2014 Hungarian Grand Prix - Hungaroring

[iotar__]

My usual reliable forecast that covers Budapest goes back and forth every 12 hours (small rain ATM). I'm afraid it's going to be like Korea 2013, even weather used to be better in the past .
I changed my mind: any rain is better for Hamilton mainly because in the dry Rosberg wins, only weather can change it, more to lose.

[atanatizante]

Niki Lauda said on RTL that Lewis has the Friday engine to avoid penalty later in the season ... so his drama never ends ...

This would mean yesterday's engine is completely gone
They have two new engines for Monza and Spa with which they could finish the rest of the season...using one of those today would mean they would need yesterday's engine again.

What can they change at the ICE or ERS that don't receive a penalty?

[Juzh]

Hamilton gets a 5s stop go penalty as well, no?

[henra]

It would appear that Vettel is getting his groove back. He finished ahead of Ricciardo last weekend and today he was near .2s faster in Q3.

Which is about time.
Even knowing that he has always been a bit dependent on the car suiting his liking but this year it has really taken long to adapt. Question is if the car slowly approaches his style or if he is slowly adapting to the car?
Maybe a bit of both.
In a car that really suits him this guy seems to be lightning fast but if it doesn't fit, it appears to throw him off more than many other drivers.

[kalinka]

It's raining !
EDIT > It was a short but heavy rain,now it stopped, but more to come later...

[Traction]

Hamilton gets a 5s stop go penalty as well, no?

It would be a nice cherry on the top

[thomin]

Raining massively now...good news for Lewis as he can change his setup whereas the other cars are restricted by parc-fermé rules and can only adapt the front wing.

[iotar__]

It's raining !
EDIT > It was a short but heavy rain,now it stopped, but more to come later...

Good =D> . Without rain: Merc has no competition, Williams might be fighting Red Bull depending on drivers, Alonso might be somewhere behind if lucky but in general little to look forward to, cars in their own bubbles.

[henra]

This would mean yesterday's engine is completely gone
They have two new engines for Monza and Spa with which they could finish the rest of the season...using one of those today would mean they would need yesterday's engine again.

I guess the fire might have killed all tubing and wiring, not so much the engine itself. This might be fixed in the workshops at home in a couple of days. So they could possibly re- use that basic engine later again. Maybe kust not able to fix it on site and quickly enough which makes sense with the compicated electrics of this year's engines. I don't think the ICE will be a complete write-off.

With an alternative strategy a tiny bit of luck (you simply can't be unlucky forever) and the performance of car and driver I expect to see him at least on P4 at the end of the day.

[Shrieker]

The track is well wet at the moment. Let's see what happens in half an hour tho.

[mikeerfol]

So the rain has stopped for now but more will come...

[Juzh]

Hamilton gets a 5s stop go penalty as well, no?

It would be a nice cherry on the top

Well caterham to break curfew last weekend and they got 5s stop go. Depends now if merc somehow managed to prepare the car in time to not break it.

[atanatizante]

Now Toto Wolf said on RTL that Lewis has a new engine and he has a dry setup coz its the same thing ?!?
Maybe Lewis bad luck could change into a good luck and a win like Barrichelo did in the old Hockenheim back in 2000 ...
That would be epic to win from the dead last, isn't it?

[thomin]

On German TV it was reported that their latest weather report says that no more rain will come down...so a wet setup would be risky after all. How the race unfolds will all depend on how fast the track dries.

[kalinka]

I can't imagine how all this rain will NOT come across the track... > http://www.idokep.hu/radar
The track is just slightly off to the east from Budapest. This huge cloud with storms is heading straight there. Of course I'm not a meteorologist