F1: Piastri out to boost title bid in Budapest, scene of first win

Khaleej Times

3 days ago

Oscar Piastri returns to the scene of his first victory at the Hungarian Grand Prix this weekend seeking to stretch his lead in the title race over his McLaren teammate Lando Norris.
The 24-year-old Australian, with six wins from 13 races this year, has a 16-point lead over Norris, but he is well aware of the potential pitfalls ahead.
"I'm looking forward to going back to where I had my first win," said Piastri.
"It's a great city and a cool track and a fun weekend so it will be nice, but once we are in the cars and out on track all that will be forgotten."
His victory last year came with the help of team orders.
Having taken the lead from pole-sitter Norris at the start he fell behind during the pit-stops.
McLaren asked Norris to give him the position back, gifting him his maiden triumph in a manner that left the Briton feeling mistreated.
This time, Norris is out to ensure he wins for himself to trim Piastri's advantage.
Second in Belgium where Piastri passed him following a rolling start on a drying rain-affected track, Norris has been less consistent than the metronomic Melburnian.
His slightest errors have been highlighted while the measured Piastri rarely makes mistakes.
A similar scenario is not impossible this weekend with McLaren dominant after taking 10 wins and targeting their 200th win before Formula One takes its summer break.
After the rainstorms in the Ardennes forest at high-speed Spa-Francorchamps, the Hungaroring circuit 25km north of the capital represents a very different challenge – a sinuous and slow track with one straight dubbed "Monaco without the barriers".
'One to forget'
It also offers very different weather with very warm and sunny conditions expected, although there are thunderstorms threatening, making it a twisting and technical challenge for teams and drivers.
The race joined the world championship calendar in 1986 when travelling behind the Iron Curtain into eastern Europe was still considered adventurous, but the first sole nominated Hungarian Grand Prix was held 50 years earlier in Nepliget, a Budapest park.
Ferrari's seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton, in urgent need of a good weekend with a podium finish after "one to forget" as he described his Belgian experience, has won a record eight times at the Hungaroring and also taken a record nine poles.
This could be his chance to secure a first Ferrari podium and lift some of the pressure on the Maranello team.
But the track has a reputation for throwing up surprise winners, often maiden triumphs, and is fondly remembered also by two-time champion Fernando Alonso of Aston Martin who was 22 when he became then the youngest driver to take pole and win a Grand Prix in 2003.
He followed that by taking the drivers' title two years later to become the sport's then-youngest world champion at a venue where Briton Nigel Mansell also clinched the title in 1992.
This weekend's contest will be Alonso's record 22nd in Hungary.
Four-time champion Max Verstappen is set to start his 200th race for Red Bull.
The Dutchman won in 2022 and 2023, but is no longer enjoying imperious superiority with Laurent Mekies at the helm for the second race weekend following the sacking of Christian Horner.