The 2008 Hungarian Grand Prix

FORMULA 1 ING MAGYAR NAGYDIJ 2008



The first Hungarian Grand Prix (Hungarian: Magyar Nagydíj) was held on June 21, 1936 over a 3.1-mile (5.0 km) track laid out in Népliget[1], a park in Budapest. The Mercedes-Benz, Auto Union, and Ferrari teams all sent three cars and the event drew a very large crowd. However, politics and the ensuing war meant the end of Grand Prix motor racing in the country for fifty years.

A major coup by Bernie Ecclestone, the 1986 Hungarian Grand Prix was the first Formula One race to take place behind the Iron Curtain. Held at the twisty Hungaroring near Budapest, the race has been a mainstay of the racing calendar. Run in the heat of a central European summer, it also holds the distinction of being the only current Grand Prix venue that had never seen a wet race up until the 2006 Hungarian Grand Prix. The first Grand Prix saw 200,000 people spectating, although tickets were expensive at the time. Today, the support is still very enthusiastic, particularly from Finns.

Grand Prix History
Hungary first hosted a grand prix in the 1930s, but following the Second World War and the building of the Iron Curtain it was not until the 1960s that motorsport began to find a place in the country.

At the start of the 1980s there was a general wish for a Grand Prix to be held behind the Iron Curtain and negotiations took place with the Soviet Union with a view to a race being held in Moscow. In the summer of 1983 however, the attention of the Formula One decision makers turned away from Moscow and towards Budapest in Hungary, whose national sporting authority was keen to put the country back on the map of global motorsport.

At first a street race through Budapest was suggested, but in the end the decision was taken to build a brand new circuit in a valley 19 kilometres outside Budapest. The valley provided natural vantage points for spectators and in 1985 work began on the Hungaroring. The track opened in 1986 and it held its first Formula One event in August that year. It was a huge success and almost 200,000 fans showed up.

Although tight and twisty, the circuit has been known to throw up some great races, the most memorable being Thierry Boutsen's win in 1990, beating Ayrton Senna by 0.3 seconds, and of course the 1997 race where Damon Hill in the Arrows sensationally passed Michael Schumacher's Ferrari only to be denied the win by mechanical failure on the very last lap.

Grand Prix Information
Information on Grand Prix races on current track only.
Laps 70
Circuit length 4.381 km (2.722 miles)
Race length 306.663 km (190.560 miles)
Turns 16
Direction Clockwise

Most wins by single driver Michael Schumacher (4)
Most wins by single constructor Williams/McLaren (7)

Lap Record Race 1:19.071
Lap Record Driver Michael Schumacher (2004)
Lap Record Team Ferrari

Tires Prime Soft
Tires Optional Super-Soft


Current championship standings
DRIVERS:
Pos Driver Team Points Finishes in Pts Wins Podiums
1 Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 58 7 4 6
2 Felipe Massa Ferrari 54 7 3 6
3 Kimi Räikkönen Ferrari 51 8 2 5
4 Robert Kubica BMW Sauber 48 8 1 4
5 Nick Heidfeld BMW Sauber 41 7 0 3
6 Heikki Kovalainen McLaren-Mercedes 28 7 0 1
7 Jarno Trulli Toyota 20 6 0 1
8 Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault 18 6 0 0
9 Fernando Alonso Renault 13 5 0 0
10 Rubens Barrichello Brazilian 11 3 0 1
11 Nelsinho Piquet Renault 10 2 0 1
12 Nico Rosberg Williams-Toyota 8 3 0 1
13 Kazuki Nakajima Williams-Toyota 8 4 0 0
14 David Coulthard Red Bull-Renault 6 1 0 1
15 Sebastian Vettel STR-Ferrari 6 3 0 0
16 Timo Glock Toyota 5 1 0 0
17 Jenson Button Honda 3 1 0 0
18 Sebastien Bourdais STR-Ferrari 2 1 0 0
19 Giancarlo Fisichella Force India-Ferrari 0 0 0 0
20 Takuma Sato Super Aguri-Honda 0 0 0 0
21 Adrian Sutil Force-India-Ferrari 0 0 0 0
22 Anthony Davidson Super Aguri-Honda 0 0 0 0

TEAMS:
Pos Team Points Finishes in Pts Wins Podiums
1 Ferrari 105 15 5 11
2 BMW Sauber 89 15 1 7
3 McLaren-Mercedes 86 14 4 7
4 Toyota 25 6 0 1
5 Red Bull-Renault 24 7 0 1
6 Renault 23 7 0 1
7 Williams-Toyota 16 7 0 1
8 Honda 14 4 0 1
9 STR-Ferrari 8 4 0 0
10 Force India-Ferrari 0 0 0 0
11 Super Aguri-Honda 0 0 0 0


Last Race (2007)
Statistics from the last race on this track.
Winner Lewis Hamilton
Winning team McLaren-Mercedes
Winning time 1:27:51.693

