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Kimi Raikkonen insists that Spa is not a special place for him, despite his impressive record at the Belgian track.

The Finn won the race in 2004, 2005, 2007 and again on his last visit in 2009. Many people are tipping him as a favourite for this weekend.

“It’s not any more special than other places,” he said when asked about it by this writer. “It’s a nice race circuit and usually it gives nice racing. But I know this circuit as good as any other circuit, I haven’t really raced here more than any other places.

“It just happens to have been pretty good for us. But I have had some bad races also, it’s not like we come here and it suddenly should be good. It can be a disaster. Hopefully we can have a good, normal weekend. I think we should be up there, but we don’t know that yet.”

Meanwhile Kimi played down any thoughts about the World Championship, in which he currently lies fifth.

“We still have a good chance so why not? But I don’t know. Nobody knows what will happen in the next races or the end of the year. We’ll try. I have almost as good a chance as anybody else. I don’t say that I have any better chance. I probably have the worst chance from the five guys. Apart from Alonso, the rest are pretty close to each other, and there are also many points to be won. We’ll try, we’ll see what happens.”

He said the prospect of a title challenge was not an extra motivation: “It doesn’t change anything for me. It doesn’t change if I’m in the last position in the points or the first. We race always as well as we can, and see what happens.”

He added that a second title, to add to the one he earned in 2007, was not a particular target.

“I always said if I win one I’m happy, and if something comes after that, I’m not desperate on it. We’ll do everything that we can to try to win it, but if it doesn’t come, it doesn’t come, and it doesn’t change my life in the long run. Yes you are here to try to win races and championships, but like I said, it’s not like it’s going to suddenly change my life completely.

“When I feel I want to stop I’ll stop. It’s not that I’ll try to carry on and try to win it and win it. It’s not going to be the reason why I’ll be here.”

Caterham F1 boss Tony Fernandes says that the team’s recent move from Norfolk to Leafield will be the springboard to greater success.

The team used the August break to complete the move to the former Arrows and Super Aguri factory.

“I cannot stress highly enough how important the move to the new factory has been,” said Fernandes. “On one level it is fantastic to see just how motivated everybody in the team is to be starting work in our new home and on another level Leafield sends out the clearest possible message about our long-term aspirations.

“We have invested a considerable sum in purchasing the site and refurbishing it to bring it up to the standards needed to compete for honours in F1, GP2 and all the motorsport categories we take part in now and in the future. That investment puts in place the final piece of the jigsaw needed to take the next step and join the midfield – now we have no excuses.”

Technical director Mark Smith added: “The move to Leafield puts us firmly in the middle of the UK’s motorsport valley and gives us a site we can expand into for many years to come, giving us the platform we need to grow into an operation that can challenge for long-term honours.”

Meanwhile Fernandes admitted that he’s disappointed with the team’s form relative to those ahead, even of Caterham has pulled well clear of Marussia and HRT.

“We have not scored our first point yet, and we have much more work to do to chip away at that gap to the pack ahead, which is now less than one second, but it is fair to say we are disappointed with where we are, as I am sure many people who follow us are. However, the belief that we can achieve what we have set out to is what drives us on, and we have to remember that just 35 months ago we did not even exist.

“Since the first day of this team we have had to fight extremely hard and, off track, we have had to deal with two major court cases. Both cases we have had to face, with Group Lotus and Force India, have been painful processes, for the team and personally for everybody involved, but we have not let them distract us.

“Whilst those fights were being won in court we have continued to make significant progress on track, particularly compared to the other two teams who joined the sport at the same time as us. We are absolutely determined to keep building on that progress and use the passion we have to join the midfield to keep pushing us forwards, and we will get there.

“We have everything in place to accomplish our goals and with the fierce determination we have to succeed we can kick on from there and keep climbing up the grid.”

Fernandes added that the team will be unveiling a “major” new sponsor at Spa.

Bernie Ecclestone was at London’s Olympic Park today, and reportedly checked out several sporting venues.

Ecclestone, who also visited the site during the construction phase, hosted IOC boss Jacques Rogge at the recent British GP.

