Monaco, of course, favoured the McLarens earlier this year, and as the ‘Ring is similar in nature, this event could be a good one for Ron Dennis’ men.
I’d expect it to be a little bit more difficult for Ferrari, with its longer wheelbase car and, although the two teams are quite evenly matched, this might be an ideal track for
McLaren to fight back.
Certainly, it is going to be an important race for current championship leader
Lewis Hamilton, after his McLaren team-mate,
Fernando Alonso, cut the gap to just two points in Germany.
We are past the halfway stage now, and it is this time of the season that really takes its toll on the drivers. This is going to be a new experience for Lewis. He has had a wonderful season so far, and is still P1 in the drivers’ race, but his advantage has been cut heavily.
Now the pressure is on for him to maintain the lead. He needs to make sure he has a healthy gap when he comes away from Hungary, and that means Alonso needs to be a few places behind.
Fernando definitely looks on his game at the moment though, and it is not going to be easy for Lewis to do that.
As for Ferrari,
Kimi Raikkonen seems to be really at home with the car. The Scuderia seem to have adjusted it now so that it suits him, and that is what he has been looking for since he got there. It was unfortunate that he suffered from reliability problems in Germany, because I think he would have been in a very strong position.
Of the rest,
BMW Sauber was a bit disappointing in Germany and, in the end, had to settle for sixth and seventh. I would imagine they will be stronger this weekend and this could be one of the circuits that plays into their hands.
However, although we still see great pace and progress from them, BMW is still just lacking what it needs to get into contention with McLaren and
Ferrari. That is going to be their hardest step now towards the end of this season.
