After 10 rounds of the 2017 Formula 1 World Championship, there’s just one point separating the top two drivers. This means you can bet those drivers, in this case Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel and Mercedes AMG’s Lewis Hamilton, will be giving it their all at this weekend’s Hungarian Grand Prix.
The race is once again taking place at the Hungaroring which is located just outside of the beautiful city of Budapest, and since it’s held in the middle of the European summer the weather and atmosphere tends to be perfect. This year we’re expecting sunny conditions for both Saturday’s qualifying session and Sunday’s race. The peak temperature should be around 80 degrees F (27 degrees C) on both days.
As for the Hungaroring, the circuit now joins an elite club of just nine other locations to have held more than 30 F1 grands prix. Although it’s one of the slower circuits on the calendar (average speeds are about 120 mph), its technical layout still makes it quite a challenge for drivers.
The current layout stretches 2.7 miles and consists of an uncompromising succession of corners that tests cars and drivers to the limit, and the reliance on slow-corner traction makes it a solid test of a car’s mechanical grip. Pirelli has nominated its medium, soft and supersoft compounds for the weekend.
After the initial practice session, Red Bull Racing’s Daniel Ricciardo proved fastest, ahead of Ferrari’s Kimi Räikkönen and Hamilton.
Going into the weekend, Vettel leads the Drivers’ Championship with 177 points, Hamilton is second with 176 points and fellow Mercedes driver Valtteri Bottas is third with 154 points. In the Constructors’ Championship, Mercedes leads with 330 points, Ferrari is second with 275 points and Red Bull is third with 174 points. Last year’s winner in Hungary was Hamilton.
In other F1 news, backmarker Sauber has extended a power unit supply deal with Ferrari, though Sauber will now receive Ferrari’s latest power units instead of using the previous year’s units as is the current agreement. Sauber made the announcement just a day after confirming it had canceled a deal to source power units from Honda. It means fellow backmarker McLaren is the only team currently scheduled to use Honda power units next season.
