Gerhard Berger won the German Grand Prix two weeks ago, so it seems a safe bet that many of his Austrian fans will make the short trip to the Hungarian Grand Prix to see him repeat it. The real battle, however, will be between Jacques Villeneuve and Michael Schumacher. The Canadian driver is up against the wall and needs to start winning consistently if he is to take the title.

A lap of the Hungaroring

The twisty Hungaroring circuit has often been likened to Monaco without the buildings - it's narrow, technical and very hard to pass an opponent. The short pit straight offers one of the few opportunities to overtake, before the cars enter the first corner - a second gear hairpin. A short burst, and then it's a left hander followed by an almost flat right. The next straight is also long, but uphill and approaching a blind, flat out right hander - few drivers think it prudent to overtake in such a situation. A tight right hander slows the cars before the second gear chicane. A left then a right follow, then two almost flat-out corners before the cars negotiate the final chicane. A final left hander remains before the right-hander back onto the pit straight - it's that dull. The circuit is highly technical, placing the emphasis on aerodynamic and mechanical grip above horsepower - expect to see a multitude of aerodynamic aids this weekend. The race is long and hard, any mistake being punished with the loss of places that are hard to make back up again. It depressed no-one to see that the circuit - the scene of so many processional races - is unlikely to host a Grand Prix next year.

Circuit length: 2.466 miles / 3.968km Race length: 77 laps (189.851 miles / 305.536 km)

What happened last year?

The Field

Arrows-Yamaha
The announcement this week that Jorg Muller will get a seat in the Arrows race team for 1998 seems to confirm that Damon Hill will be elsewhere for next season. Whether or not this will have an effect on the rest of the season remains to be seen, but you can be sure that they will be trying their collective best in Hungary. Once again, the question mark does not hang over which driver will win the intra team battle (Damon undoubtedly), but whether the team will be competitive. At Hockenheim the Arrows-Yamaha was better than expected and with the twisty nature of this track, they could run closer to the front than they have done for a while.

Rothmans Williams-Renault
Williams left the German Grand Prix in shame, both drivers having failed to do what was expected of them. The season that started out looking like a cakewalk has turned into a farce and both team and drivers have egg on their faces. Jacques Villeneuve was beaten fair and square by Heinz-Harald Frentzen in Germany, and will be looking to beat both his teammate and Michael Schumacher in Hungary. Both drivers run well here, but both seem to have lost their way a little with car setups and as such could either be first or at the wrong end of the top 10. This said, I expect Villeneuve to be at the front in qualifying and win the race. Sadly for the Frentzen fans, I think they will have to wait for another day for his second win.

Marlboro Scuderia Ferrari
Against all expectations, Michael Schumacher arrives at the Hungaroring with a respectable lead at the head of the Championship table. Despite comments to the contrary by the team, I fully expect the Schumacher Ferrari to be on the pace immediately followed, at some distance, by Eddie Irvine. With the reliability worried from last year (and Silverstone) behind them, who can count either car out until the very end. Schumacher should me right at the front in qualifying, but will be hard pushed to win the race from the front. This said, a win is not unlikely. Irvine on the other hand, will plod around in the top 6 hoping that the cars ahead of him will retire. They probably win, and it would be great to see Eddie back on the podium.

Mild Seven Benetton-Renault
Benetton arrive in Hungary with their first win since 1995 in the bag. Some say it will invigorate the team, but I doubt it. Remember for a moment that both drivers are leaving at the end of the season, and neither seem happy their at the moment. Still, it is good to see Gerhard Berger back on form, and Jean Alesi is close behind. It is a widely publicised fact that the B197 does not work well on twisty circuits like the Hungaroring, so both drivers seem set for another miserable weekend. "Man of the moment" Berger will out qualify Alesi, but don't expect to see either on the podium unless there are a lot of retirements.

West McLaren-Mercedes
McLaren and Mika Hakkinen were both lucky to take the last podium place in Germany but deserved the success with all the trials and tribulations of recent races. David Coulthard on the other hand seems to have lost his edge and looks like he is overdriving the car to make up for it. A few races ago I said that Mika looked to have lost his place for 1998, but now it looks like DC will be the driver to be shown the door. Both drivers deserve better luck, but the powerful Mercedes engine will not do them a lot of good in Hungary so if the team can't get their act together, they will be left floundering. Mika should beat David, but will be probably be lucky to get on the podium.