Pole time 1:19.674 / 1:19.781
Pole driver Fernando Alonso / Lewis Hamilton
Pole team McLaren Mercedes
Pole note Fernando Alonso was demoted to 6th due to blocking Hamilton in the pitlane

Fastest lap 1:20.047
Fastest lap driver Kimi Räikkönen
Fastest lap team Ferrari

Finishers in points:
Pos Driver Team Laps Time Grid Points
1 Lewis Hamitlon McLaren-Mercedes 70 1:35:52.991 1 10
2 Kimi Räikkönen Ferrari 70 +0.715 3 8
3 Nick Heidfeld BMW Sauber 70 +43.129 2 6
4 Fernando Alonso McLaren-Mercedes 70 +44.858 6 5
5 Robert Kubica BMW Sauber 70 +47.616 7 4
6 Ralf Schumacher Toyota 70 +50.669 5 3
7 Nico Rosberg Williams-Toyota 70 +59.139 4 2
8 Heikki Kovalainen Renault 70 +1:08.104 11 1

Best Times Last Race (2007)
Best times set during the race weekend.
Fastest lap 1:19.301
Fastest lap driver Lewis Hamilton
Fastest lap team McLaren-Mercedes
Session Qualifying (Q2)

Sector 1 time 28.397 seconds
Sector 1 driver Lewis Hamilton
Sector 1 team McLaren-Mercedes
Session Qualifying

Sector 2 time 28.390 seconds
Sector 2 driver Lewis Hamilton
Sector 2 team McLaren-Mercedes
Session Qualifying

Sector 3 time 22.424 seconds
Sector 3 driver Lewis Hamilton
Sector 3 team McLaren-Mercedes
Session Qualifying

Combined best lap 1:19.211
Notes:
Best sector times of races are unavailable, the sector times presented are the fastest ones of those that are available and may not represent the fastest times during the weekend.

Timetable
Local time: CEST (UTC + 2 Hours)
Western European Times (UK etc.): CEST - 1 Hour
Eastern European Times (Finland etc.): CEST + 1 Hour

Session UTC/GMT CEST EDT Stream / Channel
Friday 1st August
F1 Friday Practice 1 08:00-09:30 10:00-11:30 04:00-05:30 ITV
F1 Friday Practice 2 12:00-13:30 14:00-15:30 08:00-09:30 Several Available (See Streams)

Saturday 2nd August
F1 Saturday Practice 09:00-10:00 11:00-12:00 05:00-06:00 See Streams
F1 Qualifying 12:00 14:00 08:00 Several Available (See Streams)

Sunday 3rd August
F1 Race (70 Laps) 12:00 14:00 08:00 Several Available (See Streams)


Weather
Check these sites for weather updates, 5-10 day forecast:
Weather.com
Accuweather
Yahoo Weather
BBC Weather

Live Streams

Spoiler

Programs used: Sopcast, TVU Player, PPMate, TV Ants
Schedule

Code:

CHANNEL            STREAM          STREAM ID  TYPE                FP1  FP2  FP3  Qualifying  Race  
ITV                ITV Web         N/A        Flash - Web based     X    X                X     X
SpeedTV            Wheels          N/A        TVU Player                 X                X     X       
Star Sports        Star Sports     10005      TVU Player                                  X     X 
                   Star Sports     N/A        PPMate                                      X     X 
CCTV5              CCTV5           10007      TVUPlayer                                         X 
                   CCTV5           6002       SopCast                                           X  
RTL                RTL Web         N/A        MMS - Web based                             X     X
Eurosport France   Eurosport (?)   N/A        TVAnts                X    X    X                     

Links:
ITV 1 2, Wheels, Star Sports TVU, Star Sports PPMate, CCTV 5 SopCast, CCTV 5 TVU, CCTV 5 TVAnts, CCTV 5 PPMate, RTL
Notes:

• For future use of the ITV stream you can save the .swf file to your hard drive and play it from there. You may lose the player controls though. It is possible that you may need a UK proxy for the ITV stream at some point.
• There should be a SopCast stream for FP3, but it is very unstable due to it's high load and will suffer from a lot of buffering. Avoid it if you can.
• Possible stream for GP2: Web, Player only (works in Media Player Classic)

Live Timing
Live Timing for all sessions, requires Java & account on F1.com:
http://www.formula1.com/services/live_timing/live_timing_popup.html

Results
Free Pratice 1
Free Pratice 2
Free Pratice 3
Qualifying
Race

Sources and links:
Wikipedia - Hungarian Grand Prix
The Official Formula 1 Website
Hungarian Grand Prix Official Website

***All credits to D A for completing those fantastic overviews.

So ... Lewis to dominate once more and making hattrick this season? Kimi finally ending his bad luck without being a winner in previous 6 GPs? Felipe to win somewhere else than Turkey and Bahrain? BMW? And the ultra-tight midpack?

 

Schumacher lost the WDC because a bad strategy