A company called Intelligent Transport Services is involved with a bid to turn the London site into an F1 circuit – which is also the plan for the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics venue in Russia, due to host a Grand Prix later that year

Ecclestone has played down the chances of the London race happening, although he appeared to show some interest today.

“It’s surprising how many people have come out, it’s good,” he told Reuters. “I’m sure we’d get big crowds.

“It depends on the circuit, at the moment we are just looking at that. Somebody is looking about going into the centre of the arena and out again, so whether that is going happen or not, we’ll have a look and see.”

Red Bull boss Christian Horner was in bullish mood after the Hungarian GP, despite neither RB8 making it to the podium.

Sebastian Vettel had to settle for fourth, while Mark Webber slipped back to eighth after running three stops. But despite the disappointment Horner was happy to see the team bag some points after a difficult afternoon.

“We go into the summer break 53 points in the lead in the constructors’ championship, and our drivers are second and third in the drivers’ championship,” said Horner.

“There are 225 [driver] points still available, nine races to go. It’s going to be full on. Definitely we’ll use this week before the shutdown to good effect, and then it’s a good opportunity for everybody within the company to recharge their batteries before a manic last three months.”

Horner defended the team’s reliability record after a differential problem compromised Mark Webber’s race in Hungary.

“We’ve had the odd issue here and there, all teams have them up and down the pit lane. They tend to balance themselves out and this championship will come down to the fourth places, the eighth places – on the days that you can’t win, the points that you collect. Today was a tough race for us, but hopefully we’ve got some good races coming up for us.”

He also hit back against recurring suggestions that Red Bull has been bending the rules after a series of recent controversies, none of which has led to any penalty.

“The bottom line is the result sheet comes out at the end of qualifying or the end of the race and the car complies with the regs. All the rest is all bullshit. At the end of the day it’s all down to the FIA and the stewards to decide whether the car is legal or not. Every single time our car has been questioned by other teams, it’s always been found to comply with the rules.

“Of course the nature of F1 is that it’s competitive, but the regulations are written in such a way that they are open to interpretation, and from HRT to Red Bull every single team interprets those rules, otherwise you’d have all the cars looking the same. Part of our strength is our ingenuity, and I don’t think we should be criticised for being creative.”

Fernando Alonso was in upbeat mood after finishing fifth in Hungary, and he made it clear that he was delighted to have scored a good helping of points on a track which did not suit Ferrari.

Although he lost ground to some of his rivals he finished three spots ahead of Mark Webber, and he thus actually extended his advantage over the man in second place.

“I finished ahead of Button and ahead of Webber,” said Alonso. “So in the end we did something better than the others in terms of the strategy, in terms of consistency. We managed to lose one position with Vettel, to win some positions with Webber, and increase the lead in the championship. So, a very nice Sunday.”

Alonso nearly got ahead of Vettel at the start, and thereafter had a busy afternoon.

“We were quite close, but it was not possible, not enough. We needed to start on the clean side, maybe the opportunity was better. Overall the race was not easy, we were not quick, we were defending first with Webber, then with Kimi, then with Button.

“So a defending race, but I think in terms of points, a good amount of points again in a difficult weekend, because we were not quick on Friday, not quick in qualifying, not quick on Sunday, and even with that we scored a lot of points today.”

Alonso says that Ferrari has some catching up to do and suggested that Ferrari has some useful updates in the pipeline.

“We need to work. I think we saw today in dry conditions there are three teams in front of us, Lotus, McLaren, Red Bull, it has been like this all season more or less. So we need to close this gap. I think we have some nice ideas to develop in this coming weeks, and hopefully in Spa and Monza we can introduce them.”

Meanwhile he’s looking forward to the summer break: “I’m happy to relax a little bit, I think we arrive quite tired at the end of July, we had three races in four weeks, a lot of work in the factory, a lot of aeroplanes, hotels, I think we need to have two or three weeks off to relax and come back in September with the batteries full.”

