Our F1 guest writer, Justin Johns, brings you a Hungary F1 Grand Prix Preview.

Everyone should be terrified of Lewis Hamilton after the German race. He absolutely destroyed the field and stamped his authority as the title favorite for this season, and years to come. How do you beat a guy who starts 14th and still wins? And before people start to moan about team orders for not letting Bottas attempt a pass, there was no way Valtteri was going to pass Lewis. I have said it before; Lewis is the best at wheel-to-wheel combat and he would have won that battle in my opinion.

Tyre management

The key to that win was conservation of his tyres whilst still maintaining the pace of the leaders, almost Prost like. It is quite an attribute to possess in this age of tyre preparation and conservation. I felt a realism and drive in Lewis which was awesome to see, the raw passion which made him believe he could push the car back to the pits is an insight of what Formula 1 is, passion.

He also seemed to have made an extra effort to communicate with Kimi after the race, but not in a forced way, it seemed natural and even hugged him after the race. Does Kimi ever hug anyone, ever? That was cool to see and I absolutely loved seeing how Lewis put that win together, what a remarkable achievement. Lewis is a bit of a Hungaroring specialist and his ability behind the wheel can make up for any deficit his car may have compared to Ferrari and Red Bull at this circuit.

The Iceman

I just want to speak about Kimi for a bit. I have been super critical of his Q3 mistakes, which happened again at Germany by the way, and his opening lap performances, but the truth is, he is doing well. He has now scored seven podiums from eleven races which places him fifth of all time with 98 podiums from 284 starts. That means roughly every third race he has been on the podium. He also is second on the list of fastest laps of all time with 46.

Ferrari does not employ a strategy for Raikkonen to win a race but rather implement strategies to protect Sebastian’s championship position. The problem with that is, if Sebastian has a problem and has to retire, the strategy in play for the second car was not optimised for the win, and therefore he is immediately out of the running. The team must develop a strategy which is flexible in that regard because this is creating a serious distortion on Kimi’s performances.

It will help if Kimi does well in Q3 though. I would like to remind everyone he is 39 years old and what he is doing needs to be looked at with all the cards on the table. My best advice to Kimi is he must not mess up his Q3 runs because he has the talent to put his car on pole and drive off for the win. He is a world champion, (Ferrari’s most recent – Ed) one of Formula One’s legends and I will be sad when he hangs up that helmet. He has a shot for that pole this weekend, and maybe the win. A Kimi victory will be extremely popular. Going into the summer break, and I want to see that the most out of everything for this grand prix. A lot of people from Finland make their way to this race every year, so it will be extra special if Kimi wins. I’m sure he is more loved than Bottas at the moment by the Finns.

Long history

We will be racing at the Hungaroring for the 32nd time this year and while the circuit may not be conducive to overtaking, it offers a flow and rhythm which is rewarding as a driver. It’s an amazing circuit to drive, and as a spectator to watch the cars maneuver around.

There are no real gaps for the driver to take a small breather as they are faced with corner after corner which comes up quickly. All the corners flow into each other which means if you make a mistake in one, your line is compromised in at least two of the following corners, so getting your rhythm right on this circuit is critical. Just like Monaco, the cars require a high downforce setup and the power deficit may be made up with a good chassis.

A Bull Win?

In Monaco, the Bulls were quick, and everyone has their eyes on Danni Ric this weekend to see if he can stay in the championship fight with a win. I’m sure Red Bull will be strong but I don’t know if it will be enough to beat the Ferrari’s current pace advantage. It should be a good battle amongst the top three teams this weekend. It’s kind of funny that everyone just expects Danni Ric to win this one, I don’t imagine Max just letting it go that way. I have some money on Max to win this one.

Musical chairs

Silly season is upon us and there are a ton of rumors surrounding a group of drivers which seem to be dependent on Kimi’s, Alonso’s and surprisingly Lance Stroll’s decisions. I just hope after this shuffle a good driver isn’t left out in the cold with no drive. This happened to Pascal Wehrlein last season and he isn’t in the sport anymore. Pascal is, for sure, miles ahead of Stroll and Ericsson in terms of talent, but they are in F1, and he isn’t.

Stoffel Van Doorne could be left without a drive, which is a shame because he isn’t doing badly. He deserves to be in F1 and people need to understand he is teammates with Fernando Alonso, when Alonso is in his prime. You can’t beat Alonso in his current form as a rookie in a bad car. It just won’t happen. Silly season is also affecting the engineers and key personnel of the race teams as James Key is now signed for McLaren. But he may be on some forced ‘gardening’ leave till he can join them from Toro Rosso. Expect some big key personnel changes in the weeks to come.

RIP Sergio

Sadly, we must end on some sober news, with the passing of Sergio Marchionne this week. Marchionne was at the helm of Fiat since 2009. He left a mark on the industry by merging Fiat with Chrysler and, to be honest, kept a tight team to get Ferrari back to their winning ways. He was known for his witty humor and impressive intellect. Ferrari will be running a black band around the front of their cars in memory of Sergio.

Here’s to a great race.

Peace