Benson and Hedges Total Jordan-Peugeot
So close, but so far. Giancarlo Fisichella almost scored the first win for the Silverstone based team in Germany, but was stopped by a blown tyre and Gerhard Berger. In Hungary it should prove interesting to watch Jordan to see how they fare. Observers have said that the 197 is one of the best handling chassis on the grid, the Peugeot is one of the best in F1 and both drivers are super fast. The question mark is over the experience of the drivers. Neither has raced here in an F1 car before and could easily lead the team into a cul-de-sac in terms of setup. Ralf Schumacher has less to prove with his teammate set to leave in 1998, but this probably won't slow him down. Although Ralf is probably the faster over a single lap, Fisichella is smoother and better over a race distance. Who will prevail? Contradicting myself, I will say that Fisichella will dominate Schumacher in both qualifying and the race. Neither will be in line for a win.

Gauloises Blondes Prost-Mugen Honda
Where has the performance gone? 1997 looked so promising for Prost, but since the loss of Olivier Panis, things have gone to pot. Having two inexperienced drivers cannot be helping the team in the search for that extra tenth of a second despite the ability of Jarno Trulli and the experience of Alain Prost. Shinji Nakano is still looking second rate and nobody expects him to beat Trulli under race or qualifying conditions, but getting close to the Italian could do him a great good. The chances of winning seem to have evaporated for 1997, but points are likely if the team can keep making the right calls in the race.

Red Bull Sauber-Petronas
The engineers at Sauber are another group of people who must be looking at their stopwatches and scratching their heads. A season that started so promisingly has yielded little by way of results so far. Luckily, it is not as if they will lose their engine deal (the Petronas being made in house) and Johnny Herbert is happy there. For both Johnny and Sauber there is a lot of unfulfilled promise lurking just below the surface, but it won't be realised in Hungary. It looks like Gianni Morbidelli will be reclaiming his seat (displacing Norberto Fontana), but the Italian is sure to be well behind his English teammate, indeed he was almost a second slower in recent tests. Points are there for the taking if all parts of the equation work well, but whether they can make the Swiss team run as well as Swiss watches remains to be seen.

Tyrrell-Ford
What can I say? Great chassis, great drivers, poor engine. It is obvious what the problem with the Tyrrell team is, and sadly this cannot be fixed in 1997. The drivers soldier on regardless and do better than perhaps they ought to, right up to the point where the engine explodes. Jos Verstappen is on top of his game at the moment and Mika Salo looks to be lagging a little (perhaps more than a little downhearted by the absence of top seats open for 1998) .I would expect the teammate battle to finish in that order, Jos, followed by Mika.

Minardi-Hart
All that can be said about Minardi and Hart is that they do well on a low budget. Sadly "doing well" is not good enough at this level and unless they can get more power and reliability from the Hart v8 engine, Minardi will only ever prop up the back of the grid. Ukyo Katayama was outqualified by Tarso Marques for the first time in Germany and will more than likely lose out again in Hungary if the trend that started with Jarno Trulli continues. The team will at best bring up the rear at the finish, but look more likely to retire within the first few laps.

Stewart-Ford
Suffering the worst reliability record for the season will probably be the way that Stewart Grand Prix are remembered in the 1997 season wrap-ups. This is a shame because when the team has got it right, Rubens Barrichello has proved that he is capable of racing with the best. Reliability aside, the most disappointing aspect of the Stewart operation is Jan Magnussen. In British F3 he shone, but in the ITC and CART he looked like a man filling in time while F1 got ready for him. This seems to have taken the shine off the Danish driver and he could well find himself looking for work unless he discovers what is slowing him down. If Stewart and Ford do well, expect to see Rubens at the sharp end of the midfield with Jan a few places back, but if they get it wrong, expect to see them parked at the edge of the track within a few laps of the start.

Enjoy the race...