A win for Lewis Hamilton in Hungary has put the McLaren driver back in the World Championship hunt ahead of the August summer break, after a run of three races that produced just four points.

Hamilton now lies fourth on 117 points, and is only seven behind second placed Mark Webber, but still a significant 47 off Fernando Alonso,

“This weekend shows that it’s all to play for still,” said Hamilton. “Not enough points taken from Fernando as he still got ten points, but bit by bit, if we can continue with this kind of performance, then we can slowly catch him. We know we need consistency and we need to improve the car still in many areas, and that, I’m sure, we will do. The team is doing a fantastic job.

“We’ve now got the quickest pit stops or usually the quickest pit stops. Today I got the best start I’ve had all year, I was really surprised by it. This is a really good stepping stone for us, especially after the difficult races we’ve had over the last three tough races, it’s great to come and end the summer on this high.”

In the end Hamilton did two stops, although at one point the team came close to switching him to three, as it did with Jenson Button.

“The plan was to do a two-stop but, you know, I had my target laps and the team weren’t confident that I was going to make it to those laps, but I knew I would.

“In my second stint I could have gone longer but they wanted to cover the guys behind which was probably the right thing to do. So, as we did that, then it was just trying to make those tyres last a long time while keeping Kimi behind. So, if we were on another track where overtaking was much easier I think perhaps the result would have been different.”

However, Hamilton said Raikkonen was never a real threat.

“He was never really close enough. I purposely allowed him to close up in certain corners, so that he may have problems with his tyres eventually – but it didn’t look like it was going to happen. But I had to make sure I saved my speed for the last sector and made sure I drew a big enough gap in the last three corners and I did that every lap.

“I could see it was very difficult for them to follow, particularly through those areas, so it was important to make sure you maximise, especially with the DRS.”

Sebastian Vettel has kept his championship challenge firmly on track with a solid fourth place in Hungary, but the German felt he had the speed to do a lot better.

After starting third Vettel was passed by Jenson Button at the first corner, and having lost time behind the McLaren he was also jumped at the second pit stops by Kimi Raikkonen.

Later he made an extra pit stop to finish the race on fresh tyres, having got far enough ahead of Fernando Alonso to ensure that he would hold onto fourth even with a stop.

“I think it was probably not the result we could have had today,” said Vettel. “Our speed was a little bit better than that. Jenson was quite slow, and we lost quite a lot. But obviously you can’t just pit and come out in clean air, there’s traffic. Other people weren’t that much slower either.

“We thought that we’d try something. Obviously it could have been the case that their tyres fall ‘off the cliff’, which wasn’t the case. So we’ll try next time.

“I think a two-stop would not have change anything, so it was just following Romain around. Trying to something different was I think the right thing. It was marginal coming out ahead of Fernando, but it was good. It could have been a different story, their tyres could have fallen off.

“It didn’t happen this time. We did everything we could from a strategy point of view, which lost a little bit too much in the first corner and particularly to Jenson, who was very slow, and we lots too much time to the guys ahead.”

Vettel insisted that he wasn’t too disappointed.

“I’m not frustrated, it was not a boring afternoon for me. I was fighting as much as I could, I was pushing hard. That’s what I’m here for. We finished fourth, we didn’t win. If I win then I’m happy. If you’re fourth – today I have to accept it, but you’re not as happy as if you win.

“I finished ahead of Fernando, but not a lot. Race pace was quite good so it’s up to us to have better starts in the future. And probably one or two better steps in qualifying, and then it’s a different race.”

Lewis Hamilton has always felt at home in Hungary, and will again be in the thick of the action on Sunday after dominating qualifying.

Hamilton did two laps that would have been good enough for pole, and is now hoping to recover from a run of races that has seen him earn just four points in the last three starts.

“I’m really happy with the work the guys have done,” said Hamilton. “Obviously Jenson showed the pace of the car in the last race, but to be able to put that to work through qualifying feels fantastic. This is a good boost to the team. Still we have a very long race tomorrow. Lots can happen and we just need to keep our cool.

