It was a strange atmosphere that descended on the Paddock at the end of the second session. Everyone gets very heated about the politics, the competition, the technology and the rules, regulations and red tape of Formula One, but when you see the pictures of Massa being helped to the ambulance everything is  – even if it’s only temporarily until his condition is known – subdued and put into perspective. It’s telling that (almost) all the press releases given out by the teams today included a message of support and thoughts for Felipe and his family.

Since this is Budapest and it’s roughly 515kms closer to Warsaw from here than the Nürburgring, there are a lot of Polish fans here. Unfortunately there is a little less for them to shout about this year but the guys who – when standing in the right order – spell out K–U-B-I-C-A-R-U-L-E-Z are still as enthusiastic/drunk as ever. Because, for those of you outside Poland, the Poles are mad on their F1. Bonkers about it. And this is their chance to see it live. They’re the ones who line Bernie Avenue (one of the few entrances to the circuit and named, for one weekend only after the man who brought F1 to Hungary) morning and evening, waving at every team van hoping that one of their favourites will wave back. Most of their favourites of course drive incognito in blacked-out cars.

The main topic of conversation at dinner, at the curry houses, pizzerias, Argentinean steak houses, Thai, Chinese, in fact there are few ‘Hungarian’ Hungarian restaurants, was Felipe’s condition. We also would like to wish him well…

And we’d also like to wish a swift recovery to Seb’s front-end mechanic who was rushed to hospital as well yesterday after a nose cone fell on his foot, leaving him with a broken toe. Get well soon Ole.

After a couple of ‘rural’ races getting back into the city is a shock, but a nice one. The race engineers talk about Budapest being a bit like Monaco; we think they mean the circuit, but they could just as well be discussing the nightlife. Budapest is magnificently hospitable.

One of the things it does best is the ‘ruin bar’ – basically a derelict building converted into an ad hoc nightspot. Behind a grimy façade, these places open up into open-air courtyards, with decorating courtesy of the local art schools. They’re all covered in huge, crazy murals and lava lamps, and the dancing goes on until dawn. While the teams are wilting with the heat during the day, the temperature in the evenings is positive balmy, and there are worse things to do than sit out under the stars with a cold drink, listening to tall tales.

Speaking of tall tales, the British tabloid press have got it wrong this week. The most dangerous man in Budapest isn’t Toro Rosso new boy Jaime Alguersuari. Anyone who’s been coming here regularly over the years knows the most dangerous man in Budapest is the fella who operates the rollercoaster in the amusement park behind Heroes Square. The whole area is a World Heritage Site, but it’s the ‘coaster that really brings across the sense of the ancient. Opening in 1922 and built in the cartoon mine shaft style, the wooden ride is one of only ten of its type to survive the ravages of time and, presumably, woodworm.

Unlike the modern equivalent it’s controlled by a brake man who sits in the back car, usually smoking a roll-up. When we last visited, the gentleman in question was so venerable, we mistook him for an original feature of the attraction. Nobody rides without the thought of his imminent mortality crossing their mind, which certainly adds that frisson of danger the thrill-seekers crave. Not quite as terrifying as the taxi drivers in Istanbul, but you have to go with what you’ve got…

The joy of budget airlines. Some of our number were late getting to Hungary after the Easyjet plane due to carry us to Budapest sprung its rear evacuation slide on the runway and we had to re-queue, get our tickets seen a second time and re-board a flight which had no food, no drink and no duty free. The silver-ish lining? The delay meant we could speak to the British fans flying over for the race. From the ladies who described Monza last year, not as a ‘great race’ but ‘bloody wet’ to UK traffic cop whose colleague had guarded a minor royal at Silverstone to the lady who said she had been to the race since the ’80s and proudly sported the slogan in today’s *headline across her chest, they were all fans not only of F1, but also of this race. The T-shirt has nothing to do with the blog, we just thought it was pretty funny.

But the Hungarian race does attract the fans, because there is something pretty special about Budapest and the Hungaroring. It could be the Communist hangover which manifests itself in everything from bullet holes in the castle walls to wooden Russian dolls in all the tourist shops (although these range from your traditional ladies in scarves to a frankly weird Harry Potter version), or it could be the excellent heavy, paprika’d food, or the glorious faded architecture which, year by year, is getting a scrub down, a make-over and an update. And now they’re putting in ring-roads and remembering to re-tarmac the public roads in between grands prix, things are even better.

