Budapest: Destination Preview

Hungary is one of those odd races in the Formula One calendar. It isn’t one of the flashy new circuits which have been built around the world, but was in fact the first Grand Prix to be held behind the iron curtain, somewhat of an amazing achievement at the time.

Although the track isn’t the best around thanks to its tight and twisty nature, it is at the intersection of Europe and a long been a favourite for the British, Germans and Scandinavians. It was also a popular place for the poles to visit when Robert Kubica was driving in the sport before his accident.

One thing could be that it is quite cheap. With the city of Budapest close to the circuit there is plenty of accommodation around and it is relatively inexpensive when you compare it to Monaco, Singapore or Austin.

Noted as being one of the most beautiful cities in Europe, Budapest sits on the Danube and is a favourite stop for those on a river cruise. Although originally two cities – Buda and Pest, they joined forces to become Budapest in the late 1800’s and some of the divisions can still be seen today.

Being in the heart of Europe we can often see large variations in weather for the Grand Prix. There have been some weekends which have been quite wet, like the first Grand Prix win for Jenson Button at Honda, or the win by Daniel Ricciardo last season for Red Bull which wrong footed Mercedes. We have also seen really hot temperatures like we saw a couple of years ago with the ambient temperatures heading over 40C. You just never know what you are going to get.

Malev, the former national carrier went bankrupt a couple of years ago and no alternative has come to fruition. That doesn’t matter though with great links with other national carriers including British Airways, Swiss, Lufthansa, Air France, KLM and Austrian. It is also the home of pan-European low cost airline WizzAir who have their main headquarters in the city.

#f1 #hungary