be a lot to learn from the start, but I like both circuits so I will be able to hit the ground running with those. I’m mega excited and can’t wait to get started this weekend in Hungary.

    Mansell on his opportunity this weekend.

    I’m really happy to welcome Christian in the team and I’m looking forward to see him in the car. He’ll need all of our support to get confident with a single-seater different from the ones he already raced with, but I’m confident that it will happen very naturally and very quickly given how talented he is. The fact that he already had experiences at both Hungaroring and Spa-Francorchamps is definitely an optimum starting point for his debut. The team and I are really excited to have him on board, I’m sure that he’s excited too and he’ll show everybody what he’s capable of.

    Antonin Charouz, team owner.

  • Hungary Tyre Allocation

    We are at our last race before the summer break, and Pirelli has chosen the tyres for this weekends Hungarian Grand Prix, we also have Formula 2 and Formula 3 with us aswell.

    We have the middle of the range this weekend: C2 (Hard), C3 (Medium), C4 (Soft).

    The Hungaroring has a reputation for being an extremely hot and dry track, last years track temperatures during a free practice session peaked at nearly 60 degrees.

    But the reality is that it’s actually rained just before the race for the past two seasons in Hungry. Last year led to a somewhat crazy re-start following a first corner incident, when Lewis Hamilton was the only person to get going on intermediates from the grid whilst everyone went into the pit for the slicks.

    The Hungaroring isn’t a particularly high energy circuit, with smooth asphalt that’s sometimes bumpy in places and the demands on tyres being more about traction rather than braking.

    In the past, the Hungaroring has been known as a place where it’s difficult to overtake, but the new package of cars and tyres this year helps drivers get much closer to each other, which is why we have seen some great races with plenty of overtaking so far this season. Hopefully that’s going to be the case at the Hungaroring as well; a tight and twisty track where the cars are often grouped together. Hungary is also known for being very hot, but it’s also rained for the last two years there: so the moral of the story is never to jump to conclusions! We’ve seen some surprises at the Hungaroring before, and that could be the case even more this year.

    Mario Isla, Motorsport Director

    Formula 2

    For Formula 2 this weekend, the medium and soft tyres have been nominated. It’s only the second time the combination has been used this season, after round two at Jeddah.

    Formula 3

    In Formula 3, the medium tyre will be nominated for the second time this season, with its previous appearance being in Imola for round 2.

  • Campos confirm Goethe to replace Yeany

    Campos Racing has announced that Oliver Goethe will replace Hunter Yeany for the sixth round of the 2022 FIA Formula 3 season in Budapest this weekend.

    Yeany was forced to withdraw from the previous round in Spielberg after sustaining a broken wrist in the Sprint Race. The American rookie still managed to finish the race but pulled out of the Feature Race the following day.

    Seizing the opportunity, Goethe is determined to gain lots of knowledge and an understanding about the car at a track he is fairly familiar with.

    After beginning his single-seater career in Spanish F4 in 2019, Goethe made the step up to Formula Regional European Championship by Alpine in 2021. Earlier this year he competed in the Formula Regional Asian Championship and won on his debut in the 24H GT Series, taking victory in his GT4 class at the Dubai 24H.

    Currently, the Danish-German driver, who is racing under a Monegasque licence, sits at the top of the Euroformula Open Championship standing, with eight wins and four podiums to his name across the first five rounds including a victory in the Hungarian capital earlier this month.

    I’m extremely excited to make my FIA F3 debut this weekend with Campos! I can’t wait to try out the car and compete amongst the best! It’ll be a great learning experience and I will make the most of it.

    Oliver Goethe on racing this weekend

  • Aston Martin withdraw appeal…

    Aston Martin started to appeal Sebastian Vettel’s disqualification from the Hungarian Grand Prix, however the stewards dismissed it and since then withdrew.

    On the 5th of August, AM started to appeal, the team released a statement saying that the data showed their was enough fuel left in the car.

    On the 9th August, the stewards heard from the team. After hearing the review the FIA revealed Aston Martin had discovered a faulty fuel pump which lead to personnel only extracting 0.3 litres.

    Therefore the officials dismissed the right to review, which means that Vettel’s disqualification from the race still stands.

    Now today (12/08) , Aston Martin have withdrawn their appeal against the disqualification.
    A statement from the team said: “Having considered our position and having noted the FIA stewards’ verdict that there was clear new evidence of a fuel system failure, we have nonetheless withdrawn our appeal on the basis that we believe doing so outweighs the benefits of it being heard.”

    My opinion-

    I can see why the team wanted to appeal, it’s such a close season and 18 points is a lot too lose! However rules are rules at the end of the day, they never would of got away with it which is a shame but I’m sure Aston Martin will get another podium this season!

  • Round 11- Hungary Race

    WHAT. A. RACE…. WOW, I did not expect this!! We’ve had chaos from the first lap and a very different outcome than expected!

    We had a big collision on first lap which led to Bottas, Perez, Leclerc, Stroll and Norris to be out! Bottas has been given a 5 place gird penalty for the collision… Mazepin also got hit by Raikkonen in the pit lane meaning Mazepins race was over…

    Esteban Ocon is finally a F1 Race Winner he done very well to hold of Sebastian Vettel who finished P2 and P3 goes to Lewis Hamilton after Mercedes messed up in the tyre situation at the restart he climbed up from P14 to P3!!

