What to expect from the 2018 Hungarian F1 GP?
Right after the thrilling race in Germany we F1 fans don't have to wait very long to enjoy the next race: The Hungarian Formula One Grand Prix.
Hockenheim will always be a special place for lucky Lewis Hamilton, who hit the jackpot while his title rival Sebastian Vettel left his home race with zero points.
It's a very harsh reality for Vettel when you consider that the Ferrari driver started from pole and led the 67 laps race for 38 laps.
The fact that Hamilton didn't got a penalty for crossing 2 white lines under safety car conditions is very strange. Especially when you compare this incident with the pass of Red Bull driver Max Verstappen during the 2017 US F1 GP on the inside of Kimi Raikkonen's Ferrari. Verstappen got a 5 second penalty for leaving the track and gaining an advantage and lost his 3rd place podium finish.
The fight for the championship is really heating up now. Hamilton and Vettel have taken the lead alternately the last couple of races. After Germany it's Hamilton who leads the 2018 drivers championship with 17 points on Vettel.
Every driver in the 2018 F1 championship has retired at one of more races now. Until Germany, Vettel was the last who didn't score a DNF yet this season.
In the 2018 constructors championship Mercedes and Ferrari are also very close. The German Mercedes team has an eight points lead over Scuderia Ferrari, because of their 1-2 finish at their home Grand Prix.
For us spectators the 2018 season championship has shaped up to a very entertaining season and because race winners are hard to predict you can win a lot of money with F1 betting odds.
Next stop is the good old Hungaroring! What to expect from the 2018 Hungarian F1 GP?
2018 Hungarian GP facts & Figures
The Hungarian Grand Prix was first held in 1986. This year it's the 33rd consecutive time that the Formula One circus is going to Budapest to drive 70 laps around the circuit.
Their are always a lot of spectators on the grand stands in Hungary. Especially the Finns are well supported there. The Hungaroring is situated in the Nort-East of the Hungarian capital Budapest and near the town called Mogyoród. It's a small old school track with 14 corners. The circuit is driven clockwise, has 8 right-hand and 6 left-hand corners.
the Hungarian circuit is very twisted. It has 2 DRS-zones but it's still very hard to pass some one on the track drivers refer as the Mickey Mouse circuit.
The highest speed driven in last years race was 320 km/h at the end of the start/finish straight. The slowest part of the track is turn 13 with 105 km/h.
Again the official lap record of 1:19.071 min, dates back to the 2004 season. It also was set by Michael Schumacher with the V10 Ferrari F2004. This year the lap record will probably be broken.
Out of all the drivers that won the Hungarian GP, Lewis Hamilton is the one who won here the most races. He won it 5 times, Schumacher 4x, Ayrton Senna 3x. We also have a couple of current drivers who won the Grand Prix of Hungary. Current drivers who won here are: Vettel (2017,2015), Daniel Ricciardo (2016), Kimi Raikkonen (2005), Fernando Alonso (2003).
A lot of Formula 1 drivers won their first F1 race in Hungary. 1995 World Champion Damon Hill won his first race here in 1993. It was Alonso's who scored his first ever F1 win in 2003. In this race the Spanish driver drove for Renault and even lapped Michael Schumacher, who finished 8th. Jenson Button also won his first race here back in 2006 when he was driving for Honda. In 2008 it was Heikki Kovalainen who won his first and only race of his F1 career at the Hungaroring.
In the 32 race before 8 different Formula One teams have won the last race before the summer break. The team winning figures are: McLaren 11x, Ferrari 7x, Williams 7x, Red Bull 2x, Mercedes 2x, Honda 1x, Renault 1x and Benetton 1x.
The last race was dominated by Ferrari. Vettel and Raikkonen started the race from front row. Although the German Ferrari driver had an issue with his steering wheel, he managed to finish 1st with his teammate right behind him. Valtteri Bottas finished 3rd.
Hungarian F1 GP 2018 Tyres
Just like in China and Germany, Pirelli brings the Medium (white), Soft (yellow) and Ultrasoft (purple) tyres to Hungary.
Again the Supersoft (red) tyres are skipped by Pirelli to get more surprises during the race. The Hockenheimring and Hungaroring have a lot in common regarding to the Motodrome section in Hockenheim. The big difference is that the tyres, cars and drivers almost have no rest on a long straight in Hungary.
This is the first time Ultrasoft tyre has ever been chosen for the tricky and bumpy Hungaroring. Overtaking is notoriously difficult in Hungary, putting the emphasis on qualifying well and finding an effective race strategy.
Handling and agility is more important than outright power. It's all about mechanical rather than aerodynamic grip, despite high downforce levels.
A one-stop supersoft-soft strategy was Sebastian Vettel’s winning option last year (selected by the majority of drivers) in a race that was also affected by an early safety car.
Hungaroring Weather Forecast
The weather around the Hungaroring is usually quite warm and dry. But the weather predictions for upcoming weekend looks to be a lot less stable.
For this weekend the prediction looks to be in for changeable weather conditions. Thunderstorms will be altered by dry and sunny weather conditions with an ambient temperature of 30ºC and a high humidity.
This weather type is predicted for the whole race weekend in Hungary.from Friday until Monday. So we will see some unpredictable racing again this weekend...
Who will be on the 2018 Hungarian F1 GP podium?
Ferrari still is the fastest car of the 2018 grid. As said mechanical grip is the key to win on the Hungaroring.
Since 2017 all F1 cars are fitted with a powerful 160 HP electrical engine and a V6 combustion engine. Electrical engines have a lot torque and don't need to build up rev's to get horsepower. The power of an electrical engine is always there, it doesn't matter at what revaluation the engine is.
It looks like Ferrari has done his homework the best way in terms on how to get the most acceleration out of the combined V6 combustion & electrical engine (the so called power unit). The Ferrari SF71H is the fastest car it terms of accelerating out of low speed corners.
The Red Bull car still has the most downforce, but the Renault power unit has a lack of horsepower and torque compared to the Ferrari and Mercedes engine.
Because it's hard to overtake another F1 car around the Hungaroring, especially with the wider cars of 2017, it's very important to start from pole to win the race. Last year Vettel won from pole, so the one who starts from pole this year will probably win if nothings strange happens, like in Germany last weekend...
Because of the changeable weather conditions rain experts as Hamilton and Verstappen could have an advantage. The Red Bull already showed it's pace around the tight Monaco circuit and won it with ease.
If the weekend is wet the prediction for upcoming race will be: 1. Verstappen, 2. Hamilton, 3. Vettel, and Verstappen will score his first pole position.
If the changeable decides to be dry the Ferrari's will beat the grid and our prediction will be: 1. Vettel, 2. Raikkonen, 3. Hamilton.
Below you can find the selected tyre sets by each driver for the 2018 Hungarian F1 GP.
Selected sets for the Hungarian Grand Prix
✅ Check out more posts with related topics:
