BUDAPEST PREVIEW: Turning the heat up

It’s shaping up to be a hotly contested weekend in Budapest, with the teams and drivers braced for a Hungarian heatwave that will put everyone to the test.
It’s a challenging circuit that often promotes close racing despite the relative lack of overtaking opportunities, so who will start the double-header on the front foot?
THE FORM BOOK
Another round and another change of lead in the Drivers’ Championship as PREMA Racing’s Gabriele Minì retook the top spot as he climbed onto 119 points. Teammate Arvid Lindblad was clinical around Silverstone and made his chances count to secure an historic double, sweeping the weekend to go second, just six points behind.
Former Championship leader Luke Browning fell to third after a difficult weekend in the Hitech Pulse-Eight #14 car, though is still in the reckoning on 112.
Trident’s Leonardo Fornaroli was in the points twice at Silverstone but is fourth currently on 93 points, while Campos Racing driver Oliver Goethe rounds out the top five spots on 85 points.
THE CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS
Dino Beganovic endured a tough time and couldn’t add to his 80 points so remains sixth, just two ahead of ART Grand Prix’s Christian Mansell who also went scoreless last time out.
The Australian’s ART teammates Nikola Tsolov, Laurens van Hoepen follow in eighth and ninth places on 50 and 49 points respectively, while Tim Tramnitz rounds out the top 10 for MP Motorsport on 47.
In the Teams’ Standings, PREMA Racing could theoretically win the title in Budapest, but it would take a perfect weekend for them to secure the crown. They lead on 312 from ART on 177 and compatriots Trident in third, now on 153 points.
FROM THE GRID – Kacper Sztuka, MP Motorsport
“I want to learn the track as fast as I can. In the sim we drive it a lot but it’s different to what we drive in real life, so, I’ll need to get on the pace quickly. It’s a tricky track especially for the tyres, and it’s physically demanding also, so it’s easy to over push. I’ll see how it goes in Practice, but I expect it to be tricky to not go over the limit of the tyre. I’ll need 120% of focus on the Qualifying lap not to do it. The race stint will be difficult, we have the Hard compound, but it’ll still be tricky to manage the deg.
“We can fight, I know MP is fast in Hungary and it’s quite close to my home, so I know there will be Polish fans there, so it’ll be like a home Grand Prix. I’m really excited for it, and I hope I can provide some good entertainment.
“The lap is quite long, it’s easy to overheat the tyres so you need to be careful with them. You have to get all the corners right and avoid locking up which is quite easy to do around this track. I think Turn 1 or Turn 3, those are the only two places where you have DRS and can overtake. It’s a move to the inside, brake late, don’t lock up, close the line on the exit and get in front.”
TECHNICAL PREVIEW
With the Hard compound Pirelli tyres selected for this round, tyre degradation should be a little less of an issue than it might have been, but drivers will still need to take care of their tyres to optimise their race. Braking performance isn’t too strenuous, but the aerodynamic demand through the middle sector in particular is what could make the biggest difference in Qualifying, tyre degradation and victory hopes.
RACE STRATEGY
Pirelli has selected the hardest compound in the range, the P Zero White hard as the tyre for the Budapest weekend. This choice allows for a less complicated management of tyre degradation for the young drivers especially if, as expected, it could be very hot. In fact, the Hard allows drivers to push for performance without having to focus almost exclusively on degradation. Only if temperatures drop considerably below the seasonal norm could graining become a factor to keep an eye on.
STAT PACK