Hungarian GP preview – Weekend programme
Hungary will see its 32nd race in the history of Formula One when the Flying Circus arrives in the East-European country for its last race before the summer break. Scorching weather and a tightly packed programme serve as guarantee for an exciting race weekend.
Like many other European venues, the Hungarian Grand Prix weekend will also host the usual support series. Formula 2, GP3 and Porsche SuperCup will all gather together at the twisty, technical, slow-speed circuit located in a beautiful green scenery.
Formula 1The pinnacle of the motorsport completes its 68 championship year in 2017. The highest class of competition for open-wheel racing class visits 20 venues from March until November. Mercedes is the reigning world champion team, having secured its third consecutive title at the 2016 Japanese Grand Prix. It is the first time since 1994 that the defending world champion does not compete in the championship after the German Nico Rosberg decided to retire from the sport at the end of last year.
The Hungarian round of the 2017 Formula One World Championship will mark the 11th race of the season. The battle for the title could not be more exciting. The four-time world champion Sebastian Vettel holds the lead from the triple champion Lewis Hamilton by one single point. Mercedes’ newcomer Valtteri Bottas closed in on the pair by having scored the most points over the last four race weekends.
There are still regular drivers who have not managed yet to score a championship point. Renault’s Jolyon Palmer, Sauber’s Marcus Ericsson and McLaren-Honda’s Stoffel Vandoorne are still yet to open up their point tally.
In the Constructors’ Championship, Mercedes built a big lead of 55 points in front of Ferrari. McLaren-Honda is the last in the standings with its two points scored by Fernando Alonso in the Azerbaijan GP.
Formula 2The 2017 Formula 2 championship is the continuation of the former GP2 series which was introduced in 2005 following the discontinuation of the Formula 3000 championship, GP2 was founded by Bernie Ecclestone and Flavio Briatore.
The series which was rebranded as Formula 2 for this season is regarded as the main feeder series for Formula 1. Eight of its twelve champions graduated to the pinnacle of motorsport like Nico Rosberg, Lewis Hamilton, Timo Glock, Nico Hülkenberg, Pastor Maldonado, Romain Grosjean, Jolyon Palmer and Stoffel Vandoorne.
This year’s inaugural season of the rebranded series sees 22 races in 11 different venues. The championship kicked off in Bahrain in April and will say farewell in Abu Dhabi in November.
Ten teams fight for the title including Prema Racing, ART GP, Campos Racing and DAMS squads.
By having won five from the twelve races, Ferrari-backed driver Charles Leclerc leads the championship ahead of the Russian Time-driver Artem Markelov by a convincing margin of 67 points. Briton Oliver Rowland has still a chance for the crown. The Honda-backed Nobuharu Matsushita is currently in seventh place, McLaren-backed Nyck de Vries occupies the tenth place in the standing for the moment while Ferrari’s protégé Antonio Fucoco sits in the 12th place with his 23 points.
GP3
The 2017 GP3 Championship marks the eighth edition of the series. It is regarded as the sister series of Formula 2 and so as a feeder series of Formula One. Valtteri Bottas and Esteban Ocon both managed to make the jump from the GP3 to Formula One without competing in the former GP2.
The championship stretches out over eight venues which presents 16 races to complete. The calendar builds on the 2017 Formula One World Championship, follows the main series to seven places out of its eight rounds. For costs reasons, the only non-European venue is Abu-Dhabi. The Jerez round will be the only one outside the Formula One racing action.
Six teams compete in the series including the ART, Arden, Trident, DAMS, Jenzer Motorsport and the Campos Racing.
Mercedes-backed George Russel leads the championship by a healthy margin of 35 points in front of Anthoine Hubert. Nirei Fukuzumi occupies currently the third place. The six races saw five different race winners, Fukuzumi, Giuliano Alesi, Raoul Hyman and Arjun Maini all won one race while George Russel proved to be the fastest on two occasions.
In the Constructors’ Championship, ART Grand Prix enjoys an enormous lead of 95 point ahead of the Italian Trident squad.
Porsche SuperCupThe 2017 Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup Championship marks the 25th anniversary for the series. The season started on 13 May at the Circuit de Catalunya.
The Porsche Supercup are a support series on all its venues. It visited Barcelona, Monte Carlo, Austria and Silverstone and is set to make appearance in Hungary, Belgium, Italy and Mexico which will be its only non-European event. Three venues, Barcelona, Belgium and Mexico were and are set to play host to two races on the same race weekend.
Thirteen teams compete in the series in the 2017 campaign. The German Sven Müller is the reigning champion who left the championship for the Super GT series. Former Red Bull-backed formula driver Michael Ammermüller won the first three races of the year and grabbed the second position in the following races in Austria and Silverstone. The Norwegian Dennis Olsen follows him with only 12 points behind.
