Mercedes Chairman Lauda to Skip Hungarian GP

Austrian racing legend and Mercedes chairman, Niki Lauda, will be missing from the paddock from the second weekend running as he is currently down with a flu.

Lauda, usually popular with the camera crew at the Mercedes garage, was conspicuous by his absence at Mercedes’ home race last weekend in Germany, where Lewis Hamilton took an inspired victory, coming back from 14 place.

He is recovering in his home at Ibiza and will not be able to join Mercedes at a track where their cars are not expected to be at their absolute best.

But that fact will definitely not be deterring Hamilton from giving everything, as his victory at Germany showed. The manner of his victory will what will give the Brit an increased sense of confidence.

True to his character, Hamilton was evidently upbeat. “There are a lot more points to get and there will be a lot more turning points”, he said when asked if last weekend’s win was a turning point.

His teammate, Bottas, though was more forthcoming about their chances. “This has always been a difficult race for us. I can only hope that we can fight with Ferrari and Red Bull,” said the Finn.

Meanwhile, their main rivals, Ferrari, did not offer any comments as they were given a break from press conference duties after the death of former boss, Sergio Marchionne.

Sebastian Vettel may have crashed out at his home race but he announced his intentions for the weekend by topping the second free practice session, ahead of Red Bull’s Max Verstappen.

Ideally, Vettel need not be too worried about the Mercedes cars as the track layout is such that Red Bull and Ferrari are expected to dominate the whole weekend.

However after the debacle last week, he is bound to be aware that F1 is an unpredictable sport, which can give rise to miracles when we least expect it to arrive.