BUDAPEST: The Formula One circus arrives in Budapest this weekend as the 'espionage' case between Ferrari and McLaren drags on and the title race really begins to hot up.

Two weeks ago in Germany, Fernando Alonso stole a dramatic victory for McLaren, executing a daring overtaking move on Ferrari's Felipe Massa in the closing stages of the race.

Heading into Sunday's Hungarian Grand Prix the Spaniard is just two points behind his English rookie teammate Lewis Hamilton who remains top of the driver's world championship.

Alonso's pursuit of a third consecutive driver's title is now looking a serious possibility and his joy on the Nurburgring podium showed just how important he felt the victory was.

He is now looking forward to competing on a Hungaroring circuit for which he has a special affinity.

"It was great to take the win in Germany and I hope to achieve the same result in Hungary," Alonso said.

"I have some good memories from this track, as I took my first Formula 1 victory here.

"The track will always be special to me. I usually enjoy the race so am looking forward to racing there this year with McLaren. It is a very slow track but also tough physically because of the conditions, which are usually very hot.

Alonso is drawing confidence from the way he and Hamilton excelled to take a McLaren 1-2 at Monaco earlier this season on a similarly claustrophobic, twisting track to the Hungaroring.

But one man who does not buy into this theory is Ferrari's Finnish driver Kimi Raikkonen who insists he can still make up the 18-point deficit to Hamilton and claim the world title.

"Everybody says that McLaren has to be stronger than us here; but I don't think that this will be the case," he said.

"We have taken a big step forward since the race in Monaco and it will be really interesting to see how competitive we are over the weekend."

"I still believe that it's possible for me to win the title: just look at the last race and you can see that everything can happen."

The race at the Nurburgring was certainly packed with incident.

Raikkonen was forced to retire with a mechanical problem while a spectacular crash in qualifying left Hamilton doubtful to even take part in the race.

Though he did manage to line up on the grid, Hamilton could not force his way into the points positions and he will now look to bounce back in Hungary after his amazing run of nine consecutive podiums came to an end.

How the 22-year-old rookie recovers from his first major setback will be a major point of interest in Hungary.

Both McLaren drivers had hoped to arrive in Budapest without the shadow of the espionage drama hanging over them.

But the saga is dragging on after the World Motor Sport Council referred the case to the FIA International Court of Appeal.

On July 26 it was found that McLaren had possession of confidential Ferrari information but no penalty was issued as it was impossible to prove that the information had been of any benefit to the English team.

But after the Italian Automobile Club intervened on Ferrari's behalf this week, FIA president Max Mosley sent the case to the court of appeal where it will be heard once again at the end of August.

Predictably the two team's responses to this decision were polar opposites. McLaren expressed regret that the issue had not been swept away while Ferrari claimed a victory for justice.

Back on the track, two new drivers will take Formula One race seats this weekend.

Former BMW driver Sebastian Vettel, 19, who became the youngest driver to earn a world championship point earlier this season, will replace Scott Speed at Torro Rosso and Japan's Sakon Yamamoto will step in to partner young German Adrian Sutil at Spyker.

AFP

(China Daily 08/03/2007 page24)