Four short days after I left the Hockenheim paddock and the German Grand Prix, it is “back on the road”; this time to Budapest and the Hungarian Grand Prix at the Hungaroring.

Back-to-back races are usually not too popular in F1, as it leaves little time for relaxation, and the mood it the paddock for the second of the back-to-back races are usually a little tired. This time will be different, because after the Hungarian Grand Prix the F1 circus will have its annual summer break, with three weeks to the next race in Turkey and a test ban to allow even the mechanics (and the journalists!) a little time off.

But the summer break is still four busy (and hot!) Hungarian days away.

For Panasonic Toyota Racing, it is probably a good thing that the Hungarian race follows so quickly after the difficult race at Hockenheim, which promised a lot more than seventh and ninth place for Jarno Trulli and Ralf Schumacher. It will be an opportunity to put the German Grand Prix behind them - and show the world just how strong the TF106 has become in the last couple of months.

The Hungarian Grand Prix has been a regular fixture on the F1 calendar since 1986, when Europe was still divided by the Iron Curtain. The 1986 Hungarian was going to be the first Grand Prix in what we westerners called “behind the Iron Curtain”, and it was quite an adventure to travel to Budapest in those days. It was a very different world and it required some radical measures (we had to have a special sticker from the FIA on the car in order to cross the border from Austria in less then four hours!) but the Hungarians were extremely enthusiastic, and if it is safe to say we had a somewhat “different” Grand Prix weekend in Budapest back in 1986, I also have memories of a beautiful city and some very nice and helpful people.

Today, the Iron Curtain is gone and Budapest is like most other European capitals (and still beautiful!) but the Hungaroring is still “different”. It is so tight and twisty that is has been called “Monte Carlo without the buildings” and with the many slow corners and some of shortest straights on the F1 calendar, the cars run with a maximum downforce. To be competitive at the Hungaroring, you need a well balanced car that rides the kerbs well, but engine power is relatively unimportant here, as only little more than half the lap time is spend at full throttle. But torque will be important to power the car out of the many slow corners and the tyres will have a hard time with high temperatures and the corner sequencing leaving little time for them to “rest”.

For the Hungarian Grand Prix, I always stay in the centre on beautiful Budapest, which is only some 25 kilometres from the Hungaroring. While traffic in the city centre may be difficult, it is an easy drive to the circuit once you get onto the M3 motorway: Here, a special lane is reserved for people holding F1 passes (yes - journalists do!) and when we get close to the circuit, the specially constructed “Bernie Avenue” (guess how it got its name?) takes us right into the media parking and the paddock. This is also where the media centre is located - and this is where I will write my first diary entry from Hungary on Friday!

Kimi Raikkonen was fastest on the first day of practice for the Hungarian Grand Prix while Panasonic Toyota Racing drivers Ralf Schumacher and Jarno Trulli were sixth and seventh fastest in the final session.

The results were promising, but it was a sad day in the Panasonic Toyota Racing camp as news of Cristiano da Matta´s accident in Elkhart Lake came through. When he drove for Panasonic Toyota Racing Cristiano was the subject of many of my diary stories, and I send him my best wishes for his recovery.

Before practice began, both Ralf and Jarno talked about the Hungarian Grand Prix and the Hungaroring.

“The main thing I remember about Hungary is the heat!,” Ralf said. “We always go here in August and it is one of the hottest venues we race at during the season. Because the Hungaroring is not used much outside of the Grand Prix, it is always extremely dusty on the opening day of practice. And of course it is famous for being one of the hardest circuits for overtaking on the calendar so I have memories of being stuck behind other cars with temperatures rising in the car! I have good memories of the Hungaroring since they extended the straight; most notably last year when I scored my first podium for Toyota - it was a great result and the team did a great job all weekend: The engineers chose a very clever strategy, the car felt great and the pit stops were perfect. The Hungarian Grand Prix was actually my favourite race of the 2005 season! After our difficult start to the year we have made good progress in the last three months. After you make changes it always takes a while to start reaping the rewards, but our performance have been improving and we hope that can continue at the Hungaroring!”

Jarno added:

“Since we started racing at the Hungaroring both the track and the city of Budapest have changed a lot. The city has developed and the circuit has also improved in terms of the bumps and overall safety. It is usually very hot in Budapest and the twisty nature of the circuit means that it tends to be a long race; often close to two hours. The track is challenging because it is very narrow with lots of corners in a relatively short lap. You have to keep up your concentration because the circuit is very dirty off line and you can´t afford any mistakes - that makes the Hungaroring quite a fun circuit for driving! I have slightly mixed emotions; particularly about last year´s race when I was hit from behind at the first corner at the end of the extended straight. That heavily damaged the diffuser at the rear of my car and it made my life very difficult for the whole race. The balance became unpredictable, switching from oversteer to understeer, so it was a long afternoon´s work for me! My eventual fourth place was a good result but it was hard earned...,” Jarno says.

And his hopes for this year´s race?

