Hungaroring: Series oreview

All thoughts turn to F1...

Every driver taking part in Formula Renault 3.5 Series would grab the first chance going to drive a Formula 1 car. Such an opportunity will be offered to the championship leader after the Hungarian round, who will drive in the ING Renault F1 Team Show at Silverstone. The position of Marcos Martinez (Pons Racing) is therefore much sought after. His rivals will be trying everything to steal the highly coveted top spot from him.

After five races in this season's Formula Renault 3.5 Series, Marcos Martinez leads the way. With three race wins to his name, the Spaniard has a five-point lead over Bertrand Baguette (International Draco Racing). The Belgian has yet to win in 2009, but he has finished as runner-up on three occasions. Third and fourth respectively, James Walker (P1 Motorsport) and Olivier Turvey (Carlin Motorsport) have each won one race, at Spa-Francorchamps for Walker and in the streets of Monaco for Turvey. All four drivers, plus fifth-placed man Miguel Molina (Ultimate Motorsport) who is just seventeen points behind the leader, will be aiming to leave Budapest in first place in the Drivers' Championship, and earn themselves the opportunity to drive the Renault F1 R28 during the ING Renault F1 Team Show at the start of July at Silverstone. A reward well worth fighting for. Marcos Martinez will be doing all he can to defend his lead, but his rivals will be determined to turn things around. However, there are plenty of drivers who need a good performance on the winding Hungaroring track, starting with Charles Pic (Tech 1 Racing). The Renault Driver Development backed driver needs to put his disappointing start to the season behind him, and that means a perfect weekend in Hungary. The situation is pretty similar for Marco Barba (International Draco Racing). The Spanish title hopeful has only scored four points in the first five races. He too needs to start making up lost ground. Thanks to his pole position and race win in Monte Carlo, Oliver Turvey has blazed a trail for the other Rookies. Winning is possible! It is now up to Turvey to confirm that his win was no fluke by quickly repeating the feat, but above all the British driver's success may have given ideas to Jaime Alguersuari (Carlin Motorsport), Brendon Hartley (Tech 1 Racing), Greg Mansell (Ultimate Motorsport), Julian Leal (Prema Powerteam), Mihai Marinescu (Interwetten.com Racing), Sten Pentus (Mofaz Fortec Motorsport), Chris Van der Drift (Epsilon Euskadi) or Federico Leo (Pons Racing). For KMP Group/SG Formula, after an incident-packed baptism of fire at Monaco, the team has had a little time to work on the two Formula Renault 3.5 cars since their recent arrival in the team's workshop in La Rochelle. Anton Nebilitskiy (KMP Group/SG Formula) will be joined by Edoardo Mortara (KMP Group/SG Formula) at this meeting. 2008 F3 Euro Series runner-up and winner of a GP2 Series race this season, Mortara will be taking part in his first races in Formula Renault 3.5 Series. Finally, Filip Salaquadra (Prema Powerteam) has joined Prema Powerteam. The Czech driver, after an impressive debut at Monaco, will be racing for the rest of the season with the Italian team.

-credit: wsr