Homeward Bound in Budapest

by Nicolas Frankl
TACH European Bureau

Beautiful country side, fabulous weather and the best looking girls in the world, yes this Hungary isn't a bad place, but you'd expect me say that as it's also my second home and the birth place of the "old man"- no not Enzo Ferrari, who I might add will be smiling somewhere in Legend heaven given the performance of HIS team this afternoon- but of the TACH Euro Bureau chief Andrew Frankl.

Now in it's eleventh and rumour has it final year, the Hungaroring has never failed to entertain, and despite being one of the most demanding and tricky circuits on the F1 calender (the drivers refer to it as Monaco without the walls) it has also provided some of the most historic battles and victories in recent memory. Mansell in '89 started from 12th spot in the Ferrari and took Senna's lead 3 laps from the line, 1992 saw the British hero clean up the world championship here with a record 10 victories, and indeed as Damon recalled this afternoon, it has a special place in his heart being the place of his first GP victory in '93.

Into this mix add a little goulash and a few spare ribs and what do get? World Champ Schumacher on pole with a couple of hairline fractures! The story goes that whilst practising at Fiorano the mechanics and the wunderboy (never one to compete lightly in any sport) enjoyed a post lunch game of football (soccer) which resulted in a draw and a elbow in the ribs from one of the mechanics during a fierce tackle. No one (outside of the team management and FIA Doc, Prof Sid Watkins) suspected or has known about the situation since it occurred in July! So Michael has been racing with strapped ribs and painkillers. None of this made much of difference this afternoon as he powered the much improved F310 to a commanding pole position - his fourth of the season.

"This pole is particularly enjoyable after the very difficult times that we have experienced, there can be only one race strategy-to stay in front"

Team mate Eddie Irvine also found the track to his liking posting the fourth fastest time, although over 1.4 seconds slower than pole time.

"I would have liked to be closer to Michaels time but it's nice to be on the second row, I think with a good start, we could be up there tomorrow and let's hope for reliability."

In between this salami sandwich are the two ever present (and powerful) Williams duo. Hill edged out by 500th of a second was relaxed and looking forward to another win.

" I'm not here to trundle around and finish in the points I came here to win and add 10 points to the championship and that is still the goal. The only thing that concerns me is that like Irvine I will be starting on the dirty and dusty side of the track and this could be a little tricky."

This reminds me of a game my father and I played with Mansell in 1987. Nigel was on pole if I recall and for some reason this was on the dirty right side of the track. My father always had a soft spot for Nigel and an even bigger one for having some mischief. We had a chat with one of the drivers in an official BMW M3 (who also happened to be a fan of my fathers) and with the help of a couple of Williams brooms and some quiet wheel spinning to lay down some rubber we cleared the offending area. Sure enough Red 5 sprinted into the lead and later said this had been the best start of his career.

Any thoughts of this kind of carry on would today have us expelled, but I don't think there is a rule that would prevent Damon doing some handy work. As for the rest of the line up it's the usual collection, with Alesi/Berger - 5/6, Hakkinen 7th, Herbert in a much improved Sauber Ford 8th, DC 9th and HH Frentzen 10th.

If either D.H or J.V finish in the top 5, which shouldn't be beyond them, then Williams will clinch it's Th Constructors Championship, equalling that of Ferrari. The difference being that the Italians have been at this game since 1950 and have competed 565 GP. Williams started winning in 1980 and have raced in only 357 GP.

The real winner tomorrow will be the thousands of German and Austrian fans who have journeyed across the boarder and are, as I write, in a rather over relaxed state of mind. If the man of slight frame and few ribs does the business they'll all be singing home.