THE BEST STATS AND NOTEWORTHY MOMENTS AHEAD OF THE HUNGARORING
Schedule:Friday 22nd July: Free Practice 17.50 – 18.35Saturday 23rd July: Qualifying: 09.45 – 10.15Saturday 23rd July: Race 1: 17.20 – 18.05Sunday 24th July: Race 2: 09.15 – 09.50
Round Data:Lap Record: Aaro Vainio (Koiranen GP) 1:32.811 in 2013 (169.932 km/h)Pole 2015: Luca Ghiotto (Trident) 1:34.030Race 1: 22 laps, 95.982 km // 40 minutesRace 2: 17 laps, 74.437 km // 30 minutes
THE STAKES
The busy month of July continues with the second run of back-to-back races starting off at Budapest this weekend. The Hungaroring will host Round 4before the paddock will head over to Hockenheim a few days later.
Round 3 in Silverstone was a lively affair with weather conditions playing an important role. ART Grand Prix’s Alex Albon grabbed his first pole position and made a good start from P1. His teammate and Series leader Charles Leclerc started from P7 after a previous grid penalty and fought through into second, catching his Thai rival in the closing stages, but Albon withstood the pressure to enjoy a well-earned second victory.
Heavy rain set the scene for Race 2 with the race run behind the safety car for the first half. Once the safety car went in Campos Racing’s Alex Palou led the way for a large portion of time before Trident’s Antonio Fuoco began carving up the opposition to race into second. The Spaniard in P1 ran wide which enough for the Ferrari Academy Driver to pounce and steal the lead. The Italian pocketed his maiden GP3 win ahead of Palou and Leclerc.
The Hungaroring is known for its narrow twisty turns – it’s a challenging circuit with constant cornering for the drivers meaning concentration is vital. High temperatures are expected this weekend which will be another factor for the Pirelli tyres.
Warm Up: Charles Leclerc – ART Grand Prix
“It’s been two years since I have driven at the Hungaroring so I may need some short time to get used to it again. I got my first podium there in Euro Cup so I have good memories of Budapest. It is a track that can be hard to overtake on but I like the last sector of the track in particular, I really enjoy that. It’s not the hardest track we go to on the calendar, but if you don’t know some of the tricks to it, you can lose a lot of time. There are some tricks which helps you quite a lot but I can’t reveal those obviously (Laughs).”
Noteworthy:
Giuliano Alesi has a three place grid penalty for Budapest Race 1 after being penalised for causing an incident in Silverstone Race 2 with Jake Hughes.
Richard Gonda returns to Jenzer Motorsport in the #19 car.
There is just 2 points separating Series leader Charles Leclerc and his teammate Alex Albon in second.
ART Grand Prix have a points’ advantage of 145 over Trident in second in the Teams’ standings.
Campos Racing scored their first points of the season in season with a well-earned podium from Alex Palou.
Antonio Fuoco has led only lap in his GP3 career; the final lap in Silverstone where he crossed the line to record his maiden victory.
Season stats
4 The number of different race winners so far this season: Leclerc, Albon, Ralph Boschung and Antonio Fuoco.
7 The number of drivers to have led a race this year: Leclerc, Albon, Jake Hughes, Ralph Boschung, Alex Palou, Sandy Stuvik and Fuoco.
9 different drivers have stepped onto the podium (Leclerc, Hughes, Albon, Fukuzumi, Tunjo, Fuoco, De Vries, Boschung and Alex Palou).
46 The highest number of laps led by a driver is Charles Leclerc.
