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…

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