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Scuderia Ferrari
comes to the tenth round of the
Formula 1 World Championship on the back
of an encouraging third place podium
finish for Felipe Massa in Germany.
However, this season, every race weekend
seems to have its own story, often
bearing little relation to what has gone
before. In theory, the F60 should be
well suited to the characteristics and
demands of Budapest’s Hungaroring, as
this is the circuit that has the most in
common with the tight and twisty streets
of Monaco. Back in May, it was there, on
the streets of the Principality that
Ferrari looked at its most competitive
this season. The low speed nature of the
track and the performance of the two
softest tyres Bridgestone has on offer
this year will again be factors in the
Scuderia’s favour, possibly enhanced
this weekend by the fact we can expect
higher temperatures than in Monte Carlo.
Development on the car has naturally
moved forward since then and in
Budapest, the F60 will see further
updates with the introduction of new
aerodynamic components (changes on the
floor and the rear wing) and a revised
rear suspension.
Just like Monaco, a good
grid position is vital here, not just
because of the tight track layout, but
also because the Hungaroring is
notoriously slippery off the racing
line, in part due to the sand and dust
blown onto it from the surrounding land
and also down to the rubber “marbles”
that build up from the tyres during the
course of the race. Saturday afternoon’s
qualifying session will therefore be a
stern test of driver nerve and team
strategy. Being near the front of the
grid is vital, but so is being on the
clean side, because past history shows
that drivers who qualify with an
even-number start slot can often lose
position within seconds of the lights
going out at the start. The main
straight was lengthened a few years ago,
which should favour teams, who like
Ferrari, are still using KERS. It is a
cliché that Hungary produces dull
racing, but that is not always the case:
Nigel Mansell, who often defied
convention, proved it is possible to win
here from a seemingly hopeless position
and in 1989, he came through from
twelfth on the grid, pulling off a
stunning pass on Ayrton Senna on his way
to a memorable Ferrari victory, the
first of five for the Scuderia at this
event. If that victory was typical of
the Englishman’s hard charging approach,
the next Ferrari win, in 1998 was a
classic example of Michael Schumacher’s
more clinical style and two stints run
at qualifying pace, working in perfect
harmony with an inspired strategy call
from pit wall, as the German snatched
the win with a then unheard of three
stop strategy. In fact, this year, since
the pit lane speed limit has been raised
to 100 km/h, the three-stopper could
well be a more generally popular choice.
In past years, the dust
and dirt has meant that Friday morning’s
practice session at the Hungaroring has
not provided the fans with much track
action to keep them entertained.
However, this year, with the ban on
testing, the three hours of free
practice on the first day serve not only
to set up the cars and prepare for
qualifying and the race, but also to
evaluate components and ideas that might
only be used later in the season. For
this reason, dirty or not, the first
practice day could be busier than usual
this weekend. Another reason for plenty
of laps is that this winter will be the
first time testing is banned in the last
two months of the year and with work now
well underway throughout the grid on the
2010 cars, evaluation of ideas for next
year can also find room on the day’s job
sheet, as was already the case for the
Scuderia and other teams two weeks ago
at the Nurburgring. The test ban has
forced teams to introduce development
components onto the cars based purely on
the results from the Wind Tunnel,
Computational Fluid Dynamics and
simulation programmes and, for Ferrari,
this has involved a major change in
culture, given that, as the first team
to have had its own test facility at
Fiorano for decades now, much of its
development work has been based on
results from the test track.
Another reason to cram
in as much work as possible this weekend
is that we are heading for the first
ever official F1 “shutdown” when the
Gestione Sportiva will cease all work
from 3rd to 16th August. The new rules
ban all teams from carrying out any work
on the technical, R and D or
manufacturing side of the team, as part
of the new age of F1, following
proposals by the teams within FOTA. In
the past, while there might have been a
break in the calendar, work at the
factories continued full pelt throughout
the summer months, so this year, the
staff and their families should be able
to enjoy a proper summer break. The
downside of this magnanimous gesture is
that one loses two weeks work at a
critical point in the development of
next year’s car, but the rules are the
same for everyone.
As mentioned before, Michael Schumacher
won in 1998 and the German also took two
more wins here at the wheel of a
Prancing Horse car, while Rubens
Barrichello was also victorious. Current
driver Kimi Raikkonen has also stood on
the top step of the podium, receiving a
huge welcome from the crowd, which, at
the height of the holiday season,
usually sees hordes of Finns making the
trip to turn this into something of a
home race for Kimi and his Finnish F1
predecessors. His win did not come in
red, although he finished second and
third for the Scuderia in 2007 and ’08
respectively. As for Felipe Massa, this
race has not been kind to him with
seventh his best finish. Particularly
tough on the Brazilian was last year’s
event when he was just a handful of
kilometres from a comfortable win,
having dominated the race, when a
con-rod let go, leading to engine
failure. He will be hoping to make up
for that this weekend as indeed will be
the whole team in pursuit of its
realistic target of moving up to third
place in the Constructors’ Championship.
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