Lewis Hamilton celebrates winning the 2009 Hungarian Grand Prix with McLaren Mercedes team principal Martin Whitmarsh [Picture courtesy of www.mclaren.com]

LEWIS Hamilton looks to complete a hat-trick of Hungarian Grand Prix victories on Sunday.

The Herts-born Formula 1 racer heads to the Hungaroring circuit this weekend top of the FIA World Drivers’ Championship.

He sits 14 points clear of McLaren colleague Jenson Button entering round 12 of the campaign.

And the 25-year-old Tewin hero will be aiming to extend Vodafone McLaren Mercedes’ impressive run of results in Budapest, having won there himself in 2007 in his rookie term and again last year with a car that was rubbish at the start of the season.

McLaren drivers have in fact claimed top spot on the podium in Hungary for the past three seasons – Heikki Kovalainen won in 2008 – and Hamilton and team-mate Button will be hoping to bag valuable points in Budapest this weekend.

Hamilton said: “I love racing in Hungary. Budapest is a fantastic, beautiful city that I’d love to get out and really explore one day, and the circuit is quite a unique place – it’s got a reputation for being a slow track where it’s impossible to pass, but I don’t really agree with that.

“Firstly, the track has a couple of high-speed corners – in particular, the blind left-hander at Turn Four, and the right-hander at Turn 11 – and, since the revisions to the first corner, it’s a place where passing is definitely possible, even if it’s not easy.”

Having won the race twice before, Lewis added: “I’ve always gone well there.

“I won in 2007 and winning there last year was one of the best races of my career in terms of sheer satisfaction.

“The whole team was elated with that result because we’d just performed one of the greatest turnarounds in sport, coming from the back of the grid at the start of the season to take victory.”

Team principal Martin Whitmarsh expects the MP4-25 to perform better in Hungary than it did around the Hockenheim track in Sunday’s 2010 German Grand Prix.

“Historically, the Vodafone McLaren Mercedes team has always gone well at the Hungaroring,” said Whitmarsh.

“Lewis won the race in 2007, and again in 09 – a memorable race because it marked the first-ever victory for a KERS-powered car in Formula 1.

“Of course, we also remember the good memories of Heikki’s victory in 2008, and we go into this year’s race hopeful of another strong performance.

“While we’re under no illusions that our pace relative to our rivals was lacking at Hockenheim, the MP4-25 should perform better in a more dedicated high-downforce configuration.

“More encouragingly, we’ve now got one race with the blown diffuser under our belts, and this has already given us lots of data with which to take the concept forwards.”

The 2010 Hungarian Grand Prix takes place on Sunday, August 1.