Balaton Park as seen by riders. Bagnaia: "The smallest in the world."

We're back in Hungary . After 33 years. The GP has already been held here, it has its own history, even without going back to the pre-World Championship era and the editions of the 1930s, in the city of Budapest. Only two editions have been held, on the Formula 1 track, the Hungaroring, in 1990 and 1992. However, with a series of fine Italian successes: Loris Capirossi in the 125cc in 1990 (on a Honda), Luca Cadalora in the 250cc in 1992 (Honda) and in the same year, Alessandro Gramigni, in the 125cc, on the way to Aprilia's first, historic World Championship.

Now the return is on a brand new track: the Balaton Park Ring , an hour and a half's drive from the capital, on the eastern shore of the lake from which it takes its name. The circuit was conceived and built by a consortium led by Chanoch Nissany, an Israeli entrepreneur and former driver who, exactly twenty years ago, drove FP1 in a Minardi here in Budapest, Hungary. He is also the father of Roy, whom he saw a few years ago in Formula 2. Pecco Bagnaia has called Balaton Park "very, very small, perhaps the smallest in the world." Certainly, being completely new, it's a circuit that's generating a fair amount of curiosity and perhaps even a little more hope than usual. Fermin Aldeguer, for example, said: "Since we're all starting from scratch, maybe I can give myself a better chance of achieving my first victory."

To be honest, it's not exactly true that the riders are at the same level. The Ducati riders, including Aldeguer himself, have been there in a private test with the Panigale road bikes. And Pecco was faster than Marquez. "The track is nice," said Fabio Di Giannantonio. "It's narrow, that's for sure. There are two or three chicanes that we'll have to figure out how to handle with the MotoGP bike, because the Panigale is obviously much softer. I expected slightly wider run-off areas, considering it's a new track." "Having ridden there," Pecco Bagnaia continued, "is a huge advantage for us, as we'll at least know how to tackle it. We'll see, especially in FP1." To understand just how much, just listen to what Brad Binder said: "After I don't know how many years, I took out my PlayStation to try and see what this track is like." "I watched the Superbike footage," Marco Bezzecchi added, "because I thought it would be better than not watching anything at all." In the tight chicanes of Lake Balaton, Bezzecchi says he saw something of Imola.

Aldeguer and Joan Mir instead focused on some sections of Mandalika, as well as the first Zeltweg chicane, where Fermin also performed an excellent overtaking move last Sunday. Marc Márquez also cited the 2A-2B change of direction at Zeltweg. “Usually,” added the undisputed championship leader, “adapting to a new track is one of my strong points. In the sense that I go faster than others on the limit. But then the others catch up. When we came here with the Panigale, after the first few laps, I was a second ahead of everyone else, but at the end of the day, I wasn't the fastest.” A nice way to avoid appearing too boastful. “In the end, I don't think this track holds any secrets,” he also said. But with a big smile. Balaton Park runs counterclockwise, and of its 16 turns, 10 are left-handers. In other words: it seems made especially for him.