Williams have high hopes for Hungary

Mark Webber had been in contention with Kimi Raikkonen and Jenson Button for third place at Hockenheim before he was stopped with a mechanical problem near the end of the race.

That step forward in performance, allied to the nature of the Hungaroring being similar to Monaco - where Williams put in their strongest race of the year so far, has left the team bullish ahead of the weekend.

Nico Rosberg, who crashed out on the opening lap in Germany, said: "We expect to have a good race at the Hungaroring because it has similar characteristics to the Monaco track, where we were very strong this year.

"In addition to that, we showed that we have made some improvements in Hockenheim and we hope to carry on that momentum."

Webber, who may leave Williams after the option on his contract was not taken up earlier this week, believes that the choice of tyres will be critical to their ambitions.

"Budapest is usually a tough race for the teams because it is hard to overtake even though the track layout has changed a little bit," he said. "The races are generally based on attrition while qualifying well is also crucial.

"Our car might be reasonably well suited to the track, but we'll see how our tyre selection goes. Although we didn't score points at Hockenheim, the car is working better so we'll be looking to improve upon our reliability and get in the top eight this weekend."