I’ve always had a bit of a special feeling about the Hungarian Grand Prix, to the point where it almost feels like a second home race. I have quite a lot of fans, particularly since I got the first podium finish of my F1 career there in 2008. Every time, I look forward to going there because for some reason I always seem to come to terms with the track very quickly and I’ve always enjoyed good races because of that. I think the weather will be a lot hotter – and drier – than in Hockenheim; sometimes the heat can be quite fierce, a little like Valencia. Physically it can be quite exhausting because of this, especially if it continues all weekend. It’s a back to back with Germany, so a tight turnaround for the team who have to cope with the heat as well. We all have the summer break to look forward to though; we all love to race but it has been a very demanding season so far and we need to get ourselves ready for ‘2012 - Part Two’.

I came away from Hockenheim with a positive feeling. It is reassuring that the new package seems to have been performing consistently in Silverstone and Germany. For this reason I’m happy that we go to Hungary directly because we have everything fresh in our mind and we can see how well the car is suited to another different type of track. I really enjoyed the Hungaroring on the four occasions that I raced there in other series and had a good performance there last year in GP2, so I am comfortable with the circuit already, which always helps. After that, everyone in the team deserves to have a nice break to prepare for the many long haul races which follow later in the year, so I hope we can have another positive race this weekend.

Whilst we aim to get to the bottom of the problems Timo has experienced with his car, we shouldn’t let that overshadow the otherwise positive route we appear to be taking with our development overall. We have had two races with the new aerodynamic package and the signs are that it is performing consistently and in line with the targets we set for ourselves relative to the other teams around us. Let’s hope we can make it three out of three in Budapest, to provide further confirmation. This week provides a challenging turnaround for the team with just a few days to transport our trackside operation across Europe and be up and running for Thursday. It’s a track and city that we’ve come to enjoy over the past couple of years though. In terms of the racing challenge, the circuit is always very dusty due to lack of use throughout the rest of the year, so it will take a little time to clean up. Timo enjoys the tight and twisty nature of the track and Charles is also reasonably familiar with it from previous formulae. We’re looking forward to the final race before the summer break, after which we will turn our minds to the second half of the season.