“It’s the same as everyone when they win races. You just have to keep your head cool and look after your tyres. Tyre strategy will be important tomorrow. Degradation will be interesting. I just hope for once we have a good start – that’s what I hope for the beginning.”

Hamilton, who did his long run testing on Friday, is confident that the car will have good race pace.

“The track was a little bit greener yesterday, so it’s difficult to compare it to today, but for us it was not such a problem. I think we know the Lotus is very, very strong on long runs and so is the Red Bull, so we just need to focus on us and really hope we can improve this weekend with those upgrade. Jenson showed in the last race that it is an improvement so hopefully I can show the same thing tomorrow.”

Fernando Alonso says he’s relieved to have qualified as high as sixth in Hungary after worrying that he’d end up further down the order, given Ferrari’s struggle for pace this weekend.

Alonso starts immediately ahead of his team mate Felipe Massa.

“It was better than I expected to be honest,” said the Spaniard. “Because we were a little bit worried about the Q3 possibilities with the two Lotuses, two Red Bulls, two McLarens and Force India also looked quite quick. We made it into Q3 and then P6 is a reasonable position at the moment. Second in the championship is Webber, and he starts 11th, so hopefully we can keep him behind the whole race.”

Like other drivers, Alonso struggled to get the best out of the softer Pirelli tyre.

“It was very difficult, in qualifying for whatever reason the balance changed for everybody, and it was a little bit more tricky. We made some adjustments to the front wing and tyre pressures, and in the end in Q3 the car was quite well balanced.

“I think it will be an unpredictable race, as in this 2012 season has been all of them I think. Yesterday we had rain in FP2 so we don’t have much information about long runs, so tomorrow we need to keep updating strategy every lap, and we see what we do.”

However, he stressed that a race win was out of reach in normal conditions.

“We have to be honest, we are not in a position to be as quick as the leaders here, I think. We are nine-tenths off the pole position today, so the victory tomorrow at the moment I think is difficult for us. We need some strange race or wet conditions or something like that, which may happen. But at the moment we are happy with sixth.”

Meanwhile Alonso said he’d be happy to see Lotus take points off his main title rivals: “I hope so. They are quick, they have been quick all weekend, they did a very good qualifying, and normally on race pace they are very strong. Staring up at the front, if we cannot win for sure for us the best thing is if Lotus wins.

Lewis Hamilton bounced back from his disappointing race in Germany to top the times in both sessions in Hungary for McLaren.

The car has clearly been improved by the upgrades that were introduced in Hockenheim, although the bad weather there didn’t allow the drivers to take full advantage.

“It’s been a real positive day for me,” said Hamilton. “The guys did a fantastic job, we made some really good changes with the car to get it dialled in, we’re on the right path. We’ve still got work to do and we know the Red Bull looks very quick, so does the Lotus, and obviously Ferrari as well. We are by no means feeling comfortable, we’re going to keep pushing.

“I feel good in the car, but practice is completely different to qualifying. Tomorrow when we get into qualifying I have no doubts that Fernando will all of a sudden find half a second, I have no doubts that all of a sudden the Red Bulls will find a chunk of time. In practice you just focus on whatever fuel load you’re on and whatever programme you’re on. I think we’re not in a bad position. It’s been all positives today, we haven’t really had any problems, just making nice little tweaks to the car. But the car’s been feeling really good.”

Hamilton is adamant that he had to be at the sharp end in qualifying on Saturday.

“Overtaking here is very, very difficult, if not almost impossible. Positioning is very important. People will do longer runs, people will do three stops, some people will do two stops. Fernando when he starts at the front, it makes the race so much easier [for him], and that’s how it is when you start at the front. It will be great for our team if at least we can get in the first two rows, it would be a really good start for our weekend.”

Lewis also made it clear how much he likes the track, where he has been fast since his F1 rookie season in 2007.

“I love this track, it’s a great old circuit, real great character to it, lovely off-camber corners, ups and downs. Really, really great fun to drive, it’s so flowing. And tough on the tyres. Just because I love it doesn’t mean I’m going to do any better here, but you enjoy it a lot more than some others.”