Rosberg's positive omen Hamilton goes into Sunday's race only one point adrift of Rosberg in the drivers' championship, but his chances of usurping the German this afternoon are hurt by the fact that he starts second behind his teammate. Rosberg has started on pole position three times already this season, and he converted each one of those into a race victory.
2004 Winning in Hungary is not traditionally a good sign for claiming the drivers' title. Hamilton has won there four times (2007, 2009, 2012 and 2013) in the past, but he did not go on to be champion on any of those years, and you have to go back to 2004 with Michael Schumacher for the last driver to win in Hungary and go on to be champion.
Red Bull duel Max Verstappen has had the edge on his Red Bull Racing teammate Daniel Ricciardo, out-pacing him in the past two races in Austria and Britain and out-scoring him 77 points to 64 in their six races together. Ricciardo needs to re-establish himself and starting third to Verstappen's fourth gives him a good chance of doing that on Sunday.
Also read: Rosberg trumps Hamilton for pole in Hungary chaos
Raikkonen's tough task Kimi Raikkonen knows how to do well in Hungary, having finished on the podium seven times in the past. But he will face a tall order to make it eight on Sunday as he was caught out by the wet conditions in qualifying on Saturday and starts 14th. The Ferrari is quick, but given how hard it is to pass at the Hungaroring, finishing in the top eight will be a good result.
Massa woe Felipe Massa is a man in need of a good result with speculation that his place at Williams for 2017 is in jeopardy. The Brazilian has scored only four points in the past six races, but a crash in qualifying has left him down in 18th place on the grid, and he will do well to score points from there and faces a long and frustrating afternoon behind the wheel.
gcaygill@thenational.ae
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