Formula One: Competition increases as Formula One reaches for Hungarian Grand Prix
After Sebastian Vettel recorded lowest time for Hungarian Grand Prix in first practice session, Red Bull Racing is optimistic that they will break recent McLaren and Ferrari domination, with a win in Hungary. On the other hand, Fernando Alonso, who won the controversial German Grand Prix, is optimistic that he will keep his momentum and win the Hungarian Grand Prix.
Fernando Alonso was also impressive in the second practice, as he finished the race with best time of the day. With this performance, he is confident about his chances in Hungary. Talking to reporters at the end of the day, Spaniard Alonso said, “I hope we can stay close to our main rivals, who seemed very strong today and be able to fight them in Q3 tomorrow afternoon. For now, we are still a bit behind by a few tenths, even if we won't know the truth until qualifying. We certainly need to work on the set-up of the car to improve its performance.”
Alonso is also wary of tight nature of the circuit. Talking about circuit, two-time world champion said, “Compared to Hockenheim, where the car was well balanced, here we are suffering with a bit too much under-steer, but all the same it feels pretty good.”
On the other hand, Red Bull Racing drivers are optimistic about their team chances after they dominated the practice session. Sebastian Vettel, who finished on top in practice session, is cautious of Ferrari’s threat as he prepares himself for race day. German Grand Prix saw a great battle between him and the Ferrari’s duo especially in the opening stages of the race. Despite starting from pole, Vettel finished the race on third position.
However, Vettel is positive that he won’t let Ferrari dominate him this time. He said, “The Ferraris seem very quick again here, on both the long and short runs. They will be quick again tomorrow and we also shouldn't forget the McLarens. It's a difficult track here, quite bumpy and rough, but the car feels good.”
According to analysts, Red Bull Racing’s new flexi-wing looks have given them vital advantage over their rivals, especially taking in account the high down-force at Hungaroring. Vettel has denied such advantage. According to him, it does not provide significant leverage to car.
Meanwhile, his team-mate and Championship leader Mark Webber believes that Ferrari is the single most threat to their team in Hungary. Australian Webber said, “The Ferraris look quick again, so we've got to keep an eye on them - you never know what fuel loads people are running on Friday. I'm looking forward to tomorrow."
This season has been three-horse race with Red Bull, Ferrari and McLaren ruling the roost. For other teams, they are virtually out of contention as the titles have been circulated within these three teams. McLaren and former World Champion, Lewis Hamilton has been on run recently but his performance prior to Hungarian Grand Prix has been bit weak. Analyst believes that this is due to tight nature of circuit and inability of McLaren car.
Commenting on his car and conditions, British Hamilton said, “It's been an interesting day. We've just been focusing on our package and trying to optimize what we have. And the car was the best I've ever driven around here - it felt really great through the corners.” He has little hope of McLaren making impact in Hungary. He believes that only if other cars get into trouble on race day, then McLaren will have the chance.
Hamilton added, “I think we're pretty much getting the best out of the package we have - we're dialling-in the set-up pretty effectively - but there's still maybe a few tenths to come. So we know we've got a lot of work to do: this weekend is really about scoring as many points as we can, and hoping the guys ahead run into trouble.
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