Drivers play down dirty grid situation

The rarely-used Hungaroring is one of the most dusty tracks on the Formula 1 calendar, and with the racing line on the 'odd' side of the grid, those qualifying on the inside are expected to struggle for grip off the line.

But Kubica and Hulkenberg, who start eighth and 10th respectively, think drivers wheelspinning away in the support races will work in their favour by the time of the grand prix start.

"I think a lot depends on the GP2 start and the other categories before our race," said Kubica. "Normally the dirty side is a down side. But as it is so dirty, some other previous categories might have laid down so much rubber because their cars had more wheelspin. By having more wheelspin you are laying down rubber so on some occasions there is no real downside to it."

Hulkenberg agreed that there was little to choose between the two sides of the grid.

"The left side here is where cars always drive over, so there are not big rubber stripes on the start boxes on that side of the track," he said. "But on the other side, all of the support races like GP2 leave massive amounts of rubber when they pull away.

"But where the cars are always driving, it's clean, but there's not so much rubber on it. I don't think there's much difference left to right."

The Williams driver added that he was generally sceptical about people blaming their side of the grid for the quality of their starts.

"I don't believe in this dirty side because it's rubbish in my opinion," he said. "It's the same; it doesn't matter which side it is. You just need a good start technically without much wheelspin and then it doesn't matter which side you start on."