Source: ITV
Hungarian Grand Prix preview
There's a world championship fight hotting up, and a host of sleeping giants clawing their way back towards contention, but the biggest story of the Hungarian Grand Prix could be the fortunes of a relatively unknown 19-year-old driving what has recently been the slowest car in the field.[LNB]Jaime Alguersuari has found himself thrust into a Toro Rosso race seat at the age of 19, making him Formula 1's youngest ever race driver - and in the new restricted testing era, Alguersuari's giant leap could have major implications for other young drivers on the cusp of greatness.[LNB]The testing ban was bad news for potential rookies, as with little prospect of getting them up to speed during the reduced winter allowance, teams were more likely to stick with experienced drivers.[LNB]Conversely, it also opened the door to more mid-year sackings, for if a team felt it simply had to drop its incumbent driver sooner or later, it made sense to bring the replacement in during the summer and use the remaining races to at least ensure they hit the ground running in 2010.[LNB]MpuADCall('SPORT.FORMULA1.FEATURES.STORY'); That appears to be the plan with Alguersuari, although the possibility of World Rally legend Sebastien Loeb also featuring in Toro Rosso's plans raises question marks over whether the young Spaniard is being groomed for a big future or just keeping the seat warm.[LNB]Alguersuari has been highly rated since karting, he impressed by winning the British Formula 3 title at the first attempt, knows most of the remaining tracks from his junior career, and has far more car racing mileage under his belt than Kimi Raikkonen did when joining F1.[LNB]However, unlike Raikkonen, who benefited from a full winter of testing, Alguersuari"s only F1 experience comes from street demonstration events and straightline tests.[LNB]Critics also point to his slightly underwhelming current eighth place in the Formula Renault 3.5 Series, a less highly regarded GP2 alternative (although it did produce Robert Kubica and Sebastian Vettel), where he has been fast but so far unable to consistently beat the more experienced drivers.[LNB]Adding to the pressure is the fact that Alguersuari will step into a close relation of the fastest car in the field.[LNB]Toro Rosso has been left behind in recent months, but from Hungary it will become the final team to add a double diffuser, as it receives more of the upgrades that have turned parent team Red Bull into a seemingly unstoppable world-beater since Silverstone.[LNB]The last time STR received such a delivery from the Red Bull Technologies factory, it set off a surge in form that culminated in Vettel's astounding Monza win.[LNB]So if all goes well - if he learns fast and is allowed time to get up to speed - this could be a massive opportunity for Alguersuari, and for other young drivers, if he can prove that the modern rookie can make up for a lack of track mileage with simulator work and is therefore a better bet than clinging on to a faded star.[LNB]But if this proves to be too much too soon, and bear in mind how excited the fervent Spanish fans will be to see a rising star joining Fernando Alonso on the grid, then he's unlikely to get a second chance and what could have been a promising F1 career might be over before he turns 20...[LNB]Jenson Button, Rubens Barrichello and Sebastian Vettel may well sympathise with Alguersuari, for they all took similarly fast-track routes to the top, albeit in eras when they could at least rack up testing time first.[LNB]And all three have their own sources of immense pressure to cope with in Hungary too.[LNB]For Button, two successive defeats - by a hefty margin too - have given the impression that his title campaign is lurching off the rails.[LNB]Still win-less this year, Barrichello did not make his life any easier with his public rant against the Brawn team in Germany, for while Ross Brawn expertly diffused the situation with some deft responses to journalists, Rubens' harsh words will be tough to forget.[LNB]And for Vettel, the pressure comes from the inter-team challenge, as Mark Webber's breakthrough victory at the Nurburgring raised new questions about which of the Red Bull drivers stands the best chance of chasing down Button.[LNB]With its virtually guaranteed sunshine, Hungary is set to reveal whether Brawn has been toppled from its dominant position just because the Silverstone and Nurburgring weather was too cold for its characteristics, or because Red Bull is now simply faster, although the picture will be skewed by the developments both teams are throwing at their cars for this weekend.[LNB]If the status quo remains as it did two weeks ago, then Brawn is in trouble, for not only will Red Bull run away with the race again, but the rapidly improving McLaren, the steadily ever more competitive Ferrari, and the Renault that Alonso set such phenomenal race times with in Germany could force Button down towards the lower reaches of the points.[LNB]On the other hand, this could be the weekend when Button reclaims control of the title fight and crushes his rivals' dreams at the circuit where he took his infamous first victory three years ago.[LNB]Few used to look forward to the Hungaroring - but now it's far from the only track where overtaking is very tough and a lack of other racing leaves the surface filthy off-line, and with things getting closer in the points and an intriguing newcomer in the field, there is plenty to look forward to.[LNB]For most fans, Button versus the Red Bulls will be the focal point, but for the ambitious young drivers in GP2, F3 and other feeder series, the bigger issue will be whether Alguersuari can convince F1 to shed its anxiety about under-prepared rookies and give youth a chance.
