F1 Talk: Red Bull determined to stop Mercedes dominant form in Budapest

After securing a win a piece for both drivers and showing themselves to be the class of the field by some margin, Mercedes head to Budapest for this weekend’s Hungarian GP in high spirits.

Valtteri Bottas heads his six-times world champion team-mate Lewis Hamilton by six points in the drivers championship while the silver arrows leave Austria 41 points clear of their nearest challengers McLaren.

While theoretically the low-speed nature of the Hungaroring should be more favourable to Red Bull Racing, as it is the venue where Max Verstappen took his first pole position last year, Mercedes still head to Budapest as clear favourites.

So the question remains which driver will be able to master Budapest ?

After Lewis’ commanding display at last weekend’s Styrian GP, Bottas knows that he needs to respond with that Silverstone double-header seeming to have all the hallmarks for a Hamilton domination.

But with the Hungaroring being one of Hamilton’s favourite tracks, Bottas will have to be on his A-game to beat the six-time champ this weekend.

McLaren will leave Austria in disbelief of the position they find themselves in as Mercedes closest challenger after the first two Grand Prix.

While the first race saw the Woking-based team get a huge slice of luck with the final lap of dreams from their youngster Lando Norris to score his maiden F1 podium.

They backed it up in the second race and have demonstrated great single-lap pace in both wet and dry conditions.

At the same time, it is worth saying that McLaren are still down when it comes to long-run high fuel running at the start of the Grand Prix, but they are in a much better place than they could have dreamed of even last season.

Red Bull will be disappointed after the Austrian double-header knowing that they have let Mercedes off the hook with a double retirement in the first race which could have seen a 1-2 for the team was a hammer-blow for the Milton Keynes squad.

While they maximized their package with a 3-4 in the Styrian race, they find themselves third in the teams championship and sixth and eighth in the drivers standings respectively. Budapest will be an important weekend for the team.

Racing Point head to Budapest fourth in the teams championship after finishing sixth and seventh at last weekend’s race.

But it is the politics off-circuit that has dominated the headlines; Renault have launched a formal protest of the Racing Point car which could well run and run throughout the season. Also, Sebastian Vettel has been linked to a possible drive at the team which will be renamed Aston Martin in 2021 with Sergio Perez set to be the one to face the axe.

But despite the drama off-circuit, they know that they need to focus on their performance on track and they have a great car to do that.

If things have been heating up off-track for Racing Point, Ferrari’s on-track performances are already starting to create a stir in the Italian media.

After two races where Ferrari have looked like a mid-grid team at best, with a double retirement in the second of the Austrian races has seen many say that this weekend’s Hungarian GP could be crunch-time for current team principal Mattia Binotto.

After replacing former team principal Maurizo Arrivabene at the start of 2019, the Scuderia’s lack of performance, which is suspected to be due at least in part be due to the agreement between Ferrari and the FIA over their power unit, has marked a new low for the Italian team.

According to the Corriere della Sera, Binotto could be replaced by Antonello Coletta (Head of Ferrari Attività Sportive GT) if the situation does not improve once the planned updates for this weekend’s race have been put on the SF-1000.

Renault had a mixed time in Austria as both drivers retired due to a radiator failure on both cars in the Austrian and Styrian GPs respectively. But they both picked up points are were in mix with the likes of Racing Point and McLaren on both low and high fuel.

While sixth place in the championship and just eight points may not sound great, if they can improve their reliability for future races, Renault should have a decent season ahead.

Alpha Tauri have had a slow start to 2020 but have shown good solid pace after the Austrian races with seven points and seventh in the championship. The recently-renamed Italian team showed great potential and will be hopeful that they can have a good outing around Hungary as this venue has been a good one for the team in the past.

Alfa Romeo will be relieved that they have a couple of points to their name after a slow start to 2020. Both drivers look on the back foot and after with no power unit to shout about, they are struggling to compete in the mid-pack this season.

Williams will be satisfied as while they do not have any points, they showed potential with Nicholas Latifi finishing his maiden F1 race in eleventh and George Russell qualifying twelfth in the Styrian GP before sliding down to the back after a lap two error while fighting in the mid-pack. Hungary will be another challenge, but there are reasons to be optimistic. Another Q2 performance will be justification for their team rebuilding over the past 2 years.

Haas will hope they can start again with very little to celebrate so far this year. At a venue where Kevin Magnussen qualified sixth, the pair leave completely pointless. In Hungary haas to be better surely…

As the F1 circus saddles up for Budapest, Mercedes are once again roaring away with a car that is on a different planet from the opposition. But around the tight, twisty Budapest anything is possible in Formula 1.