In the last two years, the Hungarian Grand Prix has been a very exciting affair for the BMW Sauber team. In 2006 the weather turned the race into a cliff hanger, and in 2007 an offensive strategy really put them on their mettle but rewarded them with another podium place, both courtesy of Nick Heidfeld. So now, for 2008, the goal is to make it onto the Budapest podium for the third consecutive time.

After Monaco, the Hungaroring is the track with the lowest average speed, especially in the middle section of the track, it’s just one turn after another, and the start-finish straight is relatively short. That calls for maximum downforce. Overtaking is very difficult, and you have to take that into consideration in your race strategy, meaning that qualifying is vital.

For Nick, qualifying has not been his strong point this season, however his performances here in the past two years  allow him to head to Budapest this coming weekend confident of another strong showing…

“I’ve always coped very well on the Hungaroring. The track suits me, and in the short history of our team I took a podium place there in 2006 and 2007. In 2006 it was the first podium for our team at the end of an unbelievably wet race. In 2007 I started second and finished third again,” he explained. “I also have a lot of positive memories of the Hungaroring going back to previous occasions. In 1999 I took an early Formula 3000 title there and was able to celebrate.”

“The city is beautiful. I just love the historic buildings and its setting on the river. Budapest has lots of charm, especially when the weather is really summery. If it’s dry the circuit gets very dusty particularly at the start of the weekend. Racing there is exhausting because there aren’t any long straights where you can sit back and relax a little bit. I’m looking forward to the Hungarian Grand Prix and hope we will perform as strongly again as we have done in the last two years.”