Thursday wasn’t a quiet day in the Energy Station. On the Red Bull Racing side the press swarmed over both Seb and Mark – the latter’s victory and signature on a 2010 contract meant there was an even bigger spring to his step and Seb is now getting used to being mobbed whenever his name appears on a media schedule. And in the Toro Rosso camp the arrival of their new boy Jaime Alguersuari meant a crowd of (predominantly Spanish) journalists, cameramen and photographers crowded around to hear him at his press conference.

And in the evening DC joined ex-F1 racer Christian Danner and Hungarian racing driver Lazlo Palik in a Showcar Run around the narrow streets around the Castle Buda which sits high above the Danube overlooking the city. It’s going to be a busy weekend…

Mr Coulthard has been racking up his air miles recently… and last weekend it was a trip to Moscow for a Running Showcar event in the Russian captial:

Today the whole grand prix really came to life. And not just the on-track where Mark and Sebastian fought hard in weather which appeared to change five times each session either.

The crowds of fans kept on growing and the hardcore Ferrari/Michael fanatics are out in force Perhaps the best was the one bodypainted red carrying the biggest yellow flag it was physically possible to transport single-handedly while operating an air raid siren outside the drivers hotel. Without any apparent sense of irony what so ever.

Then following the ontrack entertainment we had the Red Bull Germany Party at Camp4Fun. It’s billed as the Offtrack Event for a reason. As well as guest appearances from our drivers and team principal and a herd of German celebs, the winners of this year’s Dakar Rally winners Giniel de Villiers and Dirk von Zitzewitz did a display over the offtrack terrain and gave people rides. Just to see if they could stomach it.

If you weren’t one of our three competition winners (congratulations Silvia Dameova, Phil Horler and Alex Holyoake) then here’s a short clip of the fun and games:

Finally a random, non-scientific survey revealed that the main Germanic expression of fashion – the humble baseball cap – ranks like this in terms of popularity:

1 Ferrari

2 Red Bull Racing – Sebastian Vettel

3 Sebastian Vettel beanie hat (I know, not a baseball cap…)

4 McLaren (Mercedes, see?)

5 Schumacher

6 BMW (keep up)

7 The Nürburgring  

8 Toyota (Cologne…)

9 Williams (old style)

10 Robert Doornbos (…as it’s the Dutch home GP)

Only one each of this lot: Aston Martin, Renault, Honda, the FIA (!)

Getty Images

The day started in biting rain and ended bathed in sunshine – a fitting meterological tribute to our antipodean victor. But there have been loads of tributes to Mark and his first, deserved, win. Having a victory celebration and picture is becoming a very enjoyable habit, but every one is still a little bit special. For Webber’s first, the boys in the garage had made a surf board on Sunday morning (just in case we needed something special to celebrate his win) and we got to use our Australian flag in the pictures as well.

Mark played his celebrations well too. The whole team, from both sides of the garage gathered with everyone from the mechanics to the engineers to the senior management to catering staff to wish Webber well. But instead of spraying champagne over the rest of the team, Mark sprayed it all over the ranks of photographers and cameramen which riled several of them, but was bloody funny.
Within five minutes of the end of the race the Twitter feed had gone into overdrive with Webber fans from all over the world wishing him well, congratulating the team and hoping for a lot more.
Unlike certain members of the German media. Despite Mark and Sebastian running a clean, gentlemanly battle over the grand prix weekend and demonstrating how good both of them are as individual drivers and a pairing, despite all that, Christian Horner was still asked whether or not he should have let the local boy win his home race. His answer was to the point and precisely correct. Firstly that’s contrary to the sport’s rules and secondly Mark was a worthy winner. And though he will have been disappointed not to win in front of his home crowd, Seb was genuinely magnanimous and pleased for this team-mate.
Then it was pack up, back to the holiday chalets which have been home for the past five days, a quiet beer, ready to return to the Factory for another race debrief accompanied by three trophies.