“It is always difficult to predict how we will go at any race because anything can happen in Formula 1. But our car has been improving all season; particularly since we introduced the TF106B. Monaco is probably the most similar circuit to the Hungaroring in terms of layout and we were heading for the podium there this year before we had a technical problems. So let´s hope we can aim for more of the same in Hungary!” Jarno says.

From me, you WILL have more of the same tomorrow: Another diary entry will be ready shortly after qualifying!

A somewhat unusual qualifying session for tomorrow´s Hungarian Grand Prix here at the Hungaroring saw Kimi Raikkonen take pole position with Panasonic Toyota Racing drivers Ralf Schumacher and Jarno Trulli setting seventh and eighth fastest time respectively.

But today I don´t really want to tell you about F1 cars - today´s subject will be...busses. But it is closely connected to Panasonic Toyota Racing - just read on!

You see, Panasonic Toyota Racing recently got a new “team bus” built by Germany´s Neoplan Bus GmbH. It was handed over to the team a few days ago, and Ralf was visibly attracted by the 24 tonne Neoplan flagship. “The last time I was on a bus was when I was at school,” he said. “But that may change in the future...” And after “testing” the latest addition to the Panasonic Toyota Racing fleet, Ralf was even more impressed - by the unusual styling, the exclusive fittings and the superb torque of the 12,8 litre MAN engine.

But - what is a F1 team going to do with a bus? Several things, in fact. First of all, the team receives 5000 guests each year from their various sponsors and partners. The guests come to the Cologne H.Q. to find out about the development and production of F1 cars, and in the future many of these guests will arrive in the new team bus.

“But it will also be used to take team members from the factory to airports and meetings,” Panasonic Toyota Racing´s communication manager Fernanda Villas-Boas tells me. “The bus is fitted with a DVD system, flat screens, it can receive digital TV and you can access the internet. This means we can actually have meetings or work on our way to the airport, which is obviously time-effective,” Fernanda goes on.

A few days ago I was invited to take a closer look at the Panasonic Toyota Racing team bus, which was officially named “Olympia” by Ralf at the handover in Cologne. The Neoplan Starline bears the faces of both Ralf and Jarno as well as the logos of the team sponsors. But the interior is even more impressive: There are several different seating configurations including back-to-back seats and a five-seater “club corner”. There are storage boxes between the back-to-back seats - with integrated Playstations, of course!

As mentioned, the bus is powered by a 12,8 litre MAN engine. Neoplan is the bus division of MAN, which has supplied Panasonic Toyota Racing with transporters for several years (19 MAN trucks are used to handle the Panasonic Toyota Racing transport and logistics!). In the team bus, the MAN engine produces some 480 hp and the torque which so impressed Ralf is 2300 Nm!

So much about the new team bus - tomorrow I will return to F1 cars when I bring you my final diary from Hungary!

The Hungarian Grand Prix is over. Jenson Button scored a fine win in the wet/dry race. Panasonic Toyota Racing driver Ralf Schumacher was sixth while his team-mated Jarno Trulli retired a few laps from the end

The F1 circus is now ready for the annual summer holiday, because no testing will be allowed before the Turkish Grand Prix on August 27. But while team members and drivers may have time to relax for a few days, I will still be busy: Next week I go to a round of the Danish Touring Car Championship and after that the F1 media will be gearing up for the announcement from the FIA Court of Appeal regarding “mass dampers”. The hearing is on August 22 and this is already shaping up to become a somewhat controversial issue.

Here in Hungary “General Manager Chassis” Pascal Vasselon told us about Panasonic Toyota Racing´s position regarding mass dampers.

“Formula One control presents a very specific issue, because we are running very hard suspension on top of very soft tyres and it’s very tricky to control the body movements,” Pascal said. “From our point of view, we have been working on mass dampers, of course, but we went in the direction of classical suspension elements, which are not mass dampers, so at the moment it’s not an issue for us.”

Pascal was one of five “technical people” who attended one of the official FIA press conferences here in Hungary. As you know, he only became “General Manager Chassis” a few months ago, and he was asked it it had been a steep learning curve

“I’m trying hard, I’m obviously working hard, but for a definitive answer you had better ask my boss! Of course I have a lot of new things to learn about, but when you are not technical director but general manager chassis, first of all you have to understand where there is a problem in the car and the dominant performance factors, and in this area I had some experience before coming to Toyota.”

The Panasonic Toyota TF106B has become more and more competitive in the last few races, but there has also been small problems which have cost the team a few good results. Pascal was asked if it had been difficult to get on top of those problems?

“In view of performance, the car obviously getting better and better but we still have too many reliability issues. We are working hard on that and it probably doesn’t indicate that we took more risk in all areas, packaging, cooling, but we are working on it and we fix problems one after the other.”

One of many rumours flying around in the Hungaroring paddock concerned Ferrari´s technical director Ross Brawn, who may take a year off in 2007. Was that something Pascal would also consider?

“It is something I have never thought about and it is no question for me: I am still looking for more work!”

With that spirit, results for Panasonic Toyota Racing are destined to become even better after the summer break!