2011 Hungarian Grand Prix

Championship standings

Vettel leads on 216 points, 77 ahead of Webber. Hamilton is third on 134, five points ahead of Alonso, who scored more points than any other driver across the previous three races. Button is fifth on 109 after retiring from two of the last three rounds.

Previous race

Hamilton won the German Grand Prix at the Nürburgring from second on the grid, capitalising on a slow in-lap from Alonso and a Red Bull strategy error. Alonso was second, Webber third. Vettel — starting from pole for the first time outside the front row since the 2010 Italian Grand Prix — finished fourth after spinning at turn 10 early in the race.

Between-race developments

Jarno Trulli returns to Team Lotus alongside Heikki Kovalainen, having been replaced by Chandhok in Germany.

Bruno Senna makes his first appearance at a race weekend for Renault this season, running in FP1 in place of Nick Heidfeld. Renault team principal Éric Boullier stated that the team are evaluating their reserve drivers — specifically Senna and GP2 championship leader Romain Grosjean — as potential replacements for Heidfeld.

Sébastien Buemi receives a five-place grid penalty for causing an avoidable accident with Heidfeld at the Nürburgring.

Milestones

This is Jenson Button’s 200th Grand Prix start. It is also the 100th Grand Prix for Nico Rosberg and for the Toro Rosso team, as well as the 100th Formula One race to use the 2.4-litre V8 engine since it became mandatory in 2006.

Tyre choices

Pirelli brings the yellow-banded soft compound as the prime and the red-banded super-soft as the option — a softer pairing than Bridgestone’s choice of medium/prime at the same circuit last year.

Practice

Hamilton topped FP1, with Vettel second and Alonso third. He was fastest again in FP2, ahead of Alonso and Button. Webber and Vettel struggled in the second session, prompting Red Bull to break the curfew on working hours to make significant overnight changes to the car.

Vettel then topped FP3 with the quickest time of the weekend, ahead of Alonso and Button. Hamilton, who had led both Friday sessions, could only manage seventh.