Over in Merchandising Alley, the Bullshop has been doing a roaring trade this week. Up until now, Melbourne held the record for best sales week of the year, but Germany is going to push it close. Mostly it’s Vettel-mania at work, but the weather’s playing a part too; they’re running low on the beanies and fleeces that usually only sell well when conditions get biblical at Silverstone or Spa.

The new concourse is a big hit, even though the world’s fastest rollercoaster has gone technical and isn’t running. The place is heaving with happy shoppers. Except, of course, during the practice sessions when it suddenly empties like a scene from High Noon.

If you want a way to separate the ‘proper’ race venues from the synthetic, this is as good a way as any; it’s baffling to go to places where people buy a ticket and then amble around the vendor areas all day in preference to watching the action. Here that couldn’t be further from the truth; when the pit lane light goes green the grandstands instantly fill up with a knowledgeable, enthusiastic crowd – even if most of them did have a face like a bloodhound’s funeral when Vettel rolled to a halt shortly into the morning session.

It may be wet and windy, it may still be a building site, but a full house that knows what it’s here for forgives all. This is a fabulous venue for a grand prix, it’s already crackling with anticipation and more people are pouring into the Eiffel all the time. Frankly it beats one of the castles-in-the-sky new F1 venues into a Sebastian Vettel-logo’d cocked hat.

Still raining. And it’s cold too.

Vettel-maniais in full force. The guy can’t move without tripping over seven autograph hunters with five pictures and six feltip pens thrust into his face. Today he went to the new Paddock Shop to meet and greet. So new is the new shop that they only finished building the shop an hour before Seb arrived. In fact the whole of the front side of the Nürburgring is so new that they haven’t finished building that yet. But when it is finished it will knock any other motorsports multi-entertainment super-complexes into a cocked hat. It’s going to have a roller coaster running through it. Through it!

Mr Webber’s been busy too, taxiing punters around a very slippery track – all part of the pre-race entertainment for the thousands of people who are already here. Mark also did a lap of the Nordschleife in a Megane (the yet-to-be-released Megane, he’s one of the first to drive it) for Renault and at the same time did an interview for The Red Bulletin. Both photographer and journalist looked decidedly green after their lap. It may have been a bit slippy, but Mark didn’t hold back.

Which will be good practice for Sunday. Forecast so far is for rain tomorrow, rain on Saturday and heavy rain on Sunday.

And we didn’t do too badly last time we went out in the heavy rain…

How do you fancy meeting up with our drivers and the stars of Red Bull Air Race, football and rallying over the German GP weekend?

We’ve got three pairs of tickets to the Red Bull Offtrack event to give away in our competition.

The Offtrack event combines music, food, sporting celebrities and offroad action on Saturday (July 11) after qualifying just outside the Nürburgring.

Among ther VIP guests will be Sébastien Buemi and Sébastien Bourdais of Toro Rosso and Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber of Red Bull Racing, as well as actors Thomas Kretschmann, Till Schweiger and Steffen Wink, this year’s Dakar Rally winners Giniel de Villiers  and Dirk v. Zitzewitz and Red Bull Air Race pilot Matthias Dolderer.

As well as the celebs and top class food on offer, there will be displays by Volkswagen Race Touregs, KTM bikes, quadbikes and a freestyle motocross show.

The whole thing takes place at the Offtrack Area at the Nürburgring from 3pm-2am. It’s going to be quite a party.
 
To be in with a chance of winning one of the three pairs of tickets, all you have to do is answer the following question and email us at competition@redbullf1.com before Friday lunchtime. And don’t forget to include your full name and a mobile number we can contact you on…

Question: Who is the current third driver for Red Bull Racing and Scuderia Toro Rosso?

The winners will be the first three correct answers chosen at random.

Congratulations to our winners of Casio Edifice watches, in boxes exclusively signed by Sebastian Vettel.

Commiserations to those who weren’t successful, but there’ll be other great stuff to be won in the near future. Well, around the German Grand Prix to be precise.

We asked you at which grand prix did Sebastian score his first Formula One points. The answer was Indianapolis 2007 where he deputized for the injured Robert Kubica in a BMW, becoming the youngest F1 points-scorer ever when he finished eighth.

Our winners are;

Hayley Davies of Solihull, Peter Nickols of Sleaford and Andrew Freeman of Barnstaple – all in the UK.

Congratulations.