Kimi in Hungary....

[Mr V]

....what can we realisticaly expect next weekend?

Given that the Hungaroring is a dust bowl and the worst circuit along with Monaco for overtaking, what does Kimi and the team do?

As he goes out first, does he go very light for track position, or normal fuel load and qualify mid pack?

Trouble for Kimi and McLaren is whatever he does, he's not likely to be looking at a good finishing position, which compounds for the Turkish GP.

[Jordi]

His goal should be finishing ahead of Schumacher. The title is all but lost now and Alonso will likely be on the first row anyway.

[Menelaos]

Qual just a bit light. If you look at the qualies in Hockenheim he made a fantastic time (and it was also compromised by a mistake) and had more fuel than anyone else. He can just be a little light (5 laps less) and do perfectly well. He will drive brilliantly all weekend, so that won't be too hard. But then some mechanical problem will stop him on Sunday and we'll all be saying "ah, not again".

[Mike_Wooshy]

if i was kimi id fill my car right up and just go aslong as i can and try to put in a blistering lap and just go longer than anyone in the race and try to gain something like that !

[Mr V]

Originally Posted by Menelaos

Qual just a bit light. If you look at the qualies in Hockenheim he made a fantastic time (and it was also compromised by a mistake) and had more fuel than anyone else.

JPM had the most fuel of anybody at Hockenheim. Hungary is alot different from Hockenheim though, he (Kimi) has to go out first, on a track that is the most "dusty" of any circuit on the calendar.

[Mr V]

Originally Posted by Mike_Wooshy

if i was kimi id fill my car right up and just go aslong as i can and try to put in a blistering lap and just go longer than anyone in the race and try to gain something like that !

Trouble with that is, he'll qualify behind the Toyota's, Ferrari's, Red Bull's etc etc. He'd probably have the better race pace, but won't be able to get past until the first pitstops, by which time, the Renaults, JPM and Jenson will be long gone.

[Menelaos]

Originally Posted by Mr V

Trouble with that is, he'll qualify behind the Toyota's, Ferrari's, Red Bull's etc etc.

Trouble is he'll qualify behind TRULLI!!! Who I really really like as a driver and as a guy (from as far as one can understand from interviews etc), but hell he's a chicane!!

[Mike_Wooshy]

the problem is with fueling light is he will deffo come out in traffic by which time the front runners will be gone !

[Menelaos]

Originally Posted by Mr V

JPM had the most fuel of anybody at Hockenheim. Hungary is alot different from Hockenheim though, he (Kimi) has to go out first, on a track that is the most "dusty" of any circuit on the calendar.

Yeah, I meant more than anyone else who actually made it around. And by the way, here's the difference between JPM and Raikkonen. JPM makes a stupid mistake and he falls back in a track that helps you overtake and 10 cars step aside for various reasons and he's past them (including TRULLI) in one lap. Raikkonen is a pure unlucky guy. Not only does he lose 10 points through no fault of his own, but he also has to qualify FIRST in a track that's dusty as I don't know what AND is bad for overtaking. I can't believe his bad luck. I don't know, he must really shoot a couple of Mercedes people.

[JeremySmith]

Originally Posted by Mr V

JPM had the most fuel of anybody at Hockenheim. Hungary is alot different from Hockenheim though, he (Kimi) has to go out first, on a track that is the most "dusty" of any circuit on the calendar.

Excuse my lack of knowledge I have not seen a race at Hungary it is worse than a track like Bahrain for dust?

[Kicking-back]

Originally Posted by Mr V

JPM had the most fuel of anybody at Hockenheim.

We don't know how much he had in qualifying - he changed engine and refuelled before the race.

[Gt_R]

Indeed, JPM's car was refuelled before the race.

Given that by the time qualifying starts at Hungary, the track would have settled down and cleared up, i believe the first 5 runners would be affected by approximately 0.3 to 0.5 sec per lap (according to what team engineers claim during interview, factoring in the twisty nature of the circuit).

However, the Mclaren seem to be capable of a 0.3sec gap in qualifying with similar fuel load to their main rivals..Hence, i believe Mclaren would try for a normal fuel load, no need for compromises, and hope Kimi would do well enough for a top 3 slot. In fact, i expect Kimi's Mclaren to be fast enough to be within the top 6, if not top 5.

Their main hope is to get JPM ahead of FA, and Kimi as near to FA as possible.. with the race not compromised.

[luke]

I expect we will not see Kimi on the button untill Istanbul, then his title shot would have got even smaller.
All Mclaren can hope for is Montoya to take as many points of both Alonso and Renault.

[Kicking-back]

Kimi has the pace to still be able to win in Hungary.

[steve_r]

If he can qualify in the top 8 or so, then a podium is possible. Trouble is that Hungary is very difficult to overtake.

[Armco Bender]

Whatever happens it will be a boring race with even more boring TV coverage.

[Kicking-back]

And I'd still rather watch it than Moto GP!

[Armco Bender]

Wait till Rossi comes to F1 then you'll get the best of both.

[luke]

Originally Posted by Kicking-back

And I'd still rather watch it than Moto GP!

At least the races are not won on pit stops or people dropping out due to mechanical faliures.

[luke]

Anyway back on topic, Alonso surely is favourite to win....

[Knowlesy]

Yep, MotoGP is as good if not better than F1. But this is off topic.

Kimi is in for a tough time at Hungary and I think the best he can realistically hope for is fourth. The dust that blows across the track is ridiculous and can only hinder those who qualify early.

I expect him just to fuel heavy and go for the long run.

[Mr V]

Originally Posted by JeremySmith

Excuse my lack of knowledge I have not seen a race at Hungary it is worse than a track like Bahrain for dust?

Well, thats a difficult one to answer, although at Bahrain, they "glue" the sand, Hungary, they don't. At least aat Nahrain a driver can overtake, Hungary is as bad as Monaco.

[Mr V]

Originally Posted by Kicking-back

We don't know how much he had in qualifying - he changed engine and refuelled before the race.

Sorry, just quoting Martin Brundle. Plus JPM mentioned it in the press conference.

[BootsOntheSide]

Having to run first at Hungaroring is a real double whammy, and it brings the unfairness of the system of deciding the qualifying order back into sharp focus. Whatever the new system is for next year, I hope any one-shot system isn't as unfairly ordered as this. World Superbikes has 2 hours of qualifying to decide the order for Superpole.

Running heavy doesn't seem to have cost Kimi a lot of time in previous events, so I think going towards a 2-stop strategy might be the best option, especially if practice sugegsts that they have a big performance advantage on the teams other than Renault, and can thus get ahead of them for the early stint of the race. FInsihing 3rd behind JPM and Fernando may be doable, but evne that would make the championship even less likely.

[ralf fan]

Well Kimi is in deep trouble....
You can lose so much time following the slower cars there with no hopes of overtaking.....