After back to back races, F1 moves onto three on the trot, as the teams move over the border from Austria to Hungary to continue the new season. Leaving Austria the main winners have been McLaren, picking up an unexpected Podium, along with establishing themselves as second in the Constructors Championship, albeit after two races. Mercedes are also in with a shout, recording two in two for race wins.
On the other end of the spectrum, the Ferrari powered teams all seemed to struggle around the compact Red Bull Ring, meaning that they are likely going to struggle around the Hungaroring too. All eyes will be on Sebastian Vettel, in more ways than one, following a disappointing couple of weeks.
Silly Season Continues
In the week between the two Grand Prixs, silly season has very much continued. This time with the news that Vettel is interested in the Racing Point drive for the 2021 season, which will become an Aston Martin based venture next year. As a result, Sergio Perez is anticipating that he will be the driver to lose his seat, given that Lawrence Stroll is the man with a large stake in the team and he is speculated to take preference in his son, Lance.
Perez has claimed that he has already received an offer from inside and outside of F1, with speculation that Haas and Red Bull could both be destinations for the Mexican. However he is still confident he will be with the team for next year. Along with all of this, Williams are set to keep George Russell and Nicholas Latifi on for the 2021 season, leading many to come to the conclusion that Valtteri Bottas is staying at Mercedes for following season.
Racing Point vs Renault
A major source of controversy in the past week has been Renault's accusations towards Racing Point about the legality of their cars. The main issue that the factory team have is about the rule regarding teams using other teams intellectual property. With pictures of the RP20 this season making a striking resemblance to last seasons Mercedes.
"I can tell you absolutely, categorically all those designs are Racing Point from absolute scratch" - Racing Point's technical director speaking to Formula One.com
The RP20 has drawn attention since the early days of testing at the start of the year, when it was dubbed 'The pink Mercedes', a nickname that has stuck for both fans and pundits alike. The specific issue that Renault have with the car is the front an rear brake ducts. With Cyril Abiteboul even going as far to suggest that Racing Point are 'Proud' of copying whilst speaking to French outlet Canal+.
The Hungaroring
The Hungaroring is situated just outside of Budapest and is one of the slowest tracks on the calendar and heralds similarities between itself and Monaco due to its tight layout and tricky corners. Historically teams with good downforce have prospered here, another similarity between itself and Monaco.
Back in 2019, Mercedes provided Lewis Hamilton a strategy that allowed him to get past Max Verstappen and take the win in the race that only saw one retirement , the Haas of Romain Grosjean. Given the current form that Mercedes are in it could be another win for the 'Silver Arrows'. Last year McLaren also had a good result with Carlos Sainz finishing in 6th place, meaning that they too could also record a decent result.
All session will be shown live on Sky Sports F1, with highlights of both qualiying and the race itself shown on Channel 4.