Budapest: Lewis Hamilton may trail Mercedes teammate Nico Rosberg in the Formula One world championship standings but a return to his favoured Hungarian Grand Prix on Sunday gives him the chance to close the gap.
The British driver Hamilton has four victories at the 4.381-kilometre Hungaroring, a record he shares with German great Michael Schumacher, and he is looking for a fifth in the last race before the summer break.
Hamilton trails Rosberg by 14 points in the standings so a win would cut that deficit in half — at the very least. If Rosberg finishes outside the top four, Hamilton could even reclaim the world championship lead with victory.
“I don’t really have any secrets there — I’ve just been very fortunate in that race and it’s a circuit I really enjoy,” Hamilton told the Mercedes home page.
“It’s one where you can really attack, which works for an attacking driver like myself, so perhaps it suits my driving style a little bit more than some others.
“I’m doing absolutely everything I can to get back on level terms with Nico in the title battle — I can’t focus more or work harder than I am doing right now.”
Hamilton’s performance in recent races has been excellent but he has had to make up for slips in qualifying.
Rosberg on the other hand has been a picture of consistency. He has not qualified outside the top four and has claimed pole position in four of the last five races.
Victory in last week’s German Grand Prix completed a remarkable spell for Rosberg, after his wedding, a new contract from Mercedes and Germany winning the World Cup.
“In the past couple of weeks, so many positive things have happened to me,” he said. Maintaining his standings lead going into the summer break would surely count as another.
The performance of Rosberg and Hamilton has given Mercedes a clear lead in the constructors’ championship, but Williams are now up to third thanks to the impressive run of Valtteri Bottas.
The Finn has claimed three consecutive podium finishes and hopes to impress again in Hungary.
“We are aiming for a good result there so we head into the holidays with a good feeling,” Bottas said. “We know it’s not the best circuit for our car but we are working on getting more grip in the corners and we have some upgrades that should help as well.
“There are always a few fans from Finland, it’s almost like a Finnish Grand Prix so I hope to pay the fans back with a good result.”
Red Bull are second in the standings but four-time reigning world champion Sebastian Vettel has had a difficult campaign so far. Daniel Ricciardo, in his first season, has outperformed his more illustrious teammate.
But the Australian has mixed feelings on the Hungarian Grand Prix.
“It’s one of those weird situations where the driving is very satisfying but the racing, perhaps, is not,” he said.
“It’s a great, great track in qualifying, where you’re driving on low fuel and fresh tyres — there’s no let up and you’re completely in the moment.
“In a race though overtaking is difficult because the track is quite narrow and that exciting sequence of corners doesn’t give you the opportunity to line up a pass.”
Ricciardo is the only non-Mercedes driver to taste victory this season and will have to be at this best throughout the weekend if he is to challenge the dominant Rosberg/Hamilton double-act once more.
