2014 Hungarian Grand Prix - Hungaroring

[SiLo]

People need to stop dreaming that RB will beat Merc here. The engine is utterly inferior contributing to an inferior car (engine is compromised and thus, so is packaging).

It's been a common theme at lots of GP's we have discussed, and they haven't come close in any of them, bar Canada (which was not exactly on merit).

I think Williams, Red Bull and Ferrari will all be close together.

[Juzh]

It will be merc, then RB, ferrari and williams in close combat. Even a renault powered car could possibly hold position round this track, so RB could come out on top in the end.

[SectorOne]

Will be interesting to see Williams here. Could be a bogie-track for them but if they start behind Mercedes again i would be worried if i was Merc.

[dans79]

For the love of god i just hope Lewis gets a clean weekend. If he does, I'm pretty sure he cuts Nico's lead to 7.

[Juzh]

Not many important exits in Hungary though - traction is only important out of Turn 2 and the last corner.
I'm intrigued. What makes you say Red Bull no longer has the top chassis?

Mercedes seem to hit the apexes easier than they do, and of course better exits (not just the heavy accelerations).

I expect Red Bull to be better than the Williams but pose no threat to Mercedes.

I beg to differ - I don't think that's necessarily a sign of a better chassis. The Merc since 2011 has always had a stronger turn in than the Red Bull.

You're saying W02 had better front bite than the RB7? Sorry, but this is simply not the case. The only car to challenge RB7 was mp4-26 on some rare occasions. W03 might have had it at some early races, but it wasn't until W04 that merc had a better turn in. And even that was only until after the summer break.

[Kingshark]

I highly doubt that Red Bull will be any closer to Mercedes here today than they were in Monaco. Red Bull haven't at all been impressive lately.

Williams I think will struggle, they didn't exactly set the world on fire in either Barcelona or Monaco, though the car might have improved since then.

I have a good feeling about Ferrari (don't ask me why), maybe Alonso will be as competitive here as he was in China, but that's mostly wishful thinking.

Realistically though, another dominant victory for Mercedes is likely on the cards. The WO5 is simply mighty fast everywhere, the car has no weakness apart from reliability, kind of like the FW14B.

[Kingshark]

I wonder if the focus on cornering here will even put RB in the contention for the win. Not that hard on brakes to give them the chance they had in Canada though.

Best Sector 3 times, Germany qualifying;


The final sector of Hockenheim is very similar to the 1st and 3rd sector of Hungaroring:


Red Bull were losing 0.133 to 0.227 seconds to Rosberg in this sector, and on balance weren't much, if any quicker than Williams.

[Juzh]

I think RB had tons of understeer intentionally dialled into their cars on purpose. More so than others.

[Sevach]

I wonder if the focus on cornering here will even put RB in the contention for the win. Not that hard on brakes to give them the chance they had in Canada though.

Best Sector 3 times, Germany qualifying;
http://i.imgur.com/sEnN5hR.png

The final sector of Hockenheim is very similar to the 1st and 3rd sector of Hungaroring:
http://i.imgur.com/jHNk4S7.png

Red Bull were losing 0.133 to 0.227 seconds to Rosberg in this sector, and on balance weren't much, if any quicker than Williams.

You pictured S1 times @Kingshark...

Still the real thing doesn't look much better for RBR

Ros 24.100
Vet 24.248
Mag 24.248 (surprising)
Ric 24.311
Bot 24.377
Mas 24.423

@Juzh this is just conjecture based on RBR being nothing special through the stadium, maybe they were running less downforce so they wouldn't be eaten alive on the straight, but there's a strong possibility that Red Bull seeing this is a "wasted" season fell behind in the development race.

[Juzh]

I'm saying this on the fact that RBs looked much better on friday than they did on sunday or satruday. They were pretty steady on short runs in the beginning but then suddenly started to understeer everywhere come fp3 and quali. It could very well be they have to take off downforce in order to not be completely destroyed on the straights ala lotus style, but that again brings us back to having to compensate for shitty renault.

[Harsha]

I think we cant compare S3 of Hockenheim to Hungary as the Downforce levels put on cars will be different
I don't think RBR has the speed to take to Merc but they can pip Williams to place themselves ahead of Chasing pack. I believe RBR already decided this as Wasted season so they are Purely looking for 2015 which is the reason we haven't seen any big updates we usually see from them and of-course their engine is also against them in terms of Performance requirements.

[Kiril Varbanov]

Prior to the last race before the break, here's a summary:

[Sevach]

I'm saying this on the fact that RBs looked much better on friday than they did on sunday or satruday. They were pretty steady on short runs in the beginning but then suddenly started to understeer everywhere come fp3 and quali. It could very well be they have to take off downforce in order to not be completely destroyed on the straights ala lotus style, but that again brings us back to having to compensate for shitty renault.

Well, in Hungary they will run every bit of downforce they got so we might get a chance to see where they stand.

[Kingshark]

You pictured S1 times @Kingshark...

*facepalm*

Anyway, thanks for correcting me.

[f1316]

Prior to the last race before the break, here's a summary:

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BtAJZSMCAAAX2WO.png:large

Interesting to see it in such a visual way - thanks!

All those reds for vettel and kimi - who would've thunk it!