What's at stake this weekend at Hungary?

This weekend sees the world of F1 gathering at the Hungaroring for the 11th round of the 2007 World Championship. Between controversy and what’s at stake from a sporting point of view the grand prix looks like being a very exciting one. Here’s why!

Three words sum up the situation: All out war! The FIA World Council handed down its judgement last week on the spying affair that involves the two teams. While the Federation declared McLaren guilty of being in possession of illegal documents and in breach of article 151c of the international sporting regulations, it did not inflict any punishment on the British team. The Scuderia was scandalised by this and went to the Italian Federation, which asked the FIA to have the affair re-examined by the Appeal Court. On Wednesday (yesterday), McLaren hit back by publishing a long letter in which it gave a detailed account of its position. Along other things Ron Dennis said that Ferrari had won the Australian Grand Prix with an illegal car. In short, the ambience is anything but friendly, and each of the two main championship contenders will be out to win Sunday’s race to consolidate its position on the political front.

Yes is the answer. Since Magny-Cours Ferrari seems to have eked out a slight advantage in terms of performance, as Kimi Raïkkönen won both the French and British events while Felipe Massa led for most of the European Grand Prix until the final shower. But the Maranello team is still suffering from defective reliability. In addition, the Hungaroring is often compared to Monaco where McLaren dominated earlier this season. Should Ferrari win on Sunday it will prove that it is capable of closing the gap to the Woking outfit. If McLaren sees the chequered flag then it will probably be well placed to maintain its advantage until the end of the season. In the chase for the drivers’ title Fernando Alonso is back to within 2 points of Lewis Hamilton, and maybe the championship will have a new leader after Hungary!

There will be 2 new faces on the grid. Sakon Yamamoto is replacing Markus Winkelhock in the Spyker squad and is supposed to keep the drive until the end of the season. Toro Roso and Scot Speed have parted ways and the American will be replaced by Sebastian Vettel until the end of the year. The young German, BMW’s protégé, substituted for the injured Robert Kubica at Indianapolis and drove an excellent race.

Yes, it’s a distinct possibility. It will be dry and fine on Friday and Saturday but there are likely to be storms on Sunday. Whether these will burst over the circuit during the race or afterwards remains to be seen.

This race will take place on a very twisty track that has good memories for Renault as it was on the Hungaroring that the team scored its first victory in 2003. Its aim will be to maximise the efficiency of the R27 fitted with its new front wing in order to get closer to BMW and capture third place in the constructors’ championship.