PREVIEW: Hamilton going for three wins in a row in Hungary

Jul 31, 2008, 13:49 GMT

Budapest - McLaren-Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton heads into this weekend's Hungarian Grand Prix in Budapest looking for a third win in succession that would stretch the Briton's lead in the drivers' standings.

Hamilton built on his success in the British GP with a victory in Germany on July 20 and now heads the drivers' world championship with 58 points. Felipe Massa sits second on 54 with Ferrari teammate Kimi Raikkonen third on 51 and BMW-Sauber's Robert Kubica fourth on 48 points.

'I'm wary about making any strong predictions; yes, we were strong in the last two races, but we encountered difficulties in the two before that, so it's impossible to call it this weekend,' said Hamilton.

Teammate Heikki Kovalainen prepares for the race safe in the knowledge that he will be racing with McLaren for another season.

'We are delighted to continue working with Heikki and are convinced that soon he won't only take pole like he did recently at Silverstone but that he will achieve a similar placing in a race,' Mercedes motorsport director Norbert Haug told Deutsche Presse- Agentur dpa.

'Heikki will also drive for us in 2009.'

Meanwhile, defending world champion Raikkonen will be hoping to bounce back from the disappointment of a sixth-place finish in Hockenheim.

'This is one of those circuits where overtaking is very difficult so a good qualifying on Saturday could be decisive,' said Raikkonen.

'It's still too early to make any forecasts for the championship considering that the first three drivers are only seven points apart.'

BMW-Sauber will need a result to keep in touch with the leading trio and fourth-placed Kubica will have the advantage of strong support as many fans are expected to make the trip from his neighbouring Poland.

For sure we can expect a lot of Polish fans in Budapest,' Kubica said. The Hungarian Grand Prix is the closest race to my home country, so in some way it is my home race. The Hungaroring is the track where I had my first Formula One race in 2006. As a driver you always have a special relationship with the track where you had your first Grand Prix.'

The searing heat at the Hungaroring is also expected to be a factor with the drivers needing to take on up to four litres more liquid than usual.

'It will be hot and tiring,' said Hamilton, adding that keeping focus and concentration would be vital.

'My approach has served me fairly well so far and I'd need to give it some serious thought before attempting to change it. Let's just say it will be business as usual in Hungary this weekend,' he said.

After some successful test at Jerez, Massa believes Ferrari have ironed out any issues from the German GP and are ready once again to compete with Hamilton and McLaren.

'At Jerez we also worked on some improvements of the car. That means that we worked on finding out what went wrong in Germany, but took also a step ahead,' said the Brazilian.

'We left Jerez with lots of data which will help us on the short and on the long term.'