What to expect this weekend? The Hungaroring is hardly used by anyone other than F1 and this makes it very dusty on track at first.

The circuit is essentially like Monaco with run off areas and this tends to mean that there is almost no overtaking during the race. Perhaps this will change with the traction control ban? Hungary has had some pretty eventful races from time to time but only really when it rains. No wonder Martin Brundle doesn’t show up. We will have Anthony Davidson during qualifying (I’ve double triple checked this time – this is a good thing as Ant is very knowledgeable) and for the race we will have Damon Hill (last year’s performance was pretty poor, he really does need to sound slightly more interested).

One interesting problem in Hungary is the strategy call. Tyre degradation is high so you don’t want to put as much fuel in. But on the other hand you can’t overtake so you want to have a big boatload of fuel on board so you can outlast the people you are racing to the pitstops.

The latter is what the back half of the grid will be doing. They will be hoping that some of the faster drivers get stuck behind them too.

The front drivers have a compromise to make. Too much fuel and you won’t be near the front of the grid in qualifying. Too light and you’ll be making too many pitstops.

A tough balance. Lewis has looked mega in the last couple of races.
And looks pretty good this weekend too. McLaren are spending money on car developments like it’s going out of fashion. And he seems to have his head in a much better place. And the McLaren ran really well at Monaco and that’s the best indicator for this track. The only fly in the ointment is the issue of tyre degradation. The silver cars always seem to use up their rubber faster than the rest. This could be a problem. McLaren, I’m sure, would just like to get through the qualifying without their teammates declaring war on each other.

Ferrari have their anvil wing in place this weekend showing they aren’t stopping the development program either. Ferrari do look a bit lost at the moment. But Kimi is usually one of the best at qualifying on heavy fuel loads.

Behind them Kubica, Webber, Trulli and Vettel seem to be either out driving their cars or at least taking apart their team mates. That Webber / Vettel partnership for next year looks pretty potent.

Let us know what your predictions for the race weekend are. Who will be on pole? Who will score points (top eight)? And perhaps we should all go for a crazy prediction?