After back-to-back victories for Mercedes, the F1 field heads across to Hungary where the 2020 Hungarian Grand Prix will be staged on Sunday the 19 of July.
Photo Copyright – Steve Haag Sports
Well, it may be the craziest year the world has seen for quite some time but things are as normal as can be when it comes to on-track F1 racing with Mercedes making it back-to-back wins from the opening two race weekends.
Will the Silver Arrows make it the third one in succession when the teams line up at the Hungaroring or will one of the other teams spoil the party?
Belgian Grand Prix
Sunday 19 January
Hungaroring
To Win Race Outright
Lewis Hamilton 13/20
Valterri Bottas 3/1
Max Verstappen 4/1
Alex Albon 33/1
Sergio Perez 33/1
Carlos Sainz 33/1
Previous Race
The second consecutive weekend at the Red Bull Ring may not have produced as many crashes as the first but there was still drama galore with Sebastian Vettel and teammate Charles LeClerc crashing into each other on the first lap, with the young LeClerc being the one to cause the accident.
With the Ferraris out of the running, there was a great opportunity for some of the lesser teams to claim points, and that they did with Daniil Kvyat bringing his Alpha Tauri home in tenth behind the McLaren of Carlos Sainz (ninth) and the Renault of Daniel Ricciardo (eighth).
It was a better weekend for Racing Point who built on Sergio Perez’s sixth-place finish last weekend by claiming sixth and seventh with Perez yet again taking sixth and Lance Stroll coming in behind him.
Lando Norris ensured a McLaren would rack up a solid points haul as he drove his car home in fifth behind the Red Bull of Alex Albon (fourth).
The podium had a very familiar look to it as Mercedes completed a one-two with Hamilton taking race honours and Bottas claiming second. The duo was followed across the line by the Red Bull of Max Verstappen.
Track
The Hungaroring really is a feat of Soviet ingenuity with the track, which was built near the backend of the Cold War, boasting the fastest construction time of any F1 facility, taking little over eight months to build. The circuit is situated in the city of Mogyorod which is located some 18 kilometres outside of the Hungarian capital of Budapest.
The track consists of fourteen turns and covers a total race distance of 306.63 kilometres. Drivers will do battle over 70, 4.381km laps, which feature with the two DRS Zones situated between turns one and two, and the start/finish straight.
Last year’s race honours were taken by Lewis Hamilton, while Max Verstappen came in second and Sebastian Vettel claimed third. Verstappen also landed pole position and the fastest lap.
It’s early in the week so the forecast may well change but as it stands it looks like there will be a bit of rain around this coming weekend. The local weather bureau is predicting the most rain to fall on Friday while a slight bit of drizzle is being forecast for Saturday and Sunday.
Value Bet
Sebastian Vettel – Podium Finish
The German man be having a tough time of it at the minute but he offers great value for a podium berth, especially considering how good a record he holds at the Hungaroring.
Vettel has finished on the podium at this track in four of the last five races staged in the country. He has also won two of these last five races.
To Win Race Outright
Lewis Hamilton @ 12/20
The Brit is the most successful driver at the track having won seven races at the Hungaroring, including the last two.
He returned to form last week as he won the second race weekend out at the Red Bull Ring. Simply put, only a fool would bet against Hamilton winning his ninth Hungarian Grand Prix.
