18/07/2016
NEWS STORY
Vijay Mallya: "I thoroughly enjoyed the Silverstone weekend. The atmosphere was fantastic and it was great to see a full house on Sunday. The enthusiasm from the British crowd showed Formula One at its best. Meeting fans in the campsites was great fun and I'm pleased they were treated to an entertaining race.
"I'm very proud of our performance at Silverstone. 14 points represents our best ever score from a British Grand Prix and it means we are closing down the gap to fourth place in the championship. I take real encouragement from our pace across the whole weekend, especially during the race. With half the season to go, there's no reason why we can't score good points at every race. If we want to fight for fourth, that's what we need to do.
"Budapest last year was a pretty challenging weekend for the team and a race we prefer to forget. So things can only get better this year. The twisty layout of the Hungaroring is the complete opposite of Silverstone so it will be interesting to see how we perform there. We've worked hard to improve the car through low and medium-speed corners so I think we should be in good shape this weekend."
Nico Hulkenberg: "Getting back in the points in Silverstone was a good result, although I think I could have scored even more points had some circumstances like the VSC played out differently. However, the car performed well and we beat some fast cars on merit, which is very encouraging for Hungary and the rest of the season.
"The race in Budapest is generally pretty cool. I am a big fan of this city: it's beautiful, with lots of historic buildings and there's a good vibe around town. There are many fans who somehow manage to find out where you're staying and they'll be waiting at the hotel every morning and evening. It's pretty good fun.
"For the last few years, Hungary used to be the last round before the summer break and there was always a big party on the Sunday night, after the race - an end of term celebration. This time we still have a race after Budapest, but I still think there will be a party in town.
"The Hungaroring is not somewhere I raced a lot in my junior formulas. Outside of F1, I only raced there in GP2 in 2009 - I won the feature race and it was a pretty good weekend for me. It's an old school track: narrow and very twisty. There is no chance to relax or lose concentration as all the corners come one after the other and you risk losing momentum with any mistake. It's a challenging track to get right and it usually produces some fun races."
Sergio Perez: "We have been strong in the last few races, but after some very fast tracks like Austria and Silverstone we head to the Hungaroring, which is the complete opposite to them.
"The weekend in Budapest is one I find very enjoyable: there's a nice atmosphere in the paddock and everyone's a fan of this beautiful city. Unfortunately, this year the race is not the final one before the summer break: in the past we usually had a big celebration on Sunday night and the mood there was always great, regardless of whether your result was good or bad. I have a lot of great memories from those parties! I hope there is still one this year as it's a great way to release a lot of the tension after the race.
"I really like Hungary and its interesting culture. The locals really love Formula One too and there's always a big crowd in the grandstands. It's a track with few overtaking opportunities so qualifying is important. It's probably the second most important race for track position after Monaco. I think it will be a challenging weekend, but we know we can be competitive on every track. I haven't had a lot of luck there in the past, so I hope for better fortunes this year.