Hungaroring Speed Trap: Who is the fastest of them all?

Balance supersedes top speed when it comes to the Hungaroring's twisty high downforce layout, but good velocity down the main straight is still a handy asset.

Top speed will help set up an overtaking opportunity at Budapest's Turn 1, the only corner on the 15-turn, 4.381km track where a driver stands a reasonable chance of passing a rival.

But with so much more time to gain overall around the track's twisty section, especially in qualifying as grid position is paramount, aero configuration and set-up work is focused first and foremost on a car's handling.

And balance was precisely what Max Verstappen claimed he was lacking in qualifying, in which the Dutchman was outpaced by just 0.003s thanks to a cracking effort by his old nemesis Lewis Hamilton.

GPS data confirms the Red Bull driver's assessment regarding the slight lack of balance of his all-conquering RB19.

Read also:

• Verstappen: RB19 'all over the shop' in Hungary qualifying

While there was little to separate Verstappen and Hamilton in the first five corners on their fastest Q3 flyers – with the Dutchman retaining an infinitesimal edge through the sector – the Red Bull driver fell behind thereafter and for the remainder of the lap.

But perhaps the most interesting take-away from the speed trap readings – being that Kevin Magnussen's maximum velocity is anecdotal – is that Verstappen and Hamilton were hand in hand down the main straight, the pair sharing exactly the same top speed.

One characteristic of Red Bull's dominant RB19 this season has been the car's velocity down the straights and how it has derived a bigger speed gain from its DRS than rival cars.

But that advantage appears to have shrunk recently, something underscored by Hamilton himself after qualifying.

"I mean, they’ve still got the DRS, they don’t have the DRS advantage all of a sudden that they used to have. Where did that go?" said the Mercedes driver.

"I mean they’ve just had an upgrade, so we expected them to have taken another step. We heard it was around two-tenths or something like that. So for them to not have been able to extract that in qualifying is interesting."

Whether this is ultimately true or whether Hamilton is hinting at something shady going on at Red Bull is for everyone to decide on their own.

Our take? It's much ado about nothing. Although we do hope that Max and Red Bull will have a proper fight on their hands in this afternoon's race. Stay tuned.

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