    The rest of the top 10 are: P4- Sainz, P5- Alonso, P6- Gasly, P7- Tsunoda, P8- Latifi, P9- Russell and P10- Verstappen. Fastest lap goes to Pierre Gasly as he took it from Hamilton on the last lap! A big well done to everyone!

    *UPDATE AS OF 9:15pm (BST)* Sebastian Vettel has been disqualified due to the race officials not been able to take the required fuel sample after the race. This means Hamilton goes to P2, with Carlos Sainz in P3, Hamilton’s lead in the championship is now 8 points… All drivers move up a place…

    Can we take a minute to recognise the fact that BOTH Williams drivers scored points!! FINALLY George Russell and Nicholas Latifi score points! I’m so happy for both of them and the team!

    It wasn’t Red Bulls day today, a bad strategy cost Max places and yes he was driving with a damaged car but he did managed to overtake people with it earlier on in the race so it’s another race which is down to Red Bulls poor strategy…

    Gutted for Daniel Ricciardo, after getting hit on the first lap it just went down hill after that…

    We now have a 4 week break and Lewis Hamilton leads the championship by 6 points, Max Verstappen is second with 186 points and Lando Norris is in third. Mercedes are now first in the Constructors with 300 points, Red Bull are second with 290 and McLaren maintaining their spot in P3!

    We are back on the weekend off the 27th to 29th of August, for the Belgium Grand Prix!

  • Round 11- Hungary Qualifying

    What a Quali! 1-2 for the Mercedes boys with Max Verstappen joining them in P3… The rest of the top 10 are: P4- Perez, P5- Gasly, P6- Norris, P7- Leclerc, P8- Ocon, P9- Alonso and P10- Vettel

    This is what the Mercedes boys needed, it shows the upgrades they got at Silverstone are working a lot!

    Disappointing day for Ricciardo, only managed P11 after being knocked out of the top 10 by Vettel. It seems like something isn’t their with the car today, so hopefully they figure out for the race tomorrow and the fact they have free tyre choice plays into their hand.

    Aswell a disappointing day for Carlos Sainz, he crashed out in Q2 meaning he will start P15 after not being able to set a time. Hopefully he has a better day tomorrow…

    I’m not to sure if Red Bull can do much tomorrow… Verstappen is starting on the softs which won’t last long in the heat and with the race being 70 laps long it’s looking like they will do a two stop which won’t be good if Mercedes are on a one stop.

    Very disappointed for Russell, got knocked out in Q1 which is a shame but like the Brit said you can’t get it right every time!

    Predictions-

    My top five predictions for tomorrow are: P1- Hamilton, P2- Bottas, P3- Verstappen, P4- Gasly and P5- Norris. I think fastest lap will go to Verstappen, Red Bull are going to want to stop Hamilton and Mercedes from getting extra points…

    I’d love to see Ricciardo finish in the points, he has a good chance tomorrow so it’s all eyes onto tomorrow now!

  • Hungary GP

    We are back this week after a two week break and we are at the Hungaroring for round 11, it’s our last race before the summer break!

    Could we see a different championship leader after Sunday? Or will Max Verstappen be aiming to extend his lead after Silverstone? I for one am very much looking forward to this weekend, it’s all to play for once again!

    Who needs a good weekend?

    I think that both Red Bull drivers need a good weekend, considering the fact neither of them had a good weekend at Silverstone the gap has now closed between Max and Lewis and Red Bull and Mercedes. It will be interesting to see what strategy they go for here…

    A good weekend for Pierre and Yuki is needed, it seemed to all go wrong for Gasly at Silverstone, so hopefully he will have a stronger weekend and hopefully the same for Yuki even though he managed to score a point at Silverstone!

    Predictions for Quali-

    My top five for qualifying are: P1- Hamilton, P2- Verstappen, P3- Bottas, P4- Norris and P5- Ricciardo.

    I’d want to see at least one of the Alpine’s in the top 10 and Russell as well, his been really strong in qualifying as always and his put his Williams in the top 10 a few times this year!

    Times for the weekend-

    Friday: FP1- 10.30am – 11.30am (BST), 11.30am – 12.30pm (CEST). FP2: 14.00pm – 15.00pm (BST), 15.00pm – 16.00pm (CEST). Saturday: FP3- 11.00am – 12.00pm (BST), 12.00pm – 13.00pm (CEST). Qualifying- 14.00pm – 15.00pm (BST), 15.00pm – 16.00pm (CEST). Sunday: Race- 14.00pm (BST), 15.00pm (CEST).

  • Tyres for Hungary

    We are back racing this weekend and the tyres for Hungary have been announced.

    The middle of the range have been chosen and they are C2 (Hard), C3 (Medium) and C4 (Soft). This is the same as what Hungary had last year. The circuit doesn’t place any heavy demands on the tyres, meaning these compounds are well suited to the track, especially if the weather is warm.

    Hungary is a very different track compared to the last round at Silverstone, overtaking is tricky on the track so planning race strategy and track position is key. Last years strategy was the wet and intermediate tyres were run at the start of the race because of the rain. But in 2019 (the same compound as 2021) both one and two stop strategies with Hamilton using a two stopper who won the race.

    We have 70 laps of this track, the circuit length being 4.381 km and with only one DRS zone thinks can change very quickly…

    We also have Formula 3 at Hungary this weekend too, they use the one tyre compound and that